Crazy Car is a physics-based arcade driving tech demo developed in Unreal Engine 5. The project focuses on custom vehicle control, manual drift behavior, camera stabilization, and physical interaction inside a compact low-poly urban sandbox.
The goal was not to build a full racing game, but to create a playable technical prototype centered around car feel, collisions, and clean Unreal Engine C++ architecture.
Technical Highlights
- Custom Arcade Car Controller: Implemented a C++ movement component that drives the car using physics forces, steering logic, lateral grip, and velocity control instead of relying on Unreal’s built-in vehicle system.
- Dedicated Drift Mode: Drift is activated by player input. During drift, the normal driving simulation is replaced by a separate arcade handling mode designed for controlled and readable sliding.
- Camera Stabilization: Built a follow camera setup that remains readable during fast movement, impacts, and small physics-driven body jitters.
- Physics Interaction: The player car can collide with and push props and parked vehicles, creating a small sandbox for testing physical reactions and chaotic interactions.
Movement & Game Feel
The main programming challenge was creating a car controller that felt responsive and arcade-like while still being driven by Unreal’s physics system.
Normal driving uses force-based acceleration, steering, and lateral grip to keep the vehicle readable and stable. When the player activates drift, the controller switches to a different handling model, giving direct control over the slide without depending on a fully realistic tire simulation.
This separation made the system easier to tune and helped preserve the arcade feel even during sharp turns, collisions, and high-speed movement.
Project Goal: Crazy Car is a gameplay programming tech demo focused on Unreal Engine C++, custom physics-based movement, arcade drift behavior, and readable car feel.