Neon City Drift Racing review

What it is

Neon City Drift Racing is a 3D driving game set on night-time city streets lit in neon. You pick a car, drive a route, and the game scores you on how well you slide through the corners rather than simply on how fast you arrive. The developer frames it as a drifting competition, and that is the right frame: the point is a long, controlled slide, not a tidy racing line.

The description is brief and the game appears to be too. There are cars to choose from, routes to learn, rewards for precise driving and a best score to improve. There is no stated level count, no named modes and no mention of upgrades, so I am treating this as a score-attack drift game rather than a career, and rating it on that basis.

How it plays

On a keyboard this is the usual arcade layout: W or Up for throttle, S or Down for brake and reverse, A and D or the arrow keys to steer, and Space or Shift for nitro. Enter starts a run from the menu. Drift games of this kind generally start a slide by braking or lifting while turning, then hold it with throttle and counter-steer; the brake key is therefore as important as the throttle, which is unusual for a browser racer.

On touch devices the developer lists on-screen brake and nitro controls and says the menus respond to touch. Steering is not described, which most likely means on-screen arrow buttons rather than tilt, but I cannot confirm that from the documentation. As a 3D WebGL game it will also take longer to load than a 2D title and wants a phone with a reasonably recent GPU; see fixing browser game lag if the frame rate drops.

Tips that actually help

Drift scoring rewards angle and duration, not speed. The habits below are what separate a scrappy slide from a scored one.

• Start the slide with the brake, not the nitro. A tap of brake while turning shifts weight onto the front tyres and lets the rear step out; nitro mid-corner tends to straighten the car or spin it.
• Once sideways, hold the slide with throttle and steer towards the direction of travel. Steering with the slide rather than against it is the counter-intuitive part for new players.
• Look at the exit of the corner, not the apex. Where the camera points is where you will end up, and a long drift needs a wide exit.
• Save nitro for the straights between corners. That is where it turns into distance and sets you up for the next slide at a useful speed.
• Link corners by easing off the throttle between them rather than braking. A car that is still rotating carries into the next drift; one that has snapped straight has to be provoked again.
• Learn one route first. Best scores come from knowing which corners link, and a new route resets that knowledge.

The night city

The neon-at-night look is doing more than decoration. High-contrast lighting on dark streets makes corners readable from further away than a daytime city would, because lit buildings and street lighting give you the corner shape before you reach it. It also hides the texture detail that a browser build has to skimp on. The trade-off is that dark stretches between lights can swallow a kerb, so the first lap on any route is best driven at a pace where you can afford a surprise.

Where it falls short

There is not much game around the driving. No stated progression, no named modes and no upgrade path means the only hook is a higher score on a route you already know. The mobile steering method is undocumented, which is not a good sign for how much care the touch version received. And a 3D racer in an 800 by 600 frame is limited in how far ahead it can show you, so faster cars run out of road to read.

Questions people ask

Is Neon City Drift Racing a race or a score game?

The developer frames it as a drift competition scored on your slides and your best score per route. It is not described as a grid race with a finishing position.

Does it work on a phone?

The developer lists on-screen brake and nitro buttons and touch menus. Steering is not documented, so try it on your phone before you rely on it; a keyboard is the safer option.

Does it save my best score?

Best scores are kept in the browser on the device you played on. They will not transfer to another device.

How do I start a drift?

Turn into the corner and tap the brake to unsettle the rear, then hold the throttle and steer towards where the car is going. Nitro is for straights, not for starting a slide.