Crash Team Racing is a
kart racing game in which the player controls characters from the
Crash Bandicoot series,
kart racing on varied tracks to finish first. Characters are categorized into three types: large (slow acceleration, high top speed, poor handling), medium (balanced stats), and small (fast acceleration, great handling, low top speed). Players can accelerate, steer, reverse, brake, hop, and use power-ups, with an option for analog throttle control or digital button inputs. Speed boosts can be obtained with the power slide; the player executes the slide by holding down one of the shoulder buttons to perform a hop, and steering before the kart lands. While sliding, the "Turbo Boost Meter" on the lower-right corner of the screen fills up and goes from green to red. At the same time, the
exhaust gas from the player's kart turns black. To get a speed boost, the player quickly presses the opposite shoulder button while the Turbo Boost Meter is red. The player can execute three speed boosts in a row during a power slide, with the third speed boost being more powerful than the previous two. If the player waits too long into the power slide for a boost, the kart
back-fires and the chance for a speed boost is lost; power sliding for too long causes a spin-out. Aside from power slides, speed boosts can be obtained by gathering
hang time when leaping over gaps in the track. The longer the player is in the air, the bigger the speed boost will be when the kart lands. Hitting the accelerator just before the race begins provides an initial speed boost. Two distinct forms of
crates are scattered throughout the tracks and arenas of
Crash Team Racing. Crates with question marks on them hold power-ups, which can be obtained by driving through and breaking apart said crates. When the player collects a power-up, it will appear in a box at the top of the screen. The player can activate the power-up to hinder the other racers or supplement the player's own performance. Fruit Crates carry Wumpa Fruit that increase the speed of the player's kart and strengthen the player's power-ups if ten of them are obtained. Some power-ups can be dropped behind the player or fired forward.
Modes Crash Team Racing features 5 racing modes: Adventure, Time Trial, Arcade, Versus and Battle. In each mode, the player selects 1 from 8 characters to control. The Adventure mode is a single-player campaign where the player must race through all of the tracks and arenas in the game and collect as many trophies, Relics, Boss Keys, CTR Tokens and Gems as possible. The Adventure Mode's premise involves the antagonist Nitros Oxide, an ornery and arrogant extraterrestrial who threatens to turn Earth into a concrete parking lot if he defeats the planet's best driver in a race. In the beginning of the game, the player only has access to two tracks. As the player wins more races, more tracks on multiple worlds become available. In each level, the player must win a trophy by coming in first place. When the player receives all four trophies in a world, the "Boss Garage" of that world can be accessed. In the Boss Garage, the player competes in a one-on-one race against a
boss character. If the boss character is defeated, the character will relinquish a Boss Key, which the player uses to access new worlds and ultimately to face Oxide inside his spaceship. After beating levels, new modes become available, such as the Relic Race, in which the player races through the track alone and completes three laps in the fastest time possible. "Time Crates" scattered throughout the level freeze the game timer when a player drives through them. If all of the Time Crates are destroyed, the player's final time is reduced by ten seconds. The player wins a Relic by beating the time indicated on the screen. Another mode, the CTR Challenge, is played like a normal race, except that the player must also collect the letters C, T and R scattered throughout the track. If the player manages to collect all three letters and come in first place, a "CTR Token" is awarded. These tokens come in five different colors: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Purple. The Purple CTR tokens are awarded for beating the Crystal Bonus Round by collecting 20 crystals under a certain time limit. If the player collects four tokens of the same color, the player will be able to access the Gem Cup of the corresponding color. Gem Cups are racing tournaments held against computer-controlled opponents and are accessible in a secret area in the "Gemstone Valley" world. A Gem Cup consists of four tracks in a row, in which the player must race for points. If one of these cups is won, a Gem is awarded. To win the game, the player must collect all trophies, Boss Keys, Relics, CTR Tokens and Gems before defeating Nitros Oxide in a one-on-one race. In Time Trial, the player races against the clock to set personal best times, with
ghost data for replays. The Arcade and Versus modes allow single or multiplayer racing (up to four players with a
multitap) on individual tracks or cup circuits (four races for cumulative points). The Battle mode is a multiplayer arena mode in which players use weapons to eliminate opponents, with customizable settings such as time limit, kill limit, weapon selection, and teams. ==Development and release==