Redline Pursuit is a free browser racing game with three fictional supercars, four point-to-point roads, traffic, and police pursuits. Pick a car, race three rivals, and adjust to weather that changes during the route. Keyboard controls and landscape touch controls are available.
Key Takeaways
- Redline Pursuit is a point-to-point road racer in chunky pixel art 3D: no laps, no closed circuits, just one long stretch of road from start to finish.
- Choose between three supercars: the all-wheel drive Strega V12, the light rear-engined Kestrel S6 and the torque-heavy Mamba V10, each with its own gearbox, engine sound and handling.
- Race four roads: the Coastal Highway, the Alpine Pass, Downtown at night and the Mesa Run across the desert.
- Weather changes during the race: rain, fog, snow, a thunderstorm and a sandstorm all cut grip or visibility.
- Speed or cross a solid line in front of a patrol car and it chases you with lights and siren. Three tickets in one race is an arrest, and later the police set up roadblocks and spike strips.
A pixel art racing game on open roads
Each race takes place on a fictional road from a start point to a finish, rather than over repeated laps. The format draws on early road racers such as Need for Speed, with other traffic and patrols sharing the route.
You progress through the route once per race, so you learn it section by section rather than memorizing one loop. There are vans and sedans in your lane, pickups and trucks coming the other way, and a safer place to overtake is a straight where you can see far enough ahead. Every road is split into three sections with a checkpoint between them, and a strip map at the top of the screen shows the whole route from start to finish, with your rivals as colored dots and police cars in blue.
Three rivals, Vega, Brandt and Kosta, race you every time. They brake for bends, they slot in behind slower traffic instead of plowing through it, and they keep to their own lane when something is coming the other way. Beat them to the finish line, or at least finish ahead of one of them, and the next road opens up.
Three supercars, three ways to drive
Choose a car before each run. Their differences in acceleration, braking, grip, and weight affect where you can gain time and where you need to be more careful.
- Strega V12. An Italian wedge with all-wheel drive and the highest top speed in the game. It gets off the line cleanly and eats long straights, but it is heavy, so it needs patience in tight hairpins.
- Kestrel S6. A light German coupe with the engine behind the rear wheels. It has the best brakes and the most grip, so you can brake later and carry more speed through corners. Lift off the throttle in the middle of a bend, though, and the tail starts to swing out.
- Mamba V10. An American roadster with an enormous amount of torque from low revs and drive to the rear wheels only. It launches out of slow corners harder than anything else, and it will happily spin its tires if you stamp on the throttle in the rain.
The handling is more than a speed number. Tires have a limit, weight shifts forward when you brake and backwards when you accelerate, and a car that arrives at a bend too fast will run wide. The gearbox shifts by itself, so you can focus on your line, your braking point and the traffic.
Four roads from the coast to the desert
Each road has its own scenery, time of day and weather, and each one plays a little differently.
- Coastal Highway. Golden hour along the cliffs, through a tunnel, past a beach town and over an inlet bridge. It starts dry and bright, and the rain rolls in for the final section. This is the first road and the friendliest place to learn your car.
- Alpine Pass. A morning climb through pine forest that turns into fog and then snow. Expect tight switchbacks, a bridge across a gorge, a long snow gallery and a fast descent where your brakes matter most. The Kestrel shines here.
- Downtown. A night race on wet avenues between lit office towers, through an underpass and over the harbor bridge. Traffic is at its heaviest, the corners are right angles at city blocks, and a thunderstorm breaks in the middle of the race.
- Mesa Run. Noon heat on the salt flats, then into a canyon, over the mesa and past a desert outpost. The straights are the longest in the game, the crests throw your car into the air, and a sandstorm swallows the middle of the race.
Weather that changes the driving
Weather affects grip and visibility during the race. Watch for a change in conditions before carrying the same speed into the next corner.
Wet roads and snow cut your grip, so braking distances grow and the tail steps out sooner. Fog and blowing sand shorten how far you can see, which makes oncoming traffic and the next bend appear much later. Out in the open, crosswinds push the car sideways. A race that started on a dry, sunny road can end in heavy rain, so the braking point you used in the first section may be far too late in the last one.
Police chases, roadblocks and spike strips
Patrol cars wait in lay-bys along every road. Every road has speed limit signs, and blind bends and crests have a solid yellow line where overtaking is banned. Come up on a patrol car well over the limit, or cross a solid line where it can see you, and it pulls out with its lights flashing and the siren wailing, often right in front of you. Ease off as you pass it and it lets you go. Two bars appear on screen: a blue escape bar that fills as you pull away, and a red bust bar.
The cruiser rams you from the side and brakes in front of you to slow you down, and every ram fills part of the red bust bar. Crawling along below about 50 km/h with it close by fills the bar too, and so does a cruiser glued to your car while you are below about 130 km/h. When the bar is full, you are pulled over and get a ticket. Crash your car with a cruiser right on your tail and the ticket is instant, so keep clear of its bumper. The third ticket in a race is an arrest, and that race is over. Keep your speed up through the traffic, though, and the patrol car drops back until the chase ends, and every pursuit you escape is worth points.
Further along, the police get more serious. During a chase they set up roadblocks of parked cruisers across the road, always with a gap on one side for you to thread. In the desert, that gap may have a spike strip across it, and driving over it gives you a flat tire for the rest of the section. Watch where the cones point and pick your side early.
How to play Redline Pursuit
- Arrow keys or WASD: up accelerates, down brakes and then reverses, left and right steer.
- Space pulls the handbrake to swing the car round tight hairpins.
- C switches between the chase camera and the bumper camera.
- U switches between km/h and mph.
- R puts you back on the road if you get stuck.
- P or Esc pauses and M toggles sound.
On a phone, turn it sideways. Steering pads sit on the left, and gas, brake and handbrake pads on the right, with a pause button next to the race clock.
A few tips to get started:
- Brake before the bend, not in it. Turn in too fast and you slide wide into the verge.
- Overtake on straights. If you cannot see what is coming the other way, stay in your lane.
- Use the handbrake sparingly. It turns the car quickly but costs speed.
- Choose your car for the road. The Strega for long straights, the Kestrel for mountain hairpins, the Mamba for slow corners in the dry.
Runs, unlocks and the leaderboard
A run is a tour through the roads in order, starting from any road you have unlocked. At first only the Coastal Highway is open. Finish in the top three without being arrested and the next road unlocks and your run continues there. Finish fourth or get arrested and you can simply try that road again.
Every qualifying race scores points for your finishing place, more for harder roads, a bonus for every second under the road's par time and a bonus for every pursuit you escape. Each ticket costs points. Your run total goes to the leaderboard, and if you are signed in, your unlocked roads and the trophies you have won follow you to any device.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Redline Pursuit like the first Need for Speed?
Yes, in spirit. It follows the same idea as the 1994 classic: fictional sports cars on roads shared with traffic, point-to-point races against rivals, traffic in both directions and a highway patrol that chases you when you speed. The game has its own fictional cars and routes.
Is Redline Pursuit free?
Yes. Redline Pursuit is a free racing game you play in your browser with no download. A free account connects supported leaderboard results, achievements, and unlocked roads. Road unlocks are separate from saving a race in progress.
How do I unlock the other roads?
Finish a road in the top three without being arrested. The next road unlocks and your run continues on it, and any unlocked road can be the start of a new run.
How do I get away from the police?
Best of all, don't get noticed: keep to the limit and off solid lines while you pass a patrol car. Once it chases you, keep your speed up and put distance between you and it. When it falls far enough behind, the pursuit ends and you earn escape points. Watch the red bust bar: every ram fills part of it, and so does driving slowly with the cruiser close. A full bar, or a crash with the cruiser right behind you, is a ticket, and three tickets in one race means an arrest.
Which car is the best?
It depends on the road. The Strega is fastest on long straights, the Kestrel brakes later and corners harder in the mountains, and the Mamba accelerates hardest out of slow corners but needs a gentle right foot in the rain.
Can I play Redline Pursuit on my phone?
Yes, in landscape. Steering pads appear on the left and gas, brake and handbrake on the right.
Start your engine
Try Redline Pursuit on the Coastal Highway and learn your car's braking distance before pushing for a faster time. For other racing formats, try Ion Rush, Pixel Kart, or the racing catalog.