Build a Top-Down Racing Game Using Python (Pygame)

 

🧩 What You'll Learn:

• How to set up a game window with Pygame

• Add a racetrack and a controllable car

• Handle keyboard input for movement

• Implement basic game logic (collision, speed)

Prerequisites

• Python installed (python --version)

• Pygame installed:

pip install pygame

Step 1: Set Up Your Game Window

import pygame

import sys

pygame.init()

WIDTH, HEIGHT = 800, 600

win = pygame.display.set_mode((WIDTH, HEIGHT))

pygame.display.set_caption("Top-Down Racing Game")

clock = pygame.time.Clock()

 

Step 2: Load the Car Image

Save a small top-down car image as car.png in your project folder.

car = pygame.image.load("car.png")

car = pygame.transform.scale(car, (50, 100))

car_x, car_y = WIDTH//2, HEIGHT - 120

car_speed = 5

Step 3: Handle User Input

def handle_movement(keys, x, y):

    if keys[pygame.K_LEFT] and x > 0:

        x -= car_speed

    if keys[pygame.K_RIGHT] and x < WIDTH - 50:

        x += car_speed

    if keys[pygame.K_UP] and y > 0:

        y -= car_speed

    if keys[pygame.K_DOWN] and y < HEIGHT - 100:

        y += car_speed

    return x, y

Step 4: Game Loop and Drawing

running = True

while running:

    clock.tick(60)

    win.fill((0, 150, 0))  # Background

    for event in pygame.event.get():

        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:

            running = False

    keys = pygame.key.get_pressed()

    car_x, car_y = handle_movement(keys, car_x, car_y)

    win.blit(car, (car_x, car_y))

    pygame.display.update()

pygame.quit()

sys.exit()

📦 Final Thoughts

This game is a simple but exciting start to Python game dev. Customize the speed, add racing opponents, or design levels. DarchumsTech-Learn, Code, Create.