Daybreak GP (C64)

How long can you keep racing?

DAYBREAK GP is a Formula 1 endurance racer for the Commodore 64, inspired by classic Enduro. It's written entirely in 6502 assembler. Every in-game day you have to overtake a set number of rival cars before the sun comes up again. Miss the quota and your race is over.

One day, ten conditions

Each day lasts about three and a half minutes and takes you through ten phases. Each one changes how the track looks and how your car handles:

• Morning and noon: clear skies and full speed.
• Snow: the track turns white and grip drops sharply.
• Afternoon: the calm before the storm.
• Rain: wet asphalt, less grip, and thunder flashing across the sky.
• Sunset and dusk: the sky burns orange, then fades to purple.
• Night: your headlights cut a soft-edged beam through the dark, and rivals show only as tail lights.
• Fog: the road fades smoothly into a white wall.
• Dawn: hang on until the new day begins.

Race rules

• Overtake 40 cars on day 1, then 10 more each day after that.
• Being overtaken puts a car back on your counter, even after you've reached the quota. You can't relax until the day is over.
• Crashing or driving off the track costs you speed.
• Push your F1 car up to 350 km/h.

Three difficulty levels

• EASY: collisions only slow you down.
• NORMAL: your car survives 10 hits per day. The tenth one ends in a spectacular explosion: a fireball, a wheel and the front wing flying off, and a smoking wreck.
• HARD: everything from NORMAL, plus fuel. Your tank drains faster the harder you push. Watch for roadside fuel pumps, brake to a stop beside one and refuel while rivals stream past you. Run dry anywhere else and the race is over.

Sound

Choose on the title screen:

• MUSIC: an intense 3-channel SID soundtrack, about 1:42 long. It has a fat filtered pulse bass, punchy kicks and snares, fast chord arpeggios and soaring lead melodies.
• SOUND FX: engine roar, crashes, overtaking blips, rain, wind, thunder and jingles.

Hall of fame

Make the top 8 and type in your name. Each entry shows the distance you drove, the day you reached and your difficulty level. Scores last until you switch off the machine.

Controls

Joystick FIRE (or SPACE): Accelerate

DOWN: Brake

LEFT / RIGHT: Steer

Title screen LEFT / RIGHT: Difficulty

Title screen UP / DOWN: Music or sound effects

During the game Q (keyboard): Quit the race and go back to the title screen

Use a joystick in port 2.

How to play

• Real C64 (PAL recommended) or emulator: attach daybreak.d64, then type LOAD"*",8,1 and RUN.
• Emulators such as VICE: you can also drag and drop daybreak.prg straight onto the emulator.

New in version 1.1

• Smoother skies: the sky now blends gradually from one colour band to the next, with richer colours at morning, noon and dawn.
• Marker posts, pine trees, road signs and rocks line the verges and rush towards you as you race. In the snow the pines turn white.
• Quit any time: press Q during a race to go back to the title screen.
• Clearer title screen: the difficulty is colour-coded (EASY green, NORMAL white, HARD red), and the prompts cycle through how to start, how to quit, the version number and the best score.
• Fixes: 
  •  A stopped car no longer creeps slowly to the right. 
  •  Roadside objects no longer freeze in the snow. 
  •  No more black blocks flashing in the headlight beam at night.
  • Fixed a rare freeze when night turns to fog.

©2026 LUKKAL SOFTWARE