Despite being an arcade racer, Inertial Drift differentiates itself from other games in the genre by targeting the gamepad rather than the racing wheel. Unlike Wangan Midnight and Initial D, there is no gear shifting and everything is based on your joystick axes. Many times when I've tried playing driving games without a wheel, I'm always left wanting when I can't maintain my steering direction, but Intertial Drift has that covered! Since the joystick tilt is mapped 1:1 to the car's turn angle, you'll be able to kiss the guard rail no problem!

It looks like each car has fairly different mechanics that influence how they handle, while the tutorial car lets you just steer this way and that on a dime, the second car in the demo boasts faster speeds but makes you choose between drifting, braking or accelerating with it's more rigid handling.

It's also got a neat aesthetic all throughout which references other arcade classics while creating it's own identity!

The lack of a mini-map is a big downside for me though. I personally want to be able to anticipate a big turn without having to memorise the entire map, although I guess this is how things were for Takumi and Keisuke who had nothing but VHS recordings to work with when preparing for a drift battle.

This demo is more than plenty if you just want to put on some eurobeat and get tight turns going with the included 2 maps and 2 cars in Time Attack, but I'm looking forward to the full release!

Despite being an arcade racer, Inertial Drift differentiates itself from other games in the genre by targeting the gamepad rather than the racing wheel. Unlike Wangan Midnight and Initial D, there is no gear shifting and everything is based on your joystick axes. Many times when I've tried playing driving games without a wheel, I'm always left wanting when I can't maintain my steering direction, but Intertial Drift has that covered! Since the joystick tilt is mapped 1:1 to the car's turn angle, you'll be able to kiss the guard rail no problem! It looks like each car has fairly different mechanics that influence how they handle, while the tutorial car lets you just steer this way and that on a dime, the second car in the demo boasts faster speeds but makes you choose between drifting, braking or accelerating with it's more rigid handling. It's also got a neat aesthetic all throughout which references other arcade classics while creating it's own identity! The lack of a mini-map is a big downside for me though. I personally want to be able to anticipate a big turn without having to memorise the entire map, although I guess this is how things were for Takumi and Keisuke who had nothing but VHS recordings to work with when preparing for a drift battle. This demo is more than plenty if you just want to put on some eurobeat and get tight turns going with the included 2 maps and 2 cars in Time Attack, but I'm looking forward to the full release!