TDU Solar Crown Devs 'Exploring Solutions' To Unlock AMG GT For Countries With Casino Ban

The Season 4 update for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown arrived yesterday, bringing the return of an in-game casino and five new cars along with a host of other smaller quality-of-life improvements.

Well, it did in certain countries, anyway. Players in over 60 nations are entirely unable to access the casino because of their countries' strict laws around gambling or its depiction in video games.

They include what we have to imagine are some fairly big markets for the game. Per the patch notes on Steam, Argentina, Brazil, China, India, the UAE, Czechia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Australia are just some of the countries where the casino is inaccessible.

That also means that, for the time being, players in these countries have no way of accessing arguably the most anticipated of the new Season 4 cars, the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. The hardcore 720bhp version of the old AMG GT is currently only obtainable by winning it on one of the in-game slot machines. We reached out to developer KT Racing for comment, and were told that the studio is aware of this issue and is 'exploring solutions' to make the car available for affected players.

This isn’t an issue exclusive to Solar Crown, in fairness. When the Diamond Casino & Resort update arrived for Grand Theft Auto Online back in 2019, players in countries with tighter gambling laws were able to enter and walk around the casino building but not take part in any of its activities involving spending in-game currency.

It nevertheless represents another bump in the road for the troubled open-world racing title, although as we recently found out in an online press conference, KT is still committed to bringing steady improvements and new features to the game. Over the next 12 months, we can expect tweaks to the graphics engine and the long-awaited arrival of more Japanese cars and buyable houses.