The latest in the free monthly offerings from Ubisoft on PC is The Crew, an open-world racer modeled in the fashion of an MMO. That means level ups for car parts, xp points to earn, quests to race, and so forth. It's actually a pretty cool system that works more often than it doesn't. And the game's USA map is huge. Massive even. So head on over to the Ubisoft Club to nab your free copy now.

The Crew is an important step for Ubisoft as it is the first fully connected open world ever created by our studios. The game offers endless hours of driving through the most iconic American landmarks, recreating the full US territory from East Coast to West Coast. Through the Crew, Ubisoft reinvents the driving game genre by offering features that are traditionally dedicated to MMO or shooter games. The Crew includes constant community support and continues to provide players with regular content updates.

Here's a clip of the PC version in action.



The Crew is also set to get a new expansion later this year called "Calling All Units", that as the name suggests adds a cops versus street racers vibe to the game.

Ubisoft's online open-world racer The Crew has just got its first expansion, called Wild Run. With it comes a new and improved graphics engine (free to all players), weather effects, and giant monster trucks driving off-road. And through stunt courses reminiscent of Trackmania. There's also a new tournament mode called Summit that players can take part in, which refreshes every three days. Plus, motorcycles -- aka the two-wheeled versions of cars.

There's a new trailer for the expansion which you can check out below. And in typical Ubisoft fashion, it's slick and stylish.



The Wild Run expansion is available now and can be bought separately for $39.95, or alongside The Crew in The Crew: Wild Run Edition for $69.95.

Ubisoft has warned those potentially picking up mutliplayer racing title The Crew that early reviews should not be trusted thanks to the developer not offering early copies of the game to the press ahead of its launch on December 2nd. The embargo will drop, and access to the game will begin for the press, on launch day.

"While we fully anticipate that you might see some reviews immediately at launch — largely built around the preview sessions we facilitated during the past months or the limited content of the closed and open betas — they won’t be based on optimal conditions or reflect the finished game," Ubisoft posted on its official blog.

"We sincerely hope everyone will take the time to customize their ride as they progress through all five regions, explore every corner of the map solo and with friends, dive into our competitive and cooperative mechanics, race to the end of the main campaign, choose a Faction and compete with your crew in Factions Wars, and so much more."

The blog post stresses that The Crew is a social game, requiring full servers of players to fully enjoy. "...The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it’s only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world," the post states. "And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players — something that can’t be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press."

Ubisoft's upcoming open-world persistent online racer, The Crew, is set to hit closed beta stage on Xbox One and PS4 this November.

The closed beta will take place from November 6th through till the 10th, and you can sign up your interest in participating by clicking here.

The closed beta will allow players to explore the entire United States and complete challenges in two of the five regions available in the game, the Midwest and East Coast. The Crew offers a truly enormous living, breathing open world with varied and detailed environments, full of activities to explore seamlessly either alone or with friends.

If successful, Ubisoft reminds us that some online features will require either Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus to play.

The Crew is slated for release on Xbox One and Xbox 360, PC and PS4 this December the 2nd.

Ubisoft has today announced that their open-world racing MMO The Crew will now be released worldwide on December 2nd, pushing the game back a month.

The upcoming open world racer was previously expected on November 14th for Australia. The extra time will be used for a second closed beta on Xbox One and PS4 at some stage in November.

“Our philosophy remains to deliver the best game possible. We’re all committed to delivering a revolutionary experience in the driving genre and we can’t wait for The Crew to be in the hands of the players.” said creative director Julian Gerighty.

After a successful closed beta on PC, Ubisoft has announced that their MMO racer The Crew will soon be driving a closed beta to consoles beginning tomorrow, September 30th.

At the moment the beta will be invitation only according to developer Ivory Tower, but luckily it's an easy process to gain said invitation. Simply head over to their website and choose your platform poison and you'll be guided through a simple signup process. Those successful will gain a download code.

The beta will offer the entire United States map present for the full game, with all of the missions in the Midwest region, all of the skill challenges in Midwest and East Coast, and free roam available in the rest of the nation. PvP lobbies for the Midwest and East Coast also will be available. That comprises 30 missions, 200 skill challenges and 6,200 miles of road in all.

As for vehicles, Ivory Tower isn't saying exactly what from from the fleet will be offered, but there will be Street and Dirt specs to enhance their performance in street races and offroad races.

The Crew is launching November 11th for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox 360.

An Ubisoft representative has let slip the graphical benchmarks the team behind open-world racer The Crew is currently aiming for: 30 frames per second at a resolution of 1080p on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

This revelation comes in response to a forum member's complaints that the PC beta test of the game is locked at 30 frames per second. An Ubisoft community manager stepped in to respond with a succinct rebuttal: "The final game will run in 1080p with 30 frames per second on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, and will support up to 5760 x 1080p on PC for triple screen set-ups," the response reads. "Right now the team is focusing on providing an optimal experience for all players."

Later, the community manager would edit the reply to note that the development team is working to reach 60 frames per second on the PC. "We can officially say that we're aiming for 60FPS on PC at launch," he wrote. "Our Beta build is still more performant at 30FPS, but you can expect to play at 60FPS on PC when the game is launched."

As a prominent PC player it is quite disheartening to hear that I won't be able to go above and beyond 60FPS. Hopefully Ubisoft will have something more solid by the time The Crew debuts on November 11th.

Ubisoft's closed beta event for their open-world racing MMO The Crew has now gone live, and we recommend those eager to try the game out to check your emails for the required codes and installation instructions.

The closed beta features the game's entire version of the U.S. for exploration, and will be available until July 26th. During the beta, missions will only be available in the Midwest and East Coast map areas, although Ubisoft plans to add more challenges in different areas before the game goes live on November 11th.

Beta players will also have access to two PvP lobbies in the challenge areas, where they can race against other beta participants. As for the cars, players can tweak their vehicles with the Street Spec and Dirt Spec customization options for now. The beta will offer limited access to the game's remaining three Specs — Perf, Raid and Circuit.

If you haven't gotten on the beta action for Ubisoft's open world mulitplayer racing game The Crew, then you can now watch this video to see what you'll be missing out on.

In the 7 minute walkthough video, Ubisoft Reflections Lead Mission Designer Serkan Hassan describes the various modes and interfaces in the current beta build of the game, showing more menus that actual racing, but offering a good idea on the customisation options and gameplay choices available.

The Crew PC closed beta kicks off today and is expected to run until July 25. Sign-ups are still open over at thecrewgame.com/beta.

November 11th 2014 is the scheduled release date for the retail game on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The closed PC beta for open-world driving game The Crew will launch this upcoming Monday, July 21 — a few days earlier than previously announced — Ubisoft revealed today.

Originally set to rev its engines on July 23rd, The Crew's closed beta will instead choose to race ahead starting on Monday and run through Friday, July 25th. The beta will feature the game's entire version of the U.S. for exploration. For now, missions will only be available in the Midwest and East Coast map areas, although Ubisoft plans to add more challenges in different areas before the game goes live on November 11th.

Beta players will also have access to two PvP lobbies in the challenge areas, where they can race against other beta participants. As for the cars, players can tweak their vehicles with the Street Spec and Dirt Spec customization options for now. The beta will offer limited access to the game's remaining three Specs — Perf, Raid and Circuit.

"The Crew was built from the ground up as a breathing, living world, meaning that in this Closed Beta you will be able to play with your friends at any time - or challenge rivals from all around the world," Ubisoft's announcement states.

PC gamers interested in getting an advanced look at Ubisoft's forthcoming online racing game The Crew can now head over to the game's official website to register for a chance to participate in a beta test, scheduled to kick off on July 23 2014.

Join a living, breathing world of car enthusiasts, where you always have someone next to you, ready to take on new challenges with or against you. Seamlessly jump in and out of each other’s games at any time, joining forces to overcome the toughest challenges: takedown a rival faction driver on Las Vegas Strip, escape the police patrols across downtown Chicago, or confront an opponent crew on Florida’s beachfront highways. Make new encounters, cooperate with your friends, and beat their achievements when they’re gone. Build your crew of four drivers and take them in a thrilling ride through the entire USA.

Head over to this page for beta sign-ups.

The Crew is due on November 11 2014 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Fresh off the press, Ubisoft has announced that their open-world racing MMO The Crew will be hitting stores come November 11th, however a beta will begin July 23rd for those eager to give a try beforehand.

Described as an online-only racing title akin to an MMO, The Crew allows racing fans to drive around in a massive, open-world recreation of the United States as they compete against players and pre-determined challenges. To help showcase what that all means is a new gameplay trailer premiered today showing off four cars, each with different tuning specs and riding in an iconic region of the United States.

Sadly it looks like the beta page has crashed after being announced only minutes ago, but if you prefer the F5 mashing style head over to their defunct website. While mashing that key you can check out the latest E3 2014 gameplay giving a glimpse at the rather expansive in-game world that promises to have no loading screens.

The Crew will be available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

After following yesterday's reveal of new gameplay and a Spring 2014 release, Ubisoft has today confirmed that the new-gen and PC racing title will be blending the traditional retail model with mobile-style in-app purchases.

Commenting to Videogamer, Ubisoft confirmed that players will be offered the opportunity to purchase “performance parts.” This will be bought using either of two in-game currencies, real money or "crew credits."

Of course, those wanting to play the game without touching their wallet can do just that says Ubisoft, though it will take more time to advance. The publisher has yet to detail just how exactly the microtransactions will affect the game, or whether the choice of utilising real money will push the game into a pay-to-win atmosphere.

Ubisoft has sent word that their recently announced racing title The Crew will be available across PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One come Autumn 2014.

Described as an online-only racing title akin to an MMO, The Crew allows racing fans to drive around in a massive, open-world recreation of the United States as they compete against players and pre-determined challenges. To help showcase what that all means is a new gameplay trailer premiered today showing off four cars, each with different tuning specs and riding in an iconic region of the United States.

Pre-orders have also opened up for the game, with two different editions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Limited Edition will grant early access to rides that will prepare gamers for any road—and off-road—conditions. Players who pre-order this edition will receive early access to the BMW Z4 sDrive35is, Mini Cooper S, and Dodge Ram SRT-10 and their respective sets of full custom and performance parts. The Muscle Edition, which can only be pre-ordered at GameStop, will include all early unlock content from the Limited Edition and will also grant exclusive early access to the 2015 Ford Mustang GT. Both Editions include 10,000 bonus Crew Credits.

That isn't all according to Ubisoft, with players now able to win exclusive rewards through the Golden Plates treasure hunt by rummaging through past, present and future game assets (screenshots, videos, etc.) to find golden license plates. Those who do find them can enter the cods into the official website hub to unlock various in-game rewards, goodies and mystery awards.

Out at this year's E3, one of the first true next-gen games I had a chance to look at was Ubisoft and Ivory Tower's The Crew -- an open-world action racer that carries deep RPG elements with it in a persistent online world. It's ambitious, to say the least.

My time with the game was limited, but despite how intimidating the description above might sound, it was actually very easy to pick-up-and-play and I marvelled immediately at the size and accessibility of the game's ginormous world. Despite carrying across many successful elements from recent open-world racers, The Crew is definitely doing something very, very different.

Click here to read our The Crew Preview.