Continental Circus/Circuit Guide 0.90
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by Matthew Daniels, aka gm_matthew
Version history
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0.90 (7/13/07) First version. Descriptions of tracks incomplete except for
Brazil.
Contents
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1. Introduction [CC01]
2. Basics [CC02]
3. Tips and tricks [CC03]
4. The tracks [CC04]
5. Basic scoring [CC05]
6. The circus problem [CC06]
7. Legal stuff [CC07]
Introduction [CC01]
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Continental Circus (or Circuit) is a Formula One racing game made back in 1987,
20 years ago as of the most recent edition of this guide. While dated by
today's standards, it has a number of features that are hard to find in other
racing games today, e.g. a huge grid of 100 cars! The basic idea is that the
player starts at the back of the grid in the first race at Brazil, and has to
race up the field to qualify for the next race, in which only 80 can enter.
Race by race, the grid steadily shrinks until the eighth and final race at
Japan, where only 10 cars are left. The top 3 drivers are the winners and see
the ending.
Basics [CC02]
******
Firstly, the controls are similar to a real car, i.e. the steering wheel turns
the car, there is the accelerator and brake and there is also a shifter with
two gears, HI and LO. When starting a race or if you slow down drastically for
any reason, e.g. leaving the pits or have crashed or spun, change to LO. When
you reach 180 km/h or so, change up to HI.
At the start, there are three ways you can start:
- Slow start
- Wheelspin start
- Fast start
A slow start happens when you are not pressing the accelerator when the lights
turn green.
A wheelspin start happens when you keep your foot welded to the floor. The car
will wheelspin on the spot for a second and then start (with slightly more
speed than the slow start).
The ideal start is the fast start, to do this you must hold the accelerator on,
then just after the lights turn green, release the accelerator and then press
it again. If done correctly, your car should immediately jump forward with a
fair bit of speed. If you release the accelerator too early, you will do a slow
start, too late and you will do a wheelspin start. Practice makes perfect, and
you probably won't be able to do it every time (I only manage it half the
time).
The turns can vary in how tight they are. Fortunately it is possible to predict
how tight the turn is by the sign indicating it.
If there is no sign, any turns are nice and easy.
If this shows, a medium turn is approaching:
# #
# #
# #
# #
# #
# #
# #
If a 90 degree arrow shows, then the turn is tight:
#
#
#######
# #
# #
#
#
#
Once you have learned the tracks however, you will be able to determine the
severity of the corners yourself.
If you collide with a sign, another car or something else, your car will begin
to emit smoke. Left for long enough, the car will catch fire and eventually
explode. To stop this, head for the next pits in order to fix the car. If you
collide with something else before you explode or reach the pits (or the
finish), you will simply spin and explode. If you collide with something at
over 380 km/h (the indicator turns yellow), you will automatically cartwheel
out of control and explode. Sorry.
If it starts to rain, you will need to go to the pits to change tires as
otherwise you will experience loss of grip (supposedly).
If you finish in the required position or better, you will progress to the next
race. If you fail, you have the chance to insert another coin and try again.
If you fail the final race, you get no opportunity to try again. If you are
trying for a high score, then continuing is not a good idea as your score
remains intact and you can improve it over and over again, limited only by the
number of coins that you possess. This could be considered cheating.
Tips and tricks [CC03]
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Don't drive too agressively, you don't want to spend the whole race visiting
the pits or exploding, you will lose precious time.
Do most of your overtaking on the straights, as in the corners it is dangerous.
Sometimes, you can edge ahead of a rival just before a corner as they slow
down. Don't overdo it, as you may crash into them if you're not careful.
Drive more carefully once you reach the lead, you do not need to overtake any
more cars but you still need to reach the finish.
So far I have not noticed much difference if you pit when it is raining for new
tyres as opposed to not pitting (except that you lose time and places).
However, it might be a good idea to include it as a rule as you would be
cheating if you bypassed the pits.
The tracks [CC04]
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Race 1: Brazil
Qualifying rank: 80
This track shouldn't be a big problem. It's a good idea to try and overtake as
many cars as possible to help for later on. The cars are generally easy to
overtake, and there is only one particularly sharp turn. It follows after a
right-hander and turns sharp to the left. You WILL have to brake for this turn.
The only other turn that you will have to slow down for is the left turn after
a very long straight after passing the second pits. It's not that sharp, but
you will be approaching at such speed that you will have to just lift off the
accelerator.
Race 2: USA
Qualifying rank: 60
Race 3: France
Qualifying rank: 50
Race 4: Monaco
Qualifying rank: 40
Race 5: Germany
Qualifying rank: 30
Race 6: Spain
Qualifying rank: 20
Race 7: Mexico
Qualifying rank: 10
Race 8: Japan
Qualifying rank: 3
Basic scoring [CC05]
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Scoring is quite complex in this game. You earn a certain number of points each
race, usually just over 500,000. For each extra second left after finishing,
you earn an extra 10,000 points. For each position above the required
qualifying position, you also earn an extra 10,000 points. If you finish below
the required position, no extra points are awarded and the game is over.
Example: you race through 6 races, failing at Spain. Here is a simple table of
statistics:
1. 70th 20.1 left
2. 49th 12.4 left
3. 41st 5.2 left
4. 36th 0.0 left (you coast past the line after running out of time)
5. 25th 7.0 left
6. 23rd 2.9 left (lose)
For each race, you earn roughly 500,000: 500,000 x 6 = 1,500,000
The points you earn for placing high: (10 + 11 + 9 + 4 + 5) x 10,000
= 39 x 10,000
= 390,000
The time left after finishing: (20.1 + 12.4 + 5.2 + 7.0) x 10,000
= 44.7 x 10,000
= 447,000
Total: 1,500,000 + 390,000 + 447,000
= 2,337,000
Now suppose you placed two positions higher in the first race with two extra
seconds left. You would earn 20,000 more for the first race for the extra time,
and 20,000 for each race for being two extra positions higher in each one,
equalling 100,000. So that's a total of 120,000 more points for doing better in
the first race, as opposed to 40,000 that you would get for doing better in the
fifth race. (You still wouldn't qualify for the seventh race, though.)
The circus problem [CC06]
******************
There has been a bit of controversy over what this game should be called. Many
believe that the original name with 'Circus' was an error, possibly in a
similar way to how some believe that 'Donkey Kong' was also a mistake. The fact
that the credits are misspelled may support this, e.g. 'Spacial Thanks'.
American versions of the game spell the name as 'Continental Circuit'.
Others believe that the name was intentional, as the Formula One organisers
moving around the world to each race is sometimes referred to as the 'F1
Circus' (there is even another race series with that name). Whether the name
was mis-translated or not, the gameplay remains the same.
Legal stuff [CC07]
***********
The game with which this guide is concerned is copyright Taito Corporation
1987.
This guide is copyright Matthew Daniels 2007. This guide may not be distributed
outside GameFAQs.com as of this edition. If the contents of this guide are used
in another guide, credit MUST be given. This guide is all MY work and I will
not have people copying this information and calling it theirs. Such a thing is
called plagiarism and will not be tolerated. Feel free to tell friends
information in this guide, but when creating your own remember to give credit.
None of the information in this guide may bre used for commercial purposes.
