No panning, zooming or moving
Hardcore leaves exactly what is visible from one spot in one direction: you cannot pan, zoom or move along the street. The panorama becomes a photograph, and you have to work from the little that happens to be in frame.
Hardcore removes three familiar tools at once: you cannot turn, zoom or step off the spot. One frame in one direction is all you get, and the whole game becomes squeezing the most out of it.
Since you cannot turn, everything in view matters: the verge, the poles, the surface, the vegetation behind, the shape of the buildings.
Road markings, barriers, kerbs and signs differ between countries far more than nature does. Even the colour of the centre line narrows it to a handful of options.
The direction and length of shadows give you the hemisphere and roughly the latitude. In hardcore that is often the only reliable cue.
Details other modes ignore start to matter here: the colour of road markings, the shape of the kerb, the asphalt, the lamp posts, the house numbers. Often it is not a sign that decides it but the angle of the shadows, which hints at the hemisphere and roughly the season.
It pays to know in advance what separates neighbours: white centre line versus yellow, the shape of warning signs, the type of roadside post. In hardcore these small things replace the signage you cannot see.
If the frame is genuinely empty, do not linger — pin on climate and vegetation and move on. Zero costs more than an imprecise answer.
| Rounds per game | 5 |
| Time limit | none |
| Camera restrictions | no panning, zooming or moving |
| Anchor points | 147 |
| Available in duels | yes |
| Hints | yes |
A direct hit is worth 5000 points per round, and the score falls off exponentially with distance. A five-round game is worth up to 25,000. Distances are measured on the server against its own copy of the locations, so a result cannot be forged from the browser.
| Miss | Points per round |
|---|---|
| direct hit | 5,000 |
| 1 km | 4,998 |
| 10 km | 4,975 |
| 50 km | 4,877 |
| 200 km | 4,524 |
| 500 km | 3,894 |
| 1,000 km | 3,033 |
| 2,000 km | 1,839 |
| 5,000 km | 410 |
| other hemisphere | 34 |
What the pool for this mode is made of:
| Europe | 29 |
| Asia and Oceania | 26 |
| The Americas | 20 |
| Africa and the Middle East | 10 |
| Russia and the CIS | 62 |
None. Any attempt to turn or zoom is snapped straight back.
It trains you to read small tells, which then speeds you up in every other mode.
It trains you to read small tells. Afterwards you notice more and play faster in classic.
Yes, and hardcore is where they pay off most: a frame may contain nothing conclusive at all.