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What the Car?

What the Car looks darn great, it sounds wacky as hell and is about as much fun as I’ve had with a game this year so far.
What the Car? Game Cover
82%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:humor, gameplay
Most mentioned negative aspects:music, grinding
84% User Score Based on 517 reviews
Critic Score 75%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

PCMac OSPhoneiPadSteam DeckMobile PlatformiPhoneWindows
What the Car? Game Cover

About What the Car?

What the Car? is a single player casual platformer game with a comedy theme. It was developed by Triband and was released on September 9, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

You’re a car with legs! Race through hundreds of unique levels: jump, fly with jetpacks, climb tall buildings, deliver packages, and so pretty much everything you can’t do in a normal racing game.

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Games Like What the Car?

Looking for games like What the Car?? Here are top casual platformer recommendations with a comedy focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with WHAT THE GOLF?, Marble It Up! Ultra or Clustertruck.

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Reviews

84%Audience ScoreBased on 517 reviews
humor83 positive mentions
grinding10 negative mentions

  • Highly creative and humorous with a wide variety of unique car mechanics and wacky levels, offering constant surprises and laughs.
  • Strong replayability due to many levels, occasional challenging 'skull' levels, collectibles, and a robust community level editor providing endless new content.
  • Family-friendly, accessible gameplay with simple controls, colorful visuals, and a playful atmosphere enjoyed by players of all ages including kids.
  • Controls can be clunky, inconsistent, or frustrating, especially on certain mechanics like giraffe wheels, which hampers gameplay enjoyment and precision.
  • Repetitive and less creative than its predecessor, with many levels feeling similar, short, or tedious; pacing issues caused by forced replays to collect items or achieve gold times.
  • Community levels are often of low quality, sometimes mandatory for achievements, and the overworld navigation is cumbersome, negatively affecting the overall experience.
  • humor

    85 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    98% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 2% negative mentions

    The game's humor is broadly praised for its absurd, goofy, and slapstick style, delivering frequent laughs through exaggerated animations, unexpected twists, and playful design. However, some reviewers find the humor repetitive, sometimes forced or missing the mark, especially when tied to less engaging, repetitive gameplay. Overall, it offers a consistently funny and quirky experience that appeals strongly to fans of lighthearted, offbeat comedy.

    • “The humor is broad and immediate, relying on exaggerated animations, unexpected transformations, and playful visual design to deliver its impact.”
    • “Graphically great, absurdly funny, constantly topping itself with each new level's oddball themes and charismatic puns, What The Car?”
    • “An absolutely delight - this is unhinged, hilarious, and a joy to play.”
    • “With every new level, I asked 'Is that supposed to be funny?' while simultaneously questioning my existence.”
    • “The jokes in this game make me feel like I've been gaslit my whole life about what jokes even are, since they all feel awkward, forced, and unfunny.”
  • gameplay

    79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    13% positive mentions, 77% neutral mentions, 10% negative mentions

    The gameplay offers a variety of quirky, constantly changing mechanics that provide inventive and humorous moments, often subverting expectations with each level acting as a distinct challenge. However, many find the controls inconsistent or frustrating, and the rapid introduction and abandonment of mechanics can lead to a lack of depth, mastery, or lasting engagement. While some appreciate its playful, emergent style and charm, others feel the gameplay becomes repetitive, simplistic, or feels like a chore over time.

    • “There's definitely fewer parodies in car, but there's so many jokes crammed into every tiny bit of the game, and the core gameplay loop is extremely solid, while still constantly introducing new variations on it.”
    • “Developed and published by triband, it takes the familiar idea of guiding a vehicle from point A to point B and continuously dismantles it, replacing expectations with absurd mechanics that shift from one level to the next.”
    • “The gameplay itself is the joke, and every mechanic is built to surprise or subvert expectations.”
    • “Controls are horrible, gameplay is boring or unnecessarily frustrating, and all the levels feel the same.”
    • “Levels in a world don't build up the mechanics; they are more like a bunch of randomly organized levels with half-baked ideas that are neither fun as jokes nor fun to play.”
    • “The one - two - three star system for clearing levels becomes more weighted as the levels go on, requiring you to shave off milliseconds to get the full three stars and while this is good for replaying, I unfortunately found it frustrating as the mechanic reminded me too much of grinding terrible mobile games for completion.”
  • music

    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    14% positive mentions, 72% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions

    The music is generally seen as catchy and charming with upbeat, whimsical tones that complement the visuals, but many users find it repetitive, limited in variety, and lacking depth or strong connection to the game's theme. While some enjoy its quirky, playful nature, others feel it quickly becomes tiresome and underdeveloped.

    • “It’s silly, whimsical, and full of charm, with bright visuals and upbeat music that make it impossible not to smile.”
    • “✅ Catchy soundtrack.”
    • “And I've been randomly chanting the theme song as well.”
    • “The soundtrack is too limited and feels like it's mostly the trailer song.”
    • “Always seems to sound like the same low-energy song with how little conviction the instruments have and the constant whistling in every song.”
    • “The music... it's cute, but so repetitive, especially when trying to get gold on the harder levels.”
  • graphics

    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    47% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions

    The graphics feature a bright, whimsical, and playful aesthetic with quirky, simple visuals that appeal especially to a younger audience. While charming and humorous, the style is reminiscent of basic asset store designs and may feel limited on mobile platforms. Overall, the visuals strongly complement the game's silly and fun atmosphere but may not fully sustain engagement without enjoyable gameplay.

    • “Visually, the game leans into a bright and exaggerated aesthetic that reinforces its playful identity.”
    • “It’s silly, whimsical, and full of charm, with bright visuals and upbeat music that make it impossible not to smile.”
    • “Graphically great, absurdly funny, constantly topping itself with each new level's oddball themes and charismatic puns.”
    • “Simple humor, simple aesthetics, simple gameplay, simple everything”
    • “Same graphics as WTG but the assets and textures look less stylized and more like something from the Unity asset store.”
    • “The theme and visuals are charming and silly, but they alone don't make up for the fact that the first 30 minutes of gameplay were simply not fun for me.”
  • grinding

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 9% neutral mentions, 91% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is generally manageable and not overly demanding, suitable for casual play, but some players find certain mechanics and levels tedious or slow. Chasing high scores and perfect stars can require patience and repeated attempts, which may feel frustrating or resemble tedious mobile game grinding. Overall, grinding is mostly optional and mainly affects achievement hunters.

    • “Sometimes it feels a bit tedious to restart the level when practicing to improve records.”
    • “Grinding for the highest scores and medals might take some time and patience (and might even lead to a bit of gamer rage), but overall they don’t matter unless you’re one of those weird achievement hunters.”
    • “The one - two - three star system for clearing levels becomes more weighted as the levels go on, requiring you to shave off milliseconds to get the full three stars and while this is good for replaying, I unfortunately found it frustrating as the mechanic reminded me too much of grinding terrible mobile games for completion.”
  • story

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 57% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions

    The game lacks a traditional story, offering only themed sections without narrative depth. Instead, it focuses on simple controls, abundant content, and player-made levels, relying on ongoing updates and community involvement rather than a structured storyline.

    • “This is a joke of course, the game has no story except themed sections.”
    • “No story.”
    • “While the game lacks any sort of story (if one could argue even what the golf had some), it’s still a good game that delivers on its asking price with simple controls and content.”
  • stability

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game's core gameplay is polished, but it suffers from numerous bugs and inconsistency, particularly in physics and certain segments, which can lead to frustrating and luck-based challenges. These stability issues may test players' patience and detract from the overall experience.

    • “The giraffe segment of this needs some serious fixing; it's either too slow, too fast, or too buggy.”
    • “Physics in this game feel broken and buggy.”
    • “"What the golf" is great, but this game has super inconsistent and buggy gimmicks which make some of the harder levels luck-based at times to get the crown and/or card.”
    • “The game is also very buggy and inconsistent in a way that could wear on the patience of some players.”
  • atmosphere

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, -20% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is divisive: some find it whimsical, fun, and engaging, especially with community content and competitive elements, while others feel it lacks inspiration, describing it as empty, boring, and chore-like compared to its predecessor's vibrant campaign. The shift in genre contributes to a drier, less captivating experience for some players.

    • “Carefree, fun-loving atmosphere.”
    • “Beyond the whimsical atmosphere, this is a game that can very well occupy a great many people for hours upon hours - six for the base game, and countless more for those who wish to partake in the community-made levels.”
    • “The atmosphere is crafted perfectly, gameplay is satisfying and constantly changing, and there are even leaderboards to get competitive on!”
    • “The atmosphere is empty and sad; the levels feel boring and lazy, making the game feel like a chore.”
    • “The game is very limited and boring, lacking the craziness and creativity it could have had; it feels always like a car game with simple and dull levels.”
    • “The genre transition from golf-puzzle-solving-wacky-adventure to wacky-racing-adventure results in a drier, more competitive atmosphere than expected.”
  • replayability

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Replayability is highly praised due to performance-based rewards that motivate players to improve, alongside a robust level editor and a vast library of community-created levels, offering extensive content and variety. The game’s charming design and humor further enhance its appeal for repeated play.

    • “However, a level creator and a massive amount of community levels really give this game tons of replayability.”
    • “Performance-based rewards, such as time medals, add a layer of replayability, encouraging players to refine their approach once they understand the intended solution.”
    • “Level editor and community levels provide extended replayability.”
  • optimization

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 67% negative mentions

    The game's optimization is problematic, with inconsistent and often low frame rates—dropping as low as 6-12 FPS in some levels—making it unplayable at times despite supporting high frame rates elsewhere. Performance-based rewards add replay value, but technical issues and bugs hinder the overall experience.

    • “Performance-based rewards, such as time medals, add a layer of replayability, encouraging players to refine their approach once they understand the intended solution.”
    • “The game itself is okay (even if inferior to what the golf in my opinion), but the problem is that it’s very poorly optimized. It doesn’t look fluid even over 120fps, and in some levels in chapter 5, the fps stays at 6-12, making it unplayable.”
    • “I've noticed a few small bugs and the performance can be weirdly inconsistent.”
  • emotional

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the game lacking in emotional depth, creativity, and excitement, describing it as boring and uninspired compared to the previous title "What the Golf." The experience feels forced and dull, failing to evoke the fun and quirky charm that made its predecessor engaging.

  • character development

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game offers minimal character development and lacks depth in this aspect, making it unsuitable for players seeking strong character growth.

    • “Not a deep game, if you're looking for character development, this is not it”
  • monetization

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The monetization aspect appears to be overshadowed by repetitive gameplay that doesn't deliver on advertised variety, leading to a perception that the game offers little innovation beyond basic racing mechanics. This lack of surprises may affect the value players feel they get, potentially impacting their willingness to spend.

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Play Times

3h Median play time
3h Average play time
3-3h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

What the Car? is a casual platformer game with comedy theme. Common tags for What the Car? include 3D, indie, family friendly, stylized, experimental and others.

What the Car? is available on PC, Mac OS, Phone, iPad and others.

On average players spend around 3 hours playing What the Car?.

What the Car? was released on September 9, 2024.

What the Car? was developed by Triband.

What the Car? has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked What the Car? for its humor but disliked it for its music.

What the Car? is a single player game.

Similar games include WHAT THE GOLF?, Marble It Up! Ultra, Clustertruck, PEPPERED: an existential platformer, Squirrel with a Gun and others.