


Cleverly, the random loot drops earned after each race can give you parts for cars you have yet to purchase, giving you an incentive to open your wallet. You only get two cars in the starter pack, though, so you’ll need to buy extras to complete the set of six. If you don’t have anyone to race against, Overdrive can let you race against up to three AI-controlled cars, either in free race mode or in a tournament mode that lets you level up your car and unlock upgrades to give you an edge on the track. Purists amongst the team said they preferred the more precise physical controls you get with a Scalextric set, but others were happy to use an onscreen slider to adjust their speed. It’s essentially Scalextric, except you can change lanes freely by tilting your handset left and right. As before, you control which line your car takes, and its speed, while it handles steering around the corners.
#Anki cars starter kit for free
The cars connect to your phone via low-energy Bluetooth 4.0, with the app available to download for free from the Google Play and iOS App stores. ^ …but optional track packs let you extend and create more advanced circuitsĪnki Overdrive works on both iOS and Android, meaning everyone can play regardless of their smartphone of choice.

All combined, it’s easy to create incredibly varied track layouts that should ensure racing feels fresh every time you play.
#Anki cars starter kit upgrade
You can also upgrade your circuits with the Rails kit (£10) which should help keep the action on the track, the Bank Turn kit (£10) which adds Nascar-style sloped corners, and the Elevation kit (£10) to raise sections of track and build hills, bridges and overpasses. We had access to the Speed kit (£20), which includes several more straights, the Collision kit (£30), which adds a crossroads for crash-based mayhem, the Launch kit (£30), which adds jump and landing sections, and a Corner kit (£20), which includes several extra corner sections. The modular circuit also paves the way for optional track packs, which can add a bit more excitement to the proceedings. ^ The Starter kit has eight possible track configurations… Once they return to the starting line you’re ready to race. The Anki cars then analyse the track over a warm-up lap using downward-facing sensors, with the layout drawn on your phone as the lap is completed.
#Anki cars starter kit plus
The £149 starter kit includes six 90-degree curved pieces and four straights, plus two riser pieces for up to eight potential layouts. Rather than limit your racing to a mat, the new version includes a number of straight and curved track pieces that can be slotted together in any configuration. That has changed with Anki Overdrive, an updated version which gives you control over the exact layout of your circuits. However, the ‘track’ was printed onto a roll-out mat which meant it lacked the flexibility of a traditional Scalextric set. When the original Anki Drive arrived last year, the promise of smartphone-controlled, Scalextric-style racing intrigued.
