‘The Crew 2’ drives, sails, and flies into closed beta May 31

Ubisoft will hold a closed beta for The Crew 2 from May 31 to June 4 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The beta gives players a chance to check out the upcoming open-world racing sequel before its launch June 29.

As it’s a closed beta, you’ll have to get a little lucky to get in. You can sign up for a chance to check it out here. If chosen, you can preload the beta starting May 29.

The closed beta provides a glimpse at the progression system, as well as the four racing disciplines — Aerobatics, Powerboat, Street Race, and Rally Raid. Two of those, Street Race and Rally Raid, feature land vehicles such as sports cars, dune buggies, and motorcycles, while the other two will let you race with the new additions in the sequel, planes and boats. The beta includes the “Fast-Fav” feature, a gameplay element that lets you instantly change vehicles, as well as jump into a boat while driving across a bridge.

As far as events, the closed beta has the Motor Trend Classic Challenge, a series of street races that take place across New York City. Like the first game, Ubisoft has created a scale replica of the United States dubbed Motornation. The lavish and seamless map was the most impressive aspect of the otherwise underwhelming original. It’s unclear how much of the map will be open for beta players, but at least all of the vehicle types will be in play.

The Crew 2, judging from our time playing it at E3 last year, will embrace the absurdity of its ideas. While there’s no reason to suspect a deep narrative, that’s not really the point. The Crew 2‘s success as an arcade racer hinges on its ability to offer Fast and Furious–style moments. It looks to be as much about the experimentation of using all four vehicle types as it is about the designed races.

The closed beta will likely give us an indication of how The Crew 2 will fare. The original game was hamstrung by technical difficulties. If Ubisoft has those squared away, Motornation could be an exciting playground.