Latest news with #TheCrewMotorfest
Top Gear
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Ferrari's now in The Crew Motorfest, and yes, you can drive an F40
Ferrari's now in The Crew Motorfest, and yes, you can drive an F40 The Enzo Ferrari museum comes to Maui, and you've got the keys to all its prized exhibits Skip 5 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. 1 / 5 Have you ever stopped and thought about what Ferrari really means? Sure, everyone – and we do mean everyone – knows the cars. The racing history, the association with luxury, these things are constants. But in the modern age, for one brand to house elements as disparate as a theme park, a Formula One team, and a carbon fibre chess set and still hold onto a coherent image is quite a feat. More so when you consider that for most people, even the most foundational element of the Ferrari brand, the cars themselves, are just an idea. The F40 is one of the most recognisable and well-loved vehicles ever made, but Ferrari only made 1,311 of them. Which means for the other, ooh, several million fans who don't have one out in the garage, it's just a notion. The only place most of us can drive one is in games. Advertisement - Page continues below With that idea front of mind, that owning these cars is only possible in the virtual realm for the majority, there's a feeling of significance to Ferrari's partnership with The Crew Motorfest, which brings a new playlist of content to the live service racer and a digitised museum experience. The manufacturer's never been especially shy about licensing its cars in games, but this feels different. It begins with Michele Pignatti Morano, the director of the Enzo Ferrari museum, telling you about the vehicle you're about to drive. How and why each of the era-defining supercars were conceived and engineered, and what kind of legacy they've created for themselves since they launched. It feels like a fireside chat after a lavish dinner, and Pignatti Morano's insights have a way of conveying what makes Ferrari special: the passion. And moments later when you get into the car, that's when this Season 7 content for Motorfest feels special. There have been F40s in games since there have been F40s and games, and in fact this model was already in Motorfest before this new Ferrari playlist was added. It's not even one of the newly added models, but the lead up to driving one has been framed in such a way that this time, sitting behind the virtual wheel of one feels somehow more authentic. You're almost starstruck. As for the new cars - the GTO, F50 and that newfangled F80 with its controversial, mascara-like streak of black running across the front section, they feel just as momentous to drive. And it's not just that they're quick, and follow the curve of a corner like the hem of a perfectly tailored Italian suit. It's the little details. Advertisement - Page continues below A new soundtrack, written and recorded especially for this playlist, uses lively string arrangements to conjure Vivaldi and Rossini without landing on the specific notes of their works. The speedometers and rev counters seem to have been given extra love on your HUD, each bespoke to its vehicle and signalling the dominant design trends of the era. Even the colour grading of the image as a whole has a red hue when you're driving a race from the Ferrari playlist. Plenty of other games have Ferrari's cars, but The Crew Motorfest seems to have a little piece of the brand's pure essence. It's all leading up to your drive in the F80, the newest in Ferrari's long-running lineage of supercars. Its looks and engine specs have been divisive since the Prancing Horse drew back the veil on it in 2024, but here in Motorfest where parting with £4.2m isn't a prerequisite for owning one, you're given to take a lighthearted attitude towards its dramatic lines and enjoy the sheer plantedness as you zoom across Oahu at speeds only NASA has the equipment to accurately measure. In total, the Ferrari playlist consists of seven new main events, 25 challenges and nine other side activities, and marks the beginning of a month-long Ferrari celebration in the game, beginning on 2 July. But what it does so effectively is create the feeling of being more than the sum of its parts. You cross the finish line feeling some of the passion that built the company, and then sustained it through the decades as it grew into a global luxury brand. And then you restart the event, obviously. Because that means having another go in an F50, or a GTO, or an F80, on almost empty roads. It's too tempting to decline. After that, the rest of the season continues along a broader theme of European automotive heritage. The 'Luxury Chronicles: Europe' playlist will be added on 6 August, covering the finest gems from British, French, and German engineering. New playlist events will be added weekly during this time, along with 17 new vehicles throughout the entirety of Season 7. Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ubisoft says you "cannot complain" it shut down The Crew because you never actually owned it, and you weren't "deceived" by the lack of an offline version "to access a decade-old, discontinued video game"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Ubisoft's lawyers have responded to a class action lawsuit over the shutdown of The Crew, arguing that it was always clear that you didn't own the game and calling for a dismissal of the case outright. The class action was filed in November 2024, and Ubisoft's response came in February 2025, though it's only come to the public's attention now courtesy of Polygon. The full response from Ubisoft attorney Steven A. Marenberg picks apart the claims of plaintiffs Matthew Cassell and Alan Liu piece by piece, but the most common refrain is that The Crew's box made clear both that the game required an internet connection and that Ubisoft retained the right to revoke access "to one or more specific online features" with a 30-day notice at its own discretion. "After making their purchases, Plaintiffs enjoyed access to The Crew for years before Ubisoft decided in late 2023 to retire shut down the servers of the ten-year-old video game," Marenberg argues. "Plaintiffs received the benefit of their bargain and cannot complain now that they were deceived simply because Ubisoft did not then create an offline version of the discontinued video game." Polygon's report notes that the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on March 18, which argued that an activation code included with the retail version of the game that doesn't expire until 2099 implied that the whole package would remain playable until that date. It also argues that The Crew's currency could be considered a sale of a gift certificate, which are not allowed to expire under California law, where the suit was filed. Which side of the argument has merit here will ultimately be decided by a judge, and if Ubisoft has its way, it'll be dismissed before it can actually go to trial. Marenberg concludes that the "plaintiffs' dissatisfaction with being unable to access a decade old, discontinued video game is not sufficient basis upon which to file a putative class action complaint." It's worth explicitly noting that this case is unrelated to the ongoing Stop Killing Games campaign, a broader consumer rights effort inspired by The Crew's shutdown. That group is attempting to create laws that would force publishers to patch otherwise online-only games so that end users could continue playing them after they're no longer being supported, whether through offline modes or support for custom servers. The movement has inspired Ubisoft to add offline modes to The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest, but not the now-dead original that spawned all this kerfuffle in the first place. Publishers are absolutely terrified "preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes," so the US copyright office has struck down a major effort for game preservation.
