⚠️ Overview

As someone who grew up playing Burnin’ Rubber — especially BR4 — it pains me to say this, but this game feels like a confused, regressive attempt to modernize the franchise. It actively undermines what made the originals enjoyable, introduces mechanics that clash with the game’s core loop, and discourages combat (although the last one was already the case before).

🎮 Gameplay & Mechanics

Drifting is worse than ever. In previous entries, drifting acted like a stability boost: less impact from terrain, little speed loss, and a fun way to glide through wide turns, it probably isn't what drifting was meant to be used for but it was still fun. Now? It’s just a glorified handbrake that kills your speed and offers no sliding or finesse. You could achieve the same result if the regular brake was simply stronger. Edit: uhhhh... why is handbrake separate from drift, well anyway i guess drifting is unchanged and all they did was add a separate handbrake button as well? It's honestly hilarious that this is a thing since none of the previous games had this... ALSO THERES A BULLET TIME BUTTON YOU CAN USE TO JUST SHRED EVERY ENEMY, THIS SUCKS

Boosting: Older games used nitro pickups that applied speed immediately — basically functioning like kart-racer-style boost pads. BR6 changes this to a refillable boost bar you can trigger on command. On paper, it’s a good modernization. In practice, it doesn’t solve the bigger issue: outrunning opponents is still far more effective than fighting them, especially since pickups are always grouped together, the repair and ammo pickups serve zero purpose if nitro is objectively the best one to use in most cases. It also renders tankier cars (built for combat) largely obsolete, very noticable when you lap a SWAT van.

Weapons: Primary weapons (like Uzis, miniguns, etc) are now mounted on the sides of your car, making them awkward to aim. Secondary weapons (typically heavier weapons like explosives) are hood-mounted and easier to use. Despite a slight buff to damage or vehicle health being reduced, the game actively disincentivizes combat. Staying in first place with raw speed is optimal, especially in races where enemy takedowns aren’t required.

The Nemesis, once one of the best and most iconic cars in the franchise (for example a secret unlock in BR5XS, top-tier in BRMP), has been bizarrely nerfed in one demo race — seemingly just to increase difficulty. Meanwhile, the AI gets buffed to a hilarious extent and can easily outrun you unless you chain nitro constantly, apparently this was a last minute change to make the event harder...

Other mechanics like the double-tap drift U-turn — lifted directly from Burnin’ Rubber Multiplayer — serves no purpose in circuit races and is easy to trigger by accident. It’s an arena feature misplaced in a racing game (i suppose it would have a reason in the planned freeroam mode but i still see no reason for it in races).

📉 AI, Balance & Mission Design

The balance is all over the place. One takedown mission puts you in a truck that drives like a barge through a track of sharp 90-degree corners. The AI outpaces you so heavily that the only viable strategy is to camp near an ammo pickup and spam homing rockets when the enemies pass you. It’s not challenging — it’s clumsy.

In another race, enemy AI is so over-tuned that the only way to win is to ignore every pickup except nitro (the Nemesis race mentioned earlier), further proving how combat has become irrelevant. There are no difficulty settings, and it feels like the devs overcorrected after hearing feedback that previous games were “too easy” — which made sense when those games were free browser games where the main audience was kids like me back then.

OTHER RACES ARE FINE THOUGH???

🖥 Performance & Technical Issues

On a mid spec PC from a couple years ago (GTX 1660 SUPER):

The game has framerate dips even on low-medium settings.

TAA is required to make the game look decent, other AA methods serve zero purpose.

The game includes real-time reflections marked “experimental” in Unity, which aren’t enabled by default but are bafflingly left in the public demo build. Turning them on destroys performance.

Visuals are a step up over BR5HD, with better models and lighting, but it still feels like a default Unity package slapped on upscaled legacy content.

🔁 Recycled Content

Roughly half the tracks are recycled from BR5HD, which already reused material.

Free-roam maps (not in the demo but confirmed by devs) are just BR4 maps.

Nothing new feels polished or complete — just retooled assets in a newer engine version with downgraded mechanics.

💬 Community & Developer Relations

This is where things truly fall apart.

After sharing an amsuing take in the official Discord — simply stating:

“A game has to be good for word of mouth to work.”

— I and several others were banned after a long discussion where i wasn't even present for 99% of it. The dev, Diederik, went on to call critics “snakes,” accuse people of “review bombing,” and implied that negative reviews are acts of sabotage. His actual words:

“Bad reviews can really kill games and teams.”
“Go away, just go.”
“I’ve given up on some people here.”

Despite multiple community members trying to reason with him or offer constructive criticism, he doubled down. The developer equates any public criticism — even when polite — with trolling or betrayal, sure some trolling did go on every now and then with some of the server members but it was all lighthearted fun.

Instead of building trust, the dev has fractured the community and created an environment where only blind praise is welcome, ive seen some of the newer messages and the entire server feels like yes men glazing every aspect of the game. This should be a red flag for anyone hoping the final game will improve with feedback, all the veterans who gave feedback were banned and ironically enough it has made us realize how doomed this franchise really is. If you want to see the entire convo then scroll up to January of 2025 in the br6-talk channel in the official Burnin' Rubber discord server (if it doesn't get nuked) or read it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-PA0Rz3ATQ. I find it funny how the great ban of 2025 took place right after the community manager was let go since the company didn't have the funds to pay em... (rip Marls, you were a real one)

💔 Final Thoughts

I adored this franchise as a kid, especially BR4. These games were janky but fun, they werent exactly AAA quality or anything but they were technical marvels for being free browser games. BR6 had the chance to modernize that legacy — but instead, it strips away the fun, discourages combat, and is held together by reused content and defensive leadership.

Unless there’s a drastic shift in direction, Burnin’ Rubber 6 isn’t just a bad demo — it’s a worrying sign for the future of the series and honestly the entire company, i have legit bet money on the company going bankrupt.