Boost is a game mechanic that allows players to increase their speed when moving forward or enables them to fly for a short amount of time. It can also be used as a breaking assist or to change momentum. Boost only accelerates in the direction the car is facing, so achieving Mach speed while driving in reverse is only possible through collisions or dodging.
The HUD features a special gauge representing the boost-meter. Using the boost will deplenish the meter. It can be filled again by picking up special boost-pickups. There are two kinds of pickups: 12% refills and 100% refills. The latter are located at the edges of the arena, while the smaller ones are placed more inward. Picking up a 100% boost will consume the node and bring the boost meter to 100% regardless of the prior level of boost. Nodes will not be consumed if the boost meter is already at 100%. The small 12% nodes refresh on a ~5 second cooldown, and the 100% orb nodes refresh on a ~10 second cooldown.
The Mutator Settings will allow the player to change the amount of "power" the boost has and make boost auto-rechargeable. The cooldown for recharging boost with that mutator on is ~3 seconds after deactivating boost.