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Prototype arcade nitro boost — source feature and manual QA

SOURCE ONLY. Not a playable Win64 game or Android package. The policy compiles in isolated C++20 tests; Unreal Engine 5.8, UnrealHeaderTool, a cookable project-owned circuit and installed-device driving tests have not been completed for this feature.

Player controls and gameplay scope

  • Keyboard: hold B. Gamepad: hold left thumbstick click.
  • Applies only to an eligible local human driver after GO, on a physics-ready circuit with a valid race and placement. It cannot activate for the CPU rival, in menus, during pause/focus loss or after finish. Android touch has no new nitro button in this source iteration; mobile UI space remains reserved for essential controls.
  • Requires at least 7 m/s measured forward chassis speed, positive throttle of at least 0.5, and neither service brake nor handbrake.
  • While active, the existing rigid-body motor force may increase by at most 38% and the speed cap target by at most 12%. The speed cap is interpolated to avoid an instant snap when boost is released. Vehicle steering, gate/race authority, save data and rewards are not modified by the nitro policy.
  • Meter starts at 100% on race reset, consumes 25% per second while active, regenerates 8.5% per second during eligible nonboost driving, warms while boosting and cools otherwise. Overheating/depletion forces a 2.5s cooldown and a fresh key press before boost can fire again. It is a fictional arcade power-up, not realistic nitrous chemistry, actual engine tuning or professional racing physics.
  • During input interruption, an invalid frame, a paused race or recovery, the held command is cleared immediately. An interrupted frame must never silently restore a held boost; meter state remains run-local until an explicit race reset.
  • Nitro and a valid draft may overlap, but never grant an unbounded combined motor bonus: the global additive cap is 40% of baseline drive force. At full 38% nitro, a further draft may supply at most 2%. The actual granted drafting share appears in the expanded desktop HUD. This is an arcade balancing rule, not physically measured engine performance.
  • Expanded desktop HUD includes charge and active/cooling status in the existing speed row. Compact/touch HUD priority rows are unchanged.

Local portable source QA

cmake -S Tests/Standalone -B Tests/Standalone/build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build Tests/Standalone/build --config Release --parallel
ctest --test-dir Tests/Standalone/build -C Release -R ArcadeNitroBoost --output-on-failure
python3 -m unittest discover -s Tests/Editor -p 'NitroBoostBindingTests.py' -v

The portable tests exercise invalid/nonfinite inputs, bad frame intervals, reverse, low throttle, brake priority, player-only press admission, thermal shutdown, cooldown, regeneration, stale press release and 5,000 repeated simulation cycles. These are not UE runtime tests.

Required manual real-game test (still open)

  1. Build the actual UE 5.8 editor/game targets and cook the circuit. Verify clean UHT/Unreal C++ compilation and save exact source/engine provenance plus Win64 executable hash.
  2. In a genuine installed player race, accelerate over 7 m/s, hold B/gamepad thumb click and measure acceleration vs same-car nonboost runs on identical gear/handling/road conditions. Test real FPS consistency at 30/60/120 Hz.
  3. Verify no nitro before the GO signal, in countdown, after finish, during Time Attack pause, menu, focus loss or failed engine pause; verify a fresh key press is required after reactivation.
  4. Hold nitro through heat cutoff, brake, reverse, handbrake, recovery and restart; inspect real speed-cap transitions for abrupt motion or physics glitches.
  5. Verify AI car never receives bonus acceleration, the HUD fits 720p/1080p screens and existing Android multi-touch/steering UI is unchanged. Test garage tuning extremes and engine packaging.
  6. Log any visible, audible, controller, frame-time or physics defect. Do not call any build verified playable until actual on-device checks and project-wide playable gate #148 pass.

This is a source candidate, not a playable release. Track hardware testing and genuine package provenance separately.