Cranks and Goggles vrooms into public beta

As I claw my way back onto the right time zone, I'm trying to remember how to be competent at Cranks and Goggles [official site]. That's because the stylised, top-down retro racer got released over Christmas and I want to challenge Graham to a race at some point now that there are multiplayer options. So far I have crashed into a wall, knocked over a pile of tyres and started a race by driving backwards. The next step in my training regime will be coffee.

I wrote about the game a little while ago because the aesthetic is so lovely and there's something simple yet awkward about the vehicles which I find pleasing. It makes the racing part hard to master, but for me it's in keeping with the rough and ready pre-Formula 1 flavour of the game.

The devs, Play Native, seem to be referring to the current version as 1.0 beta which is slightly confusing but I think that's because the game is out but they're still working on features. One of the devs sent me an advance peek of a couple of female drivers which I'm pleased about, particularly having spent part of an afternoon investigating Eliška Junková and Hellé Nice.

At the moment, multiplayer just seems to be an online challenge mode with races you can join so you'd either need to co-ordinate with friends to race or get lucky if other people are queuing. They add that "Custom rooms and more multiplayer stuff will be available in future updates."

Cranks and Goggles is £4.99 on Steam which is $6.99 in the time zone my body is currently occupying and €5.99 in that Europe I've heard so much about.