Summary
Entire pseudo‑3D OutRun‑style racing game runs solely on an ESP32‑S3 (240MHz, 8MB PSRAM).
Features include scanline texture mapping, 3D OBJ car, procedural tracks, day/night cycle, fog, and traffic AI.
Controls use two GPIO buttons to steer; throttle auto‑accelerates. Downloadable on GitHub.
We’ve covered plenty of cool ESP32 gaming projects in the past, including a recent one where someone made a cool augmented reality project with one. But usually these projects use something else alongside the ESP32 to get the full experience. What if we had a game that used nothing but the ESP32? Well, someone has created a cool pseudo-3D racing game that runs entirely off the chip, and you can give it a try for yourself.
Related
I built my own local-first Ring Doorbell alternative with an ESP32
It works the same way, except without any subscription fees.
This racing game runs entirely off an ESP32-S3
And it runs pretty smoothly, too
Over on the ESP32 subreddit, davidmonterocrespo24 has been tinkering with an ESP32-S3. They wanted to know how far they could push the hardware, so they created an entire 3D driving game you can play using just the microcontroller. You know, as you do. Here’s the full list of details:
Target hardware:
ESP32-S3 @ 240 MHz (dual-core)
8MB PSRAM
320×240 ILI9341 SPI display (RGB565)
What it does
Segment-based pseudo-3D road renderer (OutRun-style)
3D player car (OBJ mesh, 428 vertices / 312 triangles)
Scanline affine texture mapping
Traffic AI
Procedural track generation (curves, hills, tunnels, buildings)
Day / sunset / night cycle
Fog + lighting transitions
Double buffering in PSRAM
For the controls, you don’t have to worry about the throttle; the game will have it accelerate by itself. To turn, you use the GPIO 17 button to steer left, and the GPIO 16 button to steer right. And for a game that was both a test-run and wholly designed to run off the ESP32, it looks pretty impressive. You can download it for yourself over on the project’s GitHub page.
People in the Reddit thread were keen to give the creator some advice on how to squeeze more performance out of this game. For instance, someone mentioned that Aeroux Games 3D has some car models that look better and use 2/3rds of the current car’s budget, which sounds like a win-win for me. As such, I’m keen to see how this project develops as davidmonterocrespo24 fleshes out the game.