The short version
A charming pseudo-3D Pole-Position-style racer that looks better than its file size suggests, with a genuinely functional touch fallback confirmed by real, measurable in-game progress from a single sustained drag. Shipped with the same one-line viewport fix its LittleJS stablemates needed.
Biggest strengths
- Touch controls confirmed genuinely functional with a real, measurable result - a single sustained touch drag on the on-screen stick took speed from 0 to 174 mph and score from 0 to 2380, direct proof the touch fallback drives the actual simulation rather than sitting inert behind a mouse-only code path
- Attractive pseudo-3D presentation for a small engine demo - a scrolling road, roadside banners, parallax mountains, and a glowing moon all render smoothly on both platforms
- A live HUD (speed, timer, lap, score) gives a genuine sense of a timed arcade run rather than an aimless drive
Biggest weaknesses
- The as-found file was missing its <meta name=viewport> tag, the same bug found in several LittleJS stablemates this cycle; fixed before installing
- The steering half of the touch fallback is less immediately obvious than the accelerator - the on-screen stick nub visibly shifted during a steer input, but the car's lateral movement on screen was subtle in this test's timeframe compared to the very clear speed/score gains from accelerating
- Fairly plain, single-track visuals with no stated variety beyond the one road
Who it's for: Fans of classic arcade racers who want a pick-up-and-play speed run on either a phone or a keyboard.
Our recommendation: play
7.5 / 10
Opening
Speedway is a small pseudo-3D racer in the Pole Position tradition: a scrolling road, a glowing moon over parallax mountains, and a speed/score/lap HUD to chase. It's part of the same open-source LittleJS arcade collection as several other titles reviewed this cycle, and needed the same one-line fix.
The same viewport fix, reapplied
Like several of its stablemates, the as-found file had no <meta name=viewport> tag, which shrinks on-screen touch controls on a real phone via Chrome's desktop-emulation fallback. The standard fix was applied before installing, confirmed by window.innerWidth correctly reading 390 afterward.
Controls, confirmed with real results
The steering code has a mouse-first path that can't work on touch, but falls back to the on-screen stick's axes for gas and steering - and this was tested directly rather than assumed. A single sustained touch drag on the stick took the car's speed from 0 to 174 mph and the score from 0 to 2380 over the course of the hold, both changes confirmed via screenshots taken before and during the drag. That's decisive proof the fallback path is the one actually driving the car, not a dead branch. Desktop keyboard input was confirmed the same way, with the score climbing in direct response to real key presses.
Final Verdict
A neat little arcade racer that punches above its size, with touch controls proven to genuinely work rather than just theoretically present. Simple, but it does what it sets out to do on both a keyboard and a thumb.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Touch controls confirmed genuinely functional with a real, measurable result - a single sustained touch drag on the on-screen stick took speed from 0 to 174 mph and score from 0 to 2380, direct proof the touch fallback drives the actual simulation rather than sitting inert behind a mouse-only code path
- Attractive pseudo-3D presentation for a small engine demo - a scrolling road, roadside banners, parallax mountains, and a glowing moon all render smoothly on both platforms
- A live HUD (speed, timer, lap, score) gives a genuine sense of a timed arcade run rather than an aimless drive
- Desktop keyboard controls confirmed working, with the score climbing in direct response to real key input
- MIT licensed, no third-party analytics found in the shipped file
Cons
- The as-found file was missing its <meta name=viewport> tag, the same bug found in several LittleJS stablemates this cycle; fixed before installing
- The steering half of the touch fallback is less immediately obvious than the accelerator - the on-screen stick nub visibly shifted during a steer input, but the car's lateral movement on screen was subtle in this test's timeframe compared to the very clear speed/score gains from accelerating
- Fairly plain, single-track visuals with no stated variety beyond the one road