Anki robot slot cars fight and learn | video

The latest advance in car gaming isn't on your computer, or even on your phone. It's back on your floor -- yes, where it all first started with slot cars.

But the similarity between slot cars and the new Anki Drive game stops with the floor. These racers don't need a slot, instead they use a mat with an embedded code that orientates and positions them, sending the data to tiny cameras on the cars.

You still control them, but with an iOS app that lets you steer, accelerate -- and fire weapons at your rivals, including a handy tractor beam to wirelessly hook onto them.

And their success isn't entirely tied to -- or limited by -- your skill with the controls. The Anki Drive cars use artificial intelligence to learn and improve while racing, making their own judgements on when to pass, scrape or block the competition.

Race results give you points that can be spent on upgrading your car with higher performance specs and extra weapons. Those upgrades stay on the car permanently, becoming part of the robotic racer's character. But the game's upgrade system is structured so that no car can ever have all the upgrades -- so you have to make decisions about which characteristics you're prepared to do without -- and Anki says no two cars will ever be identical.

If they look space-age, it's because they're from the pen of German master vehicle artist Harald Belker, who also designed cars for the Iron Man films, Transformers, the 1996 Batmobile, the Light Cycles from TRON Legacy, the Minority Report Lexus and even Inspector Gadget's Gadgetmobile.

The Anki Drive starter kit goes on sale overseas this week through the company's website and Apple Stores, with two cars and a track mat for about $120. Additional cars cost about $80 each.

Watch Anki Drive app-controlled cars learn while racing video here

This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott