JS Racer
A pseudo 3D road racer in the arcade tradition. Made by Jake Gordon.
Up to accelerate, down to brake. Left and right to steer.
How to play
- Hold up to accelerate down a winding road.
- Steer around traffic and stay on the tarmac.
- Leaving the road throws up dirt and costs you a lot of speed.
- Adjust the road, draw distance and resolution settings while you drive.
Playing it better
- Lift off slightly before a curve rather than braking inside it.
- Overtake on the inside of a bend. Traffic drifts wide as the road turns.
- Stay near the centre on hills, where you can see less of what is coming.
- Short steering inputs. At speed the car reacts much more than it looks like it will.
About JS Racer
JS Racer is Jake Gordon’s open source implementation of the classic pseudo 3D racing technique, released under the MIT licence. Rather than a real 3D engine it draws the road as a series of horizontal segments scaled by distance, which is exactly how arcade racers worked before hardware 3D existed, and the illusion still holds up at speed.
Driving is simple to describe and harder to do well. Acceleration is a held key, steering is two more, and the road throws curves, hills and traffic at you. Going off the tarmac is heavily punished with a huge speed loss, so the game is really about how little you have to slow down. Fast laps come from smooth lines, not from aggressive inputs.
The traffic is the interesting part. Slower cars drift across the road, and on a curve they naturally push toward the outside, which means the inside line is usually the safe overtake even though it feels tighter. Hills hide the road ahead, so staying central over a crest keeps both escape routes open when something appears.
Because it was written as a tutorial project it exposes its own workings: you can change the draw distance, road width, resolution and fog while driving and watch how each one affects both the look and the feel. That makes it a rare thing, a browser game that is genuinely fun to play and also a readable explanation of how it was built.
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Common questions
Is this real 3D?+
No. It uses the classic pseudo 3D approach of drawing scaled road segments, which is why it runs so smoothly.
Can I change the graphics settings?+
Yes, the on screen controls let you adjust resolution, draw distance and road parameters live.
Is there a lap timer?+
Yes, the game tracks your lap time and your fastest lap.
Does it need a gamepad?+
No, it plays with four keyboard keys.
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