Read our Privacy policy

For Parents

Welcome to our design letter

Welcome to Toca Cars! A playground with no rules! I wanted to create a exciting experience; a place where you can race around without having to stay within the lines of the track. We ended up designing a world that allows you to bump into anything and simply tap a button to put them back. Or erase everything and start over from scratch.

In the world of Toca Cars, everything is created and painted by hand. Race past cardboard houses, fly over jumps and ramps and zigzag between road signs and trees along your homemade cardboard box track. Choose if you want to drive with big sister Viola Wheeler, a super cool girl who isn’t scared of anything, or her wild little brother, Walter Wheeler.

Two ways to play

Once you have started the app and picked a driver, you get to chose where you want to drive:

<style=””>Pre-populated world

There is a pre-populated world that we have constructed. Choose this world if you want to start exploring right away. A great option for beginners and the youngest players. Jump off the ramps, park the car next to the service station, or make up stories about who lives in the house in the woods.

Empty World

There is also a completely empty world, waiting to be designed by you. Do you feel like building a racing track for your best friend or a huge pile of stuff to crash into? Or do you simply want to play with the dog? All items from the pre-populated world are accessible, along with a few extra items. Here is how it works:

  • The button with the small houses activates the editor mode.
  • Swipe between all items at the bottom of the screen, drag the items (object?) that you want and release them on the ground.
  • If you want to remove something, tap the trash can button first, followed by the item that you want to remove.Or activate the bomb to wipe off everything at once!
  • To move an item on the ground, hold your finger on the item for a few seconds.
  • Rotate an item you’re holding by dragging it with an additional finger on the screen.
  • If you want to see more of the world, or get a closer look, simply zoom in or out by pinching in or out with two fingers on the screen.
  • Then, tap the car button to test drive your track. The world is saved as is when you leave the editor mode and is accessible the next time you start the app.

 

Mechanical playmates

There are a few mechanical playmates in the Toca Cars world: a dog, a bird, and a robot. They all have their own personalities, worth exploring.

Dog The dog starts chasing the car as soon as you get close enough. It is very eager and loves to jump and tip you over! If you get tired of it, drive off as quickly as you can and the dog will lose track of you. The only thing that interests the dog more than the car is the bird.

Bird The bird is a shy little fella’. As soon as you get close enough, it flies off.

Robot The robot pushes everything that comes in its way. If you bump into it, the robot will wake up and start moving. But watch out! If you get too close to the robot it will make the whole Toca Cars world tremble by slamming its huge boxing gloves on the ground! Turn off the robot by bumping into it again.

Settings
In the Settings panel on your Apple device, there is an icon for Toca Cars. If you open it, you will find options for the “Toca News” and “For parents” buttons on the start screen. Toggling these to “off” will remove the buttons. You can also choose to turn the music off, but still keep sound effects.

Extend the play
I hope that the cardboard world of Toca Cars will encourage some of you, children and parents, to start building your own car tracks on the floor at home. Creating small houses out of left-over cardboard and hand-drawn doors and windows is fun and fairly easy. And we are pretty sure you’ve got a toy car or two in a drawer or toy box somewhere.

I also hope that Toca Cars will inspire both your boys and girls, big and small, to discover new ways of playing with cars. After all, cars are some of the world’s best toys!

Chris Lindgren, Play Designer