Asphalt 6: Adrenaline is an entry in the arcade racing series. It offers races for 42 licensed cars for locations all around the world including Cape Town, Chamonix, Havana, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, Moscow, Nassau, New Orleans, New York City, Reykjavík, Shanghai and Tokyo. The Android version has additional venues exclusive to the platform: Detroit, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro. At the start a limited amount of vehicles is available (Abarth 500 SS, DeLorean DMC-12, MINI John Cooper Works and Nissan Nizmo 370Z) and additional ones, including motorcycles, are unlocked by completing events. Most of them can be tuned along with customized colors.

Progression through the game is done through different types of events. There are Regular Races where a third place is needed to qualify, Beat'em All where opponents need to be knocked down as much as possible in a limited time frame, Elimination where the last racer is removed after a set amount of time repeated, Time Attack, Drift (also against a time limit), Duel (only one opponent), Collector where items need to be collected against a time limit and Under Pressure where other racers attempt to destroy you.

The distinct feature for this entry is the Adrenaline mode from the title. When the nitro meter is hit when filled up completely by racing through nitro symbols, double tapping (for touch based devices) provides an extreme speed boost and gives the screen a blue-tinted blur. On mobile devices the game can be controlled by tilting the device for steering along with auto-acceleration. Tapping the left side of the screen activates braking and tapping the right side activates boost. Drifting is done by tapping the brake while turning and another tap stops the drift. Successful races usually require mastering drifts, ramming rivals and using short-cuts. Multiplayer is available locally through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and online multiplayer is supported as well.