“I still have three tyres left.”

My right fender hits another driver and dissolves into splinters, like rusty confetti at a wedding for metallurgists.

“No big deal,” I remark, and keep driving.

A long line of cars line up ready to race.

That doesn’t mean my time with this heavy-hitting racing game has been bad.

I’ve enjoyed almost every minute of jostling for position and ramming opponents into trees.

But it is a bare experience so far, and even the developers understand that.

The player’s pink and blue car drifts around a dusty corner in a scrapyard.

There are only four cars, for example.

They all handle very finely, with a thrumming sense of weight and power.

Until, of course, you are smashed into a roadside barrier at 50 miles per hour.

The player’s European banger has its nose squashed flat and sparks are flying from its lost wheel.

At which point, you gotta pay more attention to your wonky handbrake and misaligned wheels.

The point of Wreckfest is to race with a health bar.

But they now seem to be even more comically specific.

An opponent slams the player’s rear bumper, sending debris everywhere.

“Radiator leaking,” it says, as if I care a jot.

“Engine damaged,” it warns, to my complete dismissal.

“Head gasket blown,” it says, a sense of panic finally sinking in.

The player paints their car pink and blue in a game menu with a palette of colours displayed.

“Suspension damaged”.

Um…

“Gearbox damaged”.

Well, maybe it’s –

“Wheel detached.”

Cars line up in the “testing grounds” - an area for the players to try crazy stunts.

Every failed mechanism in your hot rod affects your driving in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

But yes, only four cars to gleefully destroy, and only four tracks to do so upon.

These tracks do have some variants, but they’re all quickly explored.

The player crashes into another vehicle, which strikes an oil drum at the same time.

They’re best enjoyed with multiplayer opponents via a very rudimentary server internet tool.

It remains a game I would play to vent someactual road rage.

This is a playground of loop-the-loops, ramps, and obstacles.

The player’s car is crushed in a machine.

There are stacks of oil drums to ram through.

It is a delightful place.

I feel about Wreckfest 2 how Irecently feltaboutSpace Engineers 2.

The player’s car is squashed flat in a white void-like space.

I like it, and yet I cannot honestly recommend that you buy it.

Early access games come in all shapes and sizes.

Hopefully, that will change over the next couple of years.

The driver of a car has his head squashed beneath the car roof but continues to drive.

As for the roadmap after that?

I don’t know.

This review is based on a review build provided by the publisher.