Anki Drive is the prequel of the famed Anki Overdrive. It served as the foundation and tuning ground for Anki's top designers. Anki Drive was an all new racing toy that debuted in late 2013. It was revolutionary in the sense that "slot cars" and "fixed track" racing was completely thrown out of the picture, and cars were not bound to a certain "driving line." Anki Drive also allowed for the sense of a video game in real life, and mixed in fun from many different aspects of life, including car tuning, gaming, and racing, all packed into one advanced system, topped off with wonderful design. [Drive released on October 23rd, 2013]
Anki Drive comes with a starter kit, but unlike overdrive the kit, it does not contain "track pieces," but rather, contained a "mat" that cars would drive on. You can upgrade your car as you play, and have access to weapons, just like in overdrive.
Gameplay
Anki Drive offers multiple game modes, including:
Race: A traditional 15-lap competition to finish first.
Battle: Players use virtual weapons to disable opponents while racing.
Time Trial: A solo mode to achieve the fastest lap times.
The A.I.-driven cars improve with player performance, adapting tactics and increasing difficulty. Players can customize cars with weapon upgrades. The app provides immersive audio, ensuring long-term engagement.
Cars
Anki Drive Cars
Anki Drive has a total of seven cars in their lineup. Boson, Kourai, Katal, Rho, Corax, Hadion, and Spektrix.
Here is the list of cars and the kits they belong to, including a brief description of each:
Boson and Kourai are included in a starter pack, and have good all-around capabilities.
Katal and Rho are expansion cars. They have an edge in agility and speed, and have good items, but fall slightly short in weaponry.
Corax and Hadion are expansion cars, and could not be more different. Corax is slow, and has the best weapons of any drive car. Hadion is extremely fast, but has poor defensiive armaments, and is quick to disable.
Spektrix, the last car, is the most mysterious and cunning of the bunch features scramblers, and an all new shiny exterior, and is the only single model shell car in drive.
Mats Created
Only 3 Anki Drive mats were created before it was replaced with Overdrive, Starter, Crossroads & Bottleneck.
Starter - The starter mat came with every Anki Drive starter kit, and is shaped like an oval with a small curve.
Crossroads - Crossroads is an expansion mat, and looks like an infinity symbol where tracks converge, allowing for more fun as cars may crash into each other during battle.
Bottleneck - Bottleneck is another expansion mat, and has a unique oval-adjacent shape, with the bottom right containing a bottleneck where only 1 or 2 cars can fit at once.
Every Anki Drive mat is 3.5ft tall and 8.5ft wide.
Bottleneck MatCrossroads Mat
Drive app version 1.0.0, 1.2.0, 1.3.0
Before Anki Drives release, Anki released an app that showcased the features and science of Anki Drive to hype people up before its release,
1.0.0
1.0.0 Had no changelog because it was the first version of the app, it contained Chapter 1, a brief introduction into the car, and how it was "alive", it also contained a video explaining the science.
1.2.0
Welcome to Anki Drive: Chapter 2.
This update introduces one of the car characters and his weaponry and capabilities. You'll also meet a few of the other weapons and get a glimpse of the game in action. Other updates include improved user experience and sharing capabilities. (editors note, this car was Boson. This chapter also shows a video introducing battle mode.)
1.3.0
Welcome to Anki Drive: Chapter 3
This update introduces the initial car characters and shows examples of their unique weaponry and capabilities. Other updates include information about device compatibility for Anki DRIVE when it's released this Fall. (editors note, these cars were Kourai, Katal and Rho, it also contained Boson but that car was explained in Chapter 2.)
at the end of the showcases, you are prompted to enter your email address to be signed up for updates about Drive.
Box Change
Sometime after Anki Drives release, Anki realised the box was too simple, causing people to not understand what it was and decide not to buy it. As a compromise, Anki started putting stickers on the front and back of all boxes to give much more information of what Anki Drive actually was.
New box with stickerOriginal box with no sticker
Hardware
Insides of a carMicrocontroller (SoC): STM32F051K8 (ARM Cortex-M0, 48 MHz) handles core control and sensor integration.
Optical Sensor: OmniVision OV7739 grayscale camera module for track-line detection and car positioning.
Drive Motors: Brushed DC motors; optimized gearing for torque at low speeds.
Communication: Bluetooth 4.0; ~18ms per packet delay with the original Overdrive and Drive app, ~2-4ms per packet delay with Overdrive 4.0.
