Slingshot Speeders — 2D Gravity Racing in the Browser

Slingshot through real gravity. Capture the orbit. Beat the board.

Slingshot Speeders is free 2D gravity racing you play in the browser. It is a top-down orbital mechanics racer with real inverse-square gravity, force-based thrust, and gravity-assist slingshots. You win by capturing a closed Kepler orbit inside a goal ring — not by crossing a finish line.

About

Built by Masland Tech LLC in Rust. The Bevy client runs as WebAssembly in the browser. Physics, input, and race rules live in one shared simulation crate. The server is authoritative: clients send button presses only, never position, velocity, or race time. That keeps the competitive leaderboard honest and the orbits deterministic.

How it works

Gravity is inverse-square. Distant wells fall off; cores kill you on contact.
The ship is force-based. Main thrust and RCS change velocity; Q/E rotate; coasting is free.
A green coast line shows your current orbit. Capture means that orbit fits inside the ring.
Cyan is velocity, gold is thrust acceleration, pink is gravitational acceleration.
Public leaderboards rank fastest captures. Every attempt is logged, including crashes and fuel-outs.

Maps

Easy — start in circular orbit at the left well. One mass in the middle. Capture a closed orbit inside a wide green ring at the right well.
Asteroid Field — start in circular orbit at well A. Slingshot and capture a closed orbit at well B.
Planet & Moon — start in low orbit around a static planet. Burn out and capture the moving moon.
Chaos — Asteroid Field’s A-to-B win condition through a denser well field and a polar perturber.

FAQ

Is this a real physics space game?

Yes. Orbits use inverse-square gravity and Kepler-style closed-orbit checks, not arcade magnets. Slingshots are gravity assists. Fuel burns only when you thrust.

Can I play Slingshot Speeders in a browser?

Yes. The playable client is a Bevy WebAssembly build. Open this page and race. No install.

Is it competitive?

Yes. Fastest closed-orbit captures go on the public leaderboard per map. Recent runs list wins, crashes, fuel-outs, and quits with distance, top speed, fuel burned, and peak g.

What engine and language is Slingshot Speeders written in?

Rust. Shared simulation in a dedicated crate, Bevy 2D client, Axum WebSocket server, SQLite leaderboards. The same SimState::step runs on server and client.

Do I need an account?

Type a pilot name on the home screen and pick a map. Names are filtered.

Controls

WASD thrust, Q/E rotate, 1 or Tab camera, 2 MAIN/RCS, 3 kill-rot, R restart, Esc home, scroll zoom.