Gear.Club Unlimited 3 revealed at Gamescom: Eden Games’ arcade racer returns with a “Highway” twist

Why Gear.Club Unlimited 3 Actually Caught My Eye

When Eden Games shows up with a new racer, I pay attention. This is the studio that built its reputation on V-Rally and defined the open-road vibe with Test Drive Unlimited before pivoting to the more arcadey Gear.Club line. At Gamescom 2025, they pulled the sheet off Gear.Club Unlimited 3-coming late 2025 to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC-and it immediately reads like a confidence play: a proper Career mode, over 40 licensed cars, sunny Côte d’Azur circuits, mountain passes in Japan, and a new “Highway” mode built around white-knuckle traffic dodging. The promise is clear: fast, accessible, and a little dangerous.

Key Takeaways

• Career mode is back at the center-expect structure, progression, and car building over pure sandbox.
• “Highway” mode aims to inject Burnout/Asphalt-style traffic tension into a more grounded arcade racer.
• 40+ cars is modest versus Forza/NFS, so feel and track design must carry the experience.
• Launching on Switch 2 alongside PS5/Series/PC suggests 60 fps targets are on the table—if the tech lands.

Breaking Down the Reveal: Hype vs. Substance

The trailer leans on mood: golden-hour coastlines, neon-streaked night roads, and quick cuts of near-misses in traffic. The two headline environments—Côte d’Azur and Japan—aren’t just pretty backdrops; they’re smart choices for contrasting handling rhythms. Expect wide, flowing coastal sweepers where you can keep the throttle pinned, and tight, technical Japanese mountain routes that live or die on weight transfer and braking points. If Eden still has its old chassis mojo, these tracks could make a 40-car roster feel bigger than it sounds.

Then there’s Highway mode. On paper, it sounds like a curated chaos lane: dense traffic, high speeds, and the kind of risk/reward dance that made Burnout’s oncoming lane meta addictive. If they nail collision feedback and AI patterns—enough predictability to plan, enough variability to scare you—it could be the signature hook this series has been missing. If they don’t, it risks feeling like an endless runner wearing a glossy livery. The trailer hints at the former, but we need hands-on to know.

Why This Matters Now

Arcade racers are in a weird spot. Forza Horizon and The Crew Motorfest soak up the open-world oxygen, while Need for Speed swings wildly between vibes. That leaves a lane for a no-nonsense, track-focused arcade driver with modern production values—something quicker and tighter than a festival sim, but more grounded than pure crash porn. Gear.Club has flirted with that lane for years, especially on Switch, but it’s never quite hit must-play status on console. Bringing this one to PS5/Series/PC day-and-date—and targeting Switch 2 instead of stretching the aging Switch—suggests Eden and Nacon want to level up beyond “good enough on portable.”

Here’s the catch: 40+ cars. That’s fine if the line-up is curated with distinct handling personalities and meaningful upgrade paths. It’s thin if it’s just “samey” trims with paint options. Previous Gear.Club entries were at their best when you felt the difference between a twitchy lightweight and a burly GT car, not when they tried to pretend they had a Forza-sized garage. Lean into identity and tuning depth, not volume.

The Gamer’s Perspective: What I’m Watching For

Performance and feel. Eden knows handling, but execution across four platforms will make or break the pitch. On PS5/Series/PC, I want a locked 60 fps (or a high-frame-rate option), responsive input latency, and wheel support with sane force feedback out of the box. On Switch 2, stability matters more than bells and whistles; a crisp, consistent frame rate will do more for Highway mode’s “saw-it-late, dodged-it-clean” high than HDR ever will.

Multiplayer and progression are big unknowns. Past Gear.Club games experimented with split-screen and online events, but the reveal didn’t spell out modes. A racer like this needs:

• Reliable online matchmaking and time-trial leaderboards—Highway mode screams for weekly “clean run” challenges.
• Cross-play, so the community doesn’t splinter, especially with a late-year launch.
• A career that respects your time: meaningful car unlocks, no mobile-style energy gates, and tuning choices that matter.

It’s also worth noting the lineage. Nacon is publishing both this and Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, while Eden made the original TDU back in the day. Gear.Club Unlimited 3 isn’t pitching TDU’s lifestyle sim; this looks more circuit-driven with a spicy traffic mode. That’s fine—just don’t sell it like an open-world successor when the beats are different. Call your shot and stick the landing.

Looking Ahead

This reveal hit me because it feels like Eden Games getting back to fundamentals: elegant tracks, readable handling, and a clear arcade identity with one bold new idea. If Highway mode delivers tactical chaos without devolving into rubber-banded coin-chasing, and if the car list is curated rather than padded, Gear.Club Unlimited 3 could be 2025’s dark-horse racer—especially for folks burned out on open-world checklists.

But I’ve got questions Eden and Nacon need to answer before launch: wheel support specifics, frame-rate targets per platform, cross-play, split-screen, and how the economy works. Keep it clean, keep it fast, and don’t nickel-and-dime the garage. Do that, and Highway might be the on-ramp this series needed.

TL;DR

Gear.Club Unlimited 3 brings a tighter arcade focus with a promising Highway mode, two stylish locales, and a curated car list. If Eden nails performance, handling feel, and fair progression across PS5/Series/PC and Switch 2, this could punch above its weight in a crowded 2025 racing calendar.