🏁 PixelTorque – BIG RACE UPDATE! 🏎️💨

The race is getting a major upgrade! 🔥
We've reworked the driving experience, rebuilt the AI opponents, brought real online racing to multiplayer, and added a whole new level of visual polish to every race.
From perfectly timed gear shifts to intense online drag races, there's a lot to discover in this update!

Here's everything that's new. 👇

⚙️ Driving & Gear Shifting
Feel every gear change and master the perfect shift!
🚗 New Drivetrain System: Every gear now affects acceleration. Shift at the right moment to get the most out of your car!
🏎️ Rebalanced Cars: Car performance now better reflects its price. Climb the garage ladder and feel the difference between the i20 and the ZL1!
🟢 Perfect Shift Zone: A new green zone on the rev counter shows the ideal shifting window.
💥 Shift Feedback: Every shift displays a clear result — PERFECT, EARLY, or LATE — showing the boost or penalty you've earned.
🔥 Perfect Shift Combos: Chain perfect shifts together and build your combo: PERFECT x2, x3, and beyond!
🔧 RPM Fix: Fixed the engine RPM dropping straight to idle when you released the throttle.
🔥 Nitro Upgrades
More colour, more impact, more speed!
💨 Coloured Nitro Flames: Exhaust flames now display the correct colour for each NOS stage — orange, blue, green, and purple.
🔩 Exhaust Matters: Using nitro without an exhaust gives you a reduced boost. Install an exhaust to unlock its full effect!
📸 Improved Nitro Camera: A cleaner camera kick delivers a better sense of acceleration without the extreme zoom.
🤖 Smarter AI Opponents
Your opponents are ready to fight back!
🧠 Rebuilt AI: AI opponents now use the same driving physics as the player, making races feel more competitive and consistent.
🏁 Closer Races: AI pushes harder when falling behind and eases off when far ahead.
😈 Human-Like Mistakes: Opponents can occasionally shift early or hit the rev limiter. Even AI makes mistakes!
💨 AI Nitro: AI opponents use nitro according to the same rules as the player.
✨ Full Race Effects: AI cars now feature tyre smoke, sparks, nitro flames, and body movement.
🎥 A Better Racing Experience
Every race looks and feels more alive!
📷 Improved Camera Feel: Feel the car surge forward on a good shift and lurch on a bad one. Camera tilt has been removed to keep the pixel art crisp.
🚘 Dynamic Car Movement: Car bodies now react to acceleration and braking, lifting at launch and during upshifts and diving under braking.
💥 More Race Effects: Added speed lines, launch sparks, shift sparks, and tyre smoke.
🛣️ More Road Depth: Improved road depth, ground shadows, and lane positioning help every car stand out clearly.
🌄 Seamless Backgrounds: Improved parallax scrolling, removed the red overlay panes, and fixed the water reflections.
🔊 Improved Audio: Engine sounds are louder and clearer, while menu music automatically quietens during races.
⏱️ Race Clock Restored: The race timer is back on screen!
📸 Brand-New Race Results Screen
Cross the finish line and relive your race!
📷 Race Snapshot: The game captures a photo of your car when the race ends.
🏆 Detailed Results: Check your finishing position, race time, top speed, perfect shifts, coins, and XP.
🎉 Victory Celebration: Win the race and enjoy the confetti!
🔄 RACE AGAIN: Jump straight into another race.
➡️ NEXT: Return to the menu when you're ready.

🌐 Online Multiplayer – REAL ONLINE RACING!
It's time to challenge real players! 🔥
The DRAG RACE and BETTING modes in the multiplayer menu now launch real online races against other players.
🌍 Real Online Races: Race against other players online in multiplayer drag races.
💰 Choose Your Stake: Pick a stake of 50, 100, 250, or 500 coins. The winner takes the pot!
🪙 Race Rewards: Online races award the same base coins as offline races — +25 for a win and +10 for a loss.
⛽ Persistent Fuel: Fuel consumption is saved correctly after online races.
⚙️ Consistent Racing: Online races use the same physics, nitro, visual effects, camera behaviour, and results screen as offline races.
🏎️ Front-Lane Position: Your car always occupies the front lane during online races.
📋 Race Briefing: The race briefing appears before the action begins.
🤝 Ready, Set, Race!: The race waits for both players before starting.
⌨️ Start Your Engine: Press ENTER to start the engine during online races.
🏁 Opponent Disconnects: If your opponent leaves during the countdown, you win!
🛠️ Fixes & Improvements
We've also taken care of a bunch of annoying issues!
🖱️ Fixed the oversized mouse cursor.
🎁 Fixed menu reward buttons not working after returning from a race.
🔔 Fixed reward popups appearing over other menus or repeatedly reappearing.
🚿 Fixed the car wash prompt so it appears after races.
⛽ Fixed individual car fuel storage and fuel consumption.
🔧 Fixed the NOS panel covering the Free Run EXIT button.
🪙 Fixed the coin claim screen displaying the wrong amount.
📖 Rebuilt the first-run tutorial to match the current menu.
✏️ Removed leftover text referring to the game's old name.
⚡ General performance and stability improvements.

🏎️ YOUR NEXT RACE STARTS NOW!
This update brings major improvements to driving, gear shifting, AI opponents, race visuals, results, and online multiplayer.
Whether you're chasing perfect-shift combos, climbing the garage ladder, or challenging another player online, there's more to experience on the track!
🔥 Fire up your engine, hit the throttle, and show us what you've got!
💬 Have feedback, found a bug, or have ideas for future updates? Let us know in the Steam Discussions!

Thank you for playing PixelTorque and being part of the journey. ❤️
See you on the starting line! 🏁