Nice improvments. I think the game finally starts to become ready. The new updates just needs to be cleaned up an line lengths poilshed. I'll see what I can do.

I thought I newer need to learn how PRINT USING works... I was wrong...

PRINTUSING"SPEED:##0kmh  "+CHR$(76-L*4)+"  RANK:###";S;N\128-82
PRINTUSING"SPEED:##0kmh  !  RANK:###";S;CHR$(76-L*4);N\128-82

... and two bytes saved...

Maniac!

Much shorter transmission controll:

L=(LXORQANDOXORQ)AND1

Optimized transmission controll:

L=(QANDO+Q)+LAND1

I love it that you picked this one up again

It seems that we still have to add some more new features... Transmission & breaks do not take enough space... This still fits way too easyly to the limits.

1 J=S-J*(J<96-S):K=J\16:FORW=0TO2:VPOKE8208+W,P(W+K):NEXT:IFTTHENRESUMENEXTELSEONERRORGOTO1:DEFINTA-Y:COLOR15,5,1:KEYOFF:SCREEN2,3,0:U=255:V=32:FORX=-1TO1:FORY=0TO31:M=16-Y\2:LINE(M-X*((SIN(Y^.8/6)-(Y<16))*6-M-2)+(X<1),V+X*V+Y)-STEP(Y+1,0)
2 P(Y\4)=50-15*(Y\12AND1):NEXTY,X:N=14336:FORI=0TO383:VPOKEN+I,VPEEK((IAND7)+(IAND8)*V+(IAND48)\2+(IAND448)*8):NEXT:S$="3##B#C#c$B'r$B&s3#%##C#3%S';%S&s;##2#3#B#R#B#<=c'##c'#@C#)#2#,s##&wfw:w3w4w$w3w#w4w,DD0CDDDS0CDSDK0CDKDC0CDC":SOUND3,14
3 SCREEN1:FORO=0TO53:Y=0:FORM=MTOM+1:Y=Y*96+(ASC(MID$(S$,M))-35):NEXT:FORK=KTOK+Y\256:VPOKEK+N+I+8335*(O>V),YANDU:NEXTK,O:FORI=UTO1023:O=VPEEK(I):VPOKEI,(OORO\2)\(2-(IAND4)\4):NEXT:FORI=ITO1279:O=IANDV:VPOKE6432+(IAND63),228+8*(IAND3)-O
4 W=2^(IAND7):J=O*U\W\64:VPOKEI+512,JAND-W:VPOKEI+768,JOR-WANDU:J=8-O\8:VPOKEI,(JANDI)*U\J:NEXT:R=N\2:VPOKE8192,14:VPOKE1209,U:FORW=8TO9:PUTSPRITEW,(80+64*W,159),14,W-2:SOUNDW,14:NEXT:TIME=0:FORT=2TOR:-:PUTSPRITE0,(X+80,156),1,12:SOUND1,83
5 G=G+F*S\2:LOCATE1,1:D=96-(NAND127):Y=D>0(:D=D*D\96:PRINTUSING"SPEED:##0kmh  !  RANK:###";S;CHR$(76-L*4);N\128-82(:FORW=8216TO8219:G=G+8AND31:VPOKEW,86+(GAND16):VPOKE4+W,85+G\24:NEXT:Q=O:O=PEEK(-1043):T=T+S-1(:F=B:IFC<TTHENC=9+T+TMOD99
6 B=(R-T>99)*(1-CMOD3):L=(QANDO+Q)+LAND1:S=S+(0=(OAND64))-(0=(OAND32))*(2-(SGN(S-9)=(2*L-1))):S=(S>14+L*6)*(L+2)-(S>0)*(S-1):FORW=3TO4:PUTSPRITEW+1,(F*10+W*V,95),14,4*B+W+1:PUTSPRITE3+W,(W*V,127),14,4*F+3+W:NEXT
7 PUTSPRITE1,(115-(D<34)*((24-D)*B+F*10)+(E-64)*D\225,-Y*(98+D)-31),-6*(T<R),15-D\25:M=(X>72)-(X<0):E=NAND128:N=N+9-S:-:S=S*((X-15-E\3)\15<>0ORD<73)*(M=0):SOUND0,U-S*9:X=X+5*(M-(0=(OAND128))+(0=(OAND16)))-S*B\4:-:NEXT:S=15
8 Z$=SPACE$(S)+"Race Over  Time ="+STR$((TIME\(6-PEEK(43)\128))/10)+"s":FORN=0TOU:D=88-3*N:LOCATE6,4:PUTSPRITE0,(116-(36-X)*D\126,68+D),-(D>0),S-D\24:-:PRINTMID$(Z$+Z$,NMOD38+1,S):SOUND9ANDNOR8,-(D>0)*D\6:NEXT:SCREEN0

You're too good NYYRIKKI

... and this is not even optimized to the max yet...

@manuel My uselessness-o-meter did not show good enough values and I had to do something.

I optimized gear handling a bit...

1 J=S-J*(J<96-S):K=J\16:FORW=0TO2:VPOKE8208+W,P(W+K):NEXT:IFTTHENRESUMENEXTELSEONERRORGOTO1:DEFINTA-Y:COLOR15,5,1:KEYOFF:SCREEN2,3,0:U=255:V=32:FORX=-1TO1:FORY=0TO31:M=16-Y\2:LINE(M-X*((SIN(Y^.8/6)-(Y<16))*6-M-2)+(X<1),V+X*V+Y)-STEP(Y+1,0)
2 P(Y\4)=50-15*(Y\12AND1):NEXTY,X:N=14336:FORI=0TO383:VPOKEN+I,VPEEK((IAND7)+(IAND8)*V+(IAND48)\2+(IAND448)*8):NEXT:S$="3##B#C#c$B'r$B&s3#%##C#3%S';%S&s;##2#3#B#R#B#<=c'##c'#@C#)#2#,s##&wfw:w3w4w$w3w#w4w,DD0CDDDS0CDSDK0CDKDC0CDC":SOUND3,14
3 SCREEN1:FORO=0TO53:Y=0:FORM=MTOM+1:Y=Y*96+(ASC(MID$(S$,M))-35):NEXT:FORK=KTOK+Y\256:VPOKEK+N+I+8335*(O>V),YANDU:NEXTK,O:FORI=UTO1023:O=VPEEK(I):VPOKEI,(OORO\2)\(2-(IAND4)\4):NEXT:FORI=ITO1279:O=IANDV:VPOKE6432+(IAND63),228+8*(IAND3)-O
4 W=2^(IAND7):J=O*U\W\64:VPOKEI+512,JAND-W:VPOKEI+768,JOR-WANDU:J=8-O\8:VPOKEI,(JANDI)*U\J:NEXT:R=N\2:VPOKE8192,14:VPOKE1209,U:FORW=8TO9:PUTSPRITEW,(80+64*W,159),14,W-2:SOUNDW,14:NEXT:TIME=0:FORT=2TOR:-:PUTSPRITE0,(X+80,156),1,12:SOUND1,83
5 G=G+F*S\2:LOCATE1,1:D=96-(NAND127):Y=D>0(:D=D*D\96:PRINTUSING"SPEED:##0kmh  !  RANK:###";S;CHR$(76-L*4);N\128-82(:FORW=8216TO8219:G=G+8AND31:VPOKEW,86+(GAND16):VPOKE4+W,85+G\24:NEXT:Q=O:O=PEEK(-1043):T=T+S-1(:F=B:IFC<TTHENC=9+T+TMOD99
6 B=(R-T>99)*(1-CMOD3):L=(QANDO+Q)+LAND1:S=S+(0=(OAND64))-(0=(OANDV))*(2-((S>9)=-L)):S=(S>14+L*6)*(L+2)-(S>0)*(S-1):FORW=3TO4:PUTSPRITEW+1,(F*10+W*V,95),14,4*B+W+1:PUTSPRITE3+W,(W*V,127),14,4*F+3+W:NEXT
7 PUTSPRITE1,(115-(D<34)*((24-D)*B+F*10)+(E-64)*D\225,-Y*(98+D)-31),-6*(T<R),15-D\25:M=(X>72)-(X<0):E=NAND128:N=N+9-S:-:S=S*((X-15-E\3)\15<>0ORD<73)*(M=0):SOUND0,U-S*9:X=X+5*(M-(0=(OAND128))+(0=(OAND16)))-S*B\4:-:NEXT:S=15
8 Z$=SPACE$(S)+"Race Over  Time ="+STR$((TIME\(6-PEEK(43)\128))/10)+"s":FORN=0TOU:D=88-3*N:LOCATE6,4:PUTSPRITE0,(116-(36-X)*D\126,68+D),-(D>0),S-D\24:-:PRINTMID$(Z$+Z$,NMOD38+1,S):SOUND9ANDNOR8,-(D>0)*D\6:NEXT:SCREEN0

Great job So what's next? Its still as many free characters as it was when you added these new features

Well... I'm kind of running out of good ideas... Maybe(?) start counter like "3.. 2.. 1.." could be put into gear status space at startup...
Other things could be disabling CTRL+STOP (as you said), implementing exit key or emptying keyboard buffer at end...

More ideas are wellcome... I'm ready to get rid of 50/60Hz support if we get really good idea...

I guess a pit stop (e.g. limited fuel and a specific spot where to get new fuel) is out of the question?

How about a small sound track?

yeah, a race-track ^_^