Kei Trucks, Chaos and the End of the World
DriveCrazy is an indie action racing game that takes one of the most unassuming vehicles on the road, the tiny Japanese Kei truck, and turns it into a world saving, apocalypse outrunning hero. It has just launched out of early access on PC, and it is already carving out a niche as one of the wildest arcade style racers you can grab for under ten dollars.
If you are into fast paced, destruction friendly driving games with a sense of humor, DriveCrazy sits comfortably alongside classics like Burnout and early open world racers. Think ridiculous stunts, huge explosions and style points for just about anything you do behind the wheel.
How DriveCrazy Plays
The game starts with something relatively simple. You enter an annual Kei truck rally, where your job is to race through a course and rack up as many points as possible. But DriveCrazy does not just reward clean racing lines or perfect braking. It gives you points for everything.
- Drive neatly and keep control of your truck and you get points.
- Plow through street furniture like lampposts and hedges, you get points.
- Spin your truck 360 degrees, wipe out into a rice paddy and cause a mess, still more points.
The game quickly shifts gears from light hearted rally to full blown disaster movie. Right after your rally, aliens invade. Suddenly the city collapses into chaos and your Kei truck is not just a cute delivery vehicle, it is a survival machine.
As you barrel down the roads, you are dodging missiles, avoiding laser strikes and weaving through collapsing buildings. This is not a realistic simulation. This is full arcade mayhem where your truck feels almost superpowered.
Your Kei truck can:
- Perform instant doughnuts for tight spins and flashy style.
- Wall ride along surfaces to keep your momentum going.
- Balance and drive on two wheels for extra flair.
- Blast forward using a bright blue afterburner that shoots you up to near supersonic speeds.
The physics lean heavily toward fun instead of realism. Parked cars and random objects bounce away from your truck in floaty, exaggerated collisions. The world almost feels like it is made out of foam, ready to be smashed apart purely for your entertainment.
This design choice pays off because DriveCrazy commits fully to its tone. The environment is not truly happy unless something is exploding, breaking or flying through the air. Between high speed chase sequences you also get thrown into boss encounters against enormous enemies, like a giant bear with glowing eyes that towers over your tiny Kei truck.
Arcade Roots and What Is New in Version 1.0
DriveCrazy clearly takes inspiration from classic arcade racers. The aggressive focus on takedowns, spectacular crashes and stunt rewards will remind many players of Burnout. The open city layout and bouncy, light collisions have echoes of early 2000s racers like Midtown Madness, where half the fun was just seeing what you could smash into next.
After spending time in early access, DriveCrazy has now launched in full with its 1.0 update. That update rounds off the experience and gives players more reasons to jump in.
The full release adds:
- Two new stages to blast through, giving you more routes, obstacles and sights to destroy.
- An extra boss fight, meaning even more over the top set piece battles.
- The ability to load supplies onto your truck bed, adding a bit of extra interaction and challenge as you move through levels.
- A proper ending cutscene so the campaign feels more complete and story like.
All of this is wrapped in a fast paced structure that constantly pushes you forward. You are either racing, dodging alien attacks or battling huge enemies in dramatic sequences. The tone is tongue in cheek throughout, leaning into how absurd it is to stake the fate of the world on a tiny work truck.
On PC, DriveCrazy is also attractive from a budget perspective. The launch version is available at a discounted price until Christmas Day, dropping it from its already low base cost to just over seven dollars or around six pounds. For PC gamers who love smaller indie titles that punch above their weight in personality and fun, that makes it an easy impulse buy.
Why PC Players Should Pay Attention
DriveCrazy fits nicely into a PC library if you enjoy arcade racers that do not take themselves too seriously. It is not about sim style handling, realistic physics or ultra detailed tuning. Instead, it is about:
- Instant pick up and play driving.
- Satisfying chaos and destruction.
- Simple controls that still allow for stylish moves.
- Short, high energy sessions that work well on desktops, laptops and handheld PCs.
This makes it an appealing option if you are looking for something fresh to run on your gaming PC, a Steam Deck or a laptop. Compared with huge triple A racers that demand lots of storage and long sessions, DriveCrazy sits in that sweet spot of fast, affordable fun.
If you like the idea of outrunning the apocalypse in the world’s cutest truck, flipping through debris while an alien invasion blasts the city to pieces, and earning points for both perfect driving and glorious failure, DriveCrazy is worth checking out on Steam. It is a reminder that great PC games don’t always need massive budgets or hyper realism. Sometimes you just need a tiny truck, a huge explosion and a city made to be destroyed.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/race-a-kei-truck-through-a-collapsing-japan-in-drivecrazy-which-is-like-burnout-if-you-could-drive-on-walls-and-fight-towering-kaiju/
