Corner Cutters

Racing, from above

Corner Cutters is a top-down racing game where the view is simple and the racing isn't. You steer, you brake, you feed in the throttle. Tyres wear and cool off. Rain falls and a dry line appears where the cars run. The stewards are watching.

The racing

• Grids of up to twenty cars: ten teams of two, and drivers who defend, dive down the inside and sometimes get it wrong.
  
• Three classes: open-wheelers with DRS and slipstream, three GT cars (front-engined V8, mid-engined V10, rear-engined flat-six) and a small cup roadster.
  
• Slicks, intermediates and wets, with wear and temperature. Pit stops with a crew that changes the tyres.
  
• Dry, damp, wet or changing weather. The racing line dries first.
  
• Damage, punctures, track limits, and penalties for causing a collision.
  
• Practice, one-lap qualifying, races of 3 to 20 laps, and time trials against your own ghost.

Eleven circuits

A harbour, a desert canyon shaped like a T-rex, a neon city at night, a lake, a marsh, a mountain shaped like a raven, a banked speedway, dunes by the sea with two banked corners, and a figure of eight that crosses itself on a bridge. Nobody asked for the figure of eight. It's there anyway.

Championships

Make a calendar of 2 to 20 rounds, race practice and qualifying if you want them, and fight for the drivers' and the teams' titles with your team-mate. Your team boss, Bud Jett, comes on the radio at the finish. He owns the van. Finish on the podium and he has thoughts about a shelf.

Race people

Host a room on Steam or your local network: up to sixteen people, computer-controlled cars to fill the grid, chat, and a championship of the room's own.

Also

Replays, 22 achievements, a podium with champagne, and fireworks if you win a title. Win something. Anything.