Car Town races are friendly reflex tests, not driving simulations: you wait for the lights, press the green button the moment it turns green, then make three gear changes as close as possible to a green line. The highest positive score wins, and your car's performance sets how high that score can go. This guide explains each stage, how a winner is decided, what other contests exist and what is closed today in the browser edition at cartown.fbgamesweb.com.
Log in, click a car and start with a Practice run before you challenge a neighbor.
Buy cars, paint them any color, put them to work in your garage and race your neighbors in friendly reflex races, in this classic Facebook car game.
In beta: some parts of the original game are missing and you may run into bugs.
The main one is Friendly Racing: a free challenge against a neighbor. There is also Practice, which lets you train without a rival, and the tutorial includes a practice race against Axel, one of the neighbors that come with the game. The game's data also includes races against a runner controlled by the server.
Road Trip, Car Show and Deliver Pizza sit in the same car panel, but they are activities, not races. The GPS window has a Racing tab that lists Friendly Racing as free.
Click one of your cars and choose Friendly Racing, or use the races button on the right of the screen. The window lists neighbor boxes with a GO! button, an Invite Friends! box and a Practice button, and it says No fuel needed!, so friendly races cost no fuel.
When a neighbor challenges you, an Incoming! notice appears with a VIEW button. That is how a challenge from Axel shows up.
The game tells you to click Start to start the lights. The yellow lights come on, and the rule is printed on the screen: wait on yellow, go on green. When the light turns green, press the green button as fast as you can.
The sooner you press after green, the more points you earn off the line. Pressing before the light turns green counts as a foul, so speed only helps if you are patient first.
After the launch you shift three times. The rev counter fills, and it carries a green line. Click to change gear as close to that line as possible without passing it. The screen reminds you that clicking on the green line gives a bonus.
Going past the line is costly: your score can end up negative, and that happens to beginners. While you learn the rhythm, a slightly early shift is safer than a late one. Practice lets you repeat the three shifts as often as you like.
Whoever has the higher score wins, and the winning score must be positive. Your maximum possible score depends on your car's performance, the number on its card. In the editor, only parts from the Performance tab raise that number, such as Engine Upgrade 1, which showed +20 in our check. Wheels, tires and suspension change the looks and the ride height, not the score. Timing still decides how much of the ceiling you collect.
Winning against a neighbor gives coins and experience, with a daily limit for each player. The server decides the rewards and checks the scores of the races, which is why only real results count.
Practice first, until your launch and your three shifts feel automatic. Stay still on yellow and react only to green. Aim at the green line and, when in doubt, err on the early side, since passing it is what can push your score below zero. And look at the performance score of cars in Buy Cars before you invest, because a better car lifts the top of your score.
After a race, the final screen offers Practice or Exit, so you can try again straight away while the timing is still fresh in your head.
Car Show is a contest rather than a race: you enter one of your cars, the entries are voted on, and there are prizes by place, including one for first. It is a long activity, so you start it and come back later.
Weekly rankings also exist, with a prize. Both are documented in the game's data, but we have not seen either of them in action with other players.
The High Stakes Track shows up in the Racing tab of the GPS window as closed for maintenance, so you cannot enter it. Only Friendly Racing is open. We have tried the races on a computer, but not with two real players racing each other.
If a race behaves strangely, open a support ticket.
Three steps and you're in.
From this home page. Each game opens at its own address, with its own start screen.
A quick sign-up inside the game. Your progress is saved on the server, not in your browser.
You play in your browser, with no Flash and no downloads, on a computer and, depending on the game, on your phone too.
They are reflex tests. In Car Town you wait on yellow, press the green button as soon as the light turns green, then change gears three times as close as possible to the green line on the rev counter. The highest positive score wins, and your car's performance sets the ceiling.
Press green quickly but never before it turns green, then shift near the green line without passing it. In Car Town a faster launch and well-timed shifts give a higher score, and a car with better performance can reach higher scores. Practice until the timing feels natural.
It is a mark on the rev counter. In each of the three gear changes you click to shift as close to the green line as possible without passing it. Car Town gives a bonus for clicking on it, and going past it can leave you with a negative score.
Yes. The Friendly Racing window has a Practice button for training without a rival, and after each run the game offers Practice or Exit. Car Town says No fuel needed! in that window, so you can repeat the launch and the three shifts as often as you like.
The Friendly Racing window lists your neighbors with a GO! button, and you can invite friends from the same window. In Car Town, the social features have been checked with automated tests but not yet with two real players, so treat racing against real people as new.
No. The Friendly Racing window states No fuel needed! in plain letters. Car Town shows a fuel indicator at the top right of the screen, and it reads Full, but friendly races do not use it, so you can race and practice as often as you want.
It counts as a foul, because leaving early is not allowed. Car Town awards more points the faster you press after green, so aim to react to green rather than guess. If you keep jumping the start, use Practice until the wait feels easy.
Winning a friendly race against a neighbor gives coins and experience, with a daily limit for each player. Car Town decides the rewards on the server and checks the scores of the races there as well. The exact amounts are not listed here because they may change during the beta.
No. In the Racing tab of the GPS window, the High Stakes Track appears as closed for maintenance, while Friendly Racing is listed as free. Car Town is a beta, and for now friendly races are the only racing you can enter.
A Car Show is an activity you start from a car's panel: you enter the car, the entries are voted on and there are prizes by place. Car Town treats it as a contest rather than a race, and because it takes a long time to finish, you come back later to see the result.
Brand notice: Car Town is an original game by Cie Games. Facebook is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc. FB Games is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cie Games, Facebook or Meta. This is a browser edition, in beta.
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