Playtest Report No.2 – Driftcore Racers

The other night I ran another playtest of my (hopefully soon to be released) futuristic racing rules: Driftcore Racers. These rules feature high-speed vehicles that hover using thrusters and other sci-fi gizmos to keep them off the ground — think pod racers from that big sci-fi film I won’t name.

Note: apologies, I didn’t take many pictures of the race as there was lots of laughs and good banter I simply forgot to take many.

In Driftcore Racers, each vehicle can be upgraded using a selection of parts from different categories: Armour, Engine, Systems, Safety, and Illegal Upgrades. This means every racer can be uniquely tailored, giving each player their own style and strategy.

For this session, We kept things fairly simple. The vehicles had only a handful of basic upgrades — enough to differentiate them slightly, but not so much to overwhelm Paul, who was playing for the first time. My son Kevin and I had playtested before, so we knew what to expect from the rules and the vehicles, which gave us a bit of an edge.

All three vehicles had boosted top speeds, and some had Fuel Boosters for an extra kick when needed. Most had a couple of system upgrades to improve handling, but only one had any armour — and that was just on the front.

We skipped sponsors this time, but we did use the Secret Mission cards. These give players hidden objectives to try and complete during the race, earning them extra credits if successful. (I’ll cover these more fully in another post.)

The Racers and the Track

I’ve now printed out all twelve of the racers that will be included for free with the rules. But since I haven’t started painting them yet, we used the earlier conversions I made. I picked the blue vehicle, Kevin went with the red one, and Paul took the grey.

I set up the track using whatever scenery I could find — mostly hedges and walls, plus some scattered rocks for hazards. The layout was fairly open, with a couple of sharp bends and one narrow section. It wasn’t especially complicated, but I included enough hazards to keep everyone alert. Hitting a rock at full speed isn’t great for a vehicle — or the driver!

The Race

I started on pole position and immediately triggered one of my boosters, pulling into an early lead. Strangely, neither Kevin nor Paul used a boost — clearly, they had their own strategies.

I flew through the tight walled section at near full speed, barely paying attention to the hazards, and entered the second corner well ahead. I hit another boost on the way into the twisty section, stretching my lead even further. Still no boosts from the others… I started to wonder if I’d misjudged things and they knew something I didn’t.

Meanwhile, the fight for second place was heating up. There were a few close calls, but no collisions (yet). Their vehicles were built for speed, not for ramming, so everyone was still trying to avoid damage.

Both Kev and Paul began pushing harder, braking late into corners and taking more risks. I, on the other hand, somehow managed to drift through most of the course at close to top speed — and pass nearly all my tests. Which was weird. Anyone who’s seen me roll dice knows I’m usually cursed.

Over the next two laps, Kev and Paul finally used their boosts, but they still couldn’t close the gap. I had built a significant lead and, as I entered the final corner, everyone held their breath (well I did) — surely, this was the point where I’d fluff all my Panic Brake tests and crash into something?

Sure enough, I failed the first Panic Brake test… Then the second… And then the third. Classic dice karma. Now it came down to a final Handling test… could I pass this or would I end up crashing on the very last bend of the race… I passed! I crossed the line to win the race.

A few turns later, Paul crossed the line just ahead of Kevin.

Final Thoughts

That was a strange race. I kept double-checking everyone’s speeds because I couldn’t believe the gap I had built. My vehicle had a top speed of 23″, Paul’s had 22″, and Kevin’s had 20″ — not a huge difference, so the race should have been a lot closer than it was.

I haven’t seen that kind of runaway lead in any of my other tests when the builds were similar, so I’ll need to run more playtests to figure out if I just got very lucky, or if something in the setup tilted things too far in my favour.

At the end of the race:

• Kevin completed two Secret Missions and earned 500 credits
• Paul came in second, earning 150 credits, but didn’t complete any missions
• I won the race but didn’t complete any missions, so got 400 credits

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves — Paul definitely said he had a good time. We did wonder if having more vehicles on the track would make things more exciting though. Maybe next time we’ll try two racers each.

Kevin and I are already running a campaign season with two vehicles each per race, so we’re used to juggling multiple racers. But since this was Paul’s first time, I figured it was better to keep it simple and let him focus on just one.

There are still a few tweaks to make and more tests to run, but Driftcore Racers is getting closer to being finished.

And hey — more excuses for fun races? What’s not to love about playtesting?

Pop on over to my Discord server to have a chat about this game or any of my others, you will find the link under the Community tab on this site.