Loading Sidewinder…
All gamesGames · Arcade racer
Sidewinder
Our take on the 1989 stadium off-road racers, where one camera sees the whole dirt track. Four trucks, three laps, a wooden jump and a hairpin. Slide through the S-curves, save your nitro for the straights, and trade paint with the other three trucks all the way to the flag.
Controls
| W or ↑ | Throttle |
| A D or ← → | Steer |
| S or ↓ | Brake, then reverse once stopped |
| Space | Nitro |
| R | Back onto the track |
| C | Change camera |
| Enter | Start |
| Esc or P | Pause |
| M | Sound on or off |
Controls
| W or ↑ | Throttle |
| A D or ← → | Steer |
| S or ↓ | Brake, then reverse once stopped |
| Space | Nitro |
| R | Back onto the track |
| C | Change camera |
| Enter | Start |
| Esc or P | Pause |
| M | Sound on or off |
How to play
On a phone or tablet, hold a finger on the track and your truck drives toward it. Tap twice quickly for nitro. A gamepad works too: right trigger for throttle, left trigger to brake, A for nitro and Y to get back on the track. A racing wheel steers like an arcade spinner, so a small turn goes a long way.
- The race
- Four trucks line up two by two behind the start line. The countdown runs 3, 2, 1, GO with the throttles locked, then it's three laps of the stadium. Your truck is the white one, RIOT.
- Laps
- Ten checkpoints sit round the track and a lap only counts once you've passed them all in order, so there's no cutting back across the line. Drive the wrong way for long and the screen tells you so.
- Nitro
- You start with four nitros. Each one burns for about a second, with harder acceleration and a higher top speed. Used ones come back slowly during the race. Save them for the straights: a nitro into the hairpin just puts you in the wall.
- The dirt
- The trucks slide on the packed dirt. Turn in early, let the back step out, and unwind the steering to catch it. The barriers bounce you off and scrub your speed. Hit the wooden jump flat out and you're airborne for the best part of a second.
- Stuck or spun
- Press R to drop back onto the racing line. If you're stuck with the throttle down for a couple of seconds, it happens on its own. Bumping the other trucks is allowed: a nudge at the back will spin them round, and they'll do it to you.