

Lightning McQueen is the default Player 1 choice, while Francesco Bernoulli is the default Player 2 choice. In Multiplayer mode, the player competes against a maximum number of 3 other players in an exclusive Piston Cup/World Grand Prix racetrack. The player has different abilities depending on the field mission's objective, those abilities can be: Turn Invisible, Disable an Object, Break an Object or Retrieve an Object. In Field Missions mode, the player has an objective, which is: infiltrate on a certain place, escape from a certain place, collect a certain amount of items or hide from security guards. The player can also boost, which is refilled everytime the player completes a lap. The characters with the ability to Jump are equally the same speed on both terrains, characters with the ability to Drive on Two Wheels have a much slower speed while driving on dirt than driving on asphalt, and characters with the ability to Ram have a much faster speed while driving on dirt than driving on asphalt. Every racetrack has 2 different terrains: asphalt and dirt, and each terrain affects the gameplay of some characters. There are 10 circuit cups and each of them consists of 3 races. In Single Race mode, the player competes against four computer-controlled opponents.

To unlock more characters, the player will need to earn all of the characters' stickers, which can be earned by winning races with the previous car.Story Mode Single Races Single Race Once the tutorial is completed, the first character, Todd Marcus, is automatically unlocked. There are a total of 30 playable characters in the game. There is also the option to create a unique race track using different types of track pieces, as well as more buildings that players can trick off of to gain experience points.

Players can also create their own unique town, with buildings that produce additional gold that the player has to wait for a certain amount of minutes or hours. In order to unlock new characters, players must earn stickers by winning races. Each car has a different set of races, as well as their own track. Cars: Fast as Lightning works similarly to games, like CityVille, Car Town, and Disney Infinity, where players can customize racing arenas with accessories earned by winning races and gaining experience points.
