How to play PolyTrack: from your first lap to consistent finishes

Choose a route that is easy to remember

Click “Start driving” on the home page, then choose a track in the game. Forest Passage is an easy, compact route with a 13-metre road. Coastal Sprint is also easy and gives you a 14-metre road for slightly more steering room. The Track Wiki lets you inspect the route before opening it.

For your first attempts, turn off the NEON opponent and concentrate on the road and mini-map. NEON is a system opponent that drives and can collide with you. Solo mode reduces the number of things you need to watch while learning.

1. Open the game and select Forest Passage.
2. Look at the road during the countdown; accelerate when it ends.
3. Finish a lap before deciding to add nitro or a NEON opponent.

View all route maps and driving links in the Track Wiki →

Learn the keys and click the game first

Click the game area so it receives your keyboard input. W or Up accelerates; S or Down brakes, and holding it after stopping reverses. A/D or Left/Right steer. R or Enter restarts; Esc or P pauses and resumes.

Release the accelerator before a bend and brake if you are still too fast. Use short steering presses, then accelerate when you can see the exit. Holding full throttle and steering for too long can turn the car past the angle you need. Release steering, look ahead and make a smaller correction.

Understand checkpoints, finishing and penalties

Pass three checkpoints in order, then cross the start/finish line. The display shows how many you have passed. Turning around at the start or crossing open ground to the finish does not replace following the route through those checkpoints.

Staying too far off the road, or straying too far from the route, returns you to the last checkpoint and adds three seconds. You also lose time restarting from low speed and driving that section again. Finish the practice lap, then work on the bend where the return happened.

Build a repeatable rhythm over three laps

Use lap one to learn the route while staying near the centre. On lap two, identify the two corners where you most often leave the road. On lap three, change only your entry speed at those corners. Changing car, track and opponent difficulty together makes it harder to tell what helped.

After finishing, check lap time and penalties as well as score. This site keeps your personal best and recent finishes for practice and sharing; it has no publicly certified world-record leaderboard. Once you can finish consistently, use the nitro guide to practise acceleration on controllable sections.

Save your progress and continue on another device

Driving records are initially saved in this browser. Back up important records and custom tracks before clearing site data. To move devices, sign in, choose a cloud upload, then download and merge on the other device. Signing in or posting a comment does not automatically upload your progress.

Phone players can continue with the touch-controls guide. If the car will not move, check whether the game has focus or is paused. If you still need help, tell support your device, track and the message you see.

Read next: Faster PolyTrack laps: corners, nitro and energy rings →

Read the obstacle, then choose a clear side

At a lower speed, identify which side of the road the obstacle occupies and follow the open lane. Avoid a sudden turn at the last moment. Collisions reduce your speed. After a collision, steady the car before accelerating again.

The same track has the same number of obstacles in the same positions on every attempt. Solo driving and every system strength level use this layout, so routes and lap times can be compared fairly. system strength changes the opponent’s driving speed.