How do you play Toy Car Racing?
It is a top down racing game where you try to complete three laps before the three computer cars. Your finishing order is your place, and your total time and fastest single lap are saved as records.
Pick a track and a difficulty, press Go and wait for the 3, 2, 1 countdown. You drive the red car and start at the back, so you have to pass the field one car at a time. The camera follows your car and looks a little further ahead in the direction you are driving.
What is on the track?
| Surface | What happens |
|---|---|
| Road (inside the curbs) | The fastest place to drive. The white dashed center line shows which way the track runs. |
| Grass (outside the curbs) | Your top speed drops to half and the tires grip less, so the car slides more. |
| Wall | The barrier beyond the grass. Hitting it bounces you back and costs speed, but you never get stuck. |
| Yellow arrows | Boost pads. Drive over one for about one second of more than 30% extra top speed. |
| Checkered line | The start and finish line. A lap only counts when you have driven the whole track and then cross it. |
Does crossing the line backwards or cutting the track count as a lap?
No. Every track is split into twelve sectors that must be passed in order before crossing the finish line counts as a lap. Backing over the line and crossing it again, or driving a lap the wrong way, never adds a lap. If you drive against the track direction a wrong way warning appears.
What are the ghost and drifting?
The ghost is a see through white car that replays your best lap on that track. It starts each lap at the same moment you do, so if you are ahead of it you are on pace for a new best lap. Turn it on or off on the title screen, with the 👻 button during a race or with the G key.
Drifting happens when you turn hard at speed and the car slides sideways. You get tire marks and white smoke, and because the nose swings around first you can take tight corners faster, but a long slide scrubs off speed.
How are the tracks and difficulty levels different?
- Pebble Ring: the shortest and gentlest track, good for practice.
- Bean Bends and Candy Park: S bends and tight hairpin turns one after another.
- Seaside Loop: a medium length track that sweeps through the sand.
- Cloud Hairpins: the longest track, zigzagging back and forth through several hairpins.
- Thunder Speedway: long straights and lots of boost pads for the highest speeds.
- Difficulty: on Easy the computer cars are slow and often make mistakes such as running wide, wobbling or braking late. On Hard they drive close to top speed, rarely slip up and go looking for boost pads.
How do you finish first?
- Brake before the corner. Slowing down on the way in and accelerating on the way out is faster than braking halfway through the turn.
- Hug the inside curb. The inside line is shorter. Just do not cross onto the grass or your speed is cut in half.
- Aim for the boost pads. Many of them sit toward one side of a straight, so move over early.
- Stay off the walls. Scraping a wall costs a lot of speed. If your car is pointing at the wall, steer gently away to slide off it.
- Chase your ghost. It shows the exact line of your best lap, so you can see where you lose time.
Your best finishing time, best place, best lap and ghost are saved in this browser for each track. On a phone the car accelerates by itself, so you only steer with the joystick and tap the red button to brake before corners.