Crash Team Racing Grand Prix DLC explained including Tawna Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon

The Crash Team Racing Grand Prix is almost here, as players have had their hands on the game for nearly two weeks now. The Crash Team Racing Nitro Tour Grand Prix is the first DLC coming to the game, which is essentially a battle pass like you'd find in Fortnite or Apex Legends. Here's everything you need to know about the Nitro Tour Grand Prix in Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled, including the unlockable characters and start date.

Crash Team Racing Nitro Tour Grand Prix DLC

Players don't have long to wait until they can get their hands on the first lot of Crash Team Racing DLC, because the Nitro Tour Grand Prix begins on July 3. What does that actually mean though?

A Grand Prix is essentially a "themed season" according to the official PlayStation blog post on the subject. There'll be a brand new track introduced right at the start, alongside "a number of different challenges" which reward you with Nitro Points - basically the same as experience points. Earning more of these will fill your Nitro Gauge, which has a series of unlocks like new characters, karts, decals, and more.

If this sounds familiar, it's because the Nitro Gauge is simply a battle pass by any other name. As long as you complete the Nitro Gauge before the end of the Crash Team Racing Grand Prix season - in this case, the Nitro Tour Grand Prix - you'll earn all of the available unlocks. Don't expect it to be a drive in the park though: "Challenges include top speed, power slide, reverse, and other competitive challenges, and they vary from easy to quite hard, increasingly testing your skill as the season goes on."

How to unlock Spyro the Dragon, Tawna Bandicoot, and more

Alongside the new track and challenges for the Nitro Tour Grand Prix, players can also unlock Tawna Bandicoot and the Trophy Girls. They've undergone a rebrand though as they're now called the Nitro Squad, but the members are still the same: Tawna, Ami, Isabella, Megumi, and Liz. Earn enough Wumpa Coins during the season and you can purchase them from the Pit Stop.

Season two is called the Back N. Time Grand Prix and introduces Baby Crash, Baby Coco, and... Baby T, the infant Tyrannosaurus rex that first appeared in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. He also had a very brief cameo in the Scrapbook in the original Crash Team Racing, but now he's returning as a playable character. Back N. Time will run until August 30, when season three takes over.

Finally, season three is the big one, as it's simply called the Spyro & Friends Grand Prix. The Spyro-themed season 3 lands on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch this Friday. Just like the other seasons, as long as you have a copy of the game and an online subscription to whichever console you're playing on, the Spyro & Friends Grand Prix update is completely free. In addition to Spyro, the update adds Hunter the Cheetah and Gnasty Gnorc (the.... Gnorc?) from the Spyro franchise. It hasn't been confirmed how long the Spyro-themed Grand Prix event will last, but judging from history it's safe to assume it'll be around for four weeks.

Crash Team Racing Grand Prix DLC roadmap — *Image credit: Beenox*