Hey everyone! 👋 This year is coming to an end and just before that get ready to rev your engines again, because we've just deployed a brand new patch packed with awesome updates, fixes, and general improvements to make your racing experience smoother and more exciting than ever before! We've been listening closely to your feedback, and this update brings a lot of quality-of-life changes you've been asking for, especially for new racers!
🚀 New Features & Improvements
A Smoother Welcome for New Racers! 🚗💨
We've significantly upgraded the First Time User Experience (FTUE)! New players will now enjoy clearer welcome messages, better in-game guidance, and a more natural-looking starting terrain.
Enhanced Track Experience! 🏁
Track "Military Base" Revamped: Our "Military Base" track (Track 00) has received some love, including new finish flags and a much more natural environment.
Track "Military Base" Reversed! (Newly added): Discover a whole new challenge with a reversed version of Track 00, complete with new lighting and streaming!
Track Order: Tracks will now cycle sequentially, ensuring you get to experience every awesome course in an order.
Host-Controlled Tracks: Hosting a lobby? You can now choose which track to race on after setting up your game!
Fresh Track Textures: Both tracks now feature improved terrain path textures for better visual fidelity.
Lobby Map Previews: Map thumbnails in the lobby screen have been color-corrected for better visibility.
New Intro Cameras: Get a more dynamic start to every race with improvised intro cameras for all tracks!
Track Display Names: Track names have been updated for clarity throughout the game.
"Balls" on Reverse Track: We've added some new interactive elements (balls!) to the reverse track for extra fun! ⚽
Next-Level Driving Feel! 🎮
Haptic Feedback Galore! For those using controllers, prepare for an immersive experience! We've implemented brand new haptic feedback for acceleration, braking, drifting, collisions, and using your abilities. Feel every bump and boost! (note: only wired controllers are getting haptic feedbacks at the moment. We are working on a fix to apply haptic feedbacks on wireless as well.)
Balanced Car Handling: We've fine-tuned car steering, suspension (especially for the Kuntash!), speed, and acceleration curves across various vehicles (like the Bae and Shell B) for a more natural and responsive feel.
Ability Visuals: The Swap ability now has cool new lighting VFX! ✨
Smarter Bots for Better Races! 🤖
Our AI opponents are smarter and more responsive than ever! We've improved their movement, respawn logic, and pathfinding across all tracks.
Gliding AI Masterclass: Bots now handle gliding with much more grace, selecting paths and blending transitions seamlessly.
Adjusted Catch-up Mechanics: We've tweaked the bot catch-up logic to ensure competitive and exciting races!
UI & Menu Polish! ✨
Smoother Cursor & Menus: We've made big improvements to how your mouse cursor behaves, especially when switching between mouse and gamepad. Menu buttons now also have cooldowns to prevent accidental multiple clicks!
Clearer Ability Indicators: Your ability duration indicators on the HUD are now more prominent and accurate, so you always know when to strike!
Car Selection Screen Upgrade: The car selection screen has received some love, making it a smoother experience.
Smoother Leaderboards UI: The leaderboard delta display is now much smoother, preventing jarring jumps between player distances.
Fresh Tunes for the Road! 🎶
Get ready to race to new background music tracks that will get your adrenaline pumping!
Visual Enhancements:
Car Shadows: All cars now feature decal shadows, adding to the visual realism!
Improved LOD: Cars now look better even from a distance with improved Level of Detail (LOD) view distances.
Visible Indicators: Car indicators are now visible from further away for better spatial awareness.
Multiplayer Stability: Improved backend handling for race session data, especially when new players join, for a more reliable multiplayer experience.
🛠️ Bug Fixes
Smooth Starts: Your car will no longer experience free-fall at the start of a race. Get a clean launch every time!
Collision Course Correction: Fixed several minor collider issues on various tracks, ensuring smoother rides.
Ability Balance Fixes:
The ultimate glide ability duration has been correctly reduced for balance.
The Swap ability range has been nerfed and its angle threshold adjusted for fairer gameplay.
Utility ability cooldowns reduced, and weapon ability cooldowns increased for a better balance.
VFX Lighting: Corrected lighting issues for trigger blast and void blaster VFX. Explosions and blasts will now look as intended!
Track "Military Base (Reversed)" Mechanical Fixes: Addressed a few mechanical corrections on Track "Military Base (Reversed)", including correctly positioned plant triggers and a reversed finish line.
Upside-Down Car Logic: Improved the logic for detecting and resetting upside-down cars, making recovery more reliable.
LAN Panel Track Selection: Fixed a bug where the LAN panel prevented choosing a random track.
Proper Game Exit: Added a "Quit Game" button with a confirmation panel to the main menu, so you don't accidentally close the game.
Thanks to everyone for the awesome feedback and suggestions! Your input helps us make the game better every day. If you want to chat directly with us and other players, share your thoughts on the new haptics, or suggest features, join our official Discord server! 🎮 We can't wait to hear from you.
Happy Holidays and Happy Racing!
-The Cosmic Race Team (Psypher Interactive)