It’s been slowly expanding the number of cars and tracks since appearing in Steam Early Access in May, 2020, but there’s a big change as the new Drift21 update adds online multiplayer to the game.
That means you can now show off your drifting skills around the Ebisu complex with up to six players. To give you freedom and control about how you enjoy the multiplayer option, developers ECC Games have essentially created an online lobby from practice mode, allowing you to drive around, go on tandem runs and chat.
But if you’re looking for more formal drift competitions, there’s an events module to allow you to join races with other players. Anyone competing will be ghosted for other racers in the lobby, so you can keep practicing without getting in the way of the drift racing.
For the first release of Drift21 online multiplayer, everyone can access a ‘free for all’ session with the whole course available for you to score the most drift points within a set time limit. And anyone choosing to host a multiplayer session will get plenty of ways to control the experience, including allow for voting or forced map changes, voting or forced removal of a player, displaying and pinning messages, resetting player positions, turning collisions on or off, and hiding messages from individual or all players.
So you can choose to just chill out and drift with friends in an online version of a local track day, take part in more serious drifting competitions, or host your own event. Which seems to cover most things you might want to do with a drifting game online.
But apparently ECC Games already has more planned, so the new Drift21 update adds online multiplayer as a first version, but once the performance is optimised there will be a spectator mode on the way, along with new event types and the option to use your personal garage-tuned cars.
Drift21 Update rev16554 Changelog:
Changes implemented since launching open multiplayer tests:
- UI Changes in Region switching section
- Changes how drift points are presented during competitive events
- Fixed a bug that caused a “Tandem” state to appear during events
- Fixed an error that blocked the input after the event
- Fixed a bug that caused the incorrect display of car parts after the event
- Fixed a bug that caused event non-participants to generate smoke and skid marks in event participant cameras
- Fixed an error where those who did not take part in the event did not accumulate drift points
- Small UI and text changes in voting windows
- Fixed an error where event continued even after changing the track
- Fixed a bug with serial cars unable to trigger “Tandem” state
- Corrected accumulation of Kiss The Wall points in the multiplayer session
- Fixed a bug that caused the license plates to show default text “Drift21” instead of player’s nickname
- Fixed an issue where the numbering of players on the server did not update
- Fixed an error where players’ avatars were displayed incorrectly or not at all
- Fixed a problem with a missing “Back” tooltip in the server browser window
Changes implemented since launching closed multiplayer tests:
- Fixed a bug that caused the game being stuck at loading after resetting the car position during Speed trap measurement
- Fixed a bug that caused player’s cars to hover few meters over the track during loading to a multiplayer session
- Fixed a bug that caused clients to fall under the map after switching the track
- Fixed an error that generated too many system messages in the chat window
- Fixed a bug where the map was not changed after the countdown
- Fixed multiple translations and typos in the multiplayer UI
- Fixed a bug that caused joining players to spawn with the previously used car
- Fixed a bug that caused joining players to spawn with incorrectly working car
- Fixed a bug that made some cars invisible
- Fixed a bug that made it impossible to return to the previously used server/room
- Fixed a bug that caused the car to stay in the session even after leaving the multiplayer game
- Fixed a bug that caused other player’s cameras to be rendered in different cars
- Fixed multiple errors that caused the session to be corrupted after leaving the server during any voting
- Fixed errors caused by Show Objectives, Reset All, and Reset Player command
- Fixed multiple issues that caused cockpit, hood, and bumper cameras to render improper assets
- Fixed a bug that caused the cars to be partially stuck underground
- Fixed some issues where some of the shadows were not displayed correctly, or at all
- Fixed a problem that caused the parking brake not to work in a multiplayer session
- Fixed an error where SteamID was displayed instead of a player’s nickname
- Fixed an error where resetting cars were dragged to the designated spawn point
- Fixed an error where car colors were black regardless of the player’s choice
- Fixed an error where the information about the used camera was displayed twice
- Fixed an error that sometimes made the second attempt to change the map impossible
- Changed default AA option from CTAA to SMAA
- Slightly rearranged multiplayer UI
- Improved overall performance of the game during multiplayer sessions
Drift21 was released on Steam Early Access in May 2020, developed by ECC Games and published by 505 Games, currently costing £22.49.
You can keep up with all of the latest Drift21 news, updates and more, here. Or check out all the Drift21 car list to see which vehicles you can take to the Japanese Eibsu circuit for lots of sideways, wheel-spinning action.
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