Changelog
Everything added, changed or removed in ApexMidnight, newest first. The game is built and updated by hand, and this is the record.
Last update: 21 August 2026
Leaderboards, achievements and car comparisons, now open to everyone
- Added
Leaderboards are now public: the global rankings by rating, wins and driver level, plus the current lap record on every circuit, are visible without signing in. Signed-in players still get the friends filter and their own standing.
- Added
A public achievements page listing every milestone, what it pays in Apexons and XP, and how rare it is across the whole grid.
- Added
A public championships page explaining how a series works: rounds, points, the completion bonus and the full pool with each series' circuits.
- Added
Head-to-head car comparison pages: two cars of the same class side by side, with the winner of every stat marked and how many drivers actually race each one.
- Added
Circuit pages now show the lap-record board for that track, how many races have been run there, the average recorded lap and the car taken to its grid most often.
- Added
Car pages now show where a car ranks in the catalogue by Performance Index, class, top speed and handling, how many drivers own one, and links to its comparison pages.
- Added
Every racing guide is now fully translated into Italian, Spanish, German and French, not just the menus around it.
- Changed
The changelog is now public, so anyone can see what has shipped without signing in.
- Changed
Leaderboards, championships, achievements and the changelog are now reachable from the header and footer menus.
- Changed
Pages load lighter: the realtime multiplayer code is now fetched only when you actually join a lobby or a race, instead of on every page.
- Added
Bienvenue: the site now speaks French
- Added
The whole site is now available in French under /fr, alongside English, Italian, Spanish and German. Switch language from the globe menu in the header.
- Added
Willkommen: the site now speaks German
- Added
The whole site is now available in German under /de, alongside English, Italian and Spanish. Switch language from the globe menu in the header.
- Added
Your language, everywhere, and sharper bots
- Added
The site now picks your language automatically from your browser the first time you visit, so you land on the right one without hunting for the menu.
- Changed
Every date and time across the site now reads in your own language and local format.
- Changed
Credits are now called Apexons everywhere, matching the name used in the shop.
- Changed
AI drivers race cleaner: better lines, and less bumping into each other on the lap.
- Changed
Fixed share images failing to generate.
- Added
New race types, modifiers and smarter bots
- Added
New Checkpoint Rush race type: your timer drains as you drive and tops up each time you complete a lap. Hit zero and you are out.
- Added
Pre-race modifiers: mix and match low grip, double weapons, no nitro and a mirrored circuit to shake up the lap.
- Added
Hazards: oil slicks and destructible barrels now litter the track, and clipping one costs you grip and pace.
- Added
Optional race objectives worth bonus Apexons: bank a big skill score, finish without a crash, or rack up drifts.
- Added
Races now go fullscreen on their own when they start.
- Added
Your controller now rumbles in more situations on track.
- Added
Tooltips across the dashboard, garage and car catalogue explain what each stat, tier and level requirement means.
- Added
Bots now bring their own cars to the grid: the field is a proper mix of different cars, and how closely a bot's car matches yours depends on its level.
- Added
Bots now play by the same rules as you: they can crash and explode, run out of guzzoline, and be knocked out in Guzzoline mode.
- Added
Trees and other trackside objects now have collisions, so you can no longer drive straight through them.
- Added
Car wheels now visibly turn as you drive.
- Changed
Smarter AI drivers that race the track better.
- Changed
Power-ups on track now change as the race goes on, lap by lap.
- Changed
Run out of guzzoline and you can no longer keep racing.
- Changed
When the lobby creator leaves mid-race, the race now ends for everyone.
- Changed
Tuning and upgrading a car now happens in its own dialog, so the garage stays tidy.
- Changed
Your cars are now listed in a consistent order on the dashboard and in the shop.
- Changed
Tighter anti-cheat on lap records and on race results, so impossible times can no longer be banked.
- Changed
Fixed spectated racers appearing frozen instead of moving around the track.
- Added
Spectating, fairer races and privacy-friendly analytics
- Added
Finish a race early? You can now spectate the other players still on track instead of just waiting.
- Added
Poles now have collisions, so you can no longer drive straight through them.
- Added
Homepage cars now link through to their own pages, and their on-page 3D models have more detailed geometry.
- Changed
You can now only bet against a ghost for up to half of your money.
- Changed
Guzzoline mode in reverse can no longer be won on an empty tank.
- Changed
Other players' underglow is now visible to everyone during a race.
- Changed
Fixed leaderboard calculations on the oval circuit, and dead players are now correctly shown as dead.
- Changed
Elimination races now validate lap and player counts before starting.
- Changed
Fixed a 404 when setting players ready in lobbies, spectated cars that appeared frozen, window flickering on buildings, a rematch incorrectly marking everyone ready, and the "invite to lobby" notification not showing on every dashboard page.
- Added
We now measure how the game is used with analytics, so we can see what to improve. Analytics cookies are only ever set if you accept them in the cookie banner, and you can change your mind at any time.
- Changed
Updated our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy to explain the analytics we use and the choices you have.
- Added
Underglow, NOS upgrades and garage sorting
- Added
Light up your ride with underglow, and pick from a wider range of paint colours in the shop, shown on your car both in the garage and out on track.
- Added
Nitro can now be upgraded with Apexons, just like your car's other stats.
- Added
New upgrade guide walking through how to spend Apexons to make your car faster.
- Changed
Sort your garage to find the car you want faster.
- Changed
Car tiles now spell out what each finish and finals tier gives you.
- Changed
Flash messages are now translated into your language.
- Added
Cosmetics, feedback and fairer progression
- Added
Paint finishes: dress your car in new finishes bought with Apexons and show them off in the garage and in-race.
- Added
New feedback button in the header: send the team a message straight from any dashboard page.
- Changed
Race payouts and driver XP rebalanced so wins and clean racing pay off more.
- Changed
The lobby now makes clear that solo races do not change your rating.
- Changed
Your dashboard now lists your newest cars first.
- Added
Play in your language
- Added
The whole site is now available in Italian and Spanish as well as English.
- Added
Switch language any time from the new language menu in the header and inside your dashboard.
- Added
Follow Apex Midnight on our social channels, now shown as icons in the footer, including our new YouTube channel.
- Added
Accessibility and mobile polish
- Changed
Accessibility improvements across the dashboard pages, following WCAG guidelines.
- Changed
A smoother mobile experience: fixed race and leaderboard layouts, a swipeable image slider, and the menu now closes after you tap a link.
- Changed
Cars shown as their 3D models
- Changed
Cars across the site (the shop, your garage, the catalogue and guides) now show their actual in-game 3D model, rendered from the car's own shape and paint, instead of a photo.
- Changed
Horns, smarter bots and time driven
- Added
New "How to play" page walking through a race step by step, with the full keyboard and gamepad control map, drift and nitro tips, and every race type and modifier explained.
- Added
Holding the horn now lights your car up with a pulsing ring on the minimap, and every other racer sees it too, so a honk actually flags where you are.
- Added
Player profiles now show your total time driven, summed across every race you have finished.
- Added
Twelve new achievements for time behind the wheel, from a 30-minute Shakedown all the way to the 2000-hour Eternal Driver.
- Changed
AI drivers now read the track ahead and shed speed before a corner instead of barrelling in, so bots hold the racing line and stop running wide off the track.
- Changed
Tighter anti-cheat on race results: a finishing time is now rejected unless enough real time has actually passed to have driven it, so payouts and podiums can no longer be claimed with an impossibly early finish.
- Added
Garage slots, ghost wagers and smoother opponents
- Added
The achievement roster now numbers a full 100. On top of the new endgame milestones (win 500 or 1000 races, finish 1000 races, reach level 100, own 50 or 100 cars, splatter 1000 animals), dozens more tiers fill in every ladder: intermediate win, finish, level, rating, garage and circuit goals, plus deeper drift, pickup, collision, EMP, respawn, wrong-way and per-species hunting targets.
- Added
Your garage now has a limited number of slots (you start with 5). Buy more slots with Apexons in the shop when you want room for a bigger collection, with each extra slot costing a little more than the last.
- Added
Optional Apexon wagers on ghost challenges: stake Apexons when you race a rival's ghost and win double if you beat their lap, or lose your stake if you fall short. Racing a ghost with no stake works exactly as before.
- Changed
Rival cars now move far more smoothly in multiplayer: they follow the curve of the racing line through corners instead of cutting across it, dead-reckon cleanly when a packet is late, and glide across any correction rather than snapping.
- Changed
Rival cars now move far more smoothly in multiplayer: they follow the curve of the racing line through corners instead of cutting across it, dead-reckon cleanly when a packet is late, and glide across any correction rather than snapping.
- Added
Over 30 new achievements to chase, including higher win, level and rating tiers, deeper car and circuit milestones, per-species animal hunts, and rewards for drifting, near misses, EMPs, collisions, respawns and more chaos.
- Added
Hover a driver title to see how it is earned.
- Changed
A profile now shows "Request sent" or "Wants to be friends" instead of the Add friend button when a request is already pending.
- Changed
When the lobby host leaves and later rejoins their own lobby, they get ownership back.
- Changed
Driver XP rebalanced: winning and clean, skilful driving now earn noticeably more than just finishing.
- Added
Contact page
- Added
New public Contact page with a form that sends your message straight to the team.
- Added
Ghost cursor and car geometry
- Added
More detailed car geometry on track.
- Changed
The ghost indicator is now shown as a cursor.
- Added
Changelog page
- Added
New Changelog page, linked in the sidebar, listing everything that has been added, changed, or removed.
- Added
Apexon top-ups and driver titles
- Added
Buy Apexons with a card via Stripe Checkout (instant grant on staging and local).
- Added
Driver titles: a persona earned from your lifetime racing behaviour, shown on your profile.
- Added
Competitive meta
- Added
Elo ratings, global leaderboards, achievements, ghost challenges, and championship mode.
- Added
Progression and social
- Added
Driver XP and levels, daily challenges, post-race rematches, friends, and lobby invites.
- Added
Public player profile pages, reachable by username.
- Added
Lobby badge
- Added
Open-lobby count shown as a badge in the menu.
- Added
Mobile and lobbies
- Added
Mobile navigation during races.
- Changed
Paginated the lobby list and optimised the mobile race HUD.
- Added
More detailed car geometry.
- Removed
Lobbies inactive for more than 24 hours are now auto-deleted.
- Added
Passwordless login and mobile menu
- Added
Passwordless ("magic code") sign-in.
- Added
Mobile header menu.
- Changed
Accessibility fixes and homepage optimisations.
- Added
Circuits, branding, and account safety
- Added
New circuits: Le Mans, Monte Carlo, Laguna Seca, and Silverstone.
- Added
Dynamic OG share images, disable-user and last-login tracking, and new lobby name suggestions.
- Changed
Renamed circuits to fantasy Japanese names, refreshed favicons and the app logo, and standardised dialogs (delete your account by typing DELETE).
- Changed
Registration is now rate limited, and car colours only show once unlocked.
- Added
Guides, racing feel, and the Nurburgring
- Added
Editorial Guides cluster and broader SEO work.
- Added
Nurburgring track, a "wrong way" indicator, a Suggest-a-car dialog, and an animals modifier.
- Changed
Power-ups became a modifier, animals and power-ups now sync between players, and multiplayer/socket performance improved.
- Changed
Security fixes and stricter validation rules.
- Added
Race modes
- Added
Guzzoline, spectator, and elimination race modes, plus lap records.
- Added
Page links in the menu.
- Changed
In-game notifications are now shared between all players and moved to the bottom-left.
- Added
Public catalogue, depth, and polish
- Added
Public car and circuit pages, dynamic sitemap and robots, legal pages, and a cookie-consent banner.
- Added
Paint shop and liveries, car affinity / mastery XP, weather and time-of-day per circuit, handicap starts, and new pickup types.
- Added
Filament admin panel, admin scripted races, and private / password-protected lobbies.
- Changed
Car shape now changes dynamically based on stats; homepage and login/register pages redesigned; image compression and a sticky header added.
- Added
Shop, cars, and Filament
- Added
Rebuilt lobby system, Apexon purchases, the in-shop Apexon balance, solo-race payouts, and on-track bonuses and maluses.
- Added
Filament admin with resources for every model, car tiers (new players get three starter cars), a handbrake, and real car images with filtering and sorting.
- Added
Country and role on players, leaderboard ping, race sounds, and a user menu.
- Changed
Renamed Garage to Shop, moved races to their own page, and switched to showing usernames instead of full names.
- Added
Lobby controls and Horizon
- Added
In-game horn, new circuits, and a queued password-reset mailer.
- Added
Players choose lap count and their own car in the lobby; the rebuilt "create a lobby" modal.
- Changed
Movement interpolation smoothed, NOS is no longer an infinite boost, and the game ends when the lobby creator leaves.
- Added
Realtime backbone
- Added
Installed Laravel Horizon for queue processing.
- Changed
Game events now broadcast immediately.
- Added
Nitro and controls
- Added
Nitro boost, gamepad controller support, graphic settings, and more cars in the seeder.
- Added
Economy and rivals
- Added
Buy and upgrade cars, earn money from races, plus rivals and ghosts.
- Added
Google login and AI
- Added
Google social login, fullscreen mode, UUIDs, and car class / drivetrain enums (a car is assigned on registration).
- Changed
Rebuilt the homepage and improved the bot driving AI.
- Removed
Dropped the light/dark appearance system in favour of a single dark theme.
- Added
Initial build
- Added
First playable version: the 3D racing game, lobbies, leaderboard, dashboard, a race-finished screen, respawn with R, and a mini-map lap marker.
- Added