There was some very exciting news spotted on Instagram… Asmodee UK announced the latest expansion of Heat: Pedal to the metal. Fans of this hugely popular racing game will be thrilled to hear that the new expansion is coming out in February of 2025 titled “Heat: Tunnel Vision”. It’s some very exciting news so early into 2025 and not long to wait either.
So what are we expecting in this expansion? Not much was given away on the social media post but we do know:
1. Chicanes and Tunnels as new game mechanics.
There was some very exciting news spotted on Instagram… Asmodee UK announced the latest expansion of Heat: Pedal to the metal. Fans of this hugely popular racing game will be thrilled to hear that the new expansion is coming out in February of 2025 titled “Heat: Tunnel Vision”. It’s some very exciting news so early into 2025 and not long to wait either.
So what are we expecting in this expansion? Not much was given away on the social media post but we do know:
1. Chicanes and Tunnels as new game mechanics.
2. Front wing upgrade cards.
3. New event cards.
4. The allowance for an additional player to join in.
5. 2 brand new circuits. Can you guess in which countries?
When you see a piece of news like this appear on a social media feed you cannot help but get excited and try and find out what else google is saying about the game. So that is what I did. There is a lot of hype on various board game geek and Reddit forums but nothing definitive about what is coming. Thankfully, we will not have too long to wait until we can get our hands on a copy. It will be out soon enough.
What a great start to 2025! More news like this please.
Tell us your thoughts on Heat: Tunnel Vision by heading over to our Instagram!
For those of us who grew up watching fast cars in Grand Prix and playing card games on rainy Sunday afternoons, the idea of Heat was always going to translate extremely well. And it has, at least in the games I have played since picking up my copy of the base game at UK Games Expo last year.
My partner and I have introduced this to both gamers and non gamers, including an eventful first trial of the title with my partner’s parents which resulted in our closest game ever with almost a three way tie!
So when both the Heavy Rain and Tunnel Vision expansions became available I decided to take the plunge. What’s in the box?
For those of us who grew up watching fast cars in Grand Prix and playing card games on rainy Sunday afternoons, the idea of Heat was always going to translate extremely well. And it has, at least in the games I have played since picking up my copy of the base game at UK Games Expo last year.
My partner and I have introduced this to both gamers and non gamers, including an eventful first trial of the title with my partner’s parents which resulted in our closest game ever with almost a three way tie!
So when both the Heavy Rain and Tunnel Vision expansions became available I decided to take the plunge. What’s in the box?
The biggest difference maker in both packages is the added tracks, with each expansion adding 2 new tracks and a couple of new features on these courses to add a new twist without truly changing the game.
This time around the additions include chicanes and tunnels.
– Chicanes I will be honest didn’t really feel to me like it needed to be a “feature”, several corners highlighted in a different colour in close proximity to each other and relatively slow speed. I like it on the courses, it looks great, but I didn’t need a new rule section to tell me what is visually quite simple to grasp once you know the game.
– Tunnels, the namesake of the expansion, did however need explaining, although I am in two minds how much it affects me personally as a player, but I can see it would affect others. Tunnels take away your ability to discard cards out of your hand between turns, meaning if you would like to work through your deck at the same rate, you may need to speed up a couple of gears and play those cards instead. I have tended not to lean into discarding in my games on any course so far, so I haven’t yet really felt the disadvantage, but that may be more on my playstyle.
Secondly each box contains an additional player kit, meaning that with both expansions you can take this game up to a full grid of 8 players. Whilst I haven’t tried 8 yet, I do know that the base game excels at 6, so this really should be a more the merrier situation!
Finally there is additional event cards and upgrades for use in the championship mode. This is a game mode I really want to recommend as I haven’t seen many of the people in my experience dive into enough.
Heat comes in two flavours: a base game of a single race which can be a fun 45 minutes to 1 hour addition to any game night, or a multi race championship which includes card drafting of sponsors, upgrades, weather conditions, race conditions which can absorb an entire afternoon. Maybe it is my preference for those multi-hour games in my collection, but the championship mode adds something to the deck building portion of heat, extra decisions for the players to make, which can and will be the small margins which win or lose you the race. If you have played Heat before and understand the base game, I challenge you to dive into the championships and see what you have been missing with all of those other cards from the box. Tunnel Vision adds front wing options and a handful of race events, which are good but they aren’t game changing by any means.
Overall Tunnel Vision is a steady upgrade to a game I am torn as to whether I would be happy with should a mammoth expansion ever came, but I am always excited by new content for. The foundations of this game are solid, its definitely found its popularity, and whilst more tracks adds welcome variety, I personally long for the designers and fans of the game to go wild and create even more varied and demanding courses rather than play it safe.
Your car emits a thunderous roar as it enters the tunnel, the piercing whine of the turbocharged engine shrieking. You hear the cars behind you enter the tunnel now too, hot on your heels. The concrete walls trap the sound, bouncing it into your ears from every direction. The chorus of the engines becomes a blanket of noise, sitting heavy, claustrophobic. Then suddenly you burst out of the tunnel and into the glorious sunlight. You feel like you can breathe again and you might just win the race if you don’t spin out on the last bend.
Heat: Pedal To The Metal is back… Now with tunnels! And a few other cool things too which I’ll go into more detail on later in the review. But spoiler alert for those of you in a hurry: If you loved the original, you’ll love this. And if you’re trying to choose between the two (so far) available expansions, then this is the superior one.
Your car emits a thunderous roar as it enters the tunnel, the piercing whine of the turbocharged engine shrieking. You hear the cars behind you enter the tunnel now too, hot on your heels. The concrete walls trap the sound, bouncing it into your ears from every direction. The chorus of the engines becomes a blanket of noise, sitting heavy, claustrophobic. Then suddenly you burst out of the tunnel and into the glorious sunlight. You feel like you can breathe again and you might just win the race if you don’t spin out on the last bend.
Heat: Pedal To The Metal is back… Now with tunnels! And a few other cool things too which I’ll go into more detail on later in the review. But spoiler alert for those of you in a hurry: If you loved the original, you’ll love this. And if you’re trying to choose between the two (so far) available expansions, then this is the superior one.
So What’s New?
Tunnel Vision expansion is the second expansion in the Heat: Pedal To The Metal franchise. It comes with two new full size course maps to go with the original four. Spain is a long, single lap race through tunnels (more on the tunnel mechanic later) and is the very first track to only be recommended for just one lap. The Netherlands is a three lapper with a mix of open straights and a slalom of back to back treacherous turns. Both the maps are great fun and may be two of the best courses in the whole series.
Also included are a new car, the purple one, complete with a little purple gear stick, a set of purple basic cards and the purple game mat. This adds an extra player to take the total to 7 if this is your first expansion or 8 if you already have both the base game and the Heavy Rain expansion. I really like the colors on the new purple car and gear stick. I think it’s a nice shade of purple and having the option to play with larger player groups is always fun.
It also comes with some extra heat cards, some extra stress cards, and a load of new upgrade cards called Front Wings that contain a new mechanic called drafting. Lastly, included are extra sponsorship cards and extra event cards for more Grand Prix fun, as well as a simple to follow instruction manual explaining drafting as well as the tunnel and chicane mechanics.
How Well The New Stuff Works
I’m going to get the only negative in this review out of the way first. The tunnel mechanic on the Spain course is hard to remember to do. We’ve been playing a lot of Heat and you get into a rhythm with it. At the end of your turn, you discard as many discardable cards as you like then draw back up to 7. It’s a reflex, almost second nature. We all found it was a little bit hard to remember not to discard when in the tunnels because our muscle memory kicked in and we just did it on autopilot. Maybe we’ll get used to it but it feels like a slightly less fun new mechanic because it goes against the flow of the game to always check and see if you’re in a tunnel or not.
Other than that, the actual Spain course is awesome fun. Doing a giant single lap is really interesting and unique because all of the other tracks in the base game and expansions are multi-lap. I hope that in future expansions, they do the same thing again, maybe do the Nuremberg Ring or other long race tracks just as a single lap because it really worked well.
The chicane feature isn’t in the base game but is in the first expansion. It’s back for the other course, The Netherlands and it works really well here as it did in Heavy Rain. Chicanes are 2 corners right next to each other that both have the same speed limit. Corners create some of the most tense and exciting moments in this game so chicanes work because doubling the corners doubles the fun. It’s simple maths. It’s just a generally fun course and often one we’ll find ourselves picking.
The new drafting is a little similar to streamlining, it’s for closing the gap between yourself and the player in front. It can be used in conjunction with streamlining to really shift the tide and deliver some exciting wins from what looked like a hopeless position half a lap ago. This adds a lot of drama and excitement. Sometimes in the base game, you can get very unlucky earlier and fall a turn or two behind, it becomes very hard to catch up because you’re nowhere near other players in order to slipstream. They’re all slipstreaming each other to get further away from you while you’re at the back on your own with not a lot you can do. This can help eliminate that.
Is It Good Value For Money?
It isn’t a bargain, but it isn’t a rip off either. It is about the right price for what you get and if you’re a fan of the original and trying to weigh up the pros and cons of each because you can only afford one, this is my personal comparison on the two expansions.
Colour of new car and cards: Purple > Orange so that’s a point to Tunnel Vision
New Track Mechanics: Chicane is in both, Tunnels and Standing Water mechanics are both a little fiddly to remember to do so they cancel each other out making it a draw.
New Card Mechanics: Supercool and Drafting are both really useful and fun but drafting just takes it for me so that’s a point to Tunnel Vision.
New Courses: Personally I think the ones in Tunnel Vision are better than Heavy Rain as well as being more varied so I’ll have to pick Heavy Rain again.
So that’s Tunnel Vision the overall winner
Final Thoughts From Me
If you love the original, there is enough new stuff in this to make Tunnel Vision worth buying IMO. It’s just more of a good thing, but the new content adds variety. If you can only afford one expansion, this might be your best bet.
Speeding through tunnels is risky but no one is slowing down so... put your pedal to the metal!!!
The roar of powerful engines bursts from the dark mouth of the Pyrenean tunnel just moments before gleaming cars streak past. One mistake could mean certain destruction but the lure of the Spanish Grand Prix keeps the drivers focused and aggressive.
Heat Tunnel Vision introduces two new racing tracks. The Spanish Grand Prix takes your car through treacherous tunnels, forcing you to trust your instincts in the semi-darkness.
The Netherlands track allows you to open you engine to full throttle before throwing you into a succession of treacherous corners.
Take part in the 1965 Championship season and install the new Front Wing upgrade to draft off the other drivers and charge to victory.
This expansion also includes all components for another player to join your races.
