Smashy Drift

Summary

Behind the low-poly styling sits a ridiculously addictive endless drift game packed with an insane amount of variety, where you’ll manji your way through cities, dockyards, warzones, and even a zombie apocalypse while trying not to smash into everything the game throws at you.

The car selection on offer is epic. You’ve got a garage ranging from the ultimate JDM legends, Euro classics, and some truly wild Epic-tier vehicles that completely change the game.

One minute you’re sliding a Hakosuka through a snowy Siberian highway, the next you’re piloting a WW2 bomber through a rocky canyon or mowing down zombies in a flame-painted hot rod with a snowplow bolted to the front.

Every vehicle comes pre-modded with aftermarket parts and drift-ready styling (with some obvious exceptions as you’ll see) straight out of the box. If you just keep pressing ‘Random’ after each run ends, you’ll undoubtedly keep discovering something new to keep you entertained.

Smashy Drift features

• Difficulty – Beginner/Intermediate
• Levels/environments – 15+
• Number of vehicles – 31
• Vehicle customization/upgrades – No
• Multiplayer – No
• Mobile – Yes
• Developer – AKPublish

Physics

The game concept is based on the manji, the classic Japanese weight transfer drifting technique. You’ll (mostly) be drifting wall-to-wall on a selection of highways and similarly straight locations. But, don’t worry, there’s (of course) a twisty mountain touge for you to enjoy, and much more.

Your car is essentially doing a permanent rolling burnout, so it’s tail-happy from the moment you start pressing left and right. There’s a very slight lag during big-angle transitions as the wheels grip up and throw you in the opposite direction, which has a satisfying feel to it rather than the typical instant snap of some less-realistic drifting games.

As you’d hope, the longer-wheelbase vehicles take wider sweeps and struggle through some of the tighter gaps, while shorter ones feel noticeably more nimble and snappy.

Graphics

The visuals are clean, colorful, and super smooth. Thankfully, the low-poly cartoon style keeps everything running on just about any device while still managing to look awesome, with each environment offering a completely different color palette and atmosphere. You can adjust the quality between Low, Medium, and High in the settings to make the most of what it offers.

Be sure to try out the AE86 to see what we mean, as you’ll find yourself on a twisty touge mountain road surrounded by pink cherry blossoms and massive cloud-level drops.

It has similar visuals to Polytrack (an insanely hard racing game), where it looks easy at first glance, but you’ll soon realize it’s far from the case when you start playing.

Controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook

• Left arrow – Drift left
• Right arrow – Drift right

That’s it. The car drives itself and gradually builds up speed (seemingly endlessly), so your “only” job is to steer left and right to keep it alive, which is easier than it sounds!

Mobile/tablet (iOS/Android)

Press the bottom-left and bottom-right corners of the game screen to drift left and right. If you’re looking for more phone-friendly drifting games and much more, we’ve got an ever-growing selection of mobile-optimized browser games worth trying.

How to play Smashy Drift

Initial setup

The main menu features the iconic Fujiwara Tofu Shop AE86 drifting through a Japanese-themed backdrop, complete with a torii gate and cherry blossoms. Your coin balance is in the top right, alongside ‘Play’, ‘Cars’, ‘Roulette’, and ‘Special Offer’ buttons.

Head to ‘Special Offer’ first. At the time of writing, you can grab two free packs (or one mega bundle) that unlock every single vehicle in the game at no cost.

We’d strongly recommend jumping on this while it lasts, because the 31-vehicle roster is one of the best parts of the game. Once you’ve done that, the ‘Roulette’ option (typically 100 coins per spin for a random vehicle) becomes redundant.

Getting started

Once you press ‘Play’, you’ll start drifting down the road as soon as you use the left or right arrows, with your score in the top left and coins in the top right. The car auto-accelerates and starts slowly, but be warned – the speed ramps up fast.

You’ll need to drift side to side while avoiding the obstacles, which range from small traffic cones to enormous shipping containers, depending on the level. Each vehicle has its own objective shown at the start of the run, and some are easier than others.

As you progress, you’ll need to drive into coins, 360 spin power-ups that send your car into a full rotation (be ready for an awkward exit angle), and head over to the Wall Tap Zones marked by arrows pointing toward the barriers. When you see those arrows, get to the wall as quickly as you (safely) can, and hold position for two full seconds to score a ‘Perfect’. Fall short of the timer, and you’ll get a ‘try again’ message, but there’s no penalty.

You’ve got two lives per run thanks to the shield power-up (assuming you activated the free packs). The first crash strips your shield, but you take a hit without getting wasted. However, the second hit means game over, complete with a hilarious cartoon character smashing through the screen.

If you’ve enjoyed the endless drifting aspect of this game, Escape Road takes a similar survival approach but swaps drifting for a top-down police chase where you’ll drift through a city (and various other locations), with a huge roster of over 90 vehicles to unlock.

Game modes

There’s technically one mode, but it has plenty of variety to keep it fun. Most cars have their own, fitting environments with unique obstacles, scenery, and objectives. If you’ve unlocked all the vehicles, it’s worth pressing ‘Random’ after every run to keep things super interesting, as you never know what you’ll get.

Some environments are simple city streets and highways, and others get completely bonkers. ‘Tank’ puts you in a warzone where you’ll be firing missiles between concrete barriers. Fighter has you piloting a plane through a narrow rocky canyon, dodging birds that’ll destroy your propellers. Surfer trades the tarmac for an open ocean, where you’re weaving between sharks on a surfboard, and it feels surprisingly natural given the similarities to the motion involved in drifting.

You’ll also find scattered ball-on-a-rope targets attached to barriers worth an extra 20 coins each, and the zombie level rewards bonuses for every 30 kills you rack up with the Zombacolypse’s front-mounted plow. Some environments are shared between a few cars, but there are more than 15 unique locations to discover.

If you’re after a game with a similar amount of carnage along with online multiplayer, Survival Race puts you on collapsing hexagonal platforms where you’ll battle against other players to stay on while the tiles collapse, and they do their best to ram you into the abyss.

Car list

There are 31 vehicles split across three tiers. Most cars come pre-modded with a selection of aftermarket parts, drift-spec styling, and tinted windows. You’ll undoubtedly recognize some of the epic JDM offerings, but if you’ve not guessed any of them, we’ve provided their real-world counterparts:

Common

• Bimmo 36 – BMW E36
• Force S14 – Nissan Silvia S14 200SX/240SX
• Merc 190 – Mercedes 190E
• Lady-Z – Datsun 240Z
• Sky 34 – Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R

• Roadster X5 – Mazda MX-5 Miata
• Proto – Nissan GT-R (R35)
• Hunt T79 – Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
• FTG-86 – Toyota GT86 (Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S)

• Toy 2 – Toyota JZX100 Mark II (a rare 1JZ-powered four-door hardly ever seen in games)

Rare

• Cloth 180 – Nissan 180SX S13 (240SX in the US)
• Legend GT – V8 Interceptor (the Pursuit Special)
• Eva 9 – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

• Sky C10 – Nissan Skyline KPGC10 Hakosuka
• Walker IV – Toyota Supra MK4 (Paul Walker tribute)
• SVX 6 – Subaru SVX
• Maeda X7 – Mazda RX-7 FD
• Fast X – 1960s Ford Mustang
• True E86 – Toyota AE86 (Hachiroku)
• Beast STI – Subaru Impreza STI

Epic

• Tank – Military tank

• Zombacolypse – Flame-painted hot rod (with a front-mounted plow)
• Zutu Tu – Aussie burnout car with a hood-mounted supercharger
• Fist – Ford Fiesta ST
• Surfer – Your character on a surfboard
• Slingshot – Formula One car (that takes you to a racetrack)
• Forklift – Exactly what you think it is

• Driftor – Old-school tractor (farmland with log pile obstacles)

• Fighter – WW2 propeller plane (in a rocky canyon, avoiding birds)
• TAZ-07 – Old-school Lada (with a frozen Siberian highway)
• Desert Hawk – Toyota Hilux Ute (Australian outback with kangaroo warning signs)

The JDM roster alone gives most browser drifting games a run for their money. However, if you’re after a similarly-sized garage along with online multiplayer, Drift Hunters Pro lets you tandem with your friends behind the wheel of the likes of the S15 Silvia and Honda S2000.

Or if you’re looking for instant chaos with zero unlocking and grinding required, Madalin Stunt Cars 3 gives you more than 60 cars from the start with massive open-world maps and online lobbies.

Tuning, upgrades & customization

While we’d love to tell you there are coilover adjustments, 2JZ swaps, and a full paint booth in the garage, that’s unfortunately not the case. But, thankfully, most cars arrive fully modded and drift-ready, perfectly suiting the simple pick-up-and-play style.

If you’re looking for more, Drift Hunters MAX lets you adjust everything from camber and ride height to tire compounds across 39 super realistic cars, with a unique judged Drift Attack featuring clipping points. The classic Drift Hunters game is another great option with full tuning and paint customization across 26 cars, making it perfect for lower-spec devices that can’t handle MAX.

For the touge fan who loved the AE86 level, Touge Drift & Racing combines jaw-dropping Japanese mountain roads with an in-depth upgrade system where you’ll get to unleash the Hachiroku’s true potential before racing against the clock or pulling off sick drifts with incredible graphics.

Desert Hawk’s Aussie burnout vibes also call for a mention of Force Drift Racing: Aussie Burnout, which has arguably the most advanced tuning system of any browser game, with everything from suspension geometry to tire compound selection alongside Summernats-style burnout pit events and great physics. 

Advanced tips & tricks

Grab the free special offer packs before doing anything else

Hopefully, every vehicle will still be unlocked for free from the ‘Special Offer’ menu once you get around to playing. This also activates the shield (extra life) and magnet (automatic coin collection) power-ups. We have no idea how long this will last, so don’t sleep on it.

Get to Wall Tap Zones as early as possible

You need to hold your position against the wall for a full two seconds to score a perfect wall tap. If you arrive late, the countdown timer won’t give you enough time, and you’ll fail to secure the objective, so start drifting toward the arrows the moment you spot them.

Treat the 360 spin as a risk, not a free bonus

The 360 power-up sends your car into a full rotation, but it spits you out at whatever angle the spin lands on. If there’s an obstacle right after the zone, you might get launched straight into it. Sometimes it’s worth dodging it entirely if there are several obstacles around.

Try the AE86 for the ultimate drifting challenge

Most levels are straight roads where you’re weaving between obstacles, but the AE86’s touge level introduces winding mountain twisties into the mix on top of everything else. Getting 3,000 points there (to secure the objective) is way harder than it sounds, and your actual drifting skills will come in handy for reading the road.

Pick the longest vehicles if you want a real test

Longer cars take wider sweeps through transitions and make the smaller gaps more intimidating. If the standard vehicles feel too easy (they probably won’t), the Forklift and Driftor will sort that out.

Smashy Drift FAQ