With just a few days to go until the retail release of Joyride, We wanted to give you all some tips for mastering the track to help you prepare for any future racing you’ve got planned straight from Joyride Co-designer and fellow racecourse scrapper, Pete Ward. Here’s some driving advice* to help you crash, smash, and swerve your way to victory!… In Joyride specifically*
Lock and Roll!
In Joyride, your movement is separated into two steps – a Locked move and a Rolled move. This gives you a degree of control alongside the randomness and risk when you do put your foot down and accelerate away.
There are many ways you can use your Locked move to help you on your turn. On a straight where you’re looking for raw speed you can simply lock in your highest values, or lock in a low value to reduce risk if you gear up and roll additional dice. When approaching a corner, your Locked move can help you to perfectly position yourself for your Rolled move. Locking in certain values might perfectly position your car to maximize collisions with your opponents, enabling you to easily knock them off course.
It’s also worth considering future turns when Locking your dice. Locking multiple dice to reach the same result as a single die can give you more flexibility and control as you make your way round the track. This is a great way to manage risk, especially in higher gears, but don’t be too cautious or you might find yourself falling behind your opponents.
Get in Gear!
Shifting gears is one of the most important elements of Joyride. Not only does your Gear impact the number of dice you will roll on your turn, it also dictates the initiative order for the next round, so keep that in mind.
Seizing the initiative can be crucial, as in Joyride the first player to cross the finish line is the winner. Jumping ahead of your opponents in the turn order can give you that extra advantage you need to claim victory.
Initiative isn’t just something to think about at the finish line though. Every round, there will be advantages and disadvantages to being higher or lower in the turn order. Going ahead of an opponent can let you dodge an upcoming projectile or position yourself to avoid a collision, while biding your time in a lower gear and letting the other vehicles move first can leave you in a great position to seize on opportunities that present themselves.
The Racing Line
Rather than playing on a fixed track, Joyride is played on a more open board, and you will be deciding how you are going to approach the race – which “racing line” you will be taking.
With collisions knocking you off course and items and obstacles strewn across the track, your racing line will be constantly changing and will likely be different to your opponents’. The best racers are able to adapt as the race evolves, seizing opportunities and making the best of whatever situation you find yourself in.
Don’t just focus on your own race though. Sometimes opportunities will arise for you to mess with your opponents by moving off the optimal route, and no one would blame you if you felt like taking a little detour…
Tradin’ Paint
Collisions are a key part of racing in Joyride, giving you the opportunity to knock your opponents off course to force them to waste time getting back on their racing line. But they can be so much more than simply a way to mess with the other racers.
Find you’re driving way too fast for the amount of track ahead of you? Need to position for a turn, but also want to lock in some nice high values? If you’ve got a car ahead of you, you might be able to use their car to slow you down, allowing you to keep racing in a high gear. Rear End and Head On collisions will see you halve your remaining movement – just be warned that if your opponent decides to slam on the brakes you’ll end up with a SMASH instead!
It’s not just about you hitting your opponent’s either. You can position yourself in such a way that an opponent will have to either take evasive action or crash into you, which could be a great way to get a free Steer with a side-swipe, or possibly even leave your opponents in a position where pushing your car would nudge you over the finish line and give you victory.
You Have The Abilit(ies)
If you want to come out on top in Joyride, you’ll need to take full advantage of your Driver Abilities. Whether you are using the standard or unique abilities, these are valuable additional tools you can use to gain the upper hand against your opponents.
Of course, knowing when to use your abilities to get the most benefit is tricky. Should you keep hold of them as you wait for that perfect moment, or are you better off utilizing them to eke out smaller benefits as the race progresses?
A key thing to remember is that if you are behind the other cars as you cross the start line to begin a new lap you’ll be getting at least one of your abilities back. You refresh abilities based on the number of cars that have crossed the start line ahead of you, so in a 4-player race if you were running in last place you’d get all 3 of your abilities refreshed. If you do find that you have fallen behind, use those abilities to catch back up!
Barely a Scratch!
While there is a slim chance you might make it through the race with your car still in pristine condition, chances are you’re going to be taking some damage during the race. Each point of damage will be reducing the overall performance of your car, but there are definitely going to be times when taking damage but staying on course is a better move than veering away from obstacles or items.
Where you place the damage is also a tactical decision, and can vary based on your playstyle, the track you are racing around, and where you are in the race. On a track with a lot of tight corners, you might feel that fifth gear is less valuable than a locked dice slot, or if you’ve passed one of the final item checkpoints then losing an item slot probably won’t cause you too much of an issue.
Remember, there is no way you will be eliminated from the race, and provided you cross that finish line first it doesn’t matter what condition your car is in. Don’t be scared to take the damage if it helps you win that race!
It’s Not Over Til It’s Over!
Sometimes you’ll be in a position where the next car is a distant speck on the horizon, far ahead of you on the track. If you play a lot of racing games, you might be thinking “woe is me, all is lost” – my advice to you is don’t give up.
Sure, it’s possible to put yourself in truly dire positions, as you can in any game. But in Joyride you are well equipped to recover. The tracks are smaller than they look, and through smart driving, calculated risks, items, and the inevitable collisions that you’ll encounter in the game you can get right back into it.
So there you have a few tips to help you as you make your way to the track. We hope you have a great time with Joyride and, to quote the late, great Ricky Bobby, “if you ain’t first, you’re last”.