The Crew: Motorfest

I've dragged enough friends into mediocre racing games to know the warning signs, and Motorfest genuinely surprised me by dodging most of them. Ubisoft Ivory Tower took the bloated, jack-of-all-trades mess of The Crew 2 and rebuilt it around a tighter, festival-loop structure they call Playlists - themed collections of races and challenges covering street racing, off-road, drift, vintage cars, and more. As of mid-2026 there are 30 of these, each with its own identity, and that variety keeps the hour count climbing without the grind feeling punishing. The Hawaiian setting across O'ahu and Maui does real work here too: the scenery is genuinely gorgeous, and the compact island geography means you are always close to the next event rather than slogging across a continent. The handling model is the biggest win over its predecessor. Cars have actual weight now - a Ford Bronco feels like a heavy SUV, a Honda Civic glides differently through corners, and the nitrous hit lands with some punch. It is still arcade-leaning, which is exactly right for this kind of open-world racer. Wheel and pedal setup works cleanly with full controller support, DualSense haptics are supported, and the control remapping is thorough enough that button-layout obsessives will be satisfied. If you are a sim purist chasing force-feedback nuance, look elsewhere. If you want a Saturday-night crowd-pleaser that anyone can pick up inside ten minutes, this handles beautifully. The multiplayer story is mostly good with one caveat you need to know upfront. Online co-op supports up to four players through the full campaign, free-roam, and playlist events - your whole crew can roam Hawaii together and the win condition is cooperative (one crew member crossing the line first wins it for everyone). Even better, Motorfest includes a Friend Pass: one owner can bring three friends along for free, which is the right call for a game built around the crew-up fantasy. The catch is that cross-platform co-op is locked - your squad needs to be on the same platform. Cross-play does exist for PvP modes like Grand Race, but co-op sessions are same-platform only. If your friends are split across PC and console, that stings. On the PvP side, Grand Race and the weekly Live Summit events give the competitive crowd something to chase, and the Custom Show lets players vote on each other's vehicle builds, which is a nice low-stakes way to stay engaged between bigger sessions. Where Motorfest does frustrate is in its structure friction. Fast travel is tied to playlist intro points rather than being fully open, which adds annoying backtracking. Some co-op races gatekeep rewards behind specific unlocked vehicles, meaning a newer crew member can participate but earn nothing from the run. The game also requires a persistent online connection - no offline fallback - which is a known Ubisoft habit but worth flagging for anyone with spotty internet. The 79% positive rating on Steam across nearly 25,000 reviews tells the real story: this is a crowd-pleaser with genuine rough edges, not a flawless product. Compared to Forza Horizon 5 it trades map scale and polish for a fresher setting and a slightly more social co-op structure. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on how much you care about Hawaii versus the Forza brand.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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