Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown will be officially released tomorrow. As we usually do before our PC performance analysis articles, we decided to test it on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 first. And even though the game doesn't have ray tracing effects, NVIDIA's most powerful GPU can't run it at a consistent 60 fps.
For these first benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32 GB DDR5 at 6000 MHz, and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4090. I also used Windows 10 64-bit and the GeForce 560.94 WHQL driver. In addition, I disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown uses the KT Engine by Kylotonn. This engine was used in most WRC games (before EA acquired the WRC rights). The last game to use it was WRC Generations.
As mentioned, the game has no ray tracing effects. At native 4K/Ultra, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 can reach frame rates between 50 and 60 fps, with rare cases of crashes to 45 fps. For a non-RT racing game, this performance is a bit disappointing.
Honestly, I'm not that surprised by these numbers. WRC Generations ran at least 64 fps at native 4K/Ultra on the NVIDIA RTX 4090. And that was a 2022 title. So the KT Engine was never as optimized as the EGO Engine or the Forza Tech.
The good news here is that Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown supports DLSS 3. Therefore, RTX owners can enable DLSS 3 Frame Generation to improve performance. With DLSS 3 Frame Generation and DLAA, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 achieves frame rates above 80 fps at all times.
In addition, DLAA can significantly improve the game's graphics. The default AA solution is truly awful in this title. At the end of the video you will find a comparison between the game's default AA solution and DLAA. Just look at that fence. Without DLAA it looks awful because it is full of aliasing. With DLAA it looks amazing.
So, even though the game doesn't have RT effects, it is really demanding. As I said, there are ways to improve performance even when using the ultra settings. However, you have to resort to frame generation and this is something that might annoy some PC gamers.
I didn't experience any input latency issues while playing with DLSS 3 FG. I also didn't notice any major visual artifacts. Unlike some other games, the DLSS implementation seems great here.
Also, I didn't notice any stuttering during my testing. There is some stuttering when entering the settings, but there was none while playing, so you can be sure that you will have a smooth gaming experience.
Our PC performance analysis for this game is expected to go live this weekend, but until then, check out the video below!
John is the founder and editor-in-chief of DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fanatic and is a huge supporter of the modding and indie communities. Before founding DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. Although he is a diehard PC gamer, his gaming roots lie on consoles. John loved – and still loves – the 16-bit consoles and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. However, the PC platform won him over consoles. This was mainly due to 3DFX and its legendary dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on “The Evolution of PC Graphics Cards”.
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