You may have heard a remote control car referred to as an RC car. In fact, RC is used to describe other remote control toys and hobby items too, including remote control trucks, airplanes, helicopters and more. However, RC is also used to describe radio controlled cars, and there is a difference. The most striking difference is that remote control cars use wires between the remote and the vehicle, while radio controlled cars do not. Both are fun to use and as with anything else, both have pros and cons.
A RC car allows the user to control the car’s speed and movement through the use of a hand-held device just like a radio controlled care does. While it may not offer the same maneuverability, it also doesn’t require differentiation between frequencies in order to use more than one remote control toy. In other words, you can race two of the same remote control cars, but in order to do so with radio controlled cars, you’d need two with different frequencies.
Obviously, one of the most important aspects of the RC car is hand held control or the transmitter. A remote control car generally requires a battery, much like any other remote control. And, like other remote controls, pushing buttons is the method used for powering and controlling the device linked to it, in this case the car.
A single function design basically makes the remote control car go. Depressing a button causes the car to go forward, while releasing it engages reverse. To make the car stop completely, generally the device must be turned off.
Other options may allow a RC car to make more precise turns and to be stopped without shutting it down. Full function options are generally equipped with at least six to seven different actions, which include forward, reverse, forward left and right, and reverse left and right. The seventh action would be the ability to stop the remote control car by simply not pressing any buttons. The car will stop until another button is pushed, telling it what to do next.
Highly advanced models may incorporate one or more joysticks as well as many buttons. These advanced systems allow for optimum control of the RC car or toy. They also cost a good deal more than less advanced options but are preferred by serious enthusiasts and those who compete in remote control car races.