Hill Sprint

Summary

It might look super simple, but getting over Hill Sprint’s dips, jumps, and steep climbs is harder than you’ll expect, especially if you want to win races. You’ll need to manage your fuel without wasting it while collecting as much cash as you can for upgrades, new rides, and new tracks. While (most importantly) trying not to smash your head in the process!

You get three game modes, with Battle Mode bringing ridiculously tough rivals that’ll expose every poor approach and messy landing. Coins fund upgrades, unlock 16 tracks, and let you work your way through the 43-vehicle garage (full of weird and quirky vehicles), ranging from hovercrafts to eight-wheeled military vehicles.

If you’re looking for a super-quick, fast-hitting browser game to complete quickly, this won’t be what you’re after (it takes quite a while to earn enough cash for unlocks). But if you’re after something where you have to work to unlock and appreciate each upgrade and improvement along the way, it’s one of the best hill climb-style games out there.

Features

• Release date – July 29, 2026
• Difficulty – Beginner/Intermediate
• Levels/environments – 16 tracks
• Number of vehicles – 43
• Vehicle customization/upgrades – Upgrades only
• Multiplayer – No
• Mobile – Yes
• Developer – A-Z Games

Physics

They’re super smooth, and the whole game feels polished and well refined. There’s a little wheelspin and dust at the start (unless you get stuck doing a burnout), but that’s as close as you’ll get to drifting here, unfortunately. Its real appeal is understanding weight transfer and grip, which can still come in useful for your favorite drifting games, though.

You’ll soon learn that mashing the accelerator and expecting to win isn’t gonna cut it here. It’s more about carrying your momentum and maximizing your fuel usage, especially early-on. A bad approach to a dip can be enough to stop the starter Dune Runner buggy dead, while too much speed at the wrong angle will quickly turn a planned jump into a flip (and inevitable game over).

The controls change jobs in the air. Throttle tips the vehicle backward, while the brake brings its nose down. You need the wheels ready to meet the slope because a nose-first landing will stop your ride dead in its tracks, and any contact with the rider’s head ends the run.

Upgrades soon improve range and traction, but extra power also makes the accidental flips happen far quicker.

It has a similar vibe to Mad Trail, with the same fuel pressure and practical upgrades, where you’ll gradually develop and improve a single battered monster truck instead of a huge garage.

Graphics

The fairly simple yet quirky cartoony visuals match the hillclimb vibe perfectly.

You’ll get to drive gigantic trucks, tiny bikes, tanks, and heavy military machinery. There’s also subtle jokes and taunts where your rival ghost (and your character) blow raspberries and exchange gestures during overtakes, which is a fun bit of nonsense when your previous record awkwardly disappears up the hill.

Controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook

• D/Right arrow – Throttle/accelerate
• A/Left arrow – Brake/reverse
• D/Right arrow while airborne – Tilt vehicle backward
• A/Left arrow while airborne – Tilt vehicle forward

Mobile (iOS/Android)

• On-screen throttle pedal – Throttle/accelerate
• On-screen brake pedal – Brake/reverse
• On-screen throttle pedal while airborne – Tilt vehicle backward in the default two-button layout
• On-screen brake pedal while airborne – Tilt vehicle forward in the default two-button layout
• Separate on-screen backward-tilt button – Tilt vehicle backward in the four-button layout
• Separate on-screen forward-tilt button – Tilt vehicle forward in the four-button layout
• Device accelerometer – Assist with airborne tilt in the accelerometer layout

Although the simple layout opts for just two buttons, you can invert the default pedals, add accelerometer assistance, or keep airborne rotation separate with four buttons. Not feeling this one? Our mobile games section has plenty more touchscreen-friendly choices.

How to Play Hill Sprint

Initial Setup

The opening tutorial is skippable, but it’s worth the few seconds it takes. It teaches the in-game basics of reversing, fuel and coin pickups, ramps, and handling mid-air rotation. If you decide you wanna revisit it later, you can do so from the main menu.

There’s no graphics or difficulty settings. You can toggle the audio, select a control layout, preview the garage, upgrade the Dune Runner (starter buggy), and choose a track.

Bumpy Backyard is free from the start. The other 15 tracks cost between 2,000 and 12,000 coins, with Trappy Platform and Neighbour’s Roof marked ‘Advanced’ for when you feel you need the ultimate challenge. The previews give a small teaser on what to expect, but it’s going to be best to save your cash for early upgrades initially.

Getting Started

Especially early-on, it’s super important to watch the fuel gauge (bottom center) and maximize downhill momentum instead of keeping the throttle pinned and burning fuel when it’s unnecessary.

Jerry cans on the route provide a full tank refill, while coins go straight into your coin balance (top left). Some pickups are too high for the stock Dune Runner, and risking a crash (or emptying the tank) for one is unlikely to be worth it.

Although you have a distance objective in the top left, this isn’t the finish line. Getting there completes the ‘Level’, but then you get the next target, while later coin pickups rise from one coin to five, and you continue until an empty fuel tank or a crash ends the attempt. Anyone familiar with Hill Climb Racing 2 will undoubtedly be familiar with the balancing act, coins, upgrades, and funky unlockable vehicles on offer here.

After completing an early run and bagging some decent cash, choose Continue and buy upgrades instead of retrying the level again immediately.

Upgrading the Fuel Tank starts at 60 coins, half the opening cost of Engine, Suspension, Tires, and Chassis. Several Fuel Tank stages and a couple of Engine stages ease the early fuel anxiety and help the buggy reach cans and coins that were previously out of range, helping you progress much quicker.

Game Modes

Single Mode

This is good for practicing, but you’ll soon wanna venture into the other modes. It’s just a distance run without a competitor to go up against (and the bonuses that come with it).

It’s useful to get to grips with the basics, and to learn Bumpy Backyard and fund the initial upgrades. However, there isn’t much reason to stay once the Dune Runner is improved and ready for some competition.

Ghost Mode

Here, you’ll race against your previous best attempt, which is a great money earner when you’re upgrading your vehicle (or buying new ones).

After each upgrade, you’ll have a real advantage over your previous recorded best, which makes Ghost the best early earning route. It also shows exactly where a poor landing or slow climb cost you time as you begin to refine your skills on the bumps.

Keep an eye in the top left where it shows how many meters there are to go before you reach the end of the Level (it doesn’t stop here) as you’ll earn a bonus if you’re ahead at that specific milestone.

Battle Mode

This lives up to its name, and it’s unforgiving from the start, where you’ll go head-to-head against a computer-controlled rival in a separate lane.

While you’ll likely struggle to win here early-on, it’s worth coming back once you’ve upgraded your ride in the other modes to make it more competitive.

When you’re ready to hang with the talent, you can watch their lines to see where you’re screwing up, and work on improving. Just like Ghost Mode, you’re rewarded with first place at the (exact) 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and later objective markers, all paying a generous bonus.

Fancy something a little different? Deadly Descent throws insane damage into the mix while keeping the big drops, rivals, and upgrades. However, unlike this one where it’ll be an instant game over, poor landings gradually tear your car to pieces, where the biggest challenge often becomes just making it to the finish line without your chassis getting stuck in the ground.

When the coin grind of this one gets tiring, Drive Mad is the perfect place to put your new-found physics abilities to good use. You’ll juggle momentum and awkward landings across 100 short physics puzzles with instant retries where you get behind the wheel of a (very) different vehicle on each one.

Vehicle List

There are way too many crazy, weird, and amusing vehicles to list. But, one important thing to note is that the garage isn’t sorted by price, so have a scroll through at what’s on offer, and get saving for your ideal target before spending blindly.

Here are some of the top picks to check out:

• Cheap early choices – Wild Willie (Willy’s Jeep) costs 6,000 coins, Quad (ATV) costs 7,000, a Mini MX bike is 8,000, and Retro Racer (AC Cobra) will set you back 9,000.

• Oversized off-roaders – Mini Crusher is a massive 14,000-coin monster truck, Trial Truck is a 16,000-coin six-wheeler, and Killer Krawler is a 20,000-coin buggy with super chonky tires.

• Military machines – The eight-wheeled Worminator costs 22,000 coins, while the Warthog tank will set you back 24,000.

• The funky/quirky stuff – Hidden among the variety, you’ll find a hovercraft, digger, road roller, tow truck, tuk-tuk, superbike, and several three-wheelers.

Eager to get behind the wheel of one of the huge vehicles without needing to grind away for it? You’ll wanna head over to our monster truck games!

Or, two-wheel fans can head straight into the action Moto X3M or test your luck with the teleporting and nitrous additions in Vex X3M 2. If they’re not crazy enough Stunt Bike Extreme offers a much larger 270-level trials career with huge explosions, crazy courses, and performance upgrades and customization.

For something a little different, Escape Road 3 is another popular pick with more than 90 rides on offer, along with characters, achievements, and mini-games, all inside a huge, top-down open-world police chase.

Tuning & Upgrades

Every vehicle has 15 stages of upgrades for Engine, Suspension, Tires, Chassis, and Fuel Tank. The green bars fill and the driving benefits are obvious, but your vehicle(s) won’t change visually no matter how much cash you throw at them.

Maxing out the Engine, Suspension, Tires, or Chassis costs a whopping 46,220 coins per category, while Fuel Tank ends up costing 31,700. This means a complete build costs 216,580 coins (and you’ll soon see how long that’ll take), so improving the Dune Runner, unlocking a fresh track (or three), and saving for a favorite ride are always gonna be competing priorities.

Our advice is to build the starter buggy just enough so that you can consistently stay ahead in longer, better-paying Ghost runs, then save with a target in mind. Scattering expensive upgrades across several vehicles only makes an already grindy game feel slower.

For the ultimate game when it comes to drifting and upgrades, look no further than Drift Hunters MAX. You’ll soon see why it’s the most popular game at Drifted, with endless stuff to do, as well as incredible graphics and awesome physics. It still takes a little while to earn, but the tradeoffs are well worth it, and you’ll undoubtedly become a sideways expert in no time!

Advanced Tips & Tricks

Coast when you can, and aim for optimal landings

Keeping the throttle pinned (especially in midair while going nowhere) spins your wheels and does nothing other than drain your fuel.

Once the flight path looks safe, release the buttons, read the landing slope, then tap throttle (or brake) to raise the nose (or lower it). The worse your landing, the bigger the setback for the remainder of the level.

Ease into a deep dip, then accelerate out

Charging into a sharp hole will likely bury the front-end in the dirt and kill your speed.

Lift just before the descent so the vehicle settles, then apply throttle (flat out, if need be) as the tires meet the uphill section. You’ll then get to spend your fuel climbing (or preppin’ for the next jump) instead of recovering from a dead stop.

Reverse far enough to build a real run-up

If a steep section keeps defeating you, don’t repeat the same standing start. Go back further (to flatter ground if you can) and accelerate early enough for the tires to find grip before the climb.

The extra runway can often turn a seemingly impossible jump into a clean pass, but if you’re landing on an awkward platform, plan accordingly.

Don’t panic about collecting every coin (especially early on)

Skip any coin pickup that requires you to go drastically out your way, or costs too much fuel before the next can. Longer survival raises later coin values and adds distance income, so it’s normally a much smarter choice than chasing one coin.

Plan the pass around the next bonus marker

In Ghost and Battle, make sure you keep an eye on the next level distance objective. You only need the lead at the exact moment the marker is crossed (usually every 500m), so plan accordingly so that you’re ahead when it matters for a big payout.

Hill Sprint FAQ