SquashRT just shipped its biggest update yet. One question drove every decision: "What would real squash do?" We tore out the old pick-a-zone, press-a-button controls and rebuilt the whole shot — swing, reach, impact, and rebound — around how the real game works.

Your swipe is your swing

A shot is a single swipe.

• Direction aims it,
• Length sets the size of your swing,
• Speed is your racket-head speed. The same length hits harder with a sharp snap, softer with a lazy push.

And power doesn't decide "which zone the ball lands in" — it decides how far the ball can travel. Just like on a real court: a soft swing from the back never reaches the front wall. It drops mid-court — down, point lost. A swing that barely gets there dies right off the wall as a drop. A full swing drills the ball deep to the back. Depth isn't a rule anymore. It comes out of your swing.

A tap is just putting your racket on the ball

Tap without swiping, and that's exactly what you're doing — holding the racket out. You didn't swing, so there's no power of your own. Everything the ball does next comes from the pace it arrived with.

Block a hard drive with a tap and it rides that pace back to the front wall — a proper block return. Put your racket on a dying ball and it barely rolls a few steps. It's that real-squash moment when all you can do is get a racket on it.

The shot ring and the power donut

The shot ring is your reach — about 1.3m, an adult player's arm plus racket. The ball has to be inside it for a swing to connect. Height counts too: with a jump volley you top out around 2.9m, and anything sailing higher is simply out of reach. That's exactly why the lob is a weapon.

The power donut shows your sweet spot — where the swing is strongest. Strike at natural arm extension (about 1m out) and you get 100%. Let the ball jam into your body and the swing gets crushed to less than half. Stretch to the very edge of your reach and the power drains away too.

And the fastest shot in this game is 283.7 km/h — the actual squash world record. You'll only see it when a full swipe and a dead-center donut impact land together. Footwork that puts you the right distance from the ball — the most basic thing in real squash — is what pays off here as well.

The incoming ball's pace feeds your shot

The moment ball meets racket, two forces combine: your swing, and the rebound of the ball that was flying at you. The same swing sends a fast incoming drive back faster and deeper — and gives a slow ball nothing but what your swing put in.

Taking your opponent's hardest drive and slamming it straight back — the counter drive now works the way it should.

Lobs and boasts

• Lob: turn on the lob button and swipe forward. It sails on a high arc over any volley attempt.
• Sidewall boast: swipe toward either side wall and the ball rides your exact swipe angle off the wall.
• Back-wall boast: from the back third of the court only, swipe downward. The last-resort escape — off the back wall, up to the front.

One Training to rule them all

Movement, Shot, and Advanced used to be three separate trainings. They're now one Training mode. SquashRT is down to two modes: Training and Match.

Start with the guide, climb a level curriculum that builds from receiving to shot selection to full rally construction, and finish with the Coach Rally — everything you've learned, all at once. And one more thing: your saved match replays automatically become a "My Match Pattern" level, and any sequence you draw on the Tactics Board turns into a drill with one tap. Training built from your own match data.

How the ranking works

Level first. A higher level always ranks above a lower one, full stop.

At the same level, three records go side by side — T-recovery reaction, receive reaction, and shot accuracy. Whoever leads in more of the three ranks higher. A player who's solid across reaction and accuracy climbs above one who's brilliant at just one thing — much the way a coach actually sizes up players.

The new swing is live in Training. Two things to try first: just putting your racket on your opponent's hardest drive, and a full swing from the dead center of the donut. Feel the difference between those two, and you'll get what this update is about. Tuning feedback is always welcome.