Car Games Online: Racing, Parking, Drifting and Derby Tips
Updated
Car games online come in five main kinds: racing against rivals or the clock, parking in a marked space, drifting through corners for points, ramming cars in a derby arena, and jumping ramps in stunt games. Each rewards a different skill, but most use the same keys: W or the up arrow to accelerate, S or down to brake, A and D to steer, and Space for the handbrake. Below is what each kind asks, with games from the car games collection to start with.
Five kinds of car games
| Kind | What you do | What wins | Try first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Racing | Drive a track against rivals or the clock | Finishing first or fastest | Super Nitro Racing 3 |
| Parking | Drive into a marked space without touching anything | The whole car stopped inside the lines | Vehicle Masters |
| Drifting | Slide the car sideways through corners | Points for long, controlled slides | Kigali Drift King |
| Derby | Ram the other cars in an arena | Being the last car still running | Crash Derby AYN |
| Stunts | Jump ramps and cross tracks in the sky | Reaching the finish without falling off | Mega Ramp Car Stunts GT Racing |
Car game controls on a keyboard and a touch screen
Most car games on a computer share the keys below, but a game's own instructions always come first.
| Key | Usual job | Example from a game's own controls |
|---|---|---|
| W or up arrow | Accelerate | Parking Master: License Exam |
| S or down arrow | Brake, then reverse | Turbo Team Racing |
| A and D, or left and right | Steer | Derby Car War Arena |
| Space | Handbrake or brake | Drift Fury (handbrake), Vehicle Masters (brake) |
| Shift, N or F | Nitro boost | Drift Fury (left Shift), Real City Car Stunts (F) |
| C | Change the camera | Car Parking Driving Game |
On a phone the same jobs move onto the screen. Turbo Team Racing gives you left and right buttons plus on-screen pedals, Boom Wheels steers when you touch the left or right side of the screen, and Kigali Drift King uses the two halves of the screen. Some games accelerate for you: in Super Nitro Racing 3 your job is steering, braking and finding the right line.
If the keys do nothing, click inside the game once; Derby Car War Arena's instructions say the same. More on common keys is in keyboard controls for games.
Racing games
Racing comes down to your line through each corner and when you spend the boost.
- Super Nitro Racing 3 is a top-down racer with 21 tracks. The nitro bar fires in one long burst once it is full, rain, snow and fog change the grip, and damage stays until you drive over a D pod. Modes include Time Attack, Ghost, Survival and Championship.
- Turbo Team Racing is a retro top-down racer with power-ups and changing weather. Its own hint: drive smoothly through corners to keep your speed.
- TinyCars puts you against 6 rivals on 15 pixel-art circuits, with shortcuts, teleports, electric weapons and nitro.
- Boom Wheels is kart racing with rockets, a heavy stone and banana peels as power-ups, fired with Space or a swipe up.
- Extreme Gear Shift Racing is about timing: shift in the green zone for full acceleration, drift through the marked sections and use the boost after a successful drift. It has a local two-player mode.
Brake before a corner rather than in it, and save the boost for a straight. Super Nitro Racing 3 warns that its icy sections throw greedy drivers into the barriers. More races are in racing games and driving games.
Parking games
Parking games are slow on purpose. The job is to put the whole car inside the marked space without touching walls, cones or other cars.
- Vehicle Masters has over 40 levels of narrow alleys, moving barriers and crowded lots. On a computer you change gear yourself, R for reverse and D for drive; on a phone you only steer and the gears switch on their own.
- Lof Parking gives you 5 chances per level and takes one away each time you hit a wall or a car. Parking fast scores more.
- City Parking Master 3D asks for the entire vehicle inside the highlighted bay, past traffic cones and tight corners.
- Parking Master: License Exam moves from open lots to parallel parking on narrow streets and parking against the clock.
- Car Parking Driving Game has a look-back key, B, and a camera key, C, which help when you reverse.
- Tap the accelerator instead of holding it down.
- Change the camera before the last move. HitCity Car Parking tells you to move the camera to find the right angle.
- Straighten the car before it enters the space; reversing out for a second try costs less than a crash.
More are in parking games.
Drifting games
Drifting means sliding the car sideways through a corner on purpose while keeping control of it. Wikipedia's article on drifting lists the handbrake turn among the classic ways to start a slide, with the driver steering against the turn to hold it. Browser drift games usually put the handbrake on Space.
- Drift Fury has drift challenges and races on scenic mountain routes: WASD or the arrows to steer, Space for the handbrake, left Shift for nitro.
- Extreme Drift Racer scores your drifts on the track; Space is the handbrake and Shift the nitro.
- Kigali Drift King is an endless drift racer with steering only. Drift through curves to build combo multipliers and stay off the road edges.
- Drifty Road Rush asks for a drift at every corner, through traffic, on the arrow keys or A and D.
- Color Parking Drifter has you drift into the parking space of the requested color, with Z and X or the two sides of a phone screen.
Start with short taps of the handbrake, and hold it longer only once you know how far the car slides. More slides are in drift games.
Demolition derby games
In a derby the cars are the weapons. You ram the rivals until they are wrecked and try to be the last car still running.
- Crash Derby AYN puts 8 cars in an arena. A car at 0 HP explodes and leaves the battle, wrecking another car gives you 20 HP, and pickups add Damage X5, HP +25 or a shield. Finish in the top 3 for ranking rewards.
- Crazy Buggy Demolition Derby starts the drivers pointing in opposite directions; the last car standing wins.
- Low Poly Smash Cars sends you to the next level only when yours is the last car standing.
- Derby Car Smash Challenge asks you to time every collision, dodge the hits coming at you, and upgrade the car between battles.
- Derby Car War Arena plays with WASD or the arrows, with on-screen steering, accelerator and brake buttons on a phone.
Stunt car games
Stunt games swap the race for ramps and tracks hanging in the sky, and falling off is the usual way to fail.
- Mega Ramp Car Stunts GT Racing has sky tracks, big ramps and zigzag roads. Shift boosts, Space brakes, and N skips a level.
- Real City Car Stunts has 15 levels of ramp jumps in moving city traffic, hidden coins that buy 5 sports cars, and a free mode to drive around the city.
- GT Car Stunts Legends has 8 cars, an open world to try them in, and 20 levels across Classic and Obstacle modes.
For stunts on two wheels, see games like Moto X3M.
Car games FAQ
How do you drift in car games?
In games with a handbrake key, turn into the corner and tap the handbrake, Space in Drift Fury and Extreme Drift Racer, then steer to hold the slide. Kigali Drift King and Drifty Road Rush drift on steering alone.
Can you play car games on a phone?
Yes, when the game has touch controls. Look for on-screen pedals or buttons in its instructions, as in Turbo Team Racing, Vehicle Masters and Derby Car War Arena. The site works in the browser of a phone, a tablet and a computer.
Do car games online need a download?
No. These games play free in the browser, with no install and no registration.
Every game above is in the car games collection, along with many more to drive.
