Racetrack

The Racetrack OASIS appears as one of the challenges needs to be complete in a search for three keys that will unlock the Easter Egg gates.

The prize if you win this Race is the Copper Key, while the challenge in the book was completing Joust arcade, but in the film, the challenge replaced by a race.

Film

In the movie, according to Parzival, some long-forgotten gunter deciphered the clue to the first challenge which is a race through New York City to Central Park. However, the racetrack comes with many perils which include traps crossing the bridge to New York, ramps which lead backwards or leading to crashing, a semi-truck who gets caught in the middle of the race track, wrecking balls hitting drivers, a T-rex and King Kong.

Even if a player manages to get past everything else, no one has ever managed to beat King Kong and he appears to be unbeatable as a rule.

In the first attempt, Parzival, Aech and Art3mis almost make it, but ended up like the rest. Most of the cars where ones by IOI, but many pop culture cars did not make it in the process, such as the Batmobile being pushed into the broken bridge gap by Aech.

Parzival crashes after King Kong demolishes the road in front of him leading to the finishing line. Parzival soon rescues Art3mis from being crushed by the hands of King Kong, before taking her to Aech's shop to work on her now destroyed bike.

After an argument with Art3mis, Wade visits a scene in Halliday's Journals where James Halliday argues with Ogden Morrow over the OASIS and Halliday's hatred for making rules. The scene contains the clue to beating the race: Halliday states that he wishes they could go backwards for once really fast, "real pedal to the medal."

After finding the clue, Parzival races his DeLorean backwards during the next race. An underground tunnel opens near the rear wall and Parzival is able to safely race through it backwards under all of the obstacles to emerge beyond King Kong near the finish line in Central Park. In doing so, Parzival gets Copper Key and wins the first challenge.

Subsequently, Art3mis, who witnessed Parzival take off backwards, also completes the race. She is followed by Aech who is tipped off by Parzival, Daito who is tipped off by Aech and Sho who is tipped off by Daito.

References

The following are references of the various vehicles seen in the race.

• DeLorean from Back to the Future (piloted by Parzival)
• Bigfoot monster truck (piloted by Aech)
• Kaneda's bike from Akira (piloted by Art3mis)
• Batmobile (1966 Version) from Batman
• Ford Interceptor (Pursuit Special) from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
• Plymouth Fury (Christine) from Christine
• GMC Vandura from The A-Team
• Mach 5 from Speed Racer
• Formula One Cars from Pole Position
• Unidentified Cars

Amongst them are the drivers or characters that appear at the racetrack.

• Lara Croft from Tomb Raider
• Batman from DC comics (drives the 1966 version of the Batmobile)
• Dizzy Wallin from Gears of War (drives Christine)
• Ryu from Street Fighter
• Elite from Halo (drives the A-Team Van)
• Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat
• Unidentified Avatars

Gallery

Concept art showing King Kong destroying a purple Blade Runner spinner. Concept showing the Ecto-88 and Lamborghini from It Takes Two are present.

Trivia

• At one point, IOI cars were gonna be Formula 1 cars instead of stock cars.
• Several cars were thought of being in the scene, but turned out to be misconceptions or hoaxes. These include:
  • KITT from Knight Rider, turned out to be Parzival in his DeLorean, with the red glowing KITT bar on the grill.
  • The Griswold Family Wagon from National Lampoon's Vacation, turned out to be a hoax originating from a Reddit post.
• Concept art of the racetrack shows more cars than IOI cars, some of which include:
  • A duo of blue and red Formula One cars, possibly leading up for them being the Pole Position cars seen in the finished product.
  • A Spinner from Blade Runner, alongside a purple one crushed by King Kong.
  • Herbie the living Volkswagen Beetle, who was probably removed due for it's Disney licensing.
  • The Dark Knight variant of the Batmobile.
  • The "cursed" 103 "Little Bastard" Porsche, a car owned by late driver James Dean.
  • An unidentifiable green and white car.
  • A yellow vehicle that resembles (or possibly is) a Plymouth Prowler,
  • A 41 NASCAR vehicle with Target Store livery.
  • Possibly the Dodge Charger from Fast and Furious.
  • The ThrustSSC, a jet car that reached speeds of 763 miles per hour.
  • A tank.
  • A six-wheeled tractor who is possibly based on the German Fendt's Trisix concept tractor.
  • The Ecto-88 from Ghostbusters.
  • The Red Trovare (Lamborghini Countach) from It Takes Two (1988).
  • The General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard.