# Postcard Roads

> Drive anywhere in France, on its real roads. Postcard Roads is a free top-down driving game that runs in the browser (desktop and phone), on the real map of France and Monaco, with the look of an old holiday postcard. Play it at https://postcardroads.com. No download, no account.

## What it is

- The whole of France and Monaco, built as you drive from open map data: OpenStreetMap (roads with their real widths, buildings, bridges, tunnels, railways, shops, street furniture), IGN (relief, building heights) and Mapterhorn (relief).
- Pick a place, or type any address in France, and start driving there. Hand-picked start places include Monaco and its harbour, the Arc de Triomphe and the Étoile, the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Alpe d'Huez, Mont-Saint-Michel, Étretat, the Millau Viaduct, the Corniche Kennedy in Marseille and Carcassonne.
- Vehicles: five cars, a bus, boats and yachts, and a plane. You can get out and walk, and take any vehicle nearby.
- The city is alive: traffic with traffic lights, pedestrians, trains, trams and metro tunnels, sunset light and night.
- A goal for newcomers: 13 postcards to collect in an album, at the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Place Vendôme, Notre-Dame, Château de Beynac, Le Mans (the start of the 24 Hours), Château de Chambord, the Dune du Pilat, Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux, the Pont du Gard, the Gorges du Verdon (Pont du Galetas), Lac d'Annecy and Strasbourg Cathedral. The way is drawn on the road.
- Online: other players driving nearby appear with their name. A car radio plays real radio stations.
- A snapshot key makes a "Greetings from" postcard of the view, with a QR code that opens the game at the same spot.

## How it feels

The car handling is Pat Kerr's 1996 "2D Vehicles" simulation, the model behind the cars of the first Grand Theft Auto, ported faithfully. Speeds are true: the km/h on screen are real.

## Controls

- Keyboard: arrows or WASD to drive and steer, Shift for a boost, Space for the handbrake (drifts), F to get out or get in, V to change vehicle, M for the map (click anywhere on land to drive there), N for day or night, H for the horn, O for the next radio station, R to get back on the road, T for the camera (top-down or third person), P for a postcard snapshot, U to hide the interface.
- Phone: left thumb to steer, right thumb to go and brake.
- A game controller works too.

## Links with a place

A link can open the game at a place: `https://postcardroads.com/?spot=etretat` (also `monaco-gp`, `etoile`, `tour-eiffel`, `montmartre`, `alpe-d-huez`, `mont-saint-michel`, `millau`, `marseille`, `carcassonne`), or any point with `?lat=48.8584&lon=2.2945`.

## Who makes it

A hobby project by Remi, in France. Remi is not a developer: he directs AI coding agents in short sessions. The game is free and has no ads.

## Credits

Map © OpenStreetMap contributors (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) · IGN · Mapterhorn. Sounds are CC0, except three car engines from Pixabay.