INERTIAL DRIFT
This one drifts off course
Many racing games see drifting as essential for success. How annoying, then, that learning how to drift can be needlessly complicated. No such problems here; while steering is assigned to the left stick as usual, drifting is controlled by the right stick. Want to drift to the right? Turn the stick to the right. Want to drift to the left? We’ll let you figure that one out.
As soon as the Saturday-morningcartoon-style intro kicks in, Inertial Drift soaks itself in a 1980s vibe that doesn’t let up. Character clothes are suitably retro, and the tracks revel in a hazy blur of colour that brings to mind certain music videos and cartoons of the era. The story mode is a wasted opportunity in this respect, characters shapeless vessels for gameplay tips and hollow words of encouragement.
In order to ensure that you use the drift stick, all cars are given the turning circle of a particularly unresponsive fridge without it. 1 That’s not really a problem though, the analogue nature of drift input meaning it’s a system both intuitive and demanding of care. Tracks are designed to work with it, and a hard-earned place high on an online leaderboard is satisfying to nail. 2
You’re never up against more than one opponent, though (if you have an opponent at all), meaning you’ll usually have an empty road ahead of you whether you’re ahead or behind, which can kill the sense of competition. This burning rubber cries out to be a group activity, if you catch our – ahem – drift. Perhaps online play would transform the experience into a thrill, but we’d need to actually find somebody playing to check.
As it stands, it’s stuck in first gear.