I also enjoyed the free-drive events — like the “speed traps” where you have to drive past particular points on the map above a certain speed (each one is different) — that you can simply do while heading toward your next actual mission or challenge. And I remember really enjoying a dirt race where I had to bomb down a huge hill. It was a lot of fun.

I’ve mentioned it before, but my game backlog is incredible; so I never got into the second The Crew game. I even remember hearing a bit about it and not being super excited, so I didn’t go out of my way to play it. Recently, though, with the release of all those Ubisoft games on GamePass, it was at my fingertips.

I hadn’t played a street racing game or customized a car in a while (outside of Car Mechanic Simulator), so I decided to dive in and see what I was missing; and to get an idea of if Motorfest would be worth buying.

A Fast and Furious-ian Turn

Right off the bat this game is different. Instead of just a couple different racing types, and maybe going off the road sometimes — you’re able to go entirely offroad here. Planes, boats, and hovercraft make an appearance alongside the fastest road-legal cars in the world. On top of that, you’re driving open-wheel formula-style cars, dirt bikes, and even monster trucks. It’s kind of wild how much you can do.

And It’s not just racing, either. There’s a bunch of stunt challenges across the different vehicles — in planes you do loops, rolls, and fly low to the ground to earn a high score. With dirt bikes and monster trucks you can do flips, spins, and conquer obstacle courses to get points. Even your regular street car has stunt challenges where your goal is to hit high speeds, narrowly avoid other cars, and find some sweet lines over buildings and construction sites.

Literal skate parks with half-pipes, jumps, and even loops to drive around make an appearance here, too. Some of the monster truck and dirt bike challenges have you trying to rack up high scores X-Games style.

There’s also drift challenges and time trials (though those are essentially races), and the free mode events from the first game are brought back. In 2 though, these aren’t just for your car anymore. There’s speed traps for boats, low-flying challenges for planes, and even slalom challenges that earn you points for passing posts on the correct side.

My Favorite?

I’ve been especially enjoying plane races. I was a bit disappointed to see that I wasn’t actually racing against other planes; but those disappointments went away when I started playing it. You’ve got to fly around and in-between various gates, which act as the checkpoints. But if you’re not facing the correct direction, or you’re too high or too low, you’ll add seconds to your final time. Flying through with perfect orientation will remove seconds from your final time. It’s incredibly challenging and I’ve been loving it.

They’re usually lapped races, too, so at the end of one line, you have to do a half-loop and turn to up-right yourself quickly so that you’re flying in the opposite direction, and in the correct orientation to not get penalized. I’m definitely going to spend more time rocking those challenges. And others. When I inevitably get a bit bored (or frustrated) with the plane races, there’s a plethora of other options to keep me engaged.

The map, like the first game, is a “representation” of the whole United States. And while I definitely appreciate the effort, I have mixed feelings about the execution. On the one hand, it’s weird driving around and zooming in on areas that you know IRL, and having them be quite different. And the scale just makes everything feel off.

I can’t think of another time I flew inverted through the St. Louis arch, or sprinted a speedboat around the Statue of Liberty. Every once-in-a-while you’re able to interact with real locations in unique ways, and when that happens, I am glad they attempted to recreate a real place.

No More 510s

There isn’t a storyline, really, like in the previous game. There are people who talk to you before races a bit. And some challenges have some additional context attached (like winning a car for Latrell), but the focus is really just on becoming a great racer in all disciplines. Why? Well, because it’s fun and you’re an adrenaline junky.

That’s really it. You’ve been trying to get your name out there in the world of extreme racing and stunting with little success. But now you’ve joined this “Live Xtrem Series”, which is dedicated to showcasing the talents of “newcomers”; with the best given the opportunity to challenge the established drivers in the world. It’s your shot to become noticed, and to become the top dog across all disciplines.

The Challenges

The different challenge types — which they call “disciplines” — are categorized into what they call “Families”. The “Families” are Street, Freestyle, Pro, and Off-Road; with later Disciplines unlocking once you’ve reached certain levels of fame. For the very first Discipline in each Family, though, you’re simply given the vehicle needed. I mean, you have to win a race or challenge to get it, but still. It’s not like you only start with some old clunker you had since high school and you’re going to slowly build from there. It’s kind of like “Welp, here’s a plane”.

It wasn’t just that, though. Each new race type, for the most part, was fresh and really enjoyable. Drag racing wasn’t simply holding the “go” button. You’ve got to burn your engine beforehand, and then time your launch and shifts to maximize your speed. I was hesitant to go for the second type of boat race, because I didn’t know how it could be much different. But they don’t feel the same at all, and I already described how much I liked the plane races.

I also discovered some “Stories” that you can read with steps to retrace. There are a bunch of them with various numbers of steps, giving you pretty good rewards if you complete them all. The 12-step stories will get you a new vehicle with above-average base stats. And the 3-step ones will get you a pretty significant amount of “Bucks”. There’s are stories with steps in-between 3 and 12 as well that will get you something like apparel or a mystery item, too.

GeoGuessr Simulator

For each one, you’re shown an image of a starting spot somewhere on the map that you have to get to however you want/can. From there, you’ve got to travel to each next spot using the correct vehicle or type. I’ve done about 6, and so far, they’ve all required using land vehicles. The next spots, like the first, are images of locations that you have to find. Fortunately, though, the game tells you what city or area the location is in, so you don’t have to fully geo-locate every spot yourself.

The “story” aspect come in with the fact that along with each location’s picture, you’re told part of a, well, story; with the rewards corresponding to the tale. Sometimes, you’re following someone’s solo trek through the mountains. In others, you might recreate the steps of some car thieves. You might even learn how someone won the lottery. They’re pretty interesting, the rewards are worth it, and it gives you a reason to spend time cruising around this version of the US.

Also, don’t try to skimp on any of the steps. Once, I tried switching to a plane, flying to the next location, and switching back to a car. But when I got there, I wasn’t able to “validate the story step”, and “use valid vehicle” on the left was still grayed out. So, simply staying in your car and driving seems to be the best bet.

You are able to switch vehicles within the type, though, so that’s nice. I got tired of zig-zagging up a mountain, so I switched to my monster truck and just drove straight to the location. Both were land vehicles, so that worked with no problem.

On top of all that, there’s picture challenges (where you have to take a picture of a landmark or animal or something), community races (where other players have created events — some of these are several hours long…), “Drivers Wanted” (where you have to “deliver” something for someone — essentially just driving from point A to point B), Seasonal events, and more. Like I said earlier, there’s a ridiculous amount of stuff packed into this game. I’d be interested in seeing anybody who’s 100%-ed it.

Calling Chip Foose

Of course, no racing game would be complete without the ability to upgrade and customize your vehicles. With such a vast amount of vehicles, The Crew 2 seems to handle it pretty well.

Performance upgrades are largely acquired by winning races or challenges — You’ll get a random assortment each time you’re successful. As your fame increases you can get some parts at various milestones, and there’s also “Live Rewards”, which just spawn in the world (you have to find them by playing a game of “warmer-colder” with a ping on your radar that increases in frequency as you get closer to the box). But for the most part, you’ll be getting your performance parts from races and challenges.

That also means you don’t have to spend your “Bucks” purchasing parts, so the sole focus of those can be for buying new vehicles; which is nice.

The parts are type-specific, not car-specific, too. So all of the “Street Racing ” cars can interchange parts with each other, while all of the “Hypercars” also can. But you can’t swap parts between a “Street Racing” car and “Hypercar”. Same with stunt planes, racing planes, off road cars, dirt-track cars, etc. So there seems to be no reason, really, not to put the best parts on each of your favorite vehicles. And in case you want to quickly put the highest-rated part on your car without really thinking about it, each one has a big number indicating it’s level.

And if you want more

If you do want to dial in your tuning, though, you’re able to see specifically how each part will change various stats on your car. And some parts may perform differently depending on other parts you have equipped. And if you really want to fine-tune your engine, transmission, and suspension, there’s a detailed slider you can access so your car can drive exactly how you want it to.

On top of the tuning, some parts also come with affixes that give you different bonuses as you race. They may increase the recovery rate of your boost while you drift or jump, or maybe they’ll increase your drafting distance or speed when being drafted. Some of them increase the amount of Bucks you gain or increase the chances of getting better loot when you win races. And really powerful combinations can be made with set bonuses.

I’m going to be real. I haven’t played enough to gain a set bonus and I’m not sure I’m going to. I would love to get there, but the grind is just a bit too daunting with my backlog — and with this not being the most recent iteration of the game. Check out this video for more on legendary set bonuses.

Each vehicle has cosmetic upgrades, too, but you’re not necessarily able to change everything on all of them. Some will only allow you to change one or two parts, while others offer a lot more customization. For examples, a few of the cars will only let you change the spoiler and maybe the wheels; while others will let you change the hood, put on a whole body kit on the front back and sides, and more, along with changing the wheels and spoiler.

Some have interior customization too, which is pretty cool. If available, there’s a few preset options to choose from, and you can change the colors. It’s similar to the options you’d get in real life if you were to go to a manufacturers website and use their car builder. I realize I spend very little time looking at the inside of my cars, but I still like to know that they look nice.

Colors & Liveries

Even though sometimes the physical attributes can’t be changed, each vehicle’s color can be. And liveries can be applied as well. There are a few generic liveries that the game provides, but I’m not a huge fan of any of them. I’m more of a subtle guy, so the huge tiger or dragon on the side of my car is rarely my thing.

On top of the pre-set ones, though, you’re also able to create your own. If you’ve ever played Forza’s livery creator, this will feel familiar. You’re given a few different banks of shapes in various categories — like “primitive” shapes, patterns (including tire-tread patterns), company logos, and even numbers and letters — and you’re able to place them essentially however you’d like on the car. Each one placed creates It’s own layer, and you can manipulate each shape however you see fit. If you’re creative enough, you can probably make anything you want as a livery.

And if your creative juices aren’t flowing at the time, you can browse through community-made liveries as well. There’s an option to upload your liveries, and browse through the ones that other people have made to see if anything fits what you’re looking for. I often want to get straight to racing, and don’t always want to spend a ton of time creating the perfect livery; so I’ve used the community option several times.

What else could we possibly talk about?

Icon points, for one. There’s 4 fame levels you have to reach in order to unlock each race type, but once you become a “Star” it doesn’t stop there. If you continue to increase your fame, you’ll eventually become an “Icon” earning Icon Points, adding a bit of an RPG element to The Crew 2. These points are across three categories — Comfort, Vehicle, and Gameplay — and they’re essentially just more bonuses to help you drive faster and earn more.

• Comfort will allow you to increase the amount of Bucks or the quality of loot you receive from completing challenges; or improve the strength, length, and recovery time of your “Nitro”.
• The Vehicle category will increase your vehicles’ strength, so they can take (and give) more damage before breaking, increase the amount of drag you receive from being behind a car, or increase the distance away from a leading car that “drafting” will start for example.
• And under Gameplay, you’ll find abilities that will increase the amount of points you receive from drifting and stunting in planes, making those challenges easier. Some of the “world records” for drag races are like .3 seconds, and if that wasn’t achieved by a glitch, Icon Points are probably how.

Also, Every 10 subsequent levels of fame will get you a performance part for your car, based on whichever type you have equipped at the time, and each 100 will get you a brand new car. With the top level – 1000 (though you can earn performance parts beyond this) – getting you a Bugatti Chiron Carbon.

You’re also able to customize the appearance of your character, kind of, so you’re not just a generic body in a helmet. When you first start you choose your “rising star” — your character — and as you play you can unlock additional cosmetics to equip onto them. There are times where your character is outside of a vehicle walking around, so it’s not completely useless.

Unfortunately, you always have to go to your “home” to change, which can be inconvenient. I don’t feel like I should have to fast travel all the way there just to stand at one spot to change clothes — especially when I can do all of my car customizations simply from the pause menu.

On the other hand, though, the house is super dope, so I guess I don’t really mind spending time there. The wrap-around balcony is amazing and I’d spend a ton of time in that hangar playing pool and watching sports.

Anything Else?

Honestly, there’s still a couple more things that jumped out while finalizing this post that I didn’t get to. But I think it’ll be more fun to discover some of those things on your own. The Crew 2 is an absolute massive game chock-full of things to do.

Sometimes that makes it feel a bit hollow; but with the variety of vehicles and race/challenge types, the customization options, the stories that net you some great rewards, and the lure of upgrading to a new million-dollar hypercar, there are plenty of reasons to keep coming back.

But at the same time, once you’ve done everything once or twice, I can see those reasons being not quite enough to sustain you.

Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought about The Crew 2, and send me pictures of your custom cars. Be sure to come back next week for more content, and in the meantime, I think I’m going to try to grind for that Bugatti!

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