Buggy TDU2 apologises with free DLC

By Robert Purchese Published 23 February, 2011

PC patch applied. Consoles testing.

The first helping of Test Drive Unlimited 2 downloadable content - The Exploration Pack - will be free.

Why? Because a patch to remedy the game's many bugs has taken weeks to make.

"We really appreciate your patience in this matter and we would like to announce that we will be making the first premium DLC for the game free for everybody as a way of saying thank you," the developer said in a statement.

The Exploration Pack contains wrecks that need discovering to unlock a Lancia Stratos version Rallye and a 1969 Dodge Charger.

As for that patch: the PC version is live now, and the console counterparts are in certification at Microsoft and Sony. They're expected to "follow shortly".

What that patch does

  • Logging into the game has been improved
  • Once into the game the online network experience is now much more stable in all areas
  • Save games no longer corrupt
  • Existing corrupted save games will be repaired in many cases
  • Friends lists are now populated
  • Invites now work correctly
  • Clubs have been brought back online
  • Exploits to gain money have been fixed
  • Casino access has been improved
  • Players will no longer lose money because of the Casino bug

Test Drive Unlimited 2, a unique driving proposition, earned a handsome 7/10 on Eurogamer.

Is Eurogamer any good at Test Drive Unlimited 2?

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • metalangel #1 1 year ago

    Oh thank god. Perhaps we can talk about playing the game on the TDU2 forum now, instead of having a thousand illiterate morons all posting their angry gibberish about how they want compensation/a refund/Atari's guts for garters.

  • Fillem #2 1 year ago

    Jesus. Looking at the patch notes makes me wonder how they could've released it in that state. Pretty unbelievable.

  • mcmothercruncher #3 1 year ago

    That would be *legitimate" angry gibberish metalangel. The game is a disgrace.

  • slickster #4 1 year ago

    This is great news because im a level 51 and completed everything in ibiza and hawaii and was getting bored. cant wait to make a club and try the co-op challenges. plus spend all my money in the casino. :o)

  • metalangel #5 1 year ago

    @mcmothercruncher: Apart from the online features and needing to keep a backup of your save (you should be doing that anyway), everything else works. It's the ridiculous demands of compensation that really get me. Take the game back if you're that fed up.

  • berelain #6 1 year ago

    @MetalAngel - why should you need to keep a backup of your save? And honestly, launching a game that proclaims itself to be an MMOR - Massively Multuiplayer ONLINE Racer - with a catastrophically buggy online section (and no way to force an offline mode apart from manually disconnecting your computer from the internet!) is pretty much unforgivable.

    Plus, not everyone can take the game back - most PC games can't be traded in, Digital purchases are rarely (if ever) refunded.

    On the other hand, looking forward to actually being able to play the game. Its great when it works.

  • Tryhard #7 1 year ago

    Hooray I can finally play the game how it was mean't to be played.Thank goodnes for us Right Charlie testers.

  • Kanselier #8 1 year ago

    @metalangel

    People can not handle disappointment. The PS3 Mass Effect 2 forums over at Bioware were filled with rage and hatred because the Cerberus DLC was not available before the 21st of January in Europe. Shops all over Europe were selling the game two days before that date and people demanded access to the Cerberus pack. Petitions were created to boycot Sony, people were promising Bioware that they will not buy Mass Effect 3, 1000 word posts were made how the consumer is getting screwed by the big companies.

    It is truly a sad display of lack of knowledge and intelligence. I am not familiar with TDU2 and its 'bugs' but there is a thing called patience and discipline.

  • asphaltcowboy #9 1 year ago

    A way of saying thank you? or a way of saying sorry?
    Would be better if it was the casino DLC.

    Regardless, still not getting it... (yet. maybe)

  • TheDudesRug #10 1 year ago

    It was fairly obvious from about a month before release that this game was going to need all you beta testers buying it in the first week. Thanks for doing that and reporting the bugs, hopefully it's in a more playable state as a result.

    I was thinking of picking this game up when it hit the bins first off, but I think I'll wait for the inevitable £7.99 price tag in a couple of months. Looks OK for a laugh but not worth a lot of my time. Might even be like the first one, where the demo was more than enough for the experience.

  • Ryze #11 1 year ago

    EG - any chance of having a new, standard method of assessing and reviewing games with evolving online componenents, on an on going basis several weeks or months after launch as patches are released, and the online population grows or settles down?

    TDU, DCU Online and Call of Duty: Black Ops - not to mention the upcoming relaunch of APB, could do with more long term online assessment than the fixed, launch date review can ever offer.

    It'd be nice to learn how TDU plays and feels online in a month or so, without having to gamble based on random forum opinions.

    I'm interested in getting the PC version once it's working properly - as long as it plays well and supports controllers and wheels properly.

    Just a thought...

  • Paul_cz #12 1 year ago

    Amazing game on PC, playing for few days and loving it. Unique driving game indeed!
    Bugs are bad, but at least they are already fixed. For some games it takes a LOT more time and they are a LOT more broken.

  • Abraxus #13 1 year ago

    STILL no mention of fixing the crap handling with a pad or adding full wheel support. Not much point giving me DLC if I don't play the fucking game, IS THERE?

  • kosigan #14 1 year ago

    @berelain: "why should you need to keep a backup of your save?"

    Because hard drives are mechanical devices and will fail eventually. Backups are always a good thing, for that eventuality alone, regardless of software corruption issues.

  • joe90 #15 1 year ago

    too late, they have missed the boat.

  • Nephirion #16 1 year ago

    brmm, brmm

  • metalangel #17 1 year ago

    @berelain: If you don't back up data you think is important (everything from your MP3 collection to your saved games) then you deserve everything you get when something fails or corrupts and you lose it all. You don't even need a 360 memory card any more, you can just stick any old USB storage device in and copy your saved games onto it. It can take a little while, but less than the hours it took you making all that progress in your game, right?

    As for returning it... if you bought from somewhere that doesn't do refunds, okay, that's a bit frustrating. But when Atari acknowledge the problems and start to work on a patch (which they did), continuing to scream and tantrum isn't accomplishing anything except to make you look like a petulant child.

    I have the game too, I'm disappointed I can't join a car club or do the co-op activities yet. But there's nothing I can do about it apart from waiting for it to be fixed. NOW NOW NOW won't get the patch certified by MS any faster.

  • berelain #18 1 year ago

    @MetalAngel - Don't get me wrong, I *do* backup my data, and I should point out that I'm playing the PC version, which seems to have been hit worse than the console versions in many ways.

    I don't agree with all the people moaning and demanding immediate compensation for their time, money, effort, and whatever, but I do think Atari was totally in the wrong putting out a game with those kind of problems - okay, so they acknowledged the problems (eventually) and Eden was working on a patch, but stating that a patch is being worked on isn't the same as actually fixing the problems. Bitching and moaning about it on the official forums certainly doesn't help, though - I completely agree with you there.

    Look forward to trying out the PC patch when I get home... if I can drag myself away from Bulletstorm for long enough, anyway ;D

  • RFturrican #19 1 year ago

    Feelin the love in the room lol

    Just go and buy Need For Speed instead if things frustrate that much. At the end of the day it is a piece of software with some bugs in it. At least the developers now know about these things and are working on it. Plus the fact they're at least giving people who own it stuff for nothing; and yet there are STILL moanings.

    What do you think this is, The Old Republic? ;)

  • KreyAtiv #20 1 year ago

    Definitely looking forward to the exploration pack if there's a '69 Dodge Charger to get out of it. :D

  • fongy #21 1 year ago

    I pre-ordered and have to say - how it was released in the UK was utterly disgraceful - you literally couldn't play it for about 3-4 days because it needs to be online to save games (and their servers were down) - when it did work (sporadically) the massive bugs / glitches sucked a lot of the fun out of it (no online races, no casino, no clubs, etc.) it was only half ready...
    I've played it a lot this week and you can definitely see improvements, but bugs like not being able to sell cars that you win in duals, etc. make progress unnecessarily difficult and just show how amateurish Eden are... we won't go into the laughable "story"... I think there is something to be said for patience, etc. but when people (many of them kids) have forked out £40+ for a game that they cannot play through no fault of their own because of shoddy developers (bearing in mind the game was delayed for months from last year) - then people have a right to complain... giving us "free DLC" isn't really good enough, people want to actually play and enjoy the game that they purchased... unfortunately this kind of thing kills MMOs and I suspect this is now DOA... such a shame as it had great potential and there are flashes of brilliance in there (getting a phone call from police asking if you want to apprehend a criminal and then being flung into a multi player chase is brilliant - but equally, having the game crash immediately after you finish and you losing an hour of gameplay as a result is not)

  • RFturrican #22 1 year ago

    @Ap3xx The problem is simple. TDU had a release date that was originally penned for 2010 and a lot of people complained because it wasn't out when it was meant to be, which is probably why it was brought out rushed. People can say they'd rather wait for the game to be completely finished and sorted, but then there would be moanings for it not being out early enough.

    The human race is never happy and that is the sad truth. Black Ops was so badly bug ridden for the PS3 that it got slated and I'm sure this is the same, but I can't gague an opinion because I don't own it. I have however, heard a lot of friends complain about the bugs, so I sympathise with all those who have this problem, but this is probably going to be a factor in terms of releases from here on in. For those who are online they will get patches and things will get better. The ones I REALLY feel sorry for are the offline people who are pretty much stuck with a broken game.

    I do feel for you all who have this in it's current state, but as I said, at least they're fixing it rather than just leaving it knackered.

  • Brev2034 #23 1 year ago

    I for one would like to say thankyou eden/atari for working hard at getting the problems sorted but 2 free cars has compensation takes the piss a bit if this was ment to be the first dlc pack were they gunna charge for this because 2 cars is just shit they would have probably charged 800msp for these how about give the people 5 or 6 of the cars people have asked for ie corvettes BMW or more suv

  • KrazyFace #24 1 year ago

    See, AP3xx... This is why I waited. I just learned the hard way (from New Vegas) that regardless of the development team or publisher, there is every chance that any new game could be released broken and bug riddled, why? Because there's now a massive safteynet known as patching. Before consoles had this option it was rare that games were released in such condition, but now the publishers just go "Oh fuckit, just put it out now, get the money for it and we'll sort it later" which means from this point forward I will NEVER run out and buy a game brand new. They can throw all the timed exclusive DLC at me they want, I'll be waiting and watching first.

    Which is exactly what I did with TDU2, even though I really wanted it badly, the lesson I've learnd is that patience really is a virtue.

  • kristo #25 1 year ago

    I don't understand the people saying "you need patience and discipline". If you buy a house and realise you can't open the windows or flames shoot out of the bathroom drain, you'd rightfully kick the builders arse. So why are these developers/publishers immune from the same?

    Seriously, fuck these guys. Make it right, or lose business. Sadly that isn't the way of things these days but a man can dream.

    Myself, if I put out a shoddy product and took peoples money for it, I'd be embarrassed and ashamed. No pride these days. Quality is forgotten.

  • secombe #26 1 year ago

    @fongy

    The game works fine offline, instead of getting all worked up I pulled the plug (literally) on the online mode and got on with the offline stuff. It saves the game fine offline.

    Given how much there is to do that doesn't require a net connection (all the License tests, Championships, Cups, Photo Tour, Wrecks, plus fully discovering both islands) you're probably looking at least 50-60hrs of one player stuff to do. Once you've done all that you are well positioned to go online (in terms of cash, houses, cars etc)

  • urbannomad123 #27 1 year ago

    Completely agree with Secombe. What happened to patience? It is not as if there isn't plenty to do in the single player mode. I don't think I have ever bought a game to jump straight into the multiplayer, particularly a driving game where there are cars to unlock and handling to adjust to. I am loving this game (just starting the first cup in Hawaii) and will be just about ready to tiptoe into the multiplayer when the patch is released (xbox 360).

  • varkdm #28 1 year ago

    Its quite an entertaining game. It was a bit worrying when I bought the game on release date (360 version) and at teh start screen it just sat there showing a pretty set of scenery. A quick view of the games website told me there was a problem with the authetnication servers so I dsiconnected teh console from the internet and played it in single player mode.. which I actually prefer anyway.

    If people really were after it for the multiplayer stuff, then I can understand their frustration, but there is a shit load of content in the game for single player, more than enough to keep you busy whilst they fixed the online issues.

    My biggest cocnern is how they seem to have screwed up the car handling, it feels worse than the original. I did a challenge today with an Audi R8 and it was just horrible, the thing just wanted to veer off the road as soon as it went above 80mph.. those cars are supposed to be a joy to drive, not a curse. Driving mechanics wise it was always going to be second or third place to gt or forza.. but thats not really the point, the star of TDU is the map.. its two full realised and mapped islands to drive around at your leisure or in any number of hundreds of races and challenges.. its unique and for that reason alone deserves a decent chance.

  • Snaggletooth #29 1 year ago

    This is exactly why I have given up buying games on day one, especially games with large online elements. You can pretty much guarantee it will be full of bugs and problems that will only make me pull out what hair I have left. I used to be mad for buying games day one, but my habits have changed and I am about 3 months behind now, mostly. This means I get the games half price usually and any problems have been patched and fixed. Although, I have to admit GT5 was a day one purchase...I rest my case.