PolyTrack

What it is

PolyTrack is a low-poly racing game about shaving milliseconds off a lap. Your car sits on a road with red and white curbs under a flat blue sky, and the whole game is the timer: record, current, and the difference between them, shown to the thousandth of a second. Tracks have loops, jumps and long straights, and every one of them can be driven a little faster than you just did.

How to play

Use the arrow keys or WASD. That is the entire control scheme, and the site says so the moment the first track loads. Drive through the checkpoints, cross the line, and your time becomes the record to beat. Then go again. The Watch button replays your best run as a ghost, Next Track moves on, and the track browser sorts everything into official tracks by season, community tracks made by other players, and your own custom ones. The main menu adds a garage, a track editor, settings and a multiplayer mode.

What makes it different

It is you against a number and nothing else. The handling is quick and forgiving enough that a first lap is easy, and precise enough that the tenth lap is not. The editor is the long tail: the community track list is searchable by name or author, and building your own loop-heavy nightmare and setting the record on it is a whole second game.

Why it is on Bored

Going fast is the whole thing here, and the crashing is optional. A run is one lap, the controls are the arrow keys, and the difference column, showing exactly how far you are off your own record, is the most motivating number on the internet. You stop when you have a time you are satisfied with, which is to say you do not stop, and the track editor is waiting after that.

Tips

• Learn one official track properly before you browse the community ones
• Watch your ghost after a good run to see where the time went
• Search the track browser by author once you find a builder you like
• Music can be switched off on the main menu if you want to concentrate

FAQ