A work-in-progress achievement guide for Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown.
I’ll add to this as I unlock the achievements, and find various ways to do so.
Basic Achievements
The achievements below are those earned very early game, without a grind or much effort needed.
Not just a pretty face
Unmissable. This is likely the first achievement you’ll unlock – it requires you to finish the character design process which is after the first set of cut scenes in game.
Start racing
Unmissable. Vivian (white Ford GT) challenges you to a race during the tutorial. Finishing that race against her pops this achievement.
No longer a nobody
Unmissable. This achievement pops when you first level up your Reputation – given you level up once, if not twice on the starting island, this will be a very early achievement.
Once a mechanic, always a mechanic!
Unmissable. In the tutorial, after buying your first car, you’ll visit a Workshop, and you’ll be made to fit a Turbo upgrade. This is a Legendary part, earning you this achievement.
New look new you
Eventually, you’ll end up in the Solar Hotel. In your room is a wardrobe. Walk up to it and activate the menu, alter something about your outfit, then back out, saving it. You’ll get this achievement.
I found this didn’t work the very first time I was placed into the hotel during the tutorial, but you spawn in your room every time you join the game, so you can get it easily then (wardrobe as seen from hotel spawn point below).
From hero to zeroes
You’re likely to get this pretty early on in the story – races pay out $15000 for victory (or $18750 for first completion) so while completing some other achievements, you’re likely to get these.
Circuit slugger
Circuit races are those with ‘laps’ involved – finishing 10 of them earns you this achievement.
Keeping up with the car dashy one
Sprint races are those with a percentage counter involved (they have a different finishing point to the start-line) – finishing 10 of them earns you this achievement. Domination races do not count.
Time to kill
Time Attack races are those where it’s just you and the clock. They can be circuits or sprints – finishing 10 of them earns you this achievement.
Nomad
Complete 40 DIFFERENT races for this achievement. There are lots available by mid game, so this should be fairly easy to achieve.
The body beautiful
In a workshop, go to alter the ‘Livery’, and then create a new one. You then can alter any part (add a sticker, change the colour, so on) and save it – that earns this achievement.
Driftin’ H.K.I
Drifting over 100m – I ended up doing this on a wet dirt road on in my starting Daily Driver.
Hammer time!
At all the gas stations, there are blue rounded rectangles on the floor. Pull into one with a damaged car (just crash on the way in) and then hold the prompted button to repair and clean you car. This achievement will pop.
Quick start
So, 0-62mph in 2.5s. You will eventually get this in a heavily upgraded supercar or hypercar (I ended up doing it in the Aventador SVJ at all Epic tuning). You’re best doing it in a tunnel (where it’s dry and grippy).
Stay above 248mph!
Despite what the achievement says, you just need to get to 248mph (or, slightly over that). This can be somewhat difficult, but again, an upgraded supercar or hypercar should make it easy. I used the East-West tunnel at the north of the map, mainly because it’s dry, huge, and doesn’t take any turns you need to slow down for.
Clan Achievements
Join the club!
At Level 12, you’ll get the option to pick a clan. Go to one of their HQ’s, talk to the recruiter, race them (and win!), then return to HQ to talk to them. You’ll join a clan, and get this achievement.
Team Work
Once you’ve joined a clan, you unlock the ability to do Clan races. Winning 5 of these will earn this achievement.
Disclaimer: I don’t know if you specifically need to win, or if just somebody from your Clan does. I suspect you need to.
Blood is thicker than water
Once you’ve joined a clan, you unlock the ability to do Clan races. Completing 10 of these will earn you this achievement.
First rung
At the end of Clan Influence level 9, you’ll unlocka task to go and challenge a member of your clan. Completing this and winning the race both earns you this achievement, and lets you level up to Clan Influence level 10.
At the time of writing, it appears that this blocked gaining any further Clan Influence, so any gained over what’s needed to unlock the challenge before completing it will be lost!
Deep impact
Because of the bug mentioned above, you’ll likely get this at the same time you beat the first challenger.
Photography Achievements
After the tutorial, with the full unlock of FRIM and Alyss, you gain a prompt next to the Alyss prompt to open your camera. Open it, and take a photo.
Peekaboo
Go to the place below. Take a photograph. You’ll get this achievement.
At the wheel
Go to the place below. Take a photograph. You’ll get this achievement.
Exploration Achievements
Everything the light touches
Visit every district on Hong Kong Island. You’ll get this eventually, but you can target it by ensuring you enter each of the map areas – there are 14, and those you haven’t visited are likely empty on your map.
GPS Coordinator
So, for this achievement, you have to do exactly what it says – visit (and hence discover) every Dealership, Gas Station, Workshop, Clan HQ, and Meeting Point. These all appear greyed out on the map the moment you enter a new district, so visiting all the districts shows you what you need to visit. The in-game pop-up counters for this are wrong at the time of writing – I supposedly have only visited 5 of 6 workshops, despite having them all unlocked (and this achievement!).
Map maker
This achievement unlocks when you’ve discovered 50% of roads. Road discovery is a great way to gain reputation, so I highly recommend starting on this early in the game. 50% is, obviously, a pretty big chunk, so do this at the same time you’re doing the ‘drive x distance in a vehicle of Y category’ tasks.
Unstoppable
Speed traps are the triangles on your map with a lightning bolt through them. There are so many of them that for this achievement, I had many uncompleted, with enough ticked off at 2 stars to earn this. They need to be 50 UNIQUE stars, so you can’t just do the same speed trap over and over.
Treasure hunter
This achievement requires you to collect 100 Radiant Prizes. They come in a few various forms – every car dealership has a green one, which contains a sticker. There are then coin pickups (yellow), reputation pickups (blue), and clan reputation pickups (purple and yellow). They highlight on your main map and mini map as a diamond in a dashed box.
As you roam the map in Free Roam, you’ll occasionally get a pulsing symbol in the upper right section of where your mini map is, in the bottom left, stating ‘Wreck Nearby’. Follow the pulsing (it increases in volume and frequency as you get closer) and when you reach it, hold the button prompted to collect it.
This achievement requires you to collect all 14 wrecks of one of the 2 wreck cars. The vast majority of these wrecks can be detected form a road, so you’re highly likely to find most of them while exploring the map. 3, however, can be a bit harder to find, as they lie on the dashed paths, out of reach of regular roads. Half the fun is exploring, but if you are stuck, the last 3 I discovered have their locations below.
Other Achievements
These may take a bit of time to unlock.
Turning tricks
FRIM is the system that appears along the top of your screen when performing drifts or overtakes or other bits during Free Roam. Filling the bar causes you to level up, and gives you the opportunity to bank credits earned. Not banking allows you to level up further – reaching level 5 earns this achievement.
Living dangerously
FRIM is the system that appears along the top of your screen when performing drifts or overtakes or other bits during Free Roam. Filling the bar causes you to level up, and gives you the opportunity to bank credits earned. Not banking allows you to level up further – reaching level 10 earns this achievement. You just need to reach 10, not actually complete it or bank anything (you get $75,000 for reaching 10, and $100,000 for completing it).
I was a bit fearful of this one, but I did it first try with the following strategy:
Running North-South down the middle of the map is the tunnel under the hillsides. In a fast car (supercar in my case) I drove up the wrong way, drifted 180, then came down the other side the wrong way. I had to do this a few times to eventually build up enough points – the important thing is to have a car that can accelerate quickly enough to start earning ‘High Speed’ before you lose your multiplier.
Every trick in the book – yet to unlock
This achievement requires you to trigger every FRIM action at least once. I haven;t unlocked it yet, but below is a record of the ones I know I’ve gotten so far:
- Drift
- 0-62 mph
- Dodge
- Risky Dodge!
- Dodge specialist!
- Overtake
- Risky Overtake!
- Overtaking pro!
- In-between
- Risky in-between!
- Brush
- Wrong way
- High speed
- Burn
- Jump
- 180 degrees
- 360 degrees
- Donut
- Slipstream (only applies with other players, not A.I.)
Easy as 1-2-3
This achievement can be harder than it appears, thanks to the variable weather and AI. However, once you win 3 circuit races in a row (the two in the tutorial (not Vivian’s) do count), you earn this achievement. Circuit races are those with ‘laps’ involved.
What brakes?
This achievement can be harder than it appears, thanks to the variable weather and AI. However, once you win 3 sprint races in a row, you earn this achievement. Sprint races are those with a percentage in the top right, that aren’t Domination races.
Big air
This achievement wants you to jump 100m. Around the map there are ramps, like the one below (and in other styles). You can use these to help with this achievement. To be clear, you need to land ‘cleanly’ (IE, FRIM needs to acknowledge you’ve jumped). Update (thanks to R.V.D.N for this): You apparently don’t need a completely clean landing, which may make this achievement much easier.
French horsepower
The 2CV can be bought for $20,000 from the Classic Car dealership. Drive it 31 miles for this achievement. Remember, you can upgrade cars, so it’s probably worth upgrading it just to make this a bit more bearable. I used mine for map exploration.
The odometer appears bugged – it can reset if you buy a car with another equipped, so keep that in mind.