The Crew Motorfest review: virtual racing vacations in Hawaii
14/9/2023
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
In The Crew Motorfest you’ll be able to race cars, bikes, boats and planes. The races are spectacular. However, the real highlight of the game is the beautiful open world.
Hawaii, paradise on earth. Picturesque beaches, majestic volcanoes and dense jungles characterise the idyllic landscape of this Polynesian archipelago. In Ubisoft’s new open-world racing game The Crew Motorfest, you can digitally immerse yourself in this paradise. The game is set on Oahu, the main island of the Hawaiian archipelago.
I packed my virtual suitcases and raced around the beautiful island landscape for over fifteen hours. Although I’m not a big racing game fan, this one captivated me.
A festival without consequences
At first glance, the concept behind The Crew Motorfest seems like a brazen copy of Microsoft’s Forza Horizon game series. And at a second, too. But that doesn’t matter, the gameplay is more than fun enough.
The racing festival Motorfest is held on Oahu. Car fanatics from all over the world meet on the Hawaiian island to race each other, no matter what happens. I, too, mutate into a car guy on the virtual streets of Honolulu. Thanks to Nitro Boost, I speed through the city centre at 300 km/h, ripping countless trees out of the ground with my off-roader and causing nasty accidents. There are no consequences – Oahu is my playground, I can do whatever I want.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
I can behave like a psychopath on water or in the air. As in past The Crew games, my car transforms into a boat or a small plane at the touch of a button. I unlock the feature very early on, which gives me full freedom to explore the island and the numerous activities that take place around the racing festival from the start.
Most of the festival is made up of so-called playlists, special series of races taking me through different parts of the island or introducing me to certain vehicle classes. Not all playlists are exciting. I don’t care much for the tuned cars and car culture talk in the Liberty Walk playlist. Instead, I’m fascinated by the Hawaiian Scenic Tour, which takes me through the most beautiful locations on the island in various vehicles. Another highlight is the Ocean n’ Sky playlist, which has me perform breakneck manoeuvres in the air and on water.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
In addition to the playlists, there are numerous limited-time activities where I compete against other festival-goers. Every week there are new events and routes to discover. For example, in Demolition Royale I can dive into a battle royale mode with a total of 32 drivers. Instead of shooting each other, participants ram each other with their cars. I could also try my hand at the Grand Race. In these epically long runs, I compete against 27 other speeders. It’s pure chaos and a hell of a lot of fun.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
The game isn’t lacking in activities. If something bores me, I just move on. Overall, though, I’d have liked to see some more events that focus on planes and boats. These make even better use of the unique island environment than the normal car races and I found them more fun.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
Highlight of the game: Oahu
To get to all the playlists and events, I have to drive around the island landscape myself. Fast travel is unlocked later on. This way, I really get to know Oahu. I have to admit: sometimes travelling to the next event is more enjoyable than the event itself.
If, like me, you’ve been to Hawaii before, you’ll especially enjoy exploring the island. You shouldn’t expect a one-to-one conversion of Oahu, though. Developer Ivory Tower has taken a lot of liberties in designing the open world. Some landscape features were even copied from other Hawaiian islands to reflect the diversity of the entire archipelago. I find it especially cool that NPCs don’t just babble stupid stuff during races, but also give me exciting facts about the island and Hawaiian culture.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
However, the island’s most important landmarks are included in the game – from Honolulu’s skyscrapers to the iconic Diamond Head volcano crater and the surfer’s paradise North Shore. I feel like I’m on holiday while playing. I think back wistfully to my Hawaii vacation and really want to get on the next plane to Honolulu International Airport.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
However, Oahu doesn’t only convince with its natural beauty. The entire map is full of small challenges, hidden treasures and photo opportunities. On my way to the next playlist, I’m constantly distracted by little side activities.
I keep track thanks to the impressive interactive map. With it, I can zoom in continuously from a bird’s-eye view down to street level. In doing so, I see other players racing around in cars, planes and boats in real time. I find this extremely impressive, even after the hundredth time. It makes the island feel really alive.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
On a technical level, the game is convincing with one exception: the sometimes strong pop-in effects when flying. I only experience frame rate drops in the chaotic Grand Races, in which 28 drivers clash. Loading times on the PS5 are a few seconds at most – even during fast travel. What is annoying, however, is that the game kicks me out to the main menu every time I put my console into sleep mode. The reason: The Crew Motorfest is an always-on game that has to be connected to the Ubisoft servers consistently.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
Realism? What’s that?
The Crew Motorfest, like its direct inspiration Forza Horizon, isn’t a realistic racing game. On the contrary. The driving physics are designed to make the most spectacular racing manoeuvres possible. You can easily do loop-the-loops in cars with minimal acceleration. The boats and aeroplanes also steer themselves far away from any correct representation of physics. A damage model is only available in Battle Royale mode – otherwise you’re invulnerable. If I do have an accident, I can turn back time by up to 15 seconds.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
My colleague and racing sim fanatic Simon Balissat rolls his eyes at such shenanigans. As a casual racer, I like the arcade feel. Especially in combination with the Dualsense PS5 controller. The game takes full advantage of the sensitive rumble motors and haptic triggers of the controller. It constantly creaks and rattles, and the triggers are nicely resistant. Now this is racing!
Cars behind a paywall
As with any live service game, there are numerous ways to spend your hard-earned cash on microtransactions in The Crew Motorfest. Some limited-time cars in the game can only be acquired if you buy them in the store with real money. Some playlists and events also require special vehicles for you to participate in them. You can buy them either with the in-game currency or real money. Cosmetic items, such as rims or lighting, are also available for purchase.
I was able to ignore those pesky real money offers well into my playtime. No matter which event I participate in, I’m constantly rewarded with virtual currency, new car part upgrades or new vehicles. At no point do I feel like I can’t do something really cool because I don’t have enough in-game currency. I don’t have any ambitions of playing at the top end of PvP events or to show off my car in the Custom Show beauty contests anyway.
Source: Domagoj Belancic
Verdict: no innovation, but lots of fun to play
The Crew Motorfest is a fresh coat of paint on a reliable formula. But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look fabulous. Its Hawaiian flair is the cherry on top.
Although the game doesn’t offer any revolutionary racing novelties, I really enjoyed my time with it. It includes a wide variety of activities, there’s something for every taste. Personally, I’d have liked to see a little less cars and more planes and boats instead.
The highlight of the game is the Hawaiian island of Oahu. I feel like I’m back on vacation. It’s incredibly fun to explore the vibrant island, seamlessly switching back and forth between cars, boats and planes. I’m going to extend my virtual vacation and spend some more gaming hours in Hawaii for sure.
The Crew Motorfest is available now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The game was provided to me by Ubisoft for testing purposes.
Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.