Unusual racing games: draw the road, race your ghosts, drive with one button
Most racing games ask you to steer a car and go faster than everyone else. These three change the rules. In one you draw the road, in one you race against your own earlier laps, and in one you cannot steer at all. They are free, they run in your browser and a run takes about a minute.
1. Ink Racer: you draw the road
In Ink Racer the car drives forward by itself along whatever ink you draw with your finger. Draw ahead of it, steer round rocks and ponds, scoop up coins and boost pads, and refill your ink meter with ink drops. If the road ends, the car spins out. Smooth, gentle curves use less ink than zig-zags, so planning a line matters more than fast thumbs.
Best for: a calm but tense run where you plan three seconds ahead.
2. Echo Laps: race your past self
In Echo Laps you drive lap one alone. On lap two the lap you just drove comes back as a solid ghost car, driving the same line at the same time as you. Lap three brings two ghosts, and so on up to six. Touch a ghost and you spin out, so each lap you must find a new line through your earlier selves while the lap clock tightens.
Best for: people who like to beat their own best, and a good one for a room because everyone gets the same circuit.
3. Slot Cars: one button, no steering
Slot Cars is toy slot-car racing. The car is locked in its slot, so the only decision is speed: hold to accelerate, let go to brake. Take a bend too fast and the car flies off. Go too slowly at a jump gap and it drops in. Beat three rival cars with different personalities over three tracks to win the championship.
Best for: a timing challenge that anyone can learn in one race.
Tips
- In Ink Racer, drive while you draw so the meter keeps refilling.
- In Echo Laps, aim for a different line each lap instead of copying the ghost.
- In Slot Cars, ease off before the speed-limit sign, not after it.
More: racing games online, and the 3D-style racers Sunset Drive, Turbo Karts and Drift Master.
