Strategy Informer talks about Test Drive Unlimited 2 with Eden Studios' Alain Jarniou

Strategy Informer: The first thing we want to know is, what was the main focus when starting work on the sequel, and what aspect of the last game needed the biggest improvement?

Alain Jarniou: The first thing was to work on the community of Test Drive, when you are playing. So, a better world for meeting people, because it's very important when driving on the island to meet other people. The fact that we now have the “Walk Mode,” where you can just walk around the cars, and it becomes something that you can use in the whole game, like if you go into a car dealers, so this was very important. 

You are always people. In the first Test Drive you were only with people when you were in free ride, now if you go into a car dealers or in your house you can invite friends and see other people. It becomes more persistent and more like an MMO. Also, we developed the club aspect, which is very important for playing with your friends and having a common goal, so this was a main thing.

Technically, talking about the universe of Test Drive, we have a day and night cycle that came from huge feedback we had from the community. They wanted something more realistic so we added other weather and this new island of Ibiza, which was very important as well.

Strategy Informer: You've added a first person viewpoint to most of the game. Is the main focus the cars or the location this time round?

Alain Jarniou: The idea is to walk around the car and look very closely at the car, as we've made lots of improvement on the quality of the car- from the outside shape to the interiors. We want the player to admire the car, and so meet other players via avatars, which will become a very important part of Test Drive. You can talk, you can share experiences together and it's more like an MMO.

Strategy Informer: Exploring was an extremely fun part of the last game, are players going to be rewarded for doing so in Test Drive 2?

Alain Jarniou: Yeah, yeah yeah! Many players of the first game were just driving around and exploring the island, and so fascinated to just do this. We wanted this Test Drive to reward the player for doing this, so a part of the progression is earned via exploration now. You can earn money just by driving, you know, by doing jobs, drifts and dodging other cars.

You also have all those car parts we call wrecks that you can find in some places on the island that's not on the road, so in the mountains and forests and so on. You can gain special cars just by driving and finding these parts. You can't get these anywhere in the game, and these are mostly exotic cars.

Strategy Informer: Ibiza and Hawaii are in the game, were these realistically mapped?

Alain Jarniou: Yes, via satellite. We already had Hawaii in the first game, so when we started work on Ibiza we got the project data of the island and a network that allowed us to reproduce all of the island, choose the interesting parts and make it alive in Test Drive.

Strategy Informer: How's Hawaii changed from the first game?

Alain Jarniou: You will have seen the graphical enhancements that we made for Ibiza. Those enhancements havealso been made on Hawaii, talking about rendering, the day and night cycle is also a big strength. You also have things like the seabed and so on, so everything is much more beautiful. We also added mini off road routes and some more asphalt roads so you can now reach places that you couldn't in the first one, like mountains.

The idea is that even if you've played through the first Test Drive on Hawaii, all of the missions have been redesigned and are not the same, so we've made huge changes there.

Strategy Informer: Do the changes in weather conditions affect the way the car drives?

Alain Jarniou: Yes. You have different handling on roads, on earth and off road, and when it's raining as well there will be a change.

Strategy Informer: The game is very much a social experience, have you ever thought about integrating Facebook and Twitter into the game?

Alain Jarniou: That is something we have thought about, and we will communicate on this question at a later time.

Strategy Informer: Also, we haven't seen any motorcycles in the game. Are they in the game?

Alain Jarniou: We are planning on putting motorcycles in the game very quickly, but not on day one.

Strategy Informer: As downloaded content?

Alain Jarniou: Yes, yes. When we continue to upgrade the game.

Strategy Informer: Any other special vehicles we should look out for?

Alain Jarniou: Yes, indeed. In this Test Drive we can talk about the cars you can make by finding wrecks. I can't say more about these special cars, but they're very cool to drive. Other vehicles we have include classical cars, that mainly have very specific handling, and 4X4 cars that will go off road, that also add different gameplay to the cars that go on asphalt.

Strategy Informer: Is there going to be an auction house in the game? Are you looking for players to customise cars and sell them off for a profit?

Alain Jarniou: Not on day one if you're speaking about a market. This is the kind of thing we plan to make quickly if the community asks for it. According to what people say, what is cool and what is missing, we'll continue to expand.

Strategy Informer: Aside from DLC, is there anything you're looking to integrate into the game?

Alain Jarniou: Yeah, the game has been designed so we can make whatever changes we want. It can be cars, new houses, new game modes- everything is possible.

Strategy Informer: So for those who never picked up the first Test Drive, why should they go out and buy it?

Alain Jarniou: It's easy to learn and hard to master. It's more MMO style, so you will be with your friends at any time. If you've played the first one, this is a very exciting experience you can share with people, your cars, your driving skills and so on. This MMO aspect of the game is very addictive.