For those who like to live their life one-quarter of a mile at a time comes Street Racer from Pragmatic Play. The prolific developer has turned their hand to many themes, but this must be the first driven, pardon the pun, by vehicles. Not just any vehicles either. These are high-performance street machines, designed to blast off the mark, drift through the tightest corners possible while making their drivers look effortlessly cool in the process. If the game turns out to possess a smidgen of power these street racers have, players will have quite an experience on their hands. Count it down – 3, 2, 1, let’s go.
Getting in on the race is achieved by setting stakes which are available from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. RTP is a plus point at 96.52% - a figure most armchair racers will be able to get behind, although it can be lower depending on operator setting. Volatility is an interesting one. The general rating is high at 4.5/5, but players have some influence over it when it comes to selecting the bonus game options as you will see.
Set in Las Vegas, the 5-reel, 4-row grid is surrounded by icons from The Strip such as the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Balloon, and the massive MGM Lion standing proud. A tense, edgy atmosphere is provided by the night time setting, and a bunch of tough punks populating the grid. It’s all a bit Fast and Furious, really. Who would have predicted the bro flick, starring Vin Diesel alongside the late Paul Walker, would drag on as long as it has? Like breaks failing on a worked streetcar, the franchise shows no signs of stopping.
As well as Street Racer’s movie stylings, several elements of the game mirrors NetEnt’s iconic racing slot Drive Multiplier Mayhem. One similarity is in the symbols, where premiums are made up of five racers named Firefly, Alpha, Bolt, Ignite, and Vapor. Vapor is the top dog around here, where five of him on a payline is worth 10x the stake. Following the premiums are four card suit symbols (diamonds, clubs, hearts, spades) making up the rest of the regulars.
Across the board, all symbols payout when three or more match on one of the 40 paylines from the first reel onwards. Like a blast of nitrous, the wild symbol is handy when it come to picking up wins. The wild is fashioned like a speedometer, appearing on reels 2, 3, and 4 to substitute for any symbol except the scatter.
>After a first glance at the reams of information on the paytable, the features may seem a little complex. Fortunately, when you cut through the details, Street Racer is actually very simple. In fact, there is only one feature to be aware of – a round of free spins based around a five-lap race.
The key is the scatter symbol which appears on reels 1, 3, and 5. When 3 are in view, the Free Spins bonus game is unlocked. Before the race begins, 5 options are presented; each one significantly affecting the way the bonus round is governed. In all cases, whichever driver is selected has their respective symbol values multiplied by five.
However, the more valuable the driver symbol is, the less free spins are awarded plus the higher the volatility. Making the choice trickier is that the max win is directly affected as well. The options are:
Once the desired driver is selected, the race can commence. A new symbol enters the game – a nitrous canister. Every 3 nitrous symbols collected bumps the player up to the next level (there are five in total). When that happens, extra free spins are awarded and also symbols may be upgraded to the next highest on the paytable.
For a slot full of tough-guy racers, big revving engines, and famous scenery, Street Racer is not as thrilling as you might have hoped it would be. Car enthusiasts will definitely fall for it a lot easier than the general slots playing public, though there are upsides for both. For one, the free spins race concept can be fun, offering decent enough wins via upgraded symbol values. Yet, Street Racer feels a little underpowered overall. Like a petrol head who builds a Lamborghini Countach replica, then drops in a four-banger instead of a V12.
Street Racer has a great look that plenty will fall for, but there is something about the goods beneath the hood holding it back. Potential isn’t great, but not really a huge issue, with max wins of up 2,000 times the stake possible. Despite this, something feels lacking - certainly, the uninspiring base game doesn’t help.
There are quite a few car racing-related slots floating around, though not so many great ones. It’s surprising when you consider how passionate many people are about cars. Street Racer is one of the better car themed slots, but it could have been more finely tuned. It’s also, surprising given the theme, not hugely exciting. There are no major issues as such; it just doesn’t get the motor running a whole lot.
If you’ve ever seen a high powered car accelerate from zero to plaid you know how breath taking the sight can be. Street Racer is not a bad game, but a little more of that raw exhilaration would have made it more compelling. If you like the race scene, but would prefer taking it off-road then Play’n GO’s slot Rally 4 Riches might also be worth a rev or two.
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