‘Tiny Racers’ brings Grand Theft Auto back to its roots with top-down racing

By Jon Martindale April 21, 2017

GTA Online: Tiny Racers Trailer

Hearkening back to the racing games of the past, Rockstar is set to introduce a brand new way to race in GTA: Online with Tiny Racers. It takes the classic stunt race gameplay and gives players a top-down perspective, making for some classic racing gameplay with all of the beauty and physics fun of Grand Theft Auto V.

Although a new addition to GTA: Online (Grand Theft Auto V‘s multiplayer component), this style of racing hails from the classic eras of gaming and specifically the GTA franchise itself, which spent its formative years as a 2D open-world experience. In Tiny Racers, that perspective is revisited but the world is very much still the same Grand Theft Auto we know and love. Players will race on raised tracks, with the inhabitants of the world passing by below with little knowledge of the carnage unfurling above.

Alongside the top-down racing component, players will also have access to weapons and power-ups, which can really change the game and give you a chance to blow up the person in first place rather than beat them with speed. Think of it as the GTA equivalent of a blue shell in Mario Kart.

It looks a little like Blazerush, or the recently announced Micro Machines: World Series, which most definitely has its roots in the classic 2D era of top-down racing games.

GTA Online: Tiny Racers will be available for all players on Tuesday across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

That should help tide you over while we wait for more details about Grand Theft Auto VI, which, we are told, is in production, but is still at the very earliest stages. Considering how long Rockstar tends to take with its GTA releases, we wouldn’t expect any concrete news about its eventual release anytime soon.

Meanwhile, GTA V is helping autonomous vehicles learn how to drive.

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