Keyboard controls: the keys, how steering ramps, and how to remap
Slipline Garage drives with WASD or the arrow keys, Space for the handbrake, R to recover, C to change camera and Esc or P to pause. Every key except Escape can be remapped in Settings.
Default keys
| Action | Key | Also works |
|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | W | ↑ |
| Brake, then reverse | S | ↓ |
| Steer left / right | A / D | ← / → |
| Handbrake | Space | — |
| Recover to the last gate | R | — |
| Change camera | C | — |
| Pause | Esc | P |
The arrow keys always work alongside whatever you assign, and Escape always pauses. Those two guarantees mean you can never remap yourself into a corner.
How on/off keys become smooth driving
A key is either down or up, but a car needs in-between inputs. The game bridges that gap in three ways.
Steering ramps. Holding a steering key moves the wheels toward full lock over about a third of a second rather than instantly. A quick tap therefore gives a small correction, and a held key gives a full turn. Releasing returns to centre faster than it left, and flipping from one direction to the other is faster still — which is what you need for transitions.
Steering lock shrinks with speed. At walking pace you get the full steering angle. At high speed the same key gives less, so a tap on the straight does not throw the car sideways.
The wheels self-align. With no steering key held, the front wheels turn toward the direction the car is actually travelling. In a slide, that is countersteer. Letting go is a legitimate technique, not a cheat — real steering does the same thing when you relax your hands.
Throttle has a response time. Each car takes a different fraction of a second to deliver its power after you press the key: about 120 ms in the Foundry, 280 ms in the Meridian. Tapping the throttle at different rhythms gives you part-throttle control.
Remapping
Open Settings → Controls, select the action, and press the new key.
- A key already used by another action is refused, with a message saying which one.
- Escape cannot be reassigned.
- Browser-reserved keys (Tab, function keys, Ctrl/Alt/Meta) are refused.
- Reset keys to default restores everything.
Bindings are saved with your progress on this device.
The page does not fight you
The game only captures its keys while a run is active. In menus, on the rest of the site, or while you are typing a name for Local Duel, the arrow keys and Space scroll and type as normal. If the browser tab loses focus, every held key is released and the run pauses, so a car can never drive off on its own.
Drill 1: release-to-catch
- Open Free Drive on Academy Yard.
- Reach about 60 km/h and turn right with D.
- Tap Space.
- The instant the rear moves, take your finger off D and off W.
- Watch the front wheels turn left by themselves and the car straighten.
Do this ten times. The goal is to trust that letting go works.
Drill 2: tap-to-hold
Same start, but after releasing D, tap W about three times a second. The slide should continue instead of straightening. If the car spins, tap slower. If it straightens, tap faster or hold a little longer.
When both drills feel routine, Lesson 4 will pass on the first try, and the full countersteering guide will make sense in your hands rather than just on the page.
More on the game as a whole: the drifting games overview.