Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is mostly about the nostalgia, but it also brings some all-new modern features, including the addition of new Fortnite-like “Grand Prix” seasons. Each new Grand Prix includes an all-new track, new characters, and a variety of challenges spread throughout the game that reward you with Grand Prix points, which can be used to buy special cosmetics.
The first Grand Prix is the Nitro Tour and includes the Egyptian-themed track Twilight Tours (I tried it out at E3, and it was quite good), and new characters Tawna and the “Nitro Squad” of Megumi, Ami, Liz, and Isabella, aka the ladies who used to hand out prizes in the original Crash Team Racing. You can check out all the Nitro Tour goodies, and what order they’re unlocked in, below (click on the image for full resolution).
The new Grand Prix launches alongside an update. Here are the notes:
Features and Content Additions
- Introduction of Online Leaderboards – the update will also release and introduce two leaderboards for players to partake in: The first is the Nitro Point Leaderboard, which ranks the players with the most Nitro Points earned. You can earn these by completing various challenges accessible within the Grand Prix menu. The second one is the Championship Leaderboard, which tracks your overall performance while playing online multiplayer. A number of points will be given each time you complete online multiplayer races, and additional ones will be given the higher your placement is after the race is over. By the end of the Grand Prix season, the numbers will be tallied and rewards will be given to placers on each leaderboard, followed by a reset of points as another Grand Prix season starts anew.
- Pit Stop – there will be a ton of new content available for purchase at the Pit Stop including karts, characters, character skins, decals, paint jobs, wheels, and kart stickers – all of which can be purchased with Wumpa Coins. As part of the Nitro Tour Grand Prix, some items available in the Pit Stop and customization menus will give you a boost when you earn Nitro Points. To find out which items are eligible for this boost, simply look for the little Nitro cannister over their respective icons.
- Online – podium animations will be added to online matches, and anyone within the top three racers for each race will be able to view it.
- User Interface Improvements – there will be a ‘Message of the Day’ feature added to the Main Menu, and you can check in daily if you’re connected to the internet to see some of these important messages.
- Wumpa Coin Earn Rate – there will be several adjustments made to the Wumpa Coin earn rate, and this additional info will be added to the end-of-race report, just to let you know how you got that number.
- Character Icons – mini-map and racer icons now represent the character skin you have equipped
Issues of Note
- Global Save File Corruption Issue on PS4 – will address the global save data issue that has been affecting PS4 players
- Pit Stop – will address an issue where Users were unable to purchase the “Electron Aqua” paint from the pit stop.
- Online – will address various known online stability issues related to the lobby, arcade, adventure, other parts of the game, and menus.
- Tracks – collisions of certain maps have been reworked to remove stuck spots and possible exploit areas, along with an improvement to fidelity.
- User Interface – an issue where personal Time Trial and Relic scores are not highlighted in the “Highscores” menu will be addressed.
- Community Feedback – all villains from CNK will now be protected by the Velo mask when racing with that Power Up.
Activision and Beenox have announced two more Grand Prix – Back in Time, which includes the new Prehistoric Playground track and various baby characters, and one focused on Spyro the Dragon.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is available now on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. You can read Wccftech’s review of the game, right here. The Nitro Tour Grand Prix will continue on until July 28.
