A visual upgrade for High Octane
Crash Team Racing: High Octane version 1.5 was released on October 12, 2026, with new rendering options and a wide range of fixes for custom racers, replays, multiplayer and platform-specific issues. The project is a sourceport of the original PlayStation version of Crash Team Racing for Windows, Web browsers and PSVita.
The headline addition is PGXP support, which provides perspective correction for texture warping and geometry wobbling. The geometry-wobbling correction is not available on PSVita, making that part of the feature specific to the other supported versions.
New image effects and corrected previews
Version 1.5 adds post-processing effects including CRT, Sharp Bilinear, Sepia, Grayscale and Negative, along with additional effects. These options provide different ways to tune the game’s presentation, from a display-style filter to sharper scaling or stylized colour treatments.
High Octane already supports true widescreen without stretching, a 960 by 544 internal renderer resolution and platform-specific anti-aliasing. The README lists 4x MSAA for PSVita and FXAA for PC. This release also corrects the aspect ratio of track previews and fixes their blending so they no longer appear darker than intended.
The character-selection stats chart now casts a shadow, and the Language submenu has been adjusted to use a smaller font for a cleaner presentation.
Custom-racer support gets broader fixes
Custom characters receive several presentation fixes. Portraits now use corrected background transparency, aspect ratio and scaling, while a separate fix addresses the stats chart shown when a custom racer replaces Penta Penguin. Custom racer models are also prevented from persisting between modes and incorrectly replacing original characters.
Players two, three and four can now change the racer page during character selection. Multiplayer groups can also select the same character, and the AI Racers option now lets players choose between original extra characters only or original and custom characters together.
Custom racers gain sampled-sound support, although existing racer packs must be regenerated to include the newly supported sounds. Pack generation now supports mask and wheel settings. The custom-racer importer already supports options for names, authors, engine classes, wheels, masks and animation retargeting, giving creators more control over generated racer packs.
On PC, Discord Rich Presence now displays custom racer names instead of the original names of the characters they replace. Boss Battle voice handling has been corrected so boss voices are not replaced by custom racer voices in affected situations, and multiplayer sound-effects mix-ups involving custom racers have also been fixed.
More control over Ghost Replay
Ghost Replay now includes controls for stopping playback, moving forward one frame at a time and adjusting playback speed. These additions make it easier to inspect individual moments in a run or move through a replay at a more useful pace.
On PC and Web, the Ghost Replay input overlay now displays a DualShock controller. The wider Ghost Replay feature presents ghost data as a live-style run with an input viewer, while the project supports seven ghost-data slots per track instead of seven slots shared across the entire game. Relic Race ghosts and online leaderboard support are also part of High Octane’s existing feature set.
Multiplayer, menus and Web fixes
A crash caused by an out-of-bounds error in three-player and four-player matches on Mystery Caves has been fixed. High Octane supports local split-screen for up to four players on PC and on PSVita setups using PSTV or MiniVitaTV. PSVita also supports AdHoc multiplayer between two consoles without a router.
The Web version now enforces an opaque framebuffer for its OpenGL context. The project identifies this as a fix for a black-screen problem on Mac. Windows, Web and PSVita remain separate target platforms with different platform-specific features.
The main menu now includes an Exit Game option. In the pause menu, Exit is now the last voice rather than Options, and an Audio submenu has been added to the main menu’s Options area. These additions complement existing features such as rebindable controls and language support with optional PAL voiceovers.
Earlier features and release availability
Version 1.5 builds on earlier updates. Version 1.4 added control rebinding, custom-character support, local ghost saving and the ability to challenge ghosts from the replay results screen. It also refined animation timing and physics for 60-frame-per-second play. Version 1.4.1 added support for patches containing multiple custom characters.
Earlier releases introduced the Windows port, browser version, Ghost Replay, online leaderboards for Time Trial and Relic Race results, reverse-track variants and Relic Race ghosts. The project also includes true widescreen, 60 FPS support, mirror mode, boss fights on any track, customizable cups, additional difficulty modes, playable Nitrous Oxide and local multiplayer features.
The v.1.5 release includes a Windows x64 ZIP and a PSVita VPK. High Octane is also documented as playable in a Web browser through the project’s browser build. PSVita receives updated LiveArea assets in this release. The README lists one known PSVita issue: the demo cutscene can become slightly out of sync during Oxide’s speech.
