The Secrets Behind Asphalt 9’s Speedways

Asphalt 9’s breakneck speed and gorgeous graphics get all the attention, but this racing game’s secret weapon is its level design. From Rome to the Himalayas, the game’s tracks put you through a squeal-inducing gauntlet of twists, shortcuts, wipeouts, and impossible stunts.

What’s it take to craft these sprawling courses? Read on to learn how Gameloft Barcelona turned Asphalt 9’s racetracks into the real star.

Though the Asphalt series has always been about arcade-style driving, Asphalt 9’s developers were influenced by a different four-wheeled sport.

“Our original inspiration came from skateboarding,” says studio manager Alexandru Adam. “You can see it in some of the stunts, like a 360-degree spinning jump. Also in the way players can use nitro and string together stunts—like going from a 360 into a barrel roll into another barrel roll—so they jump almost an entire level the way you’d go through a skate park.”

Asphalt 9’s distinct levels take players on quite a trip, but how did the designers narrow down their locations? Turns out it’s more about themes than places.

“We try to give every course a motif,” explains Adam. “So we have a storm setting (Scotland), a desert setting (Cairo), an idyllic Sunday-lunch setting (San Francisco), and so on—each with a bunch of tracks.”

The Himalayas was chosen for its mix of civilization and wilderness: temples, caves, and an avalanche all appear in one level. The team crafted Shanghai, on the other hand, because they thought its bright lights seemed ideal for nighttime tracks. “We were inspired by Blade Runner,” Adam says.

Like their players, the developers had to bust through obstacles while making Asphalt 9. A big one, Adam says, was ensuring that levels looked great as players whizzed by at 180 mph.

“The San Francisco course initially had a lot more diverse storefronts and parked cars, which would look stunning if you were walking through it,” he tells us. “But at high speed, it was a blurry soup of color, so we removed quite a bit of detail.”

Another challenge: being mindful of what players crash into. The devs have strict destructibility guidelines (no temples, churches, or real-world art, for example). That’s why the only in-game people are inside cars, and why the team added scooters—something safe to smash—to Rome’s roads.

As the game makes new stops, the team has continued to flex its design muscle. Tracks set in the Japanese city of Osaka put racers on a highway for the first time—weaving between buildings and factories at unbelievable speeds—while the Buenos Aires course whisks you past re-creations of famous landmarks like the La Bombonera stadium and the Puente de la Mujer bridge.

Wherever this game goes next, we know it’ll be an amazing place to race. Better buckle up!

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