60 seconds

Nitro puts you on a four-lane street with three rival cars and a passage of real quotes. Your car moves exactly as fast as you type, so the race shows you, letter by letter, how quick and how clean your typing really is.

How to play Nitro

  1. Type the passage to drive. Every correct letter moves your car forward.
  2. Press Space to finish a word. A word with a red letter will not go through until you fix it with Backspace.
  3. Three rivals hold steady paces: 30, 45 and 60 wpm on Standard, 55, 75 and 95 on Advanced.
  4. Cross the line first. If every rival finishes, you have six seconds before the finish closes.

How the race works

The passage sits under the track, set in your reading font. Each correct letter pushes your car forward by the same distance, so the track is just the passage laid out as road. Type at 50 words per minute and the car cruises at 50; stop to think and it rolls to a halt. Press Space to send a finished word, and watch the exhaust kick when it lands.

The rules on mistakes are strict, the way a real race should be. A wrong letter turns red and the word will not go through until you fix it with Backspace. You never lose points for an error, you lose time, and in a close race that is the same thing.

Your rivals

  • Standard: Rookie at 30 wpm, Racer at 45 and Pro at 60. A good first target is to beat the Rookie, then hunt the Racer.
  • Advanced: Pro at 55, Ace at 75 and Legend at 95, on a longer passage. Winning here takes speed and very few corrections.

Rivals do not cheat or rubber-band. Each one holds its pace with small surges and fades, so a car you are chasing can drift back into reach on a long sentence. If all three cross the line before you, the finish stays open for six more seconds and your result counts the distance you covered.

What the numbers mean

Your result is your real typing speed over the race: every character you typed correctly, spaces included, divided by five and by the minutes from the green light to the flag. Because a wrong word cannot be submitted, that number is already net of mistakes. Accuracy counts every key you pressed, so fixing an error still shows up there.

Tips from playing it a lot

  • Read the next word while you type the current one. Most lost time is the pause between words, not slow fingers.
  • When you see red, stop and fix it straight away. Typing on past a mistake only means more Backspace later.
  • Capitals and punctuation are part of the passage. Slow down a touch on them rather than missing them.
  • Watch the strip at the top of the screen. It shows every car's place in the passage, even the ones too far ahead to see.
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Questions people ask

Is Nitro a fair test of my typing speed?

Yes. Your score is correct characters divided by five per minute of race time, the standard WPM formula. Since a word with an error cannot be submitted, the number is your net speed.

How fast are the rival cars?

On Standard they run at 30, 45 and 60 wpm. On Advanced they run at 55, 75 and 95 wpm. Each one varies a little during the race but averages its listed pace.

What happens if I make a mistake?

The wrong letter shows in red and the word will not go through until you fix it with Backspace. You lose a little time, never points.

Do I need a fast computer?

No. Nitro runs in any modern browser with WebGL, including phones, and the scene is built from simple shapes so it stays smooth.

Keep going

1 minute test The standard benchmark. 5 minute test Endurance and pacing. Typing games 25 games, from a 3D space shooter to a rhythm highway. Typing challenges 25 twists on the test: mirror, read ahead, one hand. Learn Guides to typing faster and more comfortably.