| Drive | WASD or arrows · gamepad triggers + stick |
| Drift | Space handbrake · gamepad B |
| NOS | Hold Shift or N · gamepad LB · refills above 100 mph, in a rival's slipstream, on near misses and while drifting |
| Championship | Pause menu: nine rounds for points; podiums earn upgrade points for engine, suspension, tyres and NOS |
| Free roam | Speed traps, drift zones (orange on the map), jumps, and 25 hidden gold snakes |
| Sky Highway | Take the launch rail at Cape Magenta (off Windmill Lane): boosters fire you into the clouds, on to the Moon, and the re-entry chute brings you home |
| Energy portals | Drive through a pink portal (Sunset Canyon, Golden Meadows, the Sky Highway, the Moon) to become a plasma orb: tap handbrake to hop, drift for Energy Drift points and to top up the energy bar, hit NOS for blue electricity, and skim across water. Portal Rush races the whole field through five of them |
| Reverse | Keep holding brake (S / ↓) once stopped |
| Race | Drive into a pink ring, then E · gamepad A |
| Camera | C · gamepad Y |
| Reset car | R · gamepad X |
| Horn · Mute | H · gamepad L3 · M |
| Pause | Esc · gamepad Start |
| Light · Weather | Pause menu: golden hour, afternoon, sunset, night · clear, fog, rain |
| Phone | On-screen pedals and steering appear automatically |
Building the island…