Anki OVERDRIVE adds modular tracks for war racing
Anki has come a long way since its robotic racecar toys made their mildly-cringeworthy debut on-stage at an Apple keynote, and Anki OVERDRIVE is the new fleet for 2015. Like Anki DRIVE, the new OVERDRIVE cars are controlled remotely from an iOS or Android phone or tablet, the brains of the device providing a surprisingly capable driving AI that means even if you're playing by yourself there's still competition. For OVERDRIVE, however, Anki addressed two key requests from existing players: they wanted a modular track they could set up in different configurations, and they wanted even more ways to express their road rage.
The result is a new, modular track system which replaces the old "roll-out" mat arena of the original DRIVE. Each of the various components snap together using magnetic connectors, with a combination of specially inked surfaces and optical tracking on the cars so that each understands where it is no matter what the configuration.
It's reminiscent of Scalextric, though should be a little easier to fit together thanks to the absence of frustrating plastic tabs. Layouts should be more flexible, too – if you ever cursed a Scalextric or model train set for not having quite the right joining piece, this will come as a welcome relief – as the panels themselves can be bent and curved to make banked corners and such.
Four new cars have been added, each with new virtual weapons and other gadgetry. Onboard is a 50MHz processor, and each car can control itself independently to navigate around the track if a human player isn't in charge.
The goal is not just to race but to battle as you do it, crashing cars into each other and trying to knock other players – whether real or AI – off the course. Existing Anki DRIVE cars will be able to take part, too, with the company promising a software update that makes them compatible with the new modular track.
An Anki OVERDRIVE Starter Kit will include two cars, ten track pieces for a total of eight configurations, a charger for four cars, two risers, and a tire cleaning kit. Two more cars will be offered separately, as well as eight expansion track packs that can, in the right order, produce more than twenty different configurations.
For instance, there's a Launch Kit which actually sends the cars flying over the track from jumps, or a Collision Kit with a four-way intersection into which you hurtle at speed. A 180-degree Kit spins cars around for games of chicken.
Unfortunately, Anki OVERDRIVE isn't going to be showing up on your living room floor any time soon. The new cars and modular tracks aren't expected to go on sale until September 2015, with the starter kit priced at $150 in the US (UK and Germany launches are also expected at the same time, Anki tells us, though pricing has not yet been decided upon). Expansion packs will be under $30 apiece.
