Racing three rivals through the Solar System

Solar Voyage has seven race tracks, from the asteroid belt out to Neptune and home. Each one is a line of glowing ring gates, and three rival ships race you through it.

Sunrise and sunset come from two rings on the Earth's dawn and dusk lines, where day meets night. The Earth turns under them and the Sun stays where it is, so these rings always meet the Sun on the horizon. Four tracks finish on one of them: you race home into a sunrise or a sunset.

The eclipse is the finish of the Moon track. The track starts at sunrise over the Earth, swings round Venus, comes home through the sunset, then heads out round Mars. Its last leg points at the Sun and runs into the Moon's night side. As you reach the last ring, the Moon slides in front of the Sun.

The other tracks have their own sights. The first sweeps past the Moon and over Mars, then runs straight over the close rocks of the asteroid belt. The second is an almost straight line from the Earth's dusk side into deep space, past Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The last two are full laps: out past Mars, Jupiter and Saturn to Uranus, or on to Neptune, and home past each one again. Together, the seven tracks pass every planet and the Moon.

A small search program places the rings. It tries many routes and keeps one that breaks none of our rules. The rings stand at least one Earth–Moon distance apart, and a route never comes too close to a planet. That check covers the whole race, because the Moon keeps moving. Play-testing added the rule that matters most: a big turn between two rings feels unfair. So no corner on a route turns more than 30 degrees, and on three tracks no more than 15.

The three rivals are the tan wing, the dart and the twin. Each one is flown by code that follows the same rules as your ship: the same speeds, the same turn rate and the same Boost. They slow down for turns and boost on long straights. Each one keeps to its own lane near the route, and a ring only counts when a ship flies through its opening. If a rival misses a ring, it turns back for it. Two rivals never come within 3 units of each other, and if you touch one, both ships bounce apart.

Each rival keeps the race close in its own way. The tan wing holds a fixed pace on every track. We time a test pilot, a bot that flies each track with Boost, and the tan wing finishes in 1.9 times that time on the first track, down to 1.15 times on the last. The dart and the twin chase you: when they fall behind, they speed up, still inside the flight rules, and once they are close, they go back to their own pace.

Your first race is gentle. There, the rivals fly at no more than 85% of your top Thrust speed, so a clean flight on Thrust alone wins. For the first minute of every race, the dart flies just ahead of you to show the way. It matches your speed and never boosts, not even when you pass it. After that minute, it races for real.

Win a race and the next track opens. The game keeps your wins and your best time on each track, and the Radar shows the route of the race you're in. If you'd rather race the clock, Solo mode uses the same seven routes with a time limit.