#PGConnects: Hands-on with top down arcade racer Drift 84

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Drift 84 is a racer that fits nicely in your pocket. Its tracks are over in a matter of seconds, its corners are taken in a blur of skidmarks and smoke, and it measures your success in tiny, tiny fractions.

It wouldn't look out of place on an Amiga, but that's not a bad thing. It's retro in all the right ways, sparky and angular, and dripping with the sort of engaging arcade fun that leaves you with a smile plastered on your face.

Each race is a timed challenge that lasts for three laps. Post a good enough lap time and you get on the podium and open up the next track. Most laps that I play don't last for more than ten seconds, and the difference between success and failure is a hair's breadth.

There are different cars, but you control them in the same way, tapping the right of the screen to turn right and the left to turn left. You drift automatically, and figuring out the perfect point to start your skid is vital.

The tracks don't look particularly complex, just a handful of corners strung together in a loop, but finding those extra fractions of a second that will crack the top times is surprisingly tough.

There are big, grassy run-off areas that slow you down, and solid barriers that bump you off course and steal some of your precious time.

And it all feels right. This isn't a simulator, it's a raw driving experience that hums and growls in bite-sized chunks, all screeching tyres and impossible cornering techniques. And it's bloody good fun.