Heat: Pedal to the Metal

If one title defined board gaming in the end of 2022, it’s Heat: Pedal to the Metal, the new vintage-F1 inspired release published by the behemoth Days of Wonder and designed by the same team behind one of my all-time favourite race games, Flamme Rouge, Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen. 

Good racing board games are few and far between but Flamme Rouge is a tight and visceral modern classic, evoking the sensations of riding through the hills of France as part of a peloton, riding in the bunch to preserve energy and judging that all-important dash to the finish line. The DNA of Flamme Rouge is clearly present here in Heat: Pedal to the Metal, another racing game which uses card draw and hand management to simulate the primary game mechanics, jockeying for position, managing speed through the corners and ensuring the engine doesn’t overheat.

Components

Heat: Pedal to the Metal is one of the most generous productions I have seen in a long time, a box absolutely bursting with beautiful touches, and packed to the rafters with enough extras that there is ostensibly an expansion pre-packaged in there. The initial feeling on taking off the lid and delving into the contents, the two double sided boards, the exquisite cars and plastic gear sticks, one of the best box inserts I have seen in a long time, the extra modules and add-ons, was similar to what I feel when I open an expensive deluxe edition of a crowdfunded game. 

Four tracks on two double-sided boards are included, packed with period detail, each feeling entirely different to drive. Cards have a lovely linen finish with crisp and clear iconography and art of the cars reflecting their increasing speed as they shift through the gears. Instructions are clear and detailed with gameplay examples. Days of Wonder deliberately kept the core game rules separate to the advanced rules for Championship play, weather, upgrades and such and I think this works superbly, giving the player just what they need for that first play without overwhelming them with anything initially extraneous.

The earlier mentioned inset is glorious with sections included for different card types (it even accommodates sleeved cards), individual slots for the included cars and gear sticks, recesses for manuals - everything has been thought through to minimise set up and tear down.

The included extra modules ensure Heat: Pedal to the Metal is a game that will justify table-time for months and years to come. The championship mode allows a group of players to string races together, upgrading cars as they go. Sponsors will weigh in offering incentives for slick driving manoeuvres. One module allows the addition of weather, greatly influencing how aggressively drivers can approach different on-track obstacles. This is a game that oozes with quality, and more than justifies a hefty price tag, representing phenomenal value for money.

Gameplay

In Heat: Pedal to the Metal, players work with a hand of seven cards and play a number of them out equal to the gear they are in. They can then move their respective vehicle the number of spaces equal to the total value of those played cards. At its most basic, this is a simple and elegant system. But to stop players simply flying into fourth gear and zooming round the track, some subtleties are layered in.

For example, players can immediately jump up two gears at the start of their turn. However, each player has their own stack of ‘heat’ cards and this abrupt a gear shift will cause them to add one of these from the heat section of their individual player board into their discard pile to be later shuffled back into the draw deck and eventually drawn into their hand. And ‘heat’ cards are awful to have in hand. They can’t be played and can’t be discarded, dramatically reducing future options.

Take a corner too quickly? Guess what, you’ll spin out and add yet more ‘heat’ to your discard pile. ‘Heat’ cards can be transferred back to your engine and out of your hand by dropping back down the gears but doing so risks you losing touch with the rest of the pack so timing is crucial.

Stress cards allow a calculated risk of drawing from the top of your deck to gain a little extra movement. Pull up behind another car and you can slipstream past them, taking advantage of shared aerodynamics. It’s a beautiful system, slick and intuitive, players constantly looking to push their car as hard as possible but not too far. 

And let’s not forget how easy it is to add AI cars into the mix. Heat: Pedal to the Metal is by some measure the best solo racing game I have ever played simply because of how easy it is to run extra AI cars. The overhead is minimal and yet they still feel like real players, pushing you around the track, taking risks, acting both as obstacles or potential slipstream speed boosts. They ensure that at any player count, the track feels full and energetic.

Conclusion

Board gamers often get caught up in the hype of the latest big game, the cult of the new and Heat: Pedal to the Metal has been garnering positive press from all the usual reviewers and enthusiasts. I am here to tell you that, this time round at least, the hype is real and very, very deserved.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal is a masterpiece. A sumptuous, luxurious production with gameplay that has been honed to perfection and enough in the box to keep any gaming group satisfied long into the future. Days of Wonder have released arguably the best game of 2022 and one guaranteed to be a modern classic for years to come.