Ubisoft has announced the third game in its open-world racing franchise, The Crew, with The Crew Motorfest planned for a 2023 launch on all consoles. There will also be an early-access Insider Program beginning on 1 February 2023 on PC, with console players invited at a later date.
Where the first two games in the series boasted an open-world map that encompassed the entirety of the United States, albeit in a heavily condensed format, it appears The Crew Motorfest will hone its scope dramatically. The game will be set solely in the US state of Hawaii, and more specifically, the island of O’ahu, where the capital of Honolulu is situated.
Being the most densely populated island in the archipelago, it will hopefully provide enough variety for the myriad racing activities The Crew is known for.
Ubisoft’s official announcement for Motorfest makes mention of the city streets of Honolulu, as well as volcanic slopes, lush rainforests, mountain roads, and beach locales. It will feature both single-player and multiplayer modes.
The hope is that the more focussed environment will allow the development team to dedicate a lot more care and detail to the world, allowing it to feel more alive and ‘lived in’, something the previous games were lacking.
While perhaps not as refined or prestigious as other titles in the open-world racing genre – namely the excellent Forza Horizon series by Playground Games – The Crew certainly has its charms, and a dedicated community. The Crew 2 has received consistent content updates ever since its release in 2018, with the latest dropping just a couple of weeks before the announcement of Motorfest.
The Crew 2 featured the ability to instantly switch between motorcars, boats, and planes on a whim, which provided a lot of unabashed amusement. It appears that Motorfest will focus solely on cars, however, so it will be interesting to see whether the tone of the experience changes.
The Crew Motorfest is slated for a 2023 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store. It will also be available on the Ubisoft+ subscription service.
