The keys

At the wheel

The dash at the bottom of the screen shows the keys while you drive. Arrow keys work as well as W A S D.

Drifting

Hop, hold, let go

Tap Space and steer as you land to pick the drift's side, then hold it. The longer and tighter the drift, the hotter the charge.

1. Hop inTap Space and steer as you land. Hold it to keep drifting.No boost yet
2. BlueDrift points ×1.5.Let go: a short boost
3. OrangeDrift points ×2.Let go: a longer boost
4. PurpleDrift points ×2.5.Let go: the biggest boost

• Let go of Space to fire a mini-turbo: the hotter the charge, the longer the boost. A boosted car runs past its normal top speed.
• A tight drift charges faster than a wide one. On grass and sand most cars lose grip and won't charge; the Moon Buggy and the off-roaders love it.
• The Black Swan has nitro too: hold Shift (or the NOS gauge on the dash) for up to 155 km/h, no drift needed. A tank lasts 5 seconds; empty, it cools down for 3 seconds, then fills again on its own over 20 seconds. Nitro and a drift's boost never add up: the faster of the two wins.

Jets

The Moonshot leaves the road

The Moonshot, a limited edition, has jets: hold Shift and it hops off the road: three seconds of jets on a full tank, over the traffic and back down. Nobody else's car does.

• A full tank is three seconds of jets, climbing, holding or coming down. It fills while you drive on the wheels (about twenty seconds flat out), faster the faster you go. Parked or flying, it does not fill. On a phone the JETS button climbs and ▼ comes down.
• In the air it holds its height. W and S speed up and slow down, A and D turn, C held descends, and Space rolls the car over (it costs a little of the tank).
• Flying never makes it faster than its top speed on the road. Buildings are walls up there too; you stop against them and slide along.
• An empty tank in the air is no crash: it drops and the jets cushion the last metres, so it sets down softly every time.
• No lift-off during a contract run, a job, a street race or a chase: the gauge says OFF IN RUNS. A friend can ride along, and nobody gets out until it is on the ground.

Slipstream

Tuck in, line up, slingshot past

A cheaper car driven right can beat a better one. Sit in another player's slipstream and the SLIPSTREAM bar on the dash fills; hold it, then pull out and pass.

1. 01Tuck in

   Close behind and straight on their line. Nearer and straighter fills faster; the far end of the wake fills slowly.
2. 02Hold it

   As the bar fills, the pull grows: enough to close right up on a car as fast as yours, never to make a slow car fast.
3. 03Slingshot

   Bar full? Pull out to the side and pass. The extra push lasts while you go past them, then the bar is spent.

• Pull out early, drop back, brake or turn off their line and the bar empties in under a second, with no slingshot.
• Behind players' cars only: never traffic, parked cars, the police or aircraft.
• It never adds up with a drift's boost or nitro: the fastest of them wins.
• In the city only, street races included. The Speedway has no slipstream.

Tricks

What builds a combo

Every trick adds one to the multiplier. A combo keeps going while the next trick comes within 2 seconds of the last.

• DRIFT100 a secondWhile you drift, at your car's own top speed, before the charge and the multiplier. A Penny Hatch flat out scores what a Gold Rush does.
• LONG DRIFT+1 multiplierEvery 2.5 seconds of one unbroken drift over new ground. Circling one spot builds nothing.
• NEAR MISS100 × multiplierPass a car within a hair, fast, without touching it. The same car counts again only after a few seconds.
• AIR75 × multiplierLand a jump after a proper flight, not a drift's hop.
• SPLAT100 × multiplierKnock a pedestrian flying. Players on foot are never a trick.

1. ×1
2. ×2
3. ×3
4. ×4
5. ×5
6. ×6
7. ×7
8. ×8
9. ×9
10. ×10

A combo, worked through

One run, from first drift to the bank

Losing it

WIPED OUT

The drift board

Today's best, and the best ever

Press B at the wheel (or open the street's boards) for the city's combo board.

• Two top tens: today's (the day runs midnight to midnight, UTC) and all-time. One line a player: your best.
• Drifting counts: a combo makes the board when it scores at least 300 points and you spent at least 30% of it drifting. One with less still banks, and still counts for a drift job.
• Bragging rights only: the board pays no chips. Your session's total sits on the dash.