I haven’t talked a lot lately of probably one of my most favorite open world racing games, The Crew.  Who can blame me, I’ve been so busy lately with Just Cause 3 and Need For Speed and Grand Theft Auto V before that.

There’s just so many great open world games to play right now. With The Crew’s latest expansion which is Wild Run, it is definitely time to get back into the game. Plus I really love driving across the game’s version of the US. Well what better way to talk about my experiences in the game than to compare the major cities in the game vs their real life counterparts.

This will be a continuing series as I talk about the 12 major cities of the game so definitely check back in the future. First city that’s up will be my favorite southern city, The Crew’s New Orleans compared to the real New Orleans.

I am very familiar with New Orleans as I have been there many times in my life. It is not my home city (sadly my home city is not featured in this game), but I refer to it as my second home outside of Kansas as both my parents are from there and a majority of my family live there.

I usually would travel with my parents to this famous southern city once or twice a year usually in the summer and then for Christmas and New Years. I always used to love the drive as I would go through the cities of Wichita, Oklahoma City, Dallas (occasionally Houston), Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and of course New Orleans. The funny thing is, the only other city in that list that is in the game is Dallas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the actual city of New Orleans is nearly 200 square miles, that does not include its suburbs of Kenner, Metairie, and parts of the west bank (across the Mississippi River). New Orleans’ only interstate, even though there are some spur interstates around the city, is interstate 10. I’ve usually come into New Orleans from the west while traveling on I-10 and I can tell you that the last 20 miles or so you cross over a long bridge that goes over swamp, a small part of the MASSIVE Lake Ponchatrain, more swamp and finally into the New Orleans metro.

Now The Crew has an interstate type highway that does come into its version of New Orleans, but it does miss most of what I mentioned above of its real life counterpart. For one, while you are in swampy area, the highway really doesn’t begin to elevate until you are almost right by downtown New Orleans and then you’ll also see Lake Ponchatrain from the massive highway interchange by the downtown area in the game.

It is a little disappointing, but understandable because you have to remember the sheer scope of this open world game and while the PS4 is a powerful game machine, it still has limitations and it just cannot truly replicate the entire areas of the actual cities. Nevertheless, what it does have of New Orleans isn’t too bad.

One thing I do like is that when you do come up to the central business district of New Orleans, you’ll immediately see the Superdome (it’s not perfect, but it does have a good resemblance) and the smaller Smoothie King arena right next to it.

Then right next to those two and extending towards the Mississippi River are the skyscrapers of downtown. Now here is where some disappointment comes in. I will say the size of the downtown area is about right with the amount of skyscrapers, but the skyscrapers themselves don’t resemble the real skyscrapers of this city very much.

I say that is disappointing because one thing you will generally notice of the game’s other major cities is that the skyscrapers and buildings actually do resemble fairly close to the real thing. What is also funny about The Crew is that there are a few “hidden” cities though they are not very big, but they have downtown high rises that look exactly like New Orleans’ high rises. Very rarely will you see any of the other major downtown towers repeat like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve talked enough about downtown New Orleans so lets get to other parts of the city. I’m sure you know that the Big Easy is known for its very famous French Quarter district with the very unique architecture and culture and I’m glad to see that it looks very good here in the game. Jackson Square is also there with the famous St. Louis Cathedral. You won’t see Mardi Gras, but at least you can drive down the district where this city’s festival is more well known.

There is also the eastern half of the city, but it is not too terribly big and then you have the elevated I-10 section that traverses this part of the city which is very similar to how New Orleans actually is. I will say though that New Orleans’ twin span bridges known as the Crescent City Connection is there and crosses over the Mississippi River to the west bank. The only thing that’s on the other side of the river is Algiers Point, and another bridge crossing the river and going into the French Quarter.

I can assure you there is not another bridge this close to the main twin spans going into the heart of New Orleans in real life. Oh yes, if you decide to head north of the city, there is also the very large Lake Ponchatrain to cross (obviously not to scale in The Crew) and a causeway going right across it. The real causeway is 24 miles long and the longest continuous bridge in the United States (at one time the world).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it, my comparisons of The Crew’s New Orleans and the real city. From the screenshots and real photos of New Orleans you can definitely see the similarities and the differences, but I will say that for the most part, The Crew’s version is a decent replica of New Orleans even to a smaller toned down scale.

They got a majority of the stuff in there to make it see authentic enough though they could’ve definitely tweaked the skyscrapers as I’ve mentioned earlier. There’s also a video below where you can view my leisurely drive around the city and it’s around eight minutes long.

Definitely check back as I will post another city from The Crew very soon and the similarities and differences of the real thing, oh and read my full review of The Crew if you haven’t already. I hope you enjoyed it and please feel free to comment at anytime!