Drive Battle rules

Goal

Reach five points before your rival. A point is scored for the rival’s death — whether you delivered it yourself or they flipped into the arena on their own.

Controls

There are exactly two buttons: throttle forward and throttle back. On a keyboard that is the left and right arrows or A and D; on a phone, two buttons in the bottom corners. Pressed together they act as the brake.

There is no steering. The car goes where the wheel drags it, and the throttle also leans the body — in the air it is what rotates the car. Held down flat out, it flips the car in under a second, so the throttle has to be metered.

Death

The driver has a head, and it is lethal on contact with anything: the floor, the wall, the ceiling, the platform or the other car. Speed does not matter — the lightest touch is enough. That is also why you cannot rest on the roof: the head reaches the floor first.

Wheels

Wheels break from impacts, not from driving. A lost wheel does not come back until the round ends: the car still moves on what is left, but keeping it upright is close to impossible.

Round and match

Every death plays a short kill cinematic, then both cars return to the start and the round begins again. The match ends on the fifth point; leaving a match in progress hands the win to your rival.

Tips

• Do not hold the throttle down: short bursts keep the car on its wheels, long ones roll it over.
• In the air the throttle rotates the body — aim to land on the wheels, not on the head.
• A rival above you is more dangerous than one in front: most head hits come from above.
• The two-button brake is more useful than it looks: it kills the speed that would otherwise carry you up the wall.