Redline Pursuit

Redline Pursuit is a road racing game drawn in chunky pixel art and played in the browser, in the spirit of the mid 90s racer that put exotic sports cars on open public roads. There are no laps and no closed circuits. Every race runs from point to point along a real stretch of road, with oncoming traffic, slow vans in your lane and the highway patrol waiting in a lay-by.

You pick one of three cars. The Strega V12 is an Italian wedge with all-wheel drive and the highest top speed. The Kestrel S6 is a light rear-engined coupe with the sharpest brakes and the most grip, and a tail that swings out if you lift in a corner. The Mamba V10 is an American roadster with enormous torque from low revs and rear drive only, so it lights up its tyres out of slow bends. Each car has its own gearbox, engine note and handling, and the handling is arcade at heart: grip, weight transfer and downforce still count, and a car that is too fast into a bend runs wide.

The four roads each come in three sections with a checkpoint between them. The Coastal Highway runs along cliffs and beaches at golden hour, through a tunnel and over an inlet bridge, and rain rolls in for the final stretch. The Alpine Pass climbs through pine forest into fog and then snow on tight switchbacks and a gorge bridge. Downtown is a night race on wet avenues past lit office towers and the harbour, with a thunderstorm in the middle. The Mesa Run crosses salt flats, canyons and a desert outpost at noon, through a sandstorm, with jumps over the mesa crests.

The weather changes during a race and changes the driving: wet roads and snow cut grip, fog and blowing sand shorten how far you can see, and crosswinds push the car in the open.

Every stretch of road has a posted speed limit, and blind bends and crests have a solid yellow line where overtaking is banned. A patrol car that sees you speeding or crossing a solid line pulls out to chase you with lights and siren; what it doesn't see, it can't book. Every time it rams you, its bust meter fills further, and so does crawling along beside it; a full meter is a ticket, and crashing with a cruiser on your tail is a ticket on the spot. The third ticket in a race is an arrest. Pull far enough ahead and you escape. Further along, the police set up roadblocks with a gap to aim for, and in the desert they lay spike strips that blow your tyres.

A run is a tour through the roads in order from the one you pick. Finish in the top three without being arrested and the next road unlocks; finish fourth or get arrested and you can retry. Your score rewards your finishing place, the road's difficulty, every second under the par time and every pursuit you escape, minus every ticket. All of the art, the 3D cars and the music are made in code.