A red pickup truck on a red dirt track among gum trees.

Victorian High Country

AussieOutback4x4

A four-wheel-drive game in the Australian bush. Low range, diff locks and aired-down tyres; red clay, bog holes, rock steps and creek crossings; and nobody else out here.

Play in your browser Edge or Chrome on a desktop PC. Streams as you drive, and keeps what it has downloaded. Download for Windows Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. 37 MB, then 1.3 GB of maps the first time you play. Download for Android An early test build, for a recent phone. 42 MB, then 1.3 GB of maps the first time you play.

Pre-alpha 0.1  ·  free  ·  no account, no ads

Where you drive

Three tracks and the road between

You start at The Crossroads, a dirt main road through the high country. Each track has a trailhead on it: drive into the ring, choose the time of day and the weather, and take it as free roam or timed laps.

Wombat Creek Track

A washed-out fire trail through stringybark and manna gum: two creek fords, bog holes, rock steps and ruts cut by a wet winter.

Track
Fire trail
Length
3.5 km

Granite Ridge

High, steep, stony country. Slabs and ledges up and over the ridge, dry underfoot: low range, lockers in, and pick your line.

Track
Rock crawl
Length
5.0 km

Blackwood Gully

Low, wet forest along a creek. Sixteen bog holes with deep ruts and washouts between them: keep your momentum and air the tyres down.

Track
Mud run
Length
4.5 km

What you drive with

A truck that works like one

Transfer case

2H, 4H and 4L. Low range multiplies the engine's pull for climbs, bog holes and rock steps.

Diff locks

Rear, then front and rear. With open diffs a lifted wheel spins away your drive; locked, the others keep pulling.

Tyre pressure

Air down to float over mud and sand, and back up for the hard stuff.

Hill descent

Holds the truck back on steep drops, a wheel at a time, so you can stay off the brake.

Ground that gives

Clay, mud, bog, leaf litter, gravel, rock and water each grip, sink and spray differently, and rain changes all of them.

Day, dusk and night

Pick the hour and the weather for each track. After dark the high beams come on, and the tail lamps light under braking.

The bush

Manna gum, stringybark, ironbark, wattle, tree ferns, grass trees and bracken, each planted where it would grow.

Keyboard or controller

Keyboard and mouse, Xbox-style pads, and PlayStation controllers by USB or Bluetooth.

Three ways to play

Browser, Windows or Android

In your browserWindows downloadAndroid app
NeedsEdge or Chrome on a desktop or laptop with a dedicated graphics card (it uses WebGPU)Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, a graphics card with 6 GB or moreAndroid 9 or later on a recent, fast phone. An early test build: it has been run on an emulated phone and not yet on a real one, and may be slow
SizeAbout 50 MB to start, and some 300 MB in the first minute of a new map as the bush around you comes in37 MB to download, then 1.3 GB of maps the first time you play. An update is the small download again, and of a map only what has changed42 MB to download, then 1.3 GB of maps the first time you play, kept on the phone
SoundThe same sounds, once you have pressed a key or clickedEngine, tyres on every surface, water, brush, and the bush itselfThe same
Changing mapsThe page loads again for each mapA few seconds behind a loading screenA few seconds behind a loading screen
Played againWhat you have already downloaded is kept by your browser, and not fetched twiceNothing to download unless a map has changedNothing to download unless a map has changed
Best lapsKept by your browserKept in the game's folderKept in the app's folder
Play in your browser Download for Windows Download for Android

To run the download: unzip it anywhere and open AussieOutback4x4.exe. The first time, it fetches its maps before it starts, and its loading screen says how far along that is. Windows may ask before running a program it has not seen before; choose More info, then Run anyway.

On Android: open the file once it has downloaded. The phone asks whether the browser or the files app may install apps; allow it, and install. It is not in a shop, so the phone may warn about it first. The game is driven with the controls on the screen, held on its side, or with a controller, which hides them.

How to drive it

Controls

Keyboard and mouseController
Throttle, brakeW SR2 L2
SteerA DLeft stick
2H, 4H, 4LT□
Diff locksG✕
Air the tyres down, upYD-pad up
HandbrakeSpace○
Look roundClick, then the mouseRight stick
Enter a trailhead, in its ringHold Enter, or click the bannerHold ✕
Back on the trackR△
PauseEscOptions