A corner in Heat: Pedal to the Metal is checked after movement, React, and any slipstream. If you crossed its Corner Line at any point in the turn, compare your Speed for the round with that corner’s printed limit. This guide explains the base-game Heat cost, spinout, and race finish. For positioning examples, see the slipstream guide.
What counts as Speed at a corner?
Add the values of the cards in your Play Area and the +1 Speed from Adrenaline if you used it. Relevant React effects such as Boost increase Speed too. The two extra Spaces from a normal slipstream do not increase Speed, although crossing a line during that movement still triggers the check.
Example: Your Speed is 6 and the crossed corner has a limit of 4. You owe 2 Heat. If your Speed is 4, you owe none. The comparison uses Speed, not the number of Spaces your car moved after slipstreaming.
When is the corner checked?
The turn order is reveal and move, Adrenaline where applicable, React, Slipstream, then Check Corner. You do not settle the corner as soon as the car physically crosses the line. Note each Corner Line crossed and resolve the checks in order at step 7. If a turn takes you through two corners, each has its own limit and Heat payment.
How do you pay Heat?
For every point your Speed exceeds a crossed corner’s limit, take one Heat card from your Engine and put it in your discard pile. These cards can later enter your draw deck and hand. Cooldown moves Heat from your hand back to the Engine; having Heat cards in your hand does not make them available in the Engine to pay a new corner cost.
Two-corner example: At Speed 5, you cross a limit-4 corner and then a limit-3 corner in the same turn. The first costs 1 Heat and the second costs 2, for 3 Heat in total. Check the first before the second, because a spinout at the first changes your position.
What happens if the Engine lacks enough Heat?
Pay all Heat you have, then spin out. Move your car back to the first available Space before the Corner Line that caused the spinout. Take 1 Stress card into your hand in first or second gear, or 2 Stress cards in third or fourth gear. Set your Gear pawn to first gear. This is why the available Heat in the Engine is worth checking before choosing high-Speed cards or a Boost near a corner.
Does a slipstream change a corner or the finish?
A slipstream may cross a Corner Line and cause a check, but its normal two Spaces are excluded from the Speed calculation. It happens before Check Corner, not after. The basic rules also forbid using slipstream to cross the finish line, or using it after you have already crossed. The extra movement cannot be the move that wins the race.
Who wins if several cars finish in one round?
After the required laps, cars crossing the finish line in the same round are ranked by their final positions: the car furthest ahead wins. If cars end side by side, the Spot closest to the Race Line breaks the tie. You may ignore corner Speed Limits after the finish line and simply move as far as your turn allows. The order in which cars took their turns during that round alone does not decide a shared-round finish.
Related Heat guides
Rules source
Days of Wonder, Heat basic-game rulebook (PDF), especially Check Corner, Spin out, Heat Cards, and How to Win. Checked October 2026.