Nitro Lanes
Play Nitro Lanes now · free, no download, no sign-up
Nitro Lanes is a 3D lap racer on a four-lane road where two lanes run the other way. You drift through corners to build a mini-turbo, tuck in behind rivals to slipstream, skim past traffic for near-miss points and fire nitro to fly down the straights. Driving in the oncoming lanes fills your nitro fast, but cars are coming straight at you.
It suits anyone who wants a quick, arcade-style race rather than a simulation. A race is three laps against five rivals, so you can play one in a few minutes, and coins you earn buy new paint for your car in the garage.
How to play
- Steer left and right. On touch screens the car accelerates by itself; on a keyboard you hold the throttle.
- Hold drift while turning. The longer the drift, the bigger the mini-turbo when you let go, from blue to orange to purple.
- Fire nitro for top speed, and refill the bar by drifting, slipstreaming, near misses and collecting nitro bolts.
- The two oncoming lanes fill nitro quickly and hold gold bolts worth 400 points, but head-on crashes hurt.
- Drive close behind a car for a slipstream boost, and bump rivals hard for a takedown.
- Keep scoring within five seconds to build a combo multiplier; a crash resets it.
Controls
On a phone or tablet
Use the on-screen buttons to steer, drift, fire nitro and brake, or switch on tilt steering and turn the phone like a wheel.
On a computer
Steer with the arrows or A and D, hold up or W to accelerate and down or S to brake, Space or X to drift and Shift or Z for nitro. In split screen one player uses WASD and the other the arrow keys.
Game modes
Race
Three laps against five computer rivals on easy, medium or hard.
Time trial
An empty road and the clock: beat your best lap.
2 players
Split screen on one device, with computer rivals on the track too.
Online
Open a private table and race friends on their own phones, with computer rivals filling the field.
Tips
- Let go of a long drift on the straight that follows to cash in the purple mini-turbo.
- Tap the brake while steering hard into a hairpin; it starts a drift too.
- Use the oncoming lanes in short bursts to grab gold bolts, then get back before the next car.
- On hard, rivals also use the oncoming lanes to pass, so check your mirrors.
- Chain near misses, slipstreams and drifts to keep your combo multiplier alive.
About the game
Nitro Lanes takes its spirit from arcade street racers, where drifting and boosting matter more than a perfect racing line, and adds the risk of two-way traffic. It began as a standalone prototype and now runs on the same 3D engine as our motorbike racer Moto Blaze.
On a phone you get large buttons or tilt steering, and the car accelerates for you, so you can focus on lines and drifts. On a desktop the keyboard gives tight control, and two players can share one keyboard in split screen.
Questions
- Is Nitro Lanes free?
- Yes, it is free to play in your browser.
- Can two people race on one computer?
- Yes. Choose 2 players for split screen on one device.
- Can I steer by tilting my phone?
- Yes. Switch on tilt steering and hold the phone sideways like a wheel.
- Does it save my progress?
- Best lap times, coins and car paints are saved in this browser on this device.
