Spec Overview
Whether you’re all about technical vehicles or down-and-dirty off-roaders, you’ll feel at home in The Crew. As you go from major city to major city throughout the campaign, the Specs you gather will open up new styles and areas of the game to explore. Of course, if you choose to take things out of order, that’s okay too. If you come up against a Mission that requires a Spec you don’t have in your garage yet, the game will provide a “loaner” to get you through it. Game Director Julian Gerighty gave us the rundown on each class.
Street Spec
Right off the bat you start with the Street Spec, which Gerighty describes as the “Jack of all trades” in your garage. “It’s the one people are the most familiar with from other games. You can customize it however you want, of course. It’s a very versatile vehicle. You’re never going to take that vehicle off-road for massive amounts of time. It’s very agile, though.”
Immediately upon being dropped into Detroit, the entire map is open to you. You’ll be able to drive from one side of the country to the other as soon as you start the game, but some areas will be tough to access without an off-road vehicle.
Dirt Spec
That’s where the Dirt Spec comes in. Dirt Spec will be perfect for fans of rally racing and lets you take your exploration off the streets. “Dirt class basically opens up all of the country for you,” Gerighty tells us. “It’s a much more efficient car off-road, but it’s not quite as fast on-road as the Street Spec.”
Like the Street Spec vehicles, Perf Spec is built for roads. Though it’s a bit less agile than the Street Spec, what it lacks in maneuverability, it makes up for in speed. As Gerighty explains, Perf is for those who want “pure speed.” You’ll need to control your vehicle more tightly than you do with Street Spec cars, but for highway battles and the like, this will likely be your Spec of choice.
Raid Spec
More durable than the Dirt Spec, Raid Spec is completely off-road and requires no dirt tracks whatsoever. As we played through the two-hour demo [LINK], I leaned more toward the Raid Spec. There’s something incredibly freeing about being able to take my adventure wherever I want, whether that’s over rocky mountain terrain or across sandy beaches.
Julian Gerighty says it’s his preferred class as well. “Raid is all about bouncing across terrain, discovering things and going into inaccessible places. It’s all about freedom and getting the most out of the environment.”
Circuit Spec
Freedom Of Choice
In most RPGs, once you pick a class it’s yours for the entirety of the game. With The Crew you’ll be able to swap out Specs to suit your playstyle and Mission needs, and no Spec will depreciate in value. That stands in contrast to the RPG scenario where you work for hours to get the money or resources to obtain a specific weapon or piece of armor. You use it for a meager handful of missions, then it’s “obsolete” and you have to repeat the process.
No type of vehicle will ever be obsolete. You’ll always have opportunities to use your preferred Spec and upgrade it. Each Mission will have a different Spec associated with it, which is where cooperation plays a large role. Let’s say you excel at Raid Spec and you’re not as comfortable behind the wheel of a Perf Spec car. In that case, you can call upon a friend to help you complete a Perf Spec Mission. If just one person in your crew completes the Mission, the whole group gets to move on. In other words, you won’t have to worry about getting stuck in Missions just because you aren’t as good with a specific class. And thanks to your handy smartphone, you’ll be able to repair your vehicle and swap out parts or Specs at any time, from anywhere.
Each Spec has its own very different style of driving. Gerighty suspects players will find their own balance based on their playstyles. “I think it’s one of the best qualities of the game that it’s so open to being played in different ways,” he says.
