Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Don't miss these
Big in 2026 - Star Wars Galactic Racer
Racing Games The Outer Rim is your highway in Star Wars Galactic Racer, but it's more than Burnout in space
A close-up shot of Pinhead from Hellraiser
Horror Games Upcoming horror games for 2026 and beyond
A puppet character answers a door in The Dark Eye
Horror Games '90s horror game revival on Steam stuns Nightdive lead who's "been tracking down these rights for almost a decade"
Upcoming PC games for 2026 showing Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil Requiem, marines in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4, Coen in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and a woman's face in Control Resonant
PC Gaming Upcoming PC games: New PC games for 2026 and beyond
Doom Arena Board Game box on a wooden table with character and upgrade cards and miniatures on either side
Board Games The Doom Arena Board Game is hell on Earth (in the best way) | Preview
Best horror games - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard screenshot of Ethan shooting a mutamycete monster
Horror Games The 25 best horror games to play right now
Grace Ashford at her FBI desk in Resident Evil Requiem, covered with monitors and documents
Resident Evil Two hours with Grace in Resident Evil Requiem turned me into the most anxious person alive
Hugh carries Diana as sprints to avoid explosions, an image of the Earth near them in Pragmata, with the GamesRadar+ Big in 2026 frame
Action Games "Balancing hacking and shooting" in Pragmata has been vital for "players to feel the tension", the director tells me
TR-49 screenshot showcasing the archive machine and some text as well as the dial to the side
Puzzle Games I'm in my happy place: a dark basement digging through a computer archive that may or may not be alive
Forza Horizon 6
Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 6 is going full anime with Initial D-inspired Touge Battle mode and a full-sized Gundam
A distant flare illuminates the sky in Arc Raiders
Third Person Shooters Arc Raiders review: "The most memorable multiplayer experiences I've had all year – this shooter is tense but wonderfully approachable"
OD game Hideo Kojima logo
Horror Games Hideo Kojima's OD: Everything we know so far
Forza Horizon 6 key and May 19 release date
Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 6 looks like the pinnacle of open-world racing games: "It really is just about driving wherever you want and exploring"
Forza Horizon 6 gameplay screenshot
Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 6 adds Assassin's Creed Shadows-style base where you can build anything, if you fund it with tofu delivery
Key art for Skate Story showing the glass skater boarding through a dark underworld filled with spikes towards a door of light
Action Games Skate Story review: "A beautiful and unique skateboarding game with great, stylized visuals set in a grungy underworld"
Trending
  • Fable 4 interview
  • New Games for 2026
  • Big in 2026
  • Arknights: Endfield codes
  1. Games
  2. Horror

Distance may be the first horror racing game you ever play

Features
By Maxwell McGee published 9 December 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Going the distance

Going the distance

As surprising as it sounds, Distance is a high-speed, neon-flavored racing game that, quite frankly, scares me. Beneath the game's cyberpunk aesthetic lurks a callous, alien presence that is constantly toying with you, the player. I encountered its baleful influence near the end of my demo, manifesting as several seemingly random visual glitches. Around the same time I started being jarringly teleported back and forth between the familiar neon city race track and a ruined, desolate version of that same track.

This sudden change in style and tone suggests that there's something not quite right going on, and left me questioning which of the two realities was the 'real' one. Am I saying this is some bowels-voiding, P.T. demo-level of terror? No, but even so it still felt unsettling, and to see a developer attempt to mix these extremely disparate genres makes Distance worthy of your attention.

It doesn't hurt that the game also handles oh-so-smoothly. The sections I played were all single-player races (though there will be multiplayer too) that focused on survival. By utilizing my car's special abilities - we're talking flight mode, flaming booster engines, and Speed Racer-esque bounce pads - I had to avoid all manner of whirling saw blades and deadly laser grids. Of course, these powers couldn't save me against what came for me at the end, a glimpse of which you can catch at the end of the trailer below (it's that crazy orb-like entity).

Distance is available now through Steam Early Access, and you can click ahead through this gallery for more tidbits on the game.

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Imagine all this complete with a pulsing, techno soundtrack.

Imagine all this complete with a pulsing, techno soundtrack.

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
If you clip a saw blade or laser beam it'll slice off part of your car, but you might be able to keep driving.

If you clip a saw blade or laser beam it'll slice off part of your car, but you might be able to keep driving.

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Gullwing doors make a big comeback in the far future, complete with rocket boosters.

Gullwing doors make a big comeback in the far future, complete with rocket boosters.

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
The desolate city. As you can see, the vibe is very different here.

The desolate city. As you can see, the vibe is very different here.

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming PS4 Platforms PlayStation
Maxwell McGee
Maxwell McGee
Maxwell grew up on a sleepy creekbank deep in the South. His love for video games has taken him all the way to the West Coast and beyond.
Share by:
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Whatsapp
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Read more
Name Of The Will demo screenshot of a close-up face of a masked cultist
Survival horror meets Squid Game in this chilling Steam demo that I've not been able to stop thinking about
 
 
A driver in a black outfit stares down the camera
New trailer at The Golden Joysticks teases plenty of vehicular combat in a dystopian world and a race to the finish line you might not survive
 
 
A character in Ontos' key art sits in a chair that merges purple, floral, biological design with high-tech cables - their face is blurred with multiple expressions showing inner turmoil while their eyes are closed - with the GamesRadar+ Big in 2026 frame
Soma successor Ontos is "like Shadow of the Colossus" says its creative director: The moon-set horror is "built around the looming excitement and dread of what the next big Experiment will be like"
 
 
Key art for End of Abyss showing a small figure wearing a diving suit in a dark, ominous pipe with swirling blue dust - with the GamesRadar+ Big in 2026 frame
Former Little Nightmares devs' End of Abyss is a satisfyingly creepy blend of top-down twin-stick shooter and Metroidvania exploration
 
 
Key art for Routine showing an astronaut looking at a CAT scanner with a shadowy robot figure behind them, and the moon behind them both
Routine review: "This imperfect but wonderfully atmospheric moon-based horror leaves a strong impression"
 
 
Total Chaos screenshot of a creature springing up in the air towards the protagonist, who wields a wrench in a dark, wooded area. The Indie Spotlight logo can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the image
Nearly 10 years later, Doom 2 mod Total Chaos is reborn as a standalone horror FPS I'll be playing all winter, and it makes Silent Hill look like a rom-com
 
 
Latest in Horror
A puppet character answers a door in The Dark Eye
'90s horror game revival on Steam stuns Nightdive lead who's "been tracking down these rights for almost a decade"
 
 
Devotion
GOG lead says removing cult horror game Devotion from the store is a situation that "remains difficult to reflect on"
 
 
Alan Wake 2 key art showing Alan Wake and Saga Anderson in two realities
Alan Wake 2 studio defends Epic CEO as Larian publishing lead questions "millions in lost revenue" from no Steam version
 
 
Horses
GOG co-founder says "curation is the privilege" of stores like Steam, but selling banned horror game Horses was worth it
 
 
Pathologic 3
Pathologic 3 dials into the psychological horror that makes this the most punishing franchise ever
 
 
Key art from Cliver Barker's Hellraiser: Revival showing Pinhead holding the Genesis Configuration while lightning crackles from it against a background of dark smog, cropped for a header image with the GamesRadar+ Big in 2026 frame
Hellraiser: Revival has such sights to show you, but "most of them pretty visceral and gruesome"
 
 
Latest in Features
Two armies clashing on a coastal region in Civilization 7 ahead of its Test of Time update
One year after Civilization 7 tried to fix the strategy genre's biggest problem, Firaxis is meeting fans in the middle
 
 
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
5 years on, I still think about Mass Effect Legendary Edition's symbolic first trailer
 
 
TR-49 screenshot showcasing the archive machine and some text as well as the dial to the side
I'm in my happy place: a dark basement digging through a computer archive that may or may not be alive
 
 
Characters from Jurassic Park looking into the distance, with the GamesRadar+Quiz logo in the top right corner
Taking our Jurassic Park quiz will prove how roar-some you are (sorry)
 
 
Phantom Blade Zero warrior with gold mask and glowing red eye
Phantom Blade Zero is my most-anticipated action RPG, and looks like the biggest Chinese game since Black Myth: Wukong
 
 
Big in 2026 - Star Wars Galactic Racer
The Outer Rim is your highway in Star Wars Galactic Racer, but it's more than Burnout in space
 
 
  1. Veiled Fate box displaying the logo, a maze, and silhouettes heroes, sat on a wooden surface
    1
    This hidden role board game makes me feel like a puppet master, so Traitors fans should listen up
  2. 2
    Cairn review: "This climber has a grip on me – even when it loses its footing with awkward systems"
  3. 3
    The Doom Arena Board Game is hell on Earth (in the best way) | Preview
  4. 4
    This award-winning board game is a five star must-have
  5. 5
    Code Vein 2 review: "This vampire take on Elden Ring almost works, but the dungeons themselves lack bite"
  1. Return to Silent Hill protagonist James Sunderland
    1
    Return to Silent Hill review: "Neither an impressive adaptation nor coherent enough to act as a standalone film"
  2. 2
    28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review: "The wildest and weirdest entry into the franchise yet"
  3. 3
    Avatar: Fire and Ash review: "Still a technical marvel, with some of the year's best action filmmaking"
  4. 4
    Five Nights at Freddy's 2 review: "We have waited two years for a Five Nights at Freddy's 1.5"
  5. 5
    Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review: "Brings Knives Out back to its roots for a sequel that's almost on a par with the original"
  1. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Simon Williams in Wonder Man.
    1
    Wonder Man review: "A low-key gem that's up there with the MCU's best"
  2. 2
    Starfleet Academy review: "It may feel a little different to what we're used to, but this is Star Trek through and through"
  3. 3
    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review: "This Game of Thrones spin-off is a surprisingly heartfelt and fun return to Westeros"
  4. 4
    Stranger Things season 5 finale review: “Shows off both the best and the worst of Hawkins”
  5. 5
    Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2 review: “All set up for a finale that has so much to deliver”

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...