Kart Sprint is a short, bouncy kart racer seen from a tilted bird's-eye view. You race five computer drivers over three laps on eight hand-built tracks, from the Karachi seafront to a snowy Murree road, then spend the coins you win in a garage of eight karts with upgrades, paint, truck-art wraps and more. Races take about a minute, and there is always a next kart or upgrade to save for.
Every race is three laps with six karts. You start fifth while three red lights come on; when they turn green, go. Your place, coins, lap, speed, race clock and a minimap sit at the top of the screen.
- Stay on the asphalt. The coloured verge cuts your top speed and the walls bounce you back.
- Yellow chevron pads give a burst of speed, and blue ramps throw you into the air.
- Gold coins sit in short lines on the inside of bends and in arcs after ramps. They come back every lap.
- Pink star boxes give an item: Rocket chases the kart ahead, Peel spins whoever drives over it, Shield blocks one hit, Boost x3 gives three bursts.
- Finish in the top three to unlock the next track.
On a keyboard, Up or W is gas, Down or S brakes and reverses, Left/Right or A/D steer, Space hops and drifts, and Shift or X fires your item. P or Escape pauses and R restarts. A gamepad works too.
On a phone, gas is automatic: steer with the two big arrow buttons, hold the red Drift button and tap the item button. Settings let you switch to tilt steering, change steering sensitivity, set music volume, turn vibration off and drop to low graphics on older phones. Your first race shows short tips you can skip.
Press gas in the last half second before GO, while the third red light is on, for a rocket start. Press too early and the engine stalls. On touch screens, hold Drift during the countdown instead.
Hold drift while steering into a corner: the kart hops, lands sideways and slides. Sparks turn blue after about three quarters of a second and orange after about a second and a half. Let go to fire a mini-turbo; orange lasts twice as long. Every blue turbo earns 2 coins and every orange one 5.
Eight karts each drive differently, rated for speed, acceleration, handling, grip, boost and weight. You start with the Sparrow, a light all-rounder. Then come the Rickshaw Rocket (400 coins, boost specialist), Hathi (750, heavyweight), Patang (1,150, drift artist), Cheeta (1,700, speedster), Jugnu (2,300, balanced), Toofan (3,100, turbo bruiser) and Shaheen (4,800, the top kart). Locked karts show their stats against yours before you buy.
Each kart has five upgrades with ten levels, and costs rise with each level. Engine adds top speed and acceleration, Tyres add grip in bends and on the verge, Turbo makes every boost longer and stronger, Body adds weight so you shove other karts and recover from spins faster, and Steering sharpens turns and charges drift sparks sooner. The paint shop has 15 colours, 9 wraps (stripes, checker, flames, camo, Pakistani truck-art florals, chrome and more), rims, helmets, a spoiler and your race number, all previewed live on the turntable.
After each race the results screen adds up your finish reward (150 coins for first down to 40 for sixth, more on later tracks), coins picked up, drift turbos and item hits (10 coins each). Time trial pays by medal, the first daily race of the day adds 120 and winning a cup adds up to 400.
Gems are the rarer currency for chrome, truck-art and gold items. You earn them for a better medal on a track than before (gold is worth 3), for every level up (with 100 coins), from some missions and from the chest. Three daily missions, such as collecting coins, firing orange turbos or jumping ramps, pay coins when claimed. The daily chest grows over a seven-day streak, ending with 500 coins and 10 gems, and resets if you miss a day.
The tracks are Sea View Sprint, Old City Lanes, Canyon Kick, Murree Snowline, Night Bazaar, Rainbow Rooftops, Harbour Hustle and Hunza Blossom. Cups chain four races with points of 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1. Time trial is solo with three boosts and a ghost of your best lap. The daily race uses one track for everyone, often mirrored or reversed, and finishing it completes the day's challenge.
- Spend your first coins on the Rickshaw Rocket or on Engine levels: both make the next races easier at once.
- Take the inside line through bends: that is where the coin lines are, and it is the shortest way round.
- Hit the ramps straight on: the air coins follow a full-speed jump.
- Upgrade Turbo on karts you drift a lot; every mini-turbo and boost pad gets longer.
- Claim the chest every day, since the streak resets after a missed day.
