Twin-stick racer Inertial Drift’s “Twilight Rivals” version is out now

Arcade racer Inertial Drift has been on the market for a while now — indeed, we told you all about why you should be giving it a go for yourself last year — but if you’re yet to check it out, or if you fancy returning to it, now’s a great time to do so.

Inertial Drift has been ported to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series whatnot as the “Inertial Drift: Twilight Rivals Edition”, which includes the base game and a bunch of additional material that wasn’t in the original release. Existing fans of the game aren’t being left out, though, because the “Twilight Rivals Pack” DLC is also available for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PS4 and Xbox One; a Switch version is coming soon but is not available at the time of writing.

For the unfamiliar, Inertial Drift is an interesting take on the arcade racer where rather than going for a vaguely realistic control scheme, it’s been very much designed with modern twin-stick analogue controllers in mind. The left stick steers your car as you’d expect, but you can also use the right stick to kick the back end out and drift — and mastering this is absolutely essential to success.

The interesting thing is that the exact way in which the drift mechanic works varies quite considerably from car to car, giving each vehicle a much more distinctive feel than you might find in some other racing games. Different cars reward different uses of technique, and doubtless somewhere along the way you’ll find your favourite way to handle the game’s challenges.

The base game for Inertial Drift features a substantial story mode as well as a series of one-off arcade-style challenges. The Twilight Rivals content adds an all-new storyline aimed at veteran players, plus four new tracks (bringing the total to 14) and four new cars (making a total of 24). There’s also an all-new Eurobeat-style soundtrack from Finnish music producer Turbo, whose past work can be found on YouTube and Spotify.

The PS5 and Xbox Series versions of Inertial Drift feature new Performance and Quality modes, allowing you to choose between running the game at 4K or enjoying 120fps action at 1080p. There’s also the local and online multiplayer features from the original release available to enjoy, too. The Twilight Rivals DLC pack for PC, PS4 and Xbox, meanwhile, simply brings the original game in line with the new editions in terms of actual game content.

Inertial Drift takes a bit of getting used to when you first start playing, because its unique control scheme is so different to any other racer you might have played before. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of it, though — the earlier cars in the game are specially designed to be quite forgiving and straightforward to handle — and before long you’ll be flinging yourself around corners like a pro.

One nice thing about the game is that there’s a variety of different event types, so it’s not just about racing. There are drift score challenges, where the emphasis is on pulling off as many ridiculous moves as possible, or endurance challenges where you’re given a set time limit and have to see how many laps you can complete in that period.

The story mode is designed to be supportive rather than placing roadblocks in your way, also; more often than not, “failing” an event still allows you to continue, though you can, of course, go back and retry any past events for a better result if you want to. The game as a whole is designed to provide a rather pleasant, inclusive-feeling atmosphere for all players rather than going all-in on an edgy “illegal racing” angle. This is a nice change; it places an emphasis on simply enjoying the thrill ride of the game rather than making you feel like you’re doing something “naughty”.

That’s not to say the game is easy, mind. On the contrary, some of the challenges in the base game are already pretty fiendish — and the Twilight Rivals material ups the difficulty factor even more for those who really rate themselves!

Inertial Drift is a great game for arcade racer enthusiasts, and is well worth checking out with this new version. It’ll doubtless play like a dream on the newer consoles, particularly in that new 120fps mode — but the previous-gen versions are no slouch, either. So if you fancy hooning it around some neon-soaked environments with a cast of friendly pals to cheer you on, now’s a great time to jump into the world of Inertial Drift.

Inertial Drift: Twilight Rivals Edition is available now for PS5 and Xbox blep. The PS5 version has a physical version available here. You can also nab the game for PC via Steam or Epic, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

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Pete Davison

Pete is Rice Digital's editor, and a proud champion of any and all games involving pretty girls hanging out, saving the world or both. His first waifu was Rit from Rod Land.

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