Video Game / The Crew Motorfest

Welcome to Motorfest!

The Crew Motorfest is a 2023 racing MMO developed by Ubisoft Ivory Tower^note with assistance from several other Ubisoft studios, including Ubisoft Reflections once again and published by Ubisoft. The third game in the developer's The Crew series, this entry finally sees The Crew move away from the contiguous United States after nine years, now being set on a condensed version of the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, much like in the first two entries of an older online multiplayer-focused open world racing game series, Test Drive Unlimited (which various developers from Ivory Tower worked on as part of Eden Games). The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on September 14, 2023, with early access for Ubisoft+ players on September 11.

As with the game's predecessor, The Crew 2, there's no real plot and a whole lot of different vehicles to choose from, including cars, trucks, bikes, boats, and aircraft. But instead of that game's MotorNation and the Live Xtrem Series, you're now participating in the Motorfest, a celebration of motorsport held throughout the island.

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The Crew Motorfest provides examples of:

• Artistic License – Geography: Like with the mainland United States in the first two games, Motorsport takes place on a heavily modified and condensed version of Oʻahu. Several changes were made, such as adding an island near Mokuleia, a more simplified Pearl Harbor, with the Waipiʻo and Pearl City peninsulas removed, as well as adding more roads to the map, and the otherwise inaccessible Kauaʻi and Molokai moved a lot closer to Oʻahu than in real life. Ivory Tower has stated that they chose not to repeat the near-1:1 recreation of the island like in the Test Drive Unlimited games because doing so would leave a lot of empty unused space.
• Bilingual Bonus: The host of the Hawaii Scenic Tour, Keola Nakaʻahiki Rapozo, intersperses much of his dialogue with Hawaiian alongside English.
• Cool Bike: All kinds make their return from The Crew: Wild Run and The Crew 2, from motocross to sport bikes.
• Cool Boat: With these returning from The Crew 2, you can now hit those choice Hawaiian waves from your favorite speedboat.
• Cool Car: Still the main bread and butter in this series, and you get to drive much of the same cars that you drove in The Crew 2.
• Cool Plane: While the amount of airspace you have here is more limited, you can still fly all kinds of different aircraft here like in The Crew 2.
• Guest Fighter: GT by Citröen from Gran Turismo series returns in this installment as this trope.
• Improbably Cool Car: It's possible to buy or earn concept cars in the game, some of which are featured in Australian-born influencer Supercar Blondie's playlist "Dream Cars", and it's entirely possible to have a crew where all players are driving the same concept car, even those where only one model was made in real life.
• Invisible Wall: You cannot fly or take a boat over to either Kauaʻi or Molokai despite their relatively close proximity; you're only meant to be on Oʻahu and that's it. Likewise, you cannot go far out into the Pacific Ocean either.
• Marathon Level: "Liberty Territory", the last event of the Liberty Walk playlist, is a fifty-mile single-lap race around Oʻahu with the player's car swapped after each third of the track.
• Old Save Bonus: Players can import most of their vehicle and vanity collections from The Crew 2 for use in Motorfest, either at the start of the game or at a later time, although the process can only be done once for each car and it's irreversible once it's complete for that car, not to mention any attached performance parts do not come with it over to Motorfest. Take caution if you're still planning to play with those cars The Crew 2!
• Product Placement: While there are still several Bland-Name Product sponsors like in The Crew 2, there are playlists based on automotive-affiliated brands including one presented by YouTube channel Donut Media, another focusing on gymkhana-focused Hoonigan cars, another featuring Japanese aftermarket customization house Liberty Walk, and so on. There are also cars with logos of real-life non-automotive-based sponsors on them such as the Hard Rock Café.
• Scenery Porn: With the game map being based on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, you're going to see a lot of tropical beauty. The smaller game map and being designed for ninth-gen consoles means that it also looks better than The Crew 2. There's even an entire playlist dedicated to exploring the island in race events called the Hawaii Scenic Tour.
• Shout-Out:
  • During the Hawaii Scenic Tour air Time Attack event "Kingdom of Lani", Keola indirectly mentions Jurassic Park when you pass over Kahana State Park.
    Keola: There used to be dinosaurs around here! Like... 30 years ago. It was for a little Hollywood movie - but there were there, I swear!
  • Some of the opposing racers in the playlists have familiar names, such as two racers named Finn and Jake in the 911 Legacy^note pronounced "nine-eleven" for those unaware of Porsche's iconic series of car models and a racer named Homer in the Donut Media-presented playlist Rule the Streets.
• Sigil Spam: The double corkscrew 'M' is the symbol of the in-game Motorfest and is found everywhere throughout the game; the festival grounds even has a giant drivable one of these! The various playlists also incorporate the 'M' in their intro videos.
• Stopped Numbering Sequels: Although there was only one numbered sequel in The Crew series, this is just the third entry and Ubisoft has now switched to subtitles here.
• The Theme Park Version: Of Oʻahu, having pretty much just the best parts of the island (and some of the other Hawaiian Islands, such as volcanoes) in one condensed map. The festival theming makes it even more colorful than it already is, too.
• Universal Driver's License: All the vehicles you can drive or pilot in The Crew 2? You can do so in this game, too.
• V8 Engine Noises: In Motorfest, any car can have an engine sound that's different from its default through audio signatures. Each audio signature is tied to a playlist, which is related to the type of vehicle used - completing challenges in the American Muscle playlist unlocks the V8 engine sound, for example - so you can have your Mini making Porsche noises or your Lambo sounding like a motorcycle.
• Wide-Open Sandbox: Although obviously not as big as the United States or the Test Drive Unlimited series' version of Oʻahu, The Crew Motorfest's version of Oʻahu is still expansive and packed with things to do.
• Zip Mode: Although fast travel is in this game just like the first two entries, players need to complete ten playlists before they can freely use this feature this time around.

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