Anki drive starter kit video7/23/2023 ![]() ![]() And at that point, all you can do is run over and put them back on this happened a lot. But the biggest thing I noticed is that cars regularly drove off the track after driving through it, like they got confused and lost their position. The intersection piece, meanwhile, is called the Collision Kit, and it’s designed to create looping, crash-em-up scenarios. The more track components I added, the more likely cars were to go off-track, flip over, or wind up stuck on a plastic lip. ![]() It’s terrible, and an absolute waste of money. They’d crash or fall short and then try driving under the track, or just spin around in place. ![]() The $30 Launch Kit, for example, vaults the cars off of an elevated track-but even with the risers in the right locations, I couldn’t get the cars to land properly on the other side and keep going more than one-third of the time (Amazon buyers Sadly, Anki Overdrive can’t seem to handle all of its own expansion kits. It looked amazing, but once the cars got running, it turned out to be a real mess. Armed with a bundle of extra track pieces and cars, I set to work building a track with a wild jump, a plus-sign intersection, and plenty of curves. And you can add much more, too.īuilding an elaborate home track for four-player showdowns will easily cost hundreds of extra dollars beyond your initial purchase, but I figured expansion was the key to prolonging and amplifying the Anki Overdrive experience. You’re looking at $350 worth of Anki Overdrive, including the Starter Kit, extra ramp, intersection piece, extra track segments, and two more cars. That’s a very cool benefit that shows the real potential of connected toys: it’s not just about replacing an RC remote with your phone screen. Small speed and shield boosts help your car on the track, as do the customizable weapons that open up along the way. More importantly, the app provides a sense of progression: you’ll earn experience and in both campaign and standalone events and level your car up, which allows you to tap into upgrades. It loops through races and combat-centric battle events, and while it’s not the most enthralling quest, it provides a bit of context so you’re not just repeatedly running plain races when friends aren’t around. First is the campaign mode, which delivers a series of increasingly challenging races with just enough of a storyline to drive your ascent in the futuristic racing league. They scan the track to learn the route, and then during the race they can detect their place on the track, as well as the other cars.īut the app also enriches the experience in two other key ways. You don’t actually drive the cars manually. It also provides sound effects, spoken dialogue, and music, adding a crucial theatrical element to the experience. It’s the home control panel that lets you set up events, customize your virtual driver, and see which cartoonish opponents inhabit the A.I.-controlled cars you’re battling against. In fact, while the physical components make Anki Overdrive feel like a video game come to life, the Overdrive app itself really propels the experience. Your phone vibrates, the cars light up and slow down, and it gives the game a Mario Kart-esque allure. Other weapons might stall you on the track for a couple seconds, weaken your armor against further attacks, or show your momentum with machine gun fire. If you’re hit with a tractor beam, for example, you’ll slow down and the foe who zapped you will blast ahead. No, they’re not physical projectiles or attacks (I can dream), but rather virtual volleys that resonate within the app. Winning races and battles nets you upgrades for your weapons and cars. The latter point is important, since Anki Overdrive has a secret, unseen weapon: weapons. You’ll lightly steer the car by tilting your phone or tablet, so you can lean into turns or position yourself behind a rival. It’s so cool to see them whip around the course for the first time, but you’ve got a job to do. Anki’s little sprinters are impressively speedy as they auto-accelerate around the tracks, constantly scanning the infrared markings on the pieces to maintain position as they zip along. After connecting to the Anki Overdrive app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, they’ll do a slow lap or two around the course and learn the layout.Īnd then they’re off-quickly, too. You get two with the box, and they’ll need about 10 minutes on the included charging dock to be fully juiced up they run upwards of 20 minutes once charged. Unlike traditional slot cars, these very thin, plastic tracks aren’t electrified: it’s the cars themselves. The magnetized track pieces snap together.
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