Kaua’i opens its wildest roads as The Crew Motorfest Season 11 launches Expeditions

The festival is leaving the asphalt behind. The Crew Motorfest Season 11: Expeditions is now launching on October 7, beginning Year 4 with one of the game’s largest world expansions so far: the free arrival of Kaua’i, an exploration-focused Playlist, winch-based gameplay, wildlife across the Hawaiian archipelago, 20 new vehicles over the course of the season and another major expansion of TrackForge.

Ubisoft Ivory Tower is deliberately moving away from the usual sequence of closed circuits and automotive showcases for this season. Kaua’i is designed as a more remote and untamed environment where the objective is often not to race along a predefined route at all. Players are being asked to discover roads, clear obstacles, document wildlife and effectively prepare the island for Motorfest itself. At the same time, the paid Tomb Raider: Secrets of Ni’ihau expansion opens another Hawaiian island with puzzles, dinosaurs and its own collection of expedition vehicles, while Motorfest prepares to make its Nintendo Switch 2 debut on October 8.

Kaua’i adds another complete island to Motorfest for free

Season 11’s biggest addition is Kaua’i, which joins O’ahu and Maui as a permanent part of The Crew Motorfest’s open world.

Unlike the more densely populated areas of the existing map, Ubisoft has built Kaua’i around wilderness and exploration. The island contains approximately 95 kilometres of asphalt roads and 105 kilometres of off-road terrain, creating a nearly even split between conventional routes and surfaces that encourage players to leave the road entirely.

That distinction matters because the island has not simply been added as another location in which to place normal races. Kaua’i has been designed around the idea that Motorfest has not yet fully reached it.

Players will encounter beaches, cliffs, forests, dirt tracks, mountainous areas and dense swamps that can significantly slow vehicles not suited to the terrain. One of the major landmarks is the Red Canyon, a large natural formation built to emphasise the island’s more rugged visual identity.

The overall concept is considerably more adventurous than the festival atmosphere traditionally associated with Motorfest. Instead of arriving somewhere already transformed into a celebration of car culture, players are effectively among the first people preparing Kaua’i for what comes next.

That provides Season 11 with a useful narrative justification for its new mechanics. Roads are blocked. Routes remain unmapped. Wreckage and fallen trees have not been cleared. Large parts of the island are deliberately presented as territory that still needs to be discovered.

Kaua’i Expeditions abandons the traditional race structure

The free Kaua’i Expeditions Playlist is the main vehicle for exploring the new island, but calling it a racing Playlist would undersell what Ivory Tower is doing with it.

There are still vehicles involved, obviously, but the fantasy is closer to an automotive expedition than a championship. Players receive clues and objectives while navigating through territory that is not always clearly marked, and some activities are built around reaching locations or solving environmental problems rather than simply setting the fastest time.

Before Kaua’i can become another centre of Motorfest culture, players need to explore its routes and make them usable.

That means clearing fallen trees, moving wreckage, pulling debris out of the way and transporting objects across difficult terrain. Completing those jobs can open shortcuts and routes that were previously inaccessible, making the process of preparing the island part of the progression rather than an aesthetic detail happening in the background.

Ubisoft is therefore using Season 11 to expand what counts as an activity in The Crew Motorfest. The series has always allowed players to move between cars, motorcycles, boats and aircraft, but most objectives eventually came back to travelling somewhere quickly.

Expeditions adds more interaction with the environment itself.

The winch makes off-road vehicles useful for something other than speed

That environmental interaction is enabled by the new winch system.

Selected vehicles can now attach themselves to designated objects and use their weight and traction to pull, drag or transport them. During the Kaua’i Playlist, the mechanic is used to remove obstacles and recover objects that cannot simply be driven around.

The system automatically adapts depending on what the player is attempting to do. Pulling an obstacle can use the vehicle’s front attachment point, while towing an object behind the vehicle shifts the connection appropriately once the player begins moving.

That sounds like a relatively small mechanic compared with adding an entire island, but it changes how certain off-road vehicles can be used. Motorfest has traditionally differentiated categories primarily through handling, terrain suitability and performance. The winch gives a selection of vehicles an actual mechanical function in the world.

The 2018 Suzuki Jimny becomes one of the key vehicles associated with that idea. A regular version can be earned as a Playlist reward, while the specialised Jimny Winch Edition appears as part of the Year 4 content lineup.

Larger expedition vehicles also feature prominently throughout the season, reinforcing the idea that the fastest machine in the garage is not automatically the best tool for every objective.

Road Progression gives players a reason to map all three major islands

Kaua’i is not the only map benefiting from the exploration theme.

Season 11 introduces a broader Road Progression system covering O’ahu, Maui and Kaua’i. As players travel across the world, previously unexplored routes become part of their personal map progression.

The feature effectively turns simple free-roam driving into an objective. Players can revisit areas they may have crossed dozens of times before and discover which pieces of road or terrain remain uncharted.

That is a logical addition for an open-world racing game whose map has expanded significantly since launch. Motorfest has always rewarded cruising indirectly through collectibles, photo challenges and discovery, but Road Progression formalises the act of exploring the world itself.

It also works particularly well with Kaua’i because much of the new island has been deliberately built around hidden or unofficial paths rather than conventional highway infrastructure.

Instead of racing from icon to icon, the season repeatedly encourages players to look at the gaps between them.

Wildlife returns with more than 40 species to discover

The Hawaiian world is also becoming considerably less empty.

Season 11 introduces more than 40 species of wildlife spread across the archipelago, covering creatures found on land, in the sea and in the air.

Horses, deer and different bird species are among the animals players can encounter, and discovering them is tied to exploration rather than combat or resource gathering. Motorfest asks players to find, photograph and document the animals as they travel.

It is a small detail mechanically, but potentially an important one environmentally.

Open-world driving games frequently build enormous natural spaces that ultimately exist only as scenery between roads. Adding wildlife creates movement and activity away from traffic and festival locations, while photography gives players an actual reason to slow down and observe it.

The feature is also not exclusive to Kaua’i. Wildlife is being distributed across the wider Hawaiian archipelago, so players returning to O’ahu or Maui should also notice changes.

Combined with Road Progression, Season 11 is effectively asking the community to reconsider old areas as places to explore rather than simply transport corridors between events.

The Bugatti Tourbillon makes its video game debut

Off-road exploration dominates the season, but Ivory Tower has not forgotten Motorfest’s obsession with exotic machinery.

A total of 20 new vehicles will arrive throughout Season 11, spread across cars, motorcycles, aircraft, quads and even another remote-controlled vehicle.

The headline addition is the 2026 Bugatti Tourbillon, which Ubisoft says is making its first appearance in a video game.

Rather than simply dropping the hypercar into the dealership, Motorfest will introduce it through the limited-time Proving Laps: Bugatti Tourbillon event beginning October 14 and running until November 4.

The event has free entry and includes objectives tied to completion and lap performance. Finishing it awards Prestige Tickets, with additional Tickets available for beating the target time.

The Tourbillon itself enters the shop on October 14.

At the opposite end of the terrain spectrum is the 2024 Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, Lamborghini’s lifted, off-road-oriented interpretation of the Huracán. It arrives later in October and is particularly well suited to the theme of a season built around refusing to stay on the road.

The futuristic Hyundai Crater Concept also joins the Rally Raid category, while Hennessey’s extreme Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 The Exorcist will appear as a Summit reward.

Further vehicles remain deliberately hidden for later reveals.

Cars are only part of Season 11’s expanded garage

Season 11’s vehicle lineup also demonstrates how far Motorfest has moved beyond being a straightforward car game.

The update includes new motorcycles, quads, planes and helicopters, with many of the stranger additions connected to the Tomb Raider collaboration.

There is even another RC vehicle, the Phazr RC Croft Crawler, which joins the Rally Raid category and comes with optional cosmetics including T-Rex footprint smoke.

The wider Year 4 Pass launches alongside the season for €29.99 / $29.99 and includes 21 vehicles across the coming year, alongside Elite Bundle content and access to the Tomb Raider collaboration package.

Among the Year 4 Pass vehicles already confirmed for later release are the 2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, Pininfarina Battista and Italdesign Zerouno.

That means Season 11 is functioning both as an immediate content update and as the opening stage of a longer garage expansion that will continue through the remaining Year 4 seasons.

Tomb Raider turns Ni’ihau into a completely different type of Motorfest adventure

The largest premium addition launching beside Expeditions is Tomb Raider: Secrets of Ni’ihau, created in collaboration with Crystal Dynamics.

It opens Ni’ihau, another previously inaccessible island visible within Motorfest’s Hawaiian world. Unlike Kaua’i, however, Ni’ihau requires either the Year 4 Pass or the standalone Tomb Raider DLC, priced at €9.99 / $9.99.

The collaboration is not simply a cosmetic Playlist with Lara Croft liveries.

Players are contacted by Lara after her longtime friend Jonah disappears while searching the island for an ancient artifact. Lara cannot travel there herself, leaving the player to follow his trail through ruined structures, hidden paths and environmental puzzles.

That setup allows Ivory Tower to experiment with a different structure from normal racing events. Players need to investigate clues, interact with mechanisms and use expedition equipment — including the new winch — to continue through the island.

Ni’ihau also contains something considerably less expected in The Crew Motorfest.

Dinosaurs.

Four species are included in the DLC, with Ubisoft already highlighting a huge Mosasaurus and a Tyrannosaurus involved in one of the adventure’s chase sequences.

It is an unapologetically exaggerated direction for a game that has never been particularly interested in realism outside the presentation of its vehicles, and it provides a useful contrast with the more grounded exploration of Kaua’i.

Lara’s expedition brings five exclusive vehicles

Secrets of Ni’ihau includes five vehicles selected around expedition travel rather than conventional performance driving.

The 2021 Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports ES provides a Rally Raid motorcycle, while the 2008 Suzuki QuadRacer R450Z handles four-wheel off-road exploration.

For heavier terrain, players receive the 2013 Mercedes-AMG G 63 6x6, one of the most recognisable extreme off-road vehicles ever produced.

The collaboration then takes advantage of Motorfest’s ability to swap instantly between vehicle types. A Proto A500 Croft Copter provides helicopter transportation, while the Proto Makani S1 adds an aircraft designed for the expedition.

Together they make the DLC feel less like five unrelated bonuses and more like a complete toolset for navigating the island.

That is important because Secrets of Ni’ihau is being sold as an adventure rather than simply a themed car pack. Vehicles need to serve the journey rather than merely decorate the garage.

TrackForge gets dirty with 200 new pieces

Players interested in creating their own events also receive a substantial expansion.

Season 11 adds the Pure Dirt TrackForge kit, pushing the community creation system away from asphalt, street racing and touge layouts and into dedicated off-road environments.

Pure Dirt includes 200 new elements, covering mud, rocks, dirt surfaces and other pieces intended for constructing rougher routes.

That dramatically expands the types of events players can create. TrackForge has already evolved significantly through previous updates, but the new kit means creators can now build courses where surface composition and terrain are central to the experience rather than simply constructing another road circuit.

Ubisoft has also confirmed that it is working on PvP support for TrackForge in the future, which would eventually allow players to compete online directly across community-created courses.

That functionality is not part of Season 11 yet, but Pure Dirt should give creators another large library of assets to work with before competitive user-generated events arrive.

Rainbow Dan and two Special Events extend the season beyond launch week

Expeditions will run across a 14-week Main Stage, and not everything arrives on October 7.

Alongside the Bugatti Tourbillon Proving Laps event in October, Ubisoft has prepared a holiday Special Event called Gift Rush, scheduled from December 16 through January 6.

That event transforms Hawaiian roads into a Christmas celebration and asks players to race while smashing gifts scattered along the route. Objectives unlock rewards including a dedicated title and festive dashboard customization.

A new Story also arrives on November 4.

The Archives: Rainbow Dan follows an investigation into a largely forgotten local driver whose legendary records have survived even though reliable information about the person behind them has become difficult to find.

Players will follow clues and complete open-world objectives while the Archivist attempts to reconstruct the story of Dan O’Hara, better known as Rainbow Dan.

That gives Season 11 another strand of discovery outside Kaua’i and ensures its exploration theme extends beyond the opening Playlist.

Prestige Tickets are becoming easier to understand and spend

The economy surrounding old event rewards is also being reorganised.

Prestige Tickets were introduced in Season 5 as a way to obtain exclusive rewards that originally appeared through Summit Contests and Custom Shows. The problem is that the catalogue has grown steadily, making it increasingly difficult for newer or returning players to catch up.

Season 11 renames the existing Prestige Ticket section as the Prestige Catalog and changes how older rewards enter it.

Instead of waiting two full seasons before previous Summit items become available, qualifying rewards will now be added every three months at the beginning of a month. As an example, Ubisoft says Summit Contest rewards from July 2026 become eligible in October.

The catalogue continues to focus primarily on previous Summit and Custom Show rewards, while Main Stage items, Ranked Grand Race rewards and outfits remain outside the system for now.

It is not the most visible Season 11 feature, but for long-term collectors it could prove one of the more meaningful quality-of-life changes.

Motorfest reaches Nintendo Switch 2 one day after the season begins

Season 11 also coincides with a significant platform expansion.

The Crew Motorfest launches for Nintendo Switch 2 on October 8, one day after the main Season 11 update arrives.

Ubisoft is presenting it as the full Motorfest experience rather than a separate scaled-down spinoff, bringing the Hawaiian archipelago and its vehicle collection onto Nintendo’s current hardware.

That means Switch 2 players are joining at an unusually dense moment. O’ahu, Maui and the new Kaua’i expansion are already available, Year 4 is beginning, and several years of previous Playlists and vehicles have accumulated since Motorfest’s original launch.

For an open-world driving game built around constantly jumping between activities, the portable nature of the platform also makes the release one of the more interesting additions to Motorfest’s hardware lineup.

Expeditions changes the emphasis from racing to discovering what lies between races

Season 11 is substantial because it expands Motorfest in several directions at once, but the most interesting change is conceptual.

Ivory Tower is no longer treating the Hawaiian map primarily as a backdrop for automotive events.

Kaua’i asks players to explore before they compete. The winch creates direct interaction with obstacles. Road Progression rewards travelling through spaces that previously existed mainly between activities. Wildlife encourages players to stop instead of accelerating. TrackForge moves onto raw terrain. Tomb Raider turns another island into an adventure built around puzzles and discovery.

Even the season’s vehicle selection reflects that shift, mixing extreme off-road machines, motorcycles, quads and aircraft with headline hypercars such as the Bugatti Tourbillon.

None of this means racing has disappeared. Summit Contests, Special Events, leaderboards and performance cars remain central to Motorfest. But Expeditions broadens what Ivory Tower seems willing to build around its driving model.

Three years after launch, that may be more important than simply adding another batch of races.

The Crew Motorfest Season 11: Expeditions launches on October 7, 2026, with Kaua’i and its free Playlist available to all players. Tomb Raider: Secrets of Ni’ihau launches the same day as premium content, while the Nintendo Switch 2 version follows on October 8.