11 OCTOBER 2026 IN THE NEXT BUILD

SAY IT ON THE CARD

We read every card in the game out loud, all 124 of them and their 120 upgrades, next to the code that actually runs them. Most of it was right. A lot of it said the same thing five different ways. Eighteen nitro-style cards ended with "Pass a car during the boost: keep +0.7", a whole sentence for one idea that never said +0.7 of what. Eighteen gamble cards could only be played once a race and didn't mention it. And one card did nothing at all. We'll get to that.

Native Windows desktop game capture of four cards with the old wording: Nitro Burst ending in Pass a car during the boost: keep +0.7, Redline reading +3 Top Speed, -1.5 Brake Power with no mention that it is once per race, Pit Radio promising your next draft arrives 50% sooner, and Spot of Polish offering +1.25 Top Speed in sweepers — Before: keep +0.7 of what? Redline sits out the rest of the race after one play and doesn't say so. And Spot of Polish is about to be exposed.

Now the repeated sentences are keywords, and the keyword carries the rule. Boost Pass: +0.7 Top Speed means every rival you pass while that boost burns adds +0.7 Top Speed for the rest of the race. Hover the blue words, or hold LT on a pad, and the tooltip spells out the small print, like the same rival twice in four seconds not counting. Once per race. now leads every card that sits out after you play it. Each time you crash: says whose crash it means, because on the ramming cards "every crash" read like a reward for wrecking other people.

Native Windows desktop game capture of the same four cards with the new wording and blue keyword links: Nitro Burst reads Next straight: +3.5 Top Speed for 6s. Boost Pass: +0.7 Top Speed. Redline reads Once per race. +3 Top Speed and -1.5 Brake Power. Pit Radio reads Next Pit Call 50% sooner. Spot of Polish reads Double Handling in sweepers — After: the rule leads, the keywords are blue, and every number is the one the game actually uses.

The card pick in the middle of a race finally has a name: the Pit Call. Your pit wall calls in, you pick a card. The panel says PIT CALL, and Pit Radio and friends now read "Next Pit Call 50% sooner." We didn't call it a draft, because in racing a draft is tucking in behind someone, and we already have a card about that.

Native Windows desktop game capture mid-race: the camera leans in on the track and the PIT CALL panel offers Gear Shift, Grip Wax and Step On It, with Grip Wax reading Next corner: +3 Handling for 8s. Boost Pass: +0.5 Handling — Your pit wall on the radio, mid-race. Three cards, one pick, and the race slows down while you choose.

The card that did nothing was Spot of Polish: "+1.25 Top Speed in sweepers". A sweeper is a corner, and in a corner your Handling sets your speed, so the extra Top Speed was never used. Rather than turn it into one more plain +Handling card, it now reads Double Handling in sweepers. Upgraded, it triples. It's uncommon now, and your Handling number jumps while it's working.

Native Windows desktop game capture of a race through a wide sweeper bend, with the race sidebar showing a doubled Handling stat and the effect x2 Handling on sweepers lit — Through the sweeper with Spot of Polish: double Handling until the bend straightens out.

The race itself speaks the same language now too: the pop-ups say BOOST PASS, RAMS, CRASH and KNOCK-OFF, just like the cards. These are captures from the native Windows desktop build at 1080p. Spot of Polish is the only card whose effect changed; every other number is exactly what it was. This was a wording pass, not a balance patch.