Toy-car drift racing across a giant kitchen table, garden, desk and snow globe.
Pocket Racers shrinks you down to die-cast size and drops you onto a toy race track laid across the house. Cereal boxes tower like skyscrapers, a spoon becomes a bridge-sized hazard and the garden lawn is a jungle. You race three rivals in glossy toy cars over three laps, and the camera looks down at it all like a tilt-shift photograph, with the edges of the table melting into a soft blur.
The heart of the game is the drift. Hold the drift button through a corner and your car swings sideways, laying down tyre marks while sparks fly from the rear wheels. The longer and deeper you drift, the more the sparks change colour, from cyan to amber to magenta, and letting go fires a boost. Drifting also fills a three-segment boost meter you can spend whenever you like, so a good racer drifts every corner and saves boosts for the straights.
How to play
- Accelerate, steer and brake around the circuit. Every track is a closed loop of plastic toy track with rails on both sides: brush a rail and you lose speed, hit one hard and you bounce off it.
- Hold drift while steering into a corner to slide. Steer further into the turn to tighten the drift or steer out of it to widen it. The spark colour shows your charge: cyan, amber and magenta are boost tiers one to three. Release drift to get a kick of speed.
- Drifting also fills the boost meter at the bottom of the screen. Each full segment is one boost: press boost to fire it. Glowing chevron pads on the road give a free boost too.
- Grand Prix is a cup of three races against three rivals with points for every finish (10, 6, 3 and 1). Time Trial is three laps alone with a ghost of your best lap. The Daily Track is a new circuit generated for everyone each day. 2-Player splits the screen for two people on one keyboard or two gamepads.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Touch | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | W or ↑ | Automatic | RT or A |
| Steer | A / D or ← / → | ◀ ▶ buttons | Left stick / D-pad |
| Brake / reverse | S or ↓ | BRAKE button | LT or X |
| Drift (handbrake) | Space (player 2: Right Shift) | Hold DRIFT | RB or B |
| Boost | Shift or E (player 2: Right Ctrl) | BOOST button | Y or LB |
| Pause / restart | Esc / R | Pause button | Start / Back |
Every action can be remapped in Settings.
Modes
- Grand Prix
- Pick a cup and race three rivals over three tracks. Points for every finish.
- Time Trial
- Any of the 12 tracks, three laps, chase your own ghost. Your best lap counts.
- Daily Track Daily
- A brand-new track generated for today, the same for everyone. Three laps against the clock.
- 2-Player
- Split-screen race on one keyboard (WASD vs arrows) or two gamepads, with two rivals.
Tips & strategy
- Start your drift just before the corner, not in it. The car needs a moment to swing sideways, and an early drift lets you hold it all the way to the exit for a higher tier.
- Steer into the drift to tighten your line through hairpins, and ease off (or counter-steer) when you are drifting towards the outside rail.
- A tier-three drift gives a long kick, but the boost meter rewards every drift. Short drifts on gentle bends still fill it.
- Fire meter boosts at the start of long straights, never just before a corner: a boost into a hairpin usually ends in the rail.
- Boost pads sit on the racing line. Aim for them on the straights and chain them with a boost of your own.
- The Snow Globe is slippery: the cars have less grip, so brake earlier and lean on drifts.
- In Time Trial, watch the delta under the timer: green means you are ahead of your ghost at this point of the lap.
Achievements
- Top StepWin a Grand Prix raceLocked
- Clean SweepWin all three races of a cupLocked
- Snow Globe ChampionWin the Snow Globe CupLocked
- Magenta SparksCharge a drift to the third boost tierLocked
- Nitro HabitFire three boosts in a single lapLocked
- Clean LapComplete a lap without touching a wallLocked
- Outrun YourselfBeat your own ghost in Time TrialLocked
- Daily DriverFinish the Daily TrackLocked
- Couch ChampionWin a 2-player raceLocked
- Grand TourFinish a race in all four worldsLocked
A short history of the genre
Top-down racing is one of the oldest video game genres. Coin-op cabinets of the 1970s and early 1980s showed whole circuits on a single screen, and later home computer and console games moved the camera closer and let it scroll with the cars. Racing miniature cars around household objects became a much-loved twist on the idea, turning breakfast tables and sandpits into race tracks.
Drifting entered arcade racing as a stylish way to take corners faster, and kart racers turned it into a mechanic of its own by rewarding long, controlled slides with a burst of speed. Pocket Racers combines both traditions: a tilted top-down camera, toy-scale worlds and a drift that charges your boost.
FAQ
Is Pocket Racers free?
Yes. Pocket Racers is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up. The site is supported by unobtrusive ads that never cover the game.
Can two people play on one computer?
Yes. Choose 2-Player for a split-screen race. Player 1 drives with WASD, Space to drift and Left Shift to boost; player 2 uses the arrow keys, Right Shift to drift and Right Ctrl to boost. With two gamepads connected, each player gets their own pad.
Does it work on phones?
Yes. On touch screens your car accelerates automatically; use the on-screen arrows to steer, hold DRIFT through corners and tap BOOST. Landscape works best. Split-screen 2-Player needs a keyboard or gamepads.
How does the ghost work?
In Time Trial your fastest lap on each track is saved in your browser, inputs and all. Next time you race that track, a see-through ghost car drives that lap alongside you, and the timer shows how far ahead or behind you are.
What is the Daily Track?
Every day a new circuit is generated from the date, so everyone races the same track. You get three laps against the clock; your best total time is saved and you can share it. It changes at midnight UTC.
Are the AI rivals fair?
They drive the same cars with the same physics as you, follow a racing line and drift and boost like a player. If you fall far behind they push a little harder, and if they get far ahead they ease off slightly, but they never get extra speed, grip or free boosts.
Where are my times saved?
In your browser on this device. Ghosts, best laps and cup results stay there until you clear your site data.
Updates
- Pocket Racers launched with Grand Prix, Time Trial, the Daily Track, 2-Player split-screen and 12 tracks across four worlds.
