Fart Together's courses are built from four obstacle families, and the interesting part is that each one rewards a different coordination pattern. Learning which pattern applies is worth more than any amount of individual reflex, because the game is never about one player's input - it is always about a group's.
The classic test of restraint. A tight gap punishes momentum and rewards a slow, agreed line - everyone cuts gas together and the group eases through at walking pace. The failure mode is impatience: a single player pushing hard in a narrow gap will spin the raft and wedge it against the sides, and the momentum you built getting there will make it worse.
Turns punish groups where everyone steers. The pattern that works is one player cuts gas while the others hold the heading - the turn is made by slowing the current line and letting the rotation settle, not by adding a new input. If all four players turn at once, the raft rotates hard, throws its speed sideways and exits the turn slower than it entered.
These reward waiting for the gap. The temptation is to commit early and force the issue, and in a raft where momentum persists, a mistimed commit cannot be taken back - there is no brake pedal, only a decision to stop pushing and wait for the raft to bleed off speed. Patience is the mechanically correct play even though it feels like the wrong one.
The store description calls these "hazards that throw your raft off balance", and they are the most direct expression of the game's theme. When the raft is thrown off balance, the whole group has to re-synchronise before it can do anything useful. A course built around these is a course where the group falls apart at a specific, learnable point - and then puts that point back later.
The developers describe it directly: "A perfect maneuver can save the run at the last second, while one small mistake can turn everything into a hilarious disaster." Both outcomes are intended. The design assumes that runs will fail constantly and that the failure is the content - the studio's stated goal is that players laugh, shout, blame their friends, and eventually say "one more try."
Two habits make the biggest difference. First, run the same course immediately after a wipe - the second attempt is always dramatically better because the group has already agreed on a line. Second, keep the noise down while navigating a hazard: the game punishes a group that is talking over itself at exactly the moment it needs to coordinate, which is a more common failure than anyone expects.