Turbo Golf Racing

My first real test of Turbo Golf Racing was setting up a private lobby with a group of friends on a Friday night, and within two races everyone had already forgotten they were playing something golf-adjacent. That says a lot. Hugecalf Studios built something genuinely fun here: a physics-based arcade racer where up to eight players simultaneously drive miniaturised cars around oversized golf courses, trying to putt an oversized ball into the hole faster than everyone else. The Rocket League comparisons are unavoidable and accurate at the surface level, but the golf structure changes the feel entirely. You are not scoring goals against a team. You are managing your own ball across a winding course while actively sabotaging the seven people trying to do the same thing. Race mode is where the game lives. Three holes per match, Grand Prix-style points awarded per finish position, and the whole thing wraps up in under ten minutes. The physics are the star: the angle you hit your ball genuinely matters, and learning to read a course, find the boost pads, thread shots through portal rings, and chain a clean run together is deeply satisfying once it clicks. Power-up pickups scattered across each course add Mario Kart-style chaos, including homing missiles and boost refills, and a reset button lets you respawn your car and ball when a shot goes badly wrong without ruining your whole run. Passive and active Power Cores can be slotted onto your vehicle before a match, which adds a light build layer that rewards people who put in session time to experiment. Golf mode is more of a slow, turn-based version of the same concept with par scores and an aerial camera, and while it exists and some players genuinely enjoy the precision of it, the community consensus is pretty clear: it feels much quieter and less interesting than Race. Most of your time in Golf will be against bots. Now, here is the thing I have to flag for anyone planning a Saturday night with controllers on the coffee table. There is no split-screen local multiplayer. None. The Steam community has been asking for it since Early Access in 2022, and it still has not arrived as of full release. For a game that plays exactly like a party game, that stings. If your crew wants to play together, everyone needs their own copy and their own machine. Once you get online, crossplay between Steam and Xbox means finding matches happens quickly, and empty slots are filled by competent bots so you are never sitting in a dead lobby. But the couch dream stays a dream for now. On the accessibility front, Turbo Golf Racing earns good marks. A gamepad handles everything cleanly, with shoulder buttons for acceleration and braking, analog triggers giving fine speed control, and jump, drift, and air-dash mapped responsively. There is a proper tutorial, Time Trial mode works as a low-pressure solo training ground to learn courses before going online, and the cosmetic unlock system is earned through in-game currency from wins rather than a separate cash shop. The visual style is colourful and readable, which matters when eight balls and cars are all on screen at once. Races are short, the loop is fast, and new players can have a competitive round within a few sessions. The ceiling for mastery, though, is high enough that experienced players will consistently separate themselves through course knowledge and shot discipline. The slim content package is the real caveat going in. The mode count is small, the Golf mode underdelivers, and the player population means bots will appear regularly outside peak hours. Whether that feels like a problem depends entirely on how you use it. As a quick-session online game with friends, it holds up well. As a long-haul solo grind, it runs dry faster than you'd like.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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