Stuck on a Drive Mad Level? The Six Obstacles and How to Beat Each

Drive Mad has a hundred levels, but they are made from a small set of ideas used again and again in new combinations. When you get stuck, it helps to stop and ask which kind of obstacle you are looking at. Each one has a different answer.

1. The steep climb

A hill or a ramp that looks too steep for the truck. The problem is never power — it is the truck rearing up and going over backwards. Answer: tap forward in short bursts. If the nose starts to rise, let go for a moment and it comes back down. You will get up almost any slope this way.

2. The drop

A ledge you have to drive off, often onto something narrow. Drive off at speed and you overshoot or land on your nose. Answer: stop at the edge using reverse, then roll off slowly. In the air, tap reverse to lift the nose so the back wheels land first.

3. The wobbly bridge

Planks on ropes, platforms on hinges, anything that moves when the truck is on it. Stopping in the middle is the worst thing you can do — the bridge sags and tips you off. Answer: cross at a steady, medium speed without stopping and without bursts of power.

4. The see-saw

A plank on a pivot. Drive onto it and it tips under you. Some levels want it to tip so you can reach something higher; others want you across before it moves. Answer: watch which way it wants to fall. Slow down in the middle and let it tip, then drive off the far end once it settles.

5. The cargo

A car, a crate or a stack of blocks on top of your truck that has to reach the flag with you. Any sudden move and it slides off. Answer: gentle everything. Speed up slowly, slow down slowly, and never let the truck bounce. This is the one obstacle where patience beats everything.

6. The wall and the gap

A wall of blocks to smash, or a gap to jump. Careful driving fails here every time. Answer: reverse back as far as you can for a run-up and go flat out. Keep the nose level in the air.

Combinations

Later levels chain these together — a climb straight into a bridge, cargo on a see-saw, a gap with a drop on the far side. Break them into pieces. Get through the first part cleanly, notice what speed you have when you reach the second, and adjust. Because a crash restarts the level in a second, it is fine to spend a few tries just learning the first half.

If nothing works

Try the opposite of whatever you have been doing. Slower if you have been fast, faster if you have been careful, backwards if you have been going forwards. A few Drive Mad levels have a solution that only makes sense once you try something that looks wrong — and the level name is often the clue.