CarX Street

Description

Open world racing games on mobile had a specific problem before CarX Street came along: they either looked good but drove badly or drove decently but gave players a tiny corridor map that ran out of road in minutes. AAA console racing games solved both problems for years, but they remained on consoles. Mobile got arcade racers with rubber physics and scaled-down maps. CarX Technologies had spent years developing a physics engine for drift racing — one that was praised by actual drift competitors for its accuracy — and the team eventually asked if that same engine could be used for a full open-world street racing game playable on a phone. As their answer, CarX Street was released on iOS in November of 2022 and Android in February 2023.

CarX Street is a free open world street racing game located in the fictional metropolitan city of Sunset City which takes visual cues from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Tokyo. Players race, drift and drive through a map that spans city blocks, coastal highways, mountain switchbacks, and industrial zones. The game is powered by the proprietary CarX Technology physics engine, which is the same system used across the studio’s previous drift-focused games. A full version for PC was released on Steam in August 2024, followed by Xbox console versions in August 2024, with PlayStation support in the later part of 2024.

HISTORY

CarX Technologies made its name off spectacle and focused on precision driving physics. The studio released CarX Drift Racing sometime around 2014, and it was aimed at the player base that was looking for some real drift simulation instead of the loose arcade handling of other mobile racing games. The game had a dedicated audience of players who appreciated the technical car control, and the studio followed it up with CarX Drift Racing 2 and later CarX Drift Racing Online for the PC, building up a catalog of drift-focused games with similar physics across entries.

The move into open world street racing was a huge change of scope. Where drift racing is conducted on closed circuits with specific judging criteria, in a street racing game a city needs to be explored, a story needs to be progressed through neighborhood rivalries, and a reason to continue driving between events. CarX Street introduced all three, putting the player in Sunset City with a career mode based upon defeating club bosses in different districts.

The 1.0.0 update in September 2023 was the game’s first major update post-launch, which added four new cars, expanded the map with a Mountain Area, improved the quality of the graphics, added 42 single-race modes, and added business quests. The 1.2.0 update in December 2023 expanded the mountain zone further, introduced leaderboards, the HUD was changed, and tire durability and replacement mechanics were added. Version 1.3.0 in March 2024 introduced private online room creation, three new cars and improved traffic system. The game was released to PC players in August 2024, followed by Xbox in the same month. The 1.4.0 update in July 2024 added a special location in Sunset Speedway with races based around the circuit. Subsequent updates included Gymkhana mode — a time-attack obstacle course format — a cinematic camera, photo mode, a drone camera for capturing footage, a livery editor for up to 90 layers, and more clubs including Spitfire and Hyper Sonic.

Open World — Sunset City

The map includes urban districts, a coastal waterfront, mountain roads with tight hairpin corners and a speedway circuit. Each area offers a different driving situation: city blocks are good for short drag races and negotiating through traffic, mountain roads are for drifting and touge-style runs at high speeds, and the speedway is for circuit racing. The world is on a day-night cycle, and traffic passes through all zones, which adds variables to the racing and free roaming. Players are free to explore outside of events and find shortcuts, side routes and collectibles throughout the map.

Career Mode and Club System

Career progression is based on clubs. Each club has a district of Sunset City under their control and has a boss whose driving style and car setup is the defining characteristic of the challenge. Players have to beat members of clubs and eventually the boss to claim a district. The game doesn’t have meaningful rewards for second place — finishing first in events produces the majority of XP and cash, with lower finishing places yielding minimal returns. Cash is used for car purchases, upgrades and repairs. XP increases the player’s overall level, which allows access to better-tier events and clubs.

Car Tuning and Modifications

The tuning system includes mechanical and visual modification. On the mechanical side, players upgrade and switch engines, transmissions, suspension parts, tires and body kits. Engine swaps allow players to install powerplants from different vehicle categories changing performance characteristics significantly. The suspension tuning influences how the car handles weight transfer, which is important both when drifting and cornering at speed. Visual customization includes mirrors, headlights, body panels, bumpers, skirts, rims and paint. A livery editor with up to 90 layers allows players to create detailed custom paint schemes and community liveries are created by other players and are available for download in-game.

CarX Technology Physics

The physics model represents each car as a simulation of weight, tire grip, power delivery, and momentum. Rear wheel drive cars oversteer predictably under power; all wheel drive cars push wider through corners; front wheel drive cars understeer if pushed. The tire durability system introduced in the 1.2.0 update adds wear over time and tires have to be changed after sustained use. The physics engine performs the same underlying simulation regardless of whether the player is racing on a mountain road, around the speedway or through a drift event, which means skills acquired in one context transfer to others.

Multiplayer and Online Game Modes

Online multiplayer supports public lobbies and private rooms. The private room system introduced in version 1.3.0 allows the creation of sessions by invitation, which can be used for organized races with friends. Public lobbies put players against each other at similar levels of progression. Online drift events have a scoring format that judges rate angle, speed and proximity to clipping points. The game also has limited-time events on a seasonal calendar, which provide exclusive cars, rewards, and cosmetic items that are not available through the regular progression system.

Gymkhana Mode

Gymkhana events put the player in a defined obstacle course and score performance on the basis of completing certain maneuvers — drifts through gates, spins around pylons and speed runs through tight sections — in as little time as possible. The mode is based on the real-world gymkhana format made popular in motorsport exhibitions, and adds a different skill challenge to point-to-point racing or circuit laps.

Photo and Drone Mode

Photo mode suspends game play and lets you position the camera around the car and environment. The drone camera mode moves freely in the game world independent of the car, and is useful for capturing wide-angle or cinematic shots of races and environments. Both modes share the screenshots using the standard sharing options of the device.

FUTURE DIRECTION

CarX Technologies has continued to expand Sunset City with content updates since the game was released instead of moving on to a sequel. Each major version introduces new race formats, vehicles, map extensions and event types on a rolling basis. The console ports in late 2024 opened the game to players on PlayStation and Xbox platforms previously without access and cross-platform progression links mobile and PC accounts. The studio’s history of sustained support over its drift racing titles implies a similar long-term update strategy for CarX Street, with new clubs, districts, and race modes continually growing the map and progression system.