CPURacer

English | 简体中文

A tiny racer on the Windows Task Manager → Performance → CPU chart — not a standalone window or desktop pet; the real system CPU graph is the track.

Inspired by copy-dialog-lunar-lander: turn a system UI into a track.

Similar to: Sanakan8472/copy-dialog-lunar-lander
Category: games that hijack real Windows system UI (not a standalone window)
Uses: Task Manager Performance → CPU chart as the race track
Also see: TaskManagerBitmap, render-with-notepad

How to play

1. Download from Releases, unzip, run CPURacer.exe
   • If Task Manager is running elevated, run this app as administrator too (otherwise steering keys may not work)
2. Open Task Manager → Performance → CPU and bring it to the foreground
3. When the center prompt (ASCII SPACE) appears, press Space (or use the tray / double-click tray Start)
4. W / ↑ throttle · S / ↓ brake / reverse · Space restart
5. Stay on the scrolling chart; when you wipe out, the center shows ASCII GAME OVER

Tray: Start / Stop, Restart, Exit. More options under Advanced (including Language: English / 中文).

Requirements

• Windows 10 version 2004 (20H1) or later / Windows 11
• Download the matching zip: win-x64 (typical) or win-x86 (32-bit)
• .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (install if CPURacer.exe complains about a missing runtime)

Known issues

• If Taskmgr is elevated and the game is not, W/S may be blocked by UIPI
• No fallback terrain yet when the CPU chart cannot be captured — keep Performance → CPU open
• The default External overlay is visible to screenshots and display recording (WGC captures Taskmgr only; borderless when the OS allows). Legacy Advanced → Child mode remains capture-excluded.

Developers

Build steps, layout, milestones, and research notes: README.dev.md.