The Crew 2 Release Date, Pre-Order Bonuses Revealed

As part of Gamescom 2017, Ubisoft today announced the release date and pre-order bonuses for racing game sequel The Crew 2. Starting with the release date, the open-world title comes to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on March 16, 2018.

You may not have to wait that long to play, however, as a beta is coming up ahead of launch. You can register for the beta on The Crew 2's website here.

In The Crew 2, you can drive around an "open-world USA" that has been "completely reshaped for motorsports." It's not just cars that you can drive in the game, as there are also boats and planes for the sequel. There are four main motorsport categories in the game: street racing, off-road, pro, and freestyle, each of which has its own set of "deep" options and "wide selection of vehicle types."

You can switch between land-, water-, or air-based vehicles on the fly through what Ubisoft calls a "Fast Fav" feature. One example Ubisoft provided is that you could be driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in a car and then switch to a boat to zip across the water. If you catch air off a wave, you could then start flying in a plane.

As for The Crew 2's pre-order bonuses, these include extra cars, as you might have guessed. Additionally, people who pre-order get to start playing on March 13, three days before the game's official release date. A Gold edition of The Crew 2 is also on the way, and it includes the game's season pass and other bonuses, in addition to unlocking on March 13. Below is a rundown of The Crew 2's pre-order bonuses, and Deluxe and Gold editions.

• Pre-ordering any version of The Crew 2 gets you the Legendary Motors Pack, which comes with the Mercedes-AMG C 63 Touring Car 2016 and the Harley-Davidson Iron 883 2017.
• The $70 Deluxe Edition comes with the Legendary Motors Pack and the Motorsports Deluxe Pack, which includes the Ford F-150 Raptor Race Truck 2017, the Abarth 500 2008 Monster Truck Edition, the Pilatus PC-21 aerobatics plane, and three "unique racing outfits" for your character to wear.
• The Gold Edition unlocks on March 13 and comes with the season pass, the Legendary Motors Pack, and the Motorsports Deluxe Pack. The digital version of the Gold edition costs $100 and the physical version (which also comes with a steelbook) costs $110.