How a race is simulated
Every race is computed on the server, never in your browser. The track is cut into one-metre steps and each step gets a speed limit: the safe corner speed on a bend, the car's top speed everywhere else. The simulation then accelerates the car from a standing start at full throttle, works backwards from every corner to find where it has to brake, and adds up the time for each metre.
The garage figures you see (top speed, acceleration, braking distance) come from the same equations, so the garage and the race never disagree. A race reports a sector time for each straight and the corner after it, which shows you exactly where you gained or lost.
Tracks and track character
Each city has two tracks: a closed loop that returns to the start line and a point-to-point sprint.
- Loops are 3.5 to 6.0 km long with 10 to 18 corners, including at least one chicane, one hairpin and two fast corners.
- Sprints are 4.0 to 8.0 km long with 5 to 10 corners.
Every track card shows its character, worked out from its geometry:
- Power: long straights make up most of the lap. Top speed and power win here.
- Flowing: fast, wide corners are at least as common as tight ones. Grip and downforce pay off.
- Technical: tight corners and hairpins. Torque, braking and slow-corner speed decide it.
A city's two tracks never share a character, so one build rarely suits every race in town.
What each stat does
| Stat | Comes from | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Power (kW) | Engine, motor, turbo | Top speed and acceleration on the straights. Top speed is simply where power meets drag. |
| Torque (Nm) | Engine, motor, turbo | Pull out of slow corners. It never changes top speed. |
| Grip | Wheels, suspension | Corner speed and how hard you can launch before the tyres slip. |
| Braking | Brakes, plus suspension and spoiler | How late you can brake. Tyres also set a limit, so brakes only help up to what the grip allows. |
| Weight | Body and every part | Slows acceleration and braking and dilutes downforce. |
| Drag and downforce | Body and spoiler | Drag caps top speed; downforce raises grip, most of all in fast corners. |
More power and more torque always help. Every rating also has diminishing returns: each extra point is worth a little less than the one before, but it is never worth nothing.
A car needs a working drive source (an engine, or a motor with a battery) and brakes to enter a race. Missing wheels or suspension does not stop you racing, but it costs a huge amount of corner speed and drive.
For every part type, each class sells two dealership options at the same price. Neither is faster on every track: a lighter part gives up some of its main rating, a power engine weighs more, and so on. Pick the one that suits the tracks you race.
Aero: drag, downforce and spoilers
Every car body has its own drag and downforce. A spoiler adds to both, and it is the one part that can make you slower: each class offers an efficient low-drag wing and a high-downforce wing. A wing always pays off on technical and flowing tracks, can cost up to about 1.5% on a power track, and no single aero setup is fastest everywhere.
Petrol, electric and hybrid
Petrol
An engine, optionally boosted by a turbo that multiplies its power and torque. Lighter than a hybrid, which pays off in every corner and braking zone. Like an EV, it drives one axle.
Electric
A motor that only works with a battery behind it. The battery's discharge rate limits how much of the motor's power you can use, so motor and battery have to be matched.
Hybrid
Engine and motor do not simply add up. The stronger source counts in full, plus 35% of the weaker one's power and 25% of its torque. With a battery fitted, electric all-wheel drive puts more of the car's grip to work off the line, which wins launches.
No powertrain is fastest by design. The game is balanced so that within a class, the best hybrid and the best electric build finish within 1.5% of the best petrol build over the city tracks, and this is checked by automated tests on every release. The differences are in character: where each one gains, not whether it can win.
Platform limits and Overpower
Every car is built on a platform with a maximum power and torque. A car fitted with parts of its own class straight from the dealership is never over that limit. Push past it, usually by Forcing parts to high levels, and the car becomes Overpowered: its safe corner speed drops in proportion to how far over the limit it is. More power then wins on the straights but costs you in every corner.
Driver skills
You start with 5 skill points and earn 4 more with every level. Each of the six skills has one job on track:
- Precision: a cleaner line, which cuts total race time.
- Agility: speed through slow corners. Best on technical tracks.
- Handling: speed through fast corners. Best on flowing tracks.
- Speeding: acceleration wherever engine power is the limit. Best on power tracks. It never raises top speed.
- Braking: harder braking. Best on technical tracks and in faster cars.
- Reaction: the launch and the drive out of slow corners.
Skills have diminishing returns too: 20 points act like 16, and 80 points like 40. Spreading points to match the tracks you race beats stacking a single skill.
Component Forcing
Forcing merges two identical parts of the same level into one part a level higher. Each level adds 5% to the part's performance stats (power, torque, grip, braking and acceleration ratings, battery figures, turbo multipliers), while weight stays the same. One level is worth roughly 1 to 1.4% of lap time on a full build.
Forcing is not guaranteed. Parts of higher classes are harder to force, and your Forcer level, which grows as you force, improves the odds. Forced parts also sell for more when salvaged.
Wear, failures and repairs
- Every race you start uses one point of life from your car and from every fitted part. Cars start with 300 uses and parts with 100.
- Once a part is more than 20% worn, it has a small chance of failing during a race, rising to 3% when it is completely worn. A failed part counts for nothing in that race, and the result tells you which part it was.
- Repairing restores the uses but lowers the part's maximum life a little each time. Eventually the part is retired and can no longer be repaired with Gold.
- A Master Overhaul (25 Gems for a car, 10 for a part) restores any item, retired or not, to its original life. It never changes stats, level or class.
Races pay Gold in proportion to the wear they cause, so a more valuable build earns more per race and pays for its own upkeep. After a race there is a cooldown: 5 minutes after a duel, 1 minute after a time trial.
Want to know where the Gold goes next? Read the economy and crews guide, or see how car classes and powertrains are organised.