Aussie developers announce Torque Drift for PC

It’s often the case that games which achieved great success on console or PC inevitably receive a mobile version (usually a gutted, de-contented and generally underwhelming version), but rarely is the inverse true.

Which is why it’s surprising that Australian game developers Grease Monkey Games says it will buck that trend and port its hugely successful mobile game Torque Drift to the PC platform around the middle of 2020, bringing with it a raft of enhancements.

Grease Monkey will distribute Torque Drift for PC via Steam, and while a precise launch date has yet to be announced the game’s Steam page lists the planned alpha release date as being “mid-year 2020”. The game will enter Early Access mode in March.

With the added processing power of a PC Grease Monkey have confirmed that the PC port will have greatly improved graphics as a result, though other details about changes to gameplay, the physics engine or sound have yet to be announced. Interestingly cross-platform multiplayer will be part of the full release, meaning drifters on PC will be able to compete against those playing Torque Drift on an Android or iOS portable device.

Controller support is also confirmed, but compatibility with specific gaming wheels is still unclear. However as a drifting title for PC, we would expect there to be generous wheel support out-of-the-box.

Torque Drift won’t be the only new oversteer-oriented title coming the PC platform this year. Drift 19, which was expected to launch late last year but has now been pushed to a Spring 2020 release date (and has been sneakily renamed Drift 21 as a result) is another promising drift sim,

Besides Drift 21, Torque Drift will also face off against another phone-to-PC drift title: the Russian-developed Car X Drift Racing. We look forward to finding out which one is the better slideways simulator.