Backseat Champions

Backseat Champions is a racing autobattler with roguelite mechanics. You manage your driver during races by choosing random upgrades, handling boost and aerodynamic buffs, adapting to changing weather and selecting tire compounds. Races last about 10 minutes by default, and modifiers can extend them to 500% of their usual length.

Manage the race

All drivers start on equal footing and are equally skilled. Their machine-learning-powered driving is not scripted, so overtakes and crashes emerge during races. Each race varies through its length, weather and random upgrades.

You can use boosts and aerodynamic buffs to help your driver overtake, defend and set faster lap times. You can also risk fully maxing out an upgrade immediately, with the chance of engine failure forcing a pit stop. Crashes bring out the Safety Car, bunching up the field and potentially changing the race. Modifiers such as Shared Card Seed and the Weather Transition slider let you adjust the action.

Tires and strategy

Plan pit stops and choose from seven tire compounds, each suited to a particular role. Compounds can be better against others in a rock-paper-scissors-like system, letting you target track position, scaling or raw speed. You can also take part in an optional qualifying session, setting your fastest lap against the clock before the race.

Dynamic weather can change during a race, making tire choices and pit timing important. The game includes Formula cars, Supercars, Stock cars and modern Endurance cars, each with different racing dynamics. Multi-class races put several car types on the same track, where they compete for their own positions, points and podiums; all car types can race at once.

Race with others

You can compete or play Career Mode championships with friends. Local and remote splitscreen supports up to four players on one screen, while online matchmaking supports up to 12 players and can include splitscreen players. Career Mode has a championship ladder, with further championships unlocked by winning others. You can also spectate races, including online matchmaking, with a grid filled by drivers.

Create and customize

Draw and decorate your own circuits, then race them straight away, or generate a random track with one button. Friends can build and edit tracks together, race them together and share creations through the Steam Workshop. You can also paint liveries from scratch using brushes, stickers and text, then race with them solo or online.

As you level up, you unlock teams and car customization options, including wheel rims and helmet designs. Race modifiers let you change settings such as race length, tire wear, car type and grid order, including for endurance races.