It's launch morning for The Crew 2, and I've logged in to do a final network test. The always-online racing game's predecessor had serious network issues on release, so I want to see if the new game is holding up. It's been stable playing with early access players this week, but would the influx of new people cause problems? So far, all is well (unless you're on Steam.) Players are popping up nearby, rather than halfway across the map as they have done during the sparsely populated early access period. They crawl their Lamborghinis up to my stationary 1993 Porsche and rev in wordless invitation to a drag race. They don't need to ask twice and we roar off up the Pacific coast road out of Malibu.
It's a fun moment, but then we just peel off and go our separate ways, because there is hardly anything for us to do together in this game.
The Crew was a scrappy but ultimately lovable open-world racing game with unrealised massively multiplayer aspirations. It was made by Lyon studio Ivory Tower, itself formed by veterans of Eden Studios, makers of the Test Drive Unlimited games, which were scrappy but ultimately lovable open-world racing games with unrealised massively multiplayer aspirations. Things have changed, a little: The Crew 2 doesn't feel so scrappy. It is almost polished (though my PS4 version crashed three times during review). But those aspirations are still unrealised, and the game is underdeveloped in other areas than its network code and bug fixes. There's a sense that it will be much better in six months to a year's time than it is at launch - just like The Crew was. Plus a change.