Nitro District

Nitro District is pure arcade racing joy on a touchscreen, which is harder to pull off than it sounds. Steering is done with tilt or on-screen buttons, and drifting is mapped to a single tap that just feels right. I ended up preferring the button controls for precision, but both work.

The tracks wind through neon city streets with plenty of shortcuts to memorize. There's a progression system for upgrading your cars, and the difficulty scales fairly. The soundtrack does a lot of heavy lifting for the mood, and I mean that as a compliment.

It's not a sim — physics are forgiving and everything's about flow. But for quick races and a hit of adrenaline during a break, Nitro District nails the fundamentals.

What we liked

• Responsive drift controls
• Great sense of speed
• Two control schemes that both work