Drift.io

Summary

Ever wanted to play Mario Kart in your browser? Look no further! Drift.io offers the perfect alternative, bringing a high-intensity multiplayer car battle (and racing) game with drifting physics, weapons, and adrenaline-fueled carnage.

Whether you want to race against other players in Grand Prix mode, battle it out in free-for-all arenas with rockets and laser beams, or master Time Trials on challenging tracks, there’s something for everyone. It runs perfectly in your browser, whether you’re on your PC/Chromebook or a mobile device, with cross-platform saving, so you can play anywhere.

The drifting physics are fun and rewarding, where you’ll want to pull off big-angle drifts to earn nitrous-style speed boosts. It’s not trying to be a realistic sim drifter, but there’s plenty of other options out there if that’s what you’re after. Its quirky graphics deliver a clean, blocky, and cartoon-style, and it even features its own official soundtrack.

With its varied game modes, along with many cars (models), wraps, and tire sets to unlock, plus daily/weekly challenges and online mode/leaderboards, it’s easy to see why Drift.io is quickly becoming one of the most popular free multiplayer browser games.

Drift.io features

• Release date – August 2024
• Difficulty – Intermediate/Advanced
• Levels/environments – 17+ maps
• Number of vehicles – 18
• Vehicle customization/upgrades – Yes (cosmetic only)
• Multiplayer – Yes (online)
• Mobile – Yes (iOS and Android)
• Developer – Drift.io

Physics

Drift.io brings a satisfying arcade drifting style, where you’re rewarded for long, big-angle slides with speed boosts. Hold drift (left shift) to build charge, which is then displayed by increasingly colored sparks under your rear wheels, then release for a 7.5% max speed boost. While it’s not realistic (or trying to be), it’s great fun, and recommended for all ages (once you get the hang of it).

If you’d rather have something that’ll actually teach you real-world drifting techniques, try RealDrive for a satisfying entry to the world of sim-like physics, along with highway racing and drift challenges. Drift King is another great alternative if you’re after awesome physics along with the online multiplayer benefits of Drift.io (without the weapons, of course!)

Graphics

The simple, fun, blocky, and clean cartoon-style visuals will feel familiar to Mario Kart fans, while the unique and varied track designs range from standard(ish) circuits to drifting your way through castle grounds with swinging axes and spooky interiors. The styling of this reminds us of Sky Car Drift, another cartoon drifting game with loads of game modes and a huge vehicle collection, including trucks and hilarious ice cream vans.

Drift.io controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook

• W/Up arrow – Accelerate
• S/Down arrow – Brake/reverse
• A/Left arrow – Steer left
• D/Right arrow – Steer right
• Left Shift – Drift
• Space – Use current item
• Esc – Pause menu

You’re also able connect a controller and customize all of the button bindings in the in-game settings.

Mobile/tablet (iOS/Android)

• Press the on-screen buttons

Like all the games in the Drifted mobile games collection, Drift.io is perfectly optimized for mobile devices and runs smoothly on even mid-range devices.

How to play Drift.io

Initial setup

When you first open the game, you’ll complete a quick tutorial covering the basics. After that, you’ll be gifted a daily login bonus – Day 1 gives 100 coins, then the rewards increase with your consecutive daily logins (eventually bringing crates, coins, and gems).

Before you get started, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the in-game settings (at the top of the main menu).

Video – Auto-detect is enabled by default. If you’re experiencing issues, you can manually adjust render scale, anti-aliasing, fullscreen, shadows, particles, and VFX. There are also Low, Medium, and High presets available if you want to quickly toggle between them and see which one works best.

Gameplay – Smart steering toggle (a steering assist that helps you navigate the corners). This can be turned off for more control, but it makes the game significantly harder, so it’s worth keeping on when you’re getting started. If you want to turn it off quickly later on, there’s also a toggle button in the top-left during races.

Controls – Keyboard or controller support. Customize any bindings. Default emotes are 1/2/3/4 keys. You can also manually bind various alternative camera angles (forward/backward/left/right).

Audio – Master, SFX, and music volume sliders. Audio visualizer toggle.

UI – Text chat toggle, UI scale adjustment, performance stats display (FPS, ping, vehicle speed).

Once you’ve configured the settings, click your current default name in the top right, then link your Discord, Google, or Facebook accounts for cross-platform saving. After this, you can change the username to anything you want (as long as it’s available).

Next, click the ‘New to Drift.io?’ button in the left sidebar for a comprehensive overview of what the game has to offer. You’ll get an explanation of the various modes, customization, and progression.

Getting started

Click ‘Play’ to choose from ‘Time Trials’, ‘Battle’, ‘Grand Prix’, ‘Custom Game’, or ‘Free Drive’, or click ‘Browse Lobbies’ to join an already-created custom game.

During races and battle modes, you’ll see floating blue boxes with question marks – these are power-ups. Drive into them to collect random items (you can hold two at once). Then, press Space to use the first item in your inventory. Some boxes contain coins instead, so you’ll want to collect these immediately so they don’t use up your limited inventory slots.

Drifting is essential to make the most of the game. You need to hold the Left Shift key while turning (left or right) to drift. Once you’re sideways, colored sparks will appear under your rear wheels, and you can release the drift key when they’re fully lit up for the maximum speed boost.

You can pretty much hold the drifts constantly and slide between the corners, but you’ll need to guide your steering left and right to collect the power-ups and coins and avoid obstacles/other drivers, especially if they have exposed TNT!

After completing games, you’ll earn coins, gems, and crates. Check back in the Challenges panel on the right of the main menu regularly to claim the rewards you’ll unlock along the way, and take a look at the daily/weekly challenges to see what generous payouts each challenge offers.

Crates contain various cars (models), wraps (designs), and tires, and you’ll need to open them from your Inventory.

Main menu navigation

• Garage – Equip, sell, and customize your cars. There are seven slots available. If you need to free up space, you can scrap your old cars for cash.
• Social – Add friends, manage requests, view online status
• Inventory – Open crates and view unlocked items
• Shop – Purchase crates with coins/gems and check for available freebies
• Leaderboard – Battle, Time Trials, Grand Prix monthly rankings
• Replays (Right arrow next to Settings) – View and download your last 10 games (saved for 7 days)

Crates

• Standard crate – Basic items
• Uncommon crate – Better drop rates
• Rare crate – Higher-tier items
• Epic crate – The ultimate items on offer, including ‘mythic’ rarity cars

You can purchase crates in the shop with coins/gems, or earn them through gameplay and challenges.

Game modes

Grand Prix

As you probably guessed from the name, this is the fast-paced racing mode, which also features a selection of power-ups to cause plenty of upsets along the way. The first driver to finish two laps wins, and be warned that your rivals will like to cause an upset just as you’re about to cross the finish line!

You’ll need to collect the blue question mark boxes for random items (boosts, coins, TNT, and various weapons). Remember that smart steering is enabled by default and helps keep you on the track when you’re starting out. However, you can toggle it in the top-left (or settings).

Going off-road doesn’t slow you down, and the tracks have shortcuts that you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled for. Holding the red missile item instead of firing it gives you a boost. Holding on to TNT crates can block incoming red missiles but not blue ones.

If you enjoy this racing mode and want something even more fast-paced and intense, Epic Racing: Descent on Cars offers cartoon graphics and crazy downhill chaos, where you’ll get rewarded for smashing into things along the way. Or, for a hardcore racing challenge with similar blocky-styled graphics, Polytrack pushes your skills to the absolute limit on over 100 tracks with (arguably) the most challenging leaderboards of any browser-based racing game.

Battle

This mode is a free-for-all deathmatch where you’ll fight it out against the other players to get the most kills within the allocated time limit.

Drive into the blue question mark boxes to collect weapons and power-ups, avoid falling off the edge into the void, and watch your back constantly, as everyone has one goal – to take you down.

Use tactics like strategic TNT placement to trap opponents, and other power-ups (like ice) to freeze everything around you for protection, but be careful if your rival has used this, as it’ll temporarily stop your weapons from working.

Battle: Kill Badges

You can earn special badges for unique eliminations:

• Mid air – Kill an opponent while airborne
• Drifting – Eliminate someone while sliding
• Long distance – Take out a rival from over 50 meters away
• After life – Get a kill after you’ve been eliminated

If you want to try a different multiplayer battle experience, Survival Race puts you on a floating platform where you’ll need to fight to stay on while knocking others off, with fast-hitting rounds, plenty of carnage, and constantly falling tiles instead of a track. Or, if you fancy a teamwork-based alternative, Rocket Goal brings a Rocket League-style soccer game to your browser.

Time Trials

A solo mode where you’ll chase the fastest lap time for leaderboard bragging rights, with no power-ups except nitrous. It’s also ideal for practicing and refining your skills across the various tracks, improving your drift technique, and climbing leaderboards without worrying about being smashed to pieces.

Custom Game

Create private lobbies (up to 10 players), then choose from Free Drive, Grand Prix, or Battle. Browse the 17+ maps, and customize the advanced car configuration. When you’re ready, you can share the lobby link with your friends (requires at least one completed game to add friends via the Social tab).

Free Drive

A chill practice mode with no opponents, pressure, or time limits. Explore the tracks, experiment with the drifting physics, and have fun messing around.

If you’re after a completely different vibe, Force Drift Racing: Aussie Burnout brings an exclusive burnout pit mode (super rare for browser games) alongside drifting, which is a great stress reliever after getting wrecked one too many times in Battle mode!

Car list

There are 18 vehicles (called ‘models’ in-game) to unlock through crates. The roster includes:

• JDM kei pickup trucks
• Supercars (Porsche-inspired designs)
• SUVs
• Delivery trucks
• Camper vans
• Formula single-seater

• … and even the drifters’ favorite Toyota AE86-style car (known as Kaito Nightweaver)

All of these models have identical performance stats, and the customization is purely cosmetic. Each car is based on real-world vehicles, with many featuring quirky modifications and upgrades. You can’t choose which specific car to unlock, as they’re only available through the mystery crates (standard, uncommon, rare, or epic).

If you’re after a game with a massive car selection, with 34 vehicles to choose from, all of which are already unlocked from the start, try Madalin Stunt Cars 3 for open-world stunts, huge ramps, and online multiplayer. Or check out our full car games collection for plenty more options.

Upgrades

There are no performance upgrades in Drift.io. All of the cars handle identically and can’t be improved.

Given that this might be a little disappointing, if you want in-depth tuning and performance customization, Drift Hunters MAX is the ultimate browser pick. Not only can you upgrade and customize your car, but you can also enjoy incredibly realistic drifting physics, 39 cars, 13 tracks, AI traffic, drifting (clipping zone) challenges, and much more. The only downside is that it’s single-player only, but it has online leaderboards, so you can still compete against your buddies.

Customization

You can customize the look of your car with the following:

Wraps  – 32 options. Each has unique patterns and wear levels that affect its appearance (cleaner vs. weathered). These are unlocked through crates or shop purchases.

Tires – 18 options. Although they change your car’s look, they provide identical performance.

Advanced tips & tricks

Master your drift timing for maximum speed boost

Hold Left Shift while turning until the sparks under your rear wheels turn bright colors (boosted by big angles). Assuming you’ve got enough space ahead and no obstacles, you can release to get a speed boost.

Tap left and right keys while you’re drifting to fine-tune your positioning. Lifting off the throttle or braking mid-drift gives you sharper steering control and lets you extend the slide if you feel you’re not going to make it.

Learn the track shortcuts on your first lap

Every track has hidden shortcuts. They’re harder to spot when you’re focused on racing, so keep your eyes peeled. You might miss them on lap 1 in GP, but prepare for them coming up on lap 2, as they often have a generous amount of coins and can shock your opponents. You may need to stop drifting to make tight shortcut turns, especially with steering assist on.

Use the TNT defensively when you’re in the lead

Keep the TNT boxes stashed behind your car if you’re close to bagging the win. That way, if someone drives into it, they explode. Or, if a homing rocket targets you (common when you’re in first place), the TNT acts as protection and takes the hit. Although you’ll lose it, it’s well worth the trade-off if it lands you the victory.

Turn off smart steering when you’re ready

While the steering assist is great for beginners, it limits your control. Toggle it off (the top-left button in the in-race or settings menu) once you’re comfortable. It’s always a good idea to learn proper drifting techniques and to try games without assists. Some of the more realistic drifting browser games available are also perfect for teaching you better fundamentals that you can then take to Forza Horizon or Assetto Corsa when you get home.

Sell cars you don’t need to make way for new ones

You’ve only got seven spaces available in your garage, so once it’s full, you’ll need to consider which ones need to head to the scrapyard to make way for the new additions.

Claim the challenge bonuses regularly

The daily and weekly challenges on the right side of the screen offer massive rewards (crates, gems, coins). So, make sure you check out the panel after every few races to see if you’ve got any gifts waiting.

Drift.io FAQ