Two player simultaneous play (with split screen) was also provided, and a choice of audio tracks to accompany races.

Each track is lap-based and consists of turns of varying degrees, as well as hills and hollows which slow down or speed up the car passing through them.

While racing, the players must manage their fuel supply, occasionally visiting the pit stop for refuelling.

In the Amiga version entering "MONSTER" and "SEVENTEEN" as names of players 1 and 2 respectively, reveals a hidden mini-game - a simple space-themed shooter, where the objective is to survive as long as possible while shooting rocks that fly around.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge was well received by the gaming press, which praised its feeling of speed, technical quality and two-player gameplay.

The ZX Spectrum version was voted number 17 in the Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time.

Being the first of the series released for a game console (for the Sega Mega Drive under the title Lotus Turbo Challenge), the fuel limit and difficulty levels were dropped, and the lap-based levels were replaced with course-based time trials (not unlike arcade games such as Out Run), with the player required to complete each course within a specified time to qualify for the next one.

Additionally, a rendition of Shaun Southern's early creation Kwazy Kwaks, originally published for the VIC-20 in 1984, is accessed by using the password "DUX".

The two-player option was retained and the music selection feature returns (Patrick Phelan's soundtrack to Lotus III spawned many modern remixes).