Midas Touch Racing

Inspiration

We wanted to create a UTRA track simulation challenge so that you could play instantly and ultimately help develop the algorithm for your code!. Currently, it closely resembles the physical track design (ramps, target platform, obstacle loop) currently implemented at UTRA 2026.

This game is heavily inspired by Polytrack, a game with fast arcade driving, goal‑oriented pickups, and a shooting mechanic to keep the run exciting.

What it does

Midas Touch Racing is a 3D arcade driving game where you pilot a robot car through a winter track. You pick up boxes with a magnet pickup system, unlock paths, climb a raised platform, grab a ball, charge a shot toward a target, and race back to finish. The game includes a garage for customization, a live 3D preview, AI‑generated car themes, voice announcements, and a real‑time AI coach that gives short, situational tips.

How we built it

Frontend: Vite + Three.js for the 3D scene, track, car, and effects. Backend: Node.js + Express as a proxy server to keep API keys secure. AI + Audio: Gemini via OpenRouter for coaching/tips and theme generation; ElevenLabs for TTS announcements

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge for this hackathon was working with external APIs (Elevenlabs and Gemini)

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud to present a close representation to simmulate the track! This ultimately helped with our pathfinding algorithm we made (however our wheels / color sensor was lost during transportation so we were unable to test it with the actual track)