Racing games

In Arcline Racing a drift is how you go faster: hold a turn at speed, stay in the slide to fill the boost meter, and come out clean for a burst of speed that grows with the length of the drift. Orange pads on the road give a free boost, and walls slow you down but never stop you. Every race has three goals (win, finish without hitting a wall, land three perfect drifts in one lap), a win swaps in a fresh track against slightly quicker rivals, and winning once unlocks a hard mode where they are faster from the first corner.

Camber Racing handles like a real car: weight shifts forward under braking and outward in corners, tyres hold up to a point and then slide, and a rear-drive car steps out when you give it throttle mid-corner. Tap the handbrake as you turn in, steer against the slide and hold the throttle to keep the drift going. Points grow with angle and speed, and touching a wall ends the chain. On a phone the right-hand pedals accelerate and brake, a round button is the handbrake, and you steer with the arrows or by tilting the phone.

Sillage Racing is seen from straight above, and the drift is a button you hold, not a threshold the car crosses. Hold Drift while you steer into a corner: steering further into the slide tightens it, steering against it opens it wide. Let go and the slide ends; a slide of more than half a second finishes with a burst of speed that grows with its length. Where you slid, the road keeps a gold ribbon for the rest of the race. Drive along it the way it was painted and the car gains top speed and grip, and it holds the painted arc at a speed that would run wide anywhere else. Drift over the same stretch on a later lap and it goes up a level, three at most: lap one paints the corners, lap two rides the arcs you liked, and by lap three the best line on the track is a rail that only you can use. Rivals cannot ride your ribbon, and in a race with friends each player rides only their own.

Snugbay Parking gives every level three stars: park within the time, park without touching anything, park straight. Sensors beep faster as you close in, a rear camera draws guide lines in reverse, and later levels add traffic, ramps, night, rain, vans, a truck and a coach. Arcline Racing and Snugbay Parking each have a daily level that is the same for every player, and Camber Racing has a daily time trial on the same road, in the same car and weather for everyone.

In Camber Racing you can race a friend: press Play with a friend, pick a road and the number of laps, and send the link. Two to four players race the same road in real time, each in a car they own, and the race starts when every seat is taken.

Veltrun Stunt Racing has no steering or throttle to manage. Tap Jump to clear cargo and steam, hold Turbo for a burst and follow the energy trail: every pickup refills Turbo and feeds a three-second chain whose score multiplier grows every six rewards, up to x4. Each route gives up to three medals, one for finishing, one for the three optional scrap pieces on the upper rails and one for a hit-free run inside the target time. Three hull points and checkpoints make a mistake recoverable, a finished route unlocks the next one and Hard mode, and there is a daily route that is the same for every player.

Sillage Racing has five cups of three races: a harbour in morning sun, Fernwood with gravel, Redrock with crests you fly off and soft sand, Glacier with ice where your ribbon's grip is what holds the line, and Lantern, an old town after rain at night, with wet cobbles and puddles that only your own ribbon crosses without sliding. Each race is three laps against five rivals, scored 10, 7, 5, 3, 2 and 1 points, and a podium in a cup opens the next cup and a new car: Vela, Brio, Mako and Tundra, from a quick roadster to a rally wagon that keeps grip on loose ground. Missions and stars give the cups a second goal, hard mode opens after the first cup win with quicker rivals and ribbons that fade a lap after they are painted, and the daily track is one race a day with the same grid for every player and a percentile at the finish.

To race a friend in Sillage Racing, press Play with a friend, pick the track, the laps and the number of players, and send the link. Two to four players race in real time, each ribbon shows in its driver's colour and only its owner can ride it, and a seat whose player drops is driven by the game until they open the link again and take the car back.