Play it in your browser: f1.gokart.games
Race an open-wheel car against an AI field in 3D, on a stadium test track or on 18 real circuits (Monza, Silverstone, Spa, Monaco and more, with layouts built from real car positions). It has a standing start, pit stops and tyre compounds, fuel, ERS and DRS, an automatic or paddle-shift gearbox, plus engine and tyre sound made from the physics. Drive from the chase or cockpit camera, where the car's mirrors show the cars behind you. It needs a WebGL browser and plays with a keyboard or an Xbox (or other standard) controller, with analog triggers and sticks. See How to play and the controls. Useful URLs: a race at Monza, the Spa time trial.
A playable browser testbed for an open-wheel vehicle model, rendered in 3D with
Three.js (r170, vendored under vendor/, MIT licence in vendor/LICENSE-three).
Prototype, not a validated Formula 1 simulator. All vehicle parameters are
illustrative assumptions, not measured F1 data or a season's regulations.
3D models and textures keep their own licences; see models/CREDITS.md.
From this directory, run python3 -m http.server 5188 --bind 127.0.0.1, then open
http://127.0.0.1:5188. ES modules require HTTP; do not open the HTML as a file.
Game modules live in src/, tests in test/, and Three.js is served from vendor/, so there are no runtime downloads, npm
dependencies, or bundler. A WebGL-capable browser is required.
Run validation with node --test (runs every test/*.test.mjs file).
Node's built-in test runner is the only test dependency.
The site is a Cloudflare Worker that serves only static assets (wrangler.toml).
npx wrangler deploy publishes the repository to f1.gokart.games. Files listed
in .assetsignore (tests, tools, this README) are not uploaded.
- Pick a circuit from the menu at the right of the header. The stadium
test track opens as a race against four AI cars (10 laps). A real circuit
opens as a solo time trial; press O (or add
?race) to race the field there (3 laps by default). - Take the wheel. Every session starts on autopilot, so the car drives itself until you take over. Press P (gamepad right-stick click), touch a gamepad, shift gear, or pick a grid slot on the start lights and you are driving. P (or the Autopilot button) hands the car back at any time.
- The start. Five red lights come on one per second, then go out after a random 0.2–3 s hold. Stay still until they go out: moving more than 0.5 m early is a jump start (+5 s). While the lights are on, 1–5 (gamepad LB / RB) move you into the car on that grid position (1 = pole); that car takes your old slot and you drive on in its colours.
- The race. The timing box shows your position and lap, the side panel the order with intervals, tyres, fuel and penalties, and the minimap at the bottom left every car on the layout. At the chequered flag the panel shows the classification; R starts a new race.
- Tyres and pit stops. You start on mediums (
?tyre=soft|hardto change). In a race every finisher must run two compounds, so you must stop once or be disqualified. B cycles the pit request (Soft → Medium → Hard → cancel). On autopilot the car boxes at the next pit entry. When you drive, take the pit lane (on the inside of the stadium's main straight; on a real circuit beside the start/finish straight, entry about 300 m before the line), keep to the 80 km/h limit (+5 s for speeding) and stop on your box, the first one, painted green. The crew holds you until it is safe to leave. - DRS. Hold F (gamepad right-stick click). In a race it opens from lap 2, in a DRS zone, when you were within 1 s of the car ahead at the detection point; any braking closes it. In a time trial it is free in the zones. The HUD shows when it is available and when it is open.
- Fuel and ERS. Each car carries the fuel for the race distance and gets lighter as it burns off. The hybrid store deploys up to 120 kW whenever you are on the throttle above 100 km/h, within 4 MJ a lap, and recharges under braking.
- Gears. The gearbox is automatic. X / Z (gamepad RB / LB) shift up / down and switch your car to the manual gearbox (an M shows beside the gear; the gear flashes red when a shift is refused, e.g. a downshift that would over-rev). G (gamepad left-stick click) goes back to automatic, as does handing the car to the autopilot.
- Reversing. Stopped and pointing at a wall? Hold the brake: once the car is still it selects reverse (the HUD shows R) and the brake pedal backs it up. In reverse the throttle brakes, and holding it at a stop selects forward again. This works the same with keys or gamepad. Q / E still select reverse / forward explicitly (stopped, on the brake, off the throttle). Brake-to-reverse is off on the start lights.
- Off track. Kerbs, run-off and grass have less grip, and a lap with all four wheels past the road edge is deleted. Walls are solid: there is no damage, but you lose time. R resets the car (and restarts the race).
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| W / ↑ | Throttle |
| S / ↓ | Brake (held at a standstill: reverse) |
| A D / ← → | Steer |
| X / Z | Shift up / down (manual gearbox) |
| G | Automatic gearbox |
| F (hold) | DRS |
| Q / E | Select reverse / forward (stopped, on the brake) |
| B | Pit request: Soft → Medium → Hard → cancel |
| 1–5 | On the start lights: drive the car on that grid position |
| P | Autopilot on / off |
| Space | Pause / resume |
| R | Reset (restarts the race from the grid) |
| C | Cockpit / chase camera |
| V | Overview / chase camera |
| H | HUD on / off |
| M | Sound on / off (audio starts on the first key press or click) |
| O | Opponents on / off (restarts) |
Keys are on/off, so the pedals and steering ramp (see Driver input). The header buttons do the same as their keys (plus Units km/h ↔ mph and Full screen). Driving keys are ignored while a button has focus; click the 3D view to drive again. Losing window focus or hiding the tab pauses and releases every held input.
Any controller the browser reports with the W3C standard layout works: Xbox Wireless / Series / One pads, and PlayStation or other pads that use the same layout (PlayStation names in brackets). The first standard pad found is used. Browsers only expose a pad after one of its buttons is pressed; the first time a pad appears it takes the car from the autopilot (once per page load; P still switches the autopilot afterwards).
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| RT (R2) | Throttle, analog |
| LT (L2) | Brake, analog (held at a standstill: reverse) |
| Right stick forward / back | Throttle / brake, analog (alternative to the triggers) |
| Left stick | Steer, analog |
| D-pad ↑ / ↓ | Throttle / brake (on/off, with the keyboard ramps) |
| D-pad ← / → | Steer (on/off, with the keyboard ramps) |
| RB / LB (R1 / L1) | Shift up / down (manual gearbox); on the start lights: the grid slot behind / ahead |
| Left-stick click (L3) | Automatic gearbox |
| Right-stick click (R3) | On autopilot: autopilot off (take the wheel); driving, hold: DRS |
| A (Cross) | Units: km/h ↔ mph |
| B (Circle) | Cockpit / chase camera |
| X (Square) | Pause / resume |
| Y (Triangle) | Full screen on / off (where the browser supports it) |
| Menu ≡ (Options) | HUD on / off |
| View ⧉ (Share / Create) | Reset car (restarts the race) |
- Triggers and sticks have an 8% deadzone with the remaining travel rescaled; the steering stick has a 1.5 power curve for finer control near centre. Steering authority falls with speed, as for the keyboard.
- Keyboard and gamepad can be used together: the larger pedal value wins, and a held steering key or D-pad direction overrides the stick.
- Buttons act once per press. R3 only turns the autopilot off; to hand the car back to it use P. Pit request, overview camera, sound and opponents have no gamepad button; use B, V, M and O on the keyboard.
- There is no rumble, button remapping or calibration. Racing wheels and pads that report a non-standard layout are ignored.
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
?track=<key> |
Real circuit (time trial); keys are listed in the development log |
&race |
Race the AI field on a real circuit |
?laps=N |
Race distance (default 10 on the stadium, 3 on a real circuit) |
?tyre=soft|medium|hard |
Start compound |
?nostart |
Skip the start lights |
?car=procedural |
The built-in procedural car instead of the RB22 |
For example a race at Monza or a 5-lap race at Spa on softs.
- docs/PHYSICS.md: the vehicle model (tyres, aero, load transfer, temperature, wear, sound), the stadium track and walls, and the 3D car and cockpit camera.
- docs/DEVLOG.md: per-feature notes by development cycle (AI, race rules, pit stops, fuel, ERS, DRS, real circuits), test verification, and the roadmap.
Three.js is MIT licensed (vendor/LICENSE-three). 3D models and textures keep their own licences; see models/CREDITS.md.