Do you think we will hear about Test Drive Unlimited 3 in 2018?

[Eudemon]

Ever since the acquiring of the TEST DRIVE license by Bigben Interactive from Atari, all we've known is that they were intending on bringing the series back, but since that there has been nothing. If you looked at Bigben's portfolio at the time you might have scoffed and not been to interested but since then they have been involved in and announced some promising titles like WRC 7 and the new Isle of Man TT motorcycle racer.

 

So what do you think, can they nail down TDU 3 or will it take a few goes before they get it good, and will see it in some form in 2018?

 

It's easy to forget, but if the typical Forza 2-year alternate release schedule continues then 2018 will also have us seeing Forza Horizon 4. Would a TDU 3 be able to contend with that, or would they be better keeping it until the end of the current-gen?

[TimBud]

I can wait longer but I really hope they nail it sooner rather than later... the current crop of racing games are nothing but mediocre, wrapped up in gilt shell.

 

But i fear it will just end up being another HalfLife 3-esque saga

[RobikV3]

Im afraid its gonna be like it was with Flatout, new studio got the rights and their games weren't even close to what original series was, which happens a lot when they sell rights to series.

[Eudemon]

Better someone has a go than leaving the IP dormant and gathering dust no?

[RobikV3]

If theyre gonna screw up as badly as Team 6 did with Flatout 3 then no id rather have it gather dust.

[TimBud]

TDU2 wasn't great. As long as its on par with that or better I'd be happy

[Ryzza5]

You'll have The Crew 2 in 2018, which some might describe as TDU4. TC1 took a good 5 years of development so I'm not sure why we should expect Big Ben to do it quicker and have a better end-product.

 

FH3 couldn't tempt me to setup my wheel and I don't hold much hope for the other contenders to fill the gap there for a somewhat realistic cruising experience.

[RobikV3]

Yeah TC 2 will be quite fun i can tell You that, definitely waiting for that one, don't get Me wrong I'd love to see a new TDU especially a good one, but 90% when different studio acquires rights to good series they just ruin it.

[TDUZoqqer]

I am only quoting Diablo so he will get notified

 

Short answer - no. I don't think we will see TDU3 next year.

 

Long answer: I hope we do, but I doubt anything will come out which will statisfy me at a minimal level. A title "TDU3" might find it's way to public, but my bet is it will be nothing like we expect. Same as Crew 2 and stuff.

[Jonesy666]

I have played the alpha of The Crew 2 and it gives me major TDU vibes, it's just a shame the wheel support is garbage.

[RobikV3]

Its still Work in progress Fergus himself mentioned it in the welcoming video so..

 

Don't get your forks out just yet

[Ryzza5]

Without giving anything away I felt .................. while .................. which left me ..................

[Ryzza5]

Interesting remark about 2 individuals on this project:

 

Bigben Interactive Secures Rights to Test Drive Unlimited; New Game in the Works

 

Sorry I have been gone from the forums for the last week' date=' I took the week off from the internet in general, spent lots of time with my family and kind of just relaxed a bit in general. I meant to post this awhile back, I have been doing some research on the team behind the development of TDU3 because there seems to be some [b']legitimate concern[/b] about this game not being developed by Eden Games.

 

What I found out was far more comforting than I anticipated! Did you know that Alain Jarniou now works for Bigben Interactive? Who is he you may ask? He was just the creative director on TDU and TDU2, you know, basically the next best thing to having Eden develop this game. This was the man who was a lead programmer and creative director on both games. He's been there and done that before and certainly knows what he is doing. Below is a blurb on Alain's past work

 

With a technical education in programming, Alain Jarniou began his career alongside

Frédéric Raynal at No Cliché as Game Programmer on Toy Commander. In 2001 he joined Eden Games and specialised in racing games, becoming Career Mode manager on V-Rally 3, a game many consider to have set the standard for rally games on PlayStation®2. In 2004, he joined the team in charge of the series Test Drive Unlimited, a blend of racing and MMO games which became the first racing MMO game on consoles, and was also creative director for Test Drive Unlimited 2. V-Rally 3, Test Drive Unlimited and Test Drive Unlimited 2 each reached the one million sales mark

 

 

Diego Sartori (formerly of Simbin) is also works at Bigben, he was the Producer on GTR 2, the Game Director on RACE- The Official WTCC Game and the creative director on Race 07 before he left to join Bigben Interactive to work on WRC 5 and now WRC 6. Below is a blurb on Diego's past work.

 

As an automobile mechanic, Diego began professional life with Citroën in 1992. He then fully assembled a Citroën AX Sport Group A and took part in a few rally sprints in his native Denmark. In 1998, Jason Watt entrusted him with the preparation of his 1966 Ford Mustang for vintage races, in 2002 Jason Watt won the Danish Touring Car Championship with Diego working as a mechanic and driver assistant on his team. He entered the world of video games in 2004 when SimBin hired him to test GTR. From that

point on, Diego’s professionalism and technical expertise ensured rapid progress: he worked on GTR and GT Legends in 2005, Producer on GTR 2 and Game Director on RACE – The Official WTCC Game. In 2007, he became Creative Director at SimBin Studios working on RACE 07 and its expansion packs until 2011. He remained Creative Director and Management Group member at SimBin Studios until 2014, adding RaceRoom Racing Experience and DTM Experience to his portfolio. In 2014 the WRC 5 project caught his eye and he left SimBin to become Creative Director at Kylotonn.

 

 

I don't think Bigben Interactive picking up the rights to the Test Drive series was random at all, this was very calculated and most likely pushed by Alain himself. Fear not skeptical ones, this game appears to be in very good hands.