MotoGP 2 -- Beginner's Guide -- v.2.0 (2/3/05)
by S. Evan Kreider ("kreider204") -- Copyright 2005
Feel free to post this on any site, but please give me credit for it --
I wrote it after all . . .
If you find errors or have suggestions, please email me at:
[email protected]
N.B.: I've written this for Xbox, but I think a lot of this could be
applied to the PC too.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
0. Version History
1. Introduction
2. Controls
3. Basics
a. Leaning, Lolling
b. Braking, Stopping
c. Cornering, Turning
d. Skidding, Sliding
e. Jumping, Bumping
4. Tips for the Beginner
5. Special Maneuvers and Tricks
i. Powerslide
ii. Wheelie
iii. Endo (a.k.a. "Stoppie")
iv. Doughnut
v. Burnout
6. Training Maneuvers Walkthrough
a. Getting Started
b. Maneuvers
Training 01: 180 Degree Turn
Training 02: Chicane
Training 03: 360 Degree Turn
Training 04: Hold a Wheelie
Training 05: 360 + 180
Training 06: Powerslide
Training 07: Slalom
Training 08: Burnout
Training 09: Endo
Training 10: Slalom + 180
Training 11: Hold a Corner
Training 12: Obstacles
Training 13: Perimeter
Training 14: Perfect Lap
7. Concluding Thoughts
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0. Version History
v.1.0: First version (duh) of sec. 1 through 5.
v.1.1: Corrections, clarifications, and expansions.
v.2.0: Various minor changes; overhauled sec. 2; added sec. 6 & 7.
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1. Introduction
You like racing games, and you like to think you're pretty good at them
-- after all, you earned all Platinum medals in Project Gotham Racing
2, and you usually dominate on Xbox live. So you bought MotoGP 2 at
the game store, and on your way home you imagined yourself easily
beating the game -- heck, motorcycles only have two tires instead of
four, how hard can it be?! A few hours later, you were throwing the
controller at the wall and cursing the $50 you just wasted.
Sound familiar? Me too. I had no idea what I was getting myself into
when I bought this game. I almost gave up on it, but it was such a
well done game, I thought it was worth some work. The problem was, I
didn't know a damn thing about motorcycles -- never even sat on one
much less ridden it, didn't know the difference between the front brake
and the rear one, had no idea how to lean and why, and so on.
So I thought I'd go find a FAQ or walkthrough to help get me started.
Guess what? There weren't any. That's why I decided to write one -- I
thought I'd save you the trouble of all the research and trail-and-
error I went through. I hope you appreciate it!!!
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2. Controls
One great thing about this game is that the controls are fully
customizable. This is important because the default controls have a
SERIOUS flaw. In particular, I object to having the left thumbstick
set up for both turning and "rider position" (i.e., leaning forward or
back). With both on the same thumbstick, it is impossible to (for
example) steer fully right and lean fully forward at the same time, and
this is the sort of thing you need to be able to do for full control
over your bike.
I think it's much better to have the left thumbstick solely for
steering and assign "rider position" to the right thumbstick. This
does mean that if you want to use the buttons, you have to take your
thumb off the right thumbstick periodically. In order to minimize
this, I use automatic transmission. Frankly, in this game (unlike some
others, like Sega GT 2002), manual transmission does not seem to me to
have any significant advantage over automatic transmission. Therefore,
I have adopted -- and recommend -- the following control scheme:
left thumbstick:
x-axis = turn
y-axis = none
left thumbstick button: none
right thumbstick:
x-axis = none
y-axis = rider position (i.e., lean forward / back)
right thumbstick button: none
A = Gear down (if needed)
B = Rear Brake
X = Gear up (if needed)
Y = Rear view
white = none
black = none
Left Trigger = Front Brake
Right Trigger = Accelerate
D-pad up = Change view
D-pad down = Brake (includes Reverse)
D-pad left = none
D-pad right = Skip song
Notice that with this setup, the only time I really need to take my
thumb off of the right thumbstick is to use the rear brake. By happy
coincidence, it just so happens that sitting up normally (i.e., not
pushing the right thumbstick up or down) is usually perfectly
appropriate for rear brake usage.
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3. Basics
a. Leaning, Lolling
Notice that you can make your rider lean forward (push up on the right
thumbstick), lean back (push down on the right thumbstick), or sit up
normally (don't push on the right thumbstick at all). What's that
about? Leaning affects three things: air resistance, center of
gravity, and weight transfer.
Air resistance has some obvious effects on your speed -- less air
resistance = more speed, more air resistance = less speed. The faster
you are going, the more this applies -- air resistance isn't much of a
factor at slow speeds (often including cornering), but is very much a
factor at high speeds (often including straight-aways). Leaning
forward (which also involves sitting down crouch-like) minimizes air
resistance; sitting up normally increases air resistance a bit; leaning
back (which also involves sitting very straight up) increases air
resistance even more. The obvious general conclusion (though ONLY a
general conclusion -- as you'll see, air resistance is just one factor
which must be balanced against many others) is that when you want to
speed up, lean forward; when you want to slow down, lean back.
Center of gravity doesn't seem to play as big a role in the game as it
might in real life, but it can still affect certain maneuvers. A lower
center of gravity = more stability; a higher center of gravity = less
stability. Thus, when executing sharp turns, weaving, etc., you will
usually want to make sure you are leaning forward as much as possible.
You don't usually want to lean back unless considerations of air
resistance or weight transfer outweigh considerations of center of
gravity. In practice, you'll spend most of your time leaning forward,
only leaning back for very particular purposes.
Weight transfer greatly affects traction -- leaning forward transfers
weight to the front wheel and gives it more traction, while leaning
back transfers weight to the back wheel and gives it more traction.
This is very important for cornering. On your way into a turn, you
want to make sure that the front wheel has more traction for turning,
so lean forward; on your way out of a turn, you want to make sure that
the back wheel has more traction for accelerating, so lean back.
Of course, the trick is balancing all three of these things, especially
air resistance and weight transfer. These two often conflict: for
example, leaning back increases air resistance (decreasing speed) but
also transfers weight to the rear wheel, increasing traction
(increasing speed). The trick is knowing when one outweighs the other.
In general, air resistance often outweighs weight transfer at higher
speeds (for example, when going balls out on a straight, the increase
in air resistance from leaning back would slow you down more than the
weight transfer to the rear tire would speed you up), but vice versa at
lower speeds (for example, when exiting a corner, the increase of
traction to the rear tire from leaning back would speed you up more
than the increased air resistance would slow you down).
b. Braking, Stopping
Braking can be VERY confusing. Unlike cars, motorcycles have separate
front and rear brakes. Figuring out the difference is probably the
single most important factor in your performance.
i. Front Brake. The front brake is significantly more powerful than
the rear brake. By itself, it's good for basic braking needs except
quick full stopping (which is often better done by using both brakes
together), tight turning (which is usually better done with the rear
brake, if any brake at all -- unless you are doing some kind of
doughnut maneuver), and slow maneuvers (which is usually better done
with the rear brake, if any brake at all).
Although more powerful than rear braking, front braking is less stable
than rear braking. This means that you should try to be as stable as
possible already before heavy front braking at high speeds -- in such
cases, have your bike moving as straight as possible or you may lose
control. Also avoid using the front brake on gravel, or you will
almost assuredly wipe out! Also be careful of hitting the front brake
hard and suddenly if you are going really fast, or you might end up
doing a Endo (that is, your back tire will come off the ground,
resulting in a loss of traction and control). You can usually avoid
this (unless of course you WANT to do a Endo -- for example, in
Training Maneuver 9) by leaning back while you brake.
ii. Rear brake. The rear brake is less powerful but more stable
than the front brake. This makes it good for slight decreases in
acceleration, sharper turns, low-speed maneuvers, and the like. You
can lightly ride the rear brake if you are going through a turn too
fast and want to avoid spinning out or flying off the track. Hard,
heavy, sudden use of the rear brake all by itself is usually wrong --
it's the "subtle" one of the two brakes.
iii. Both Brakes Together. Use both brakes together for maximum
stopping power. This is good for full stops or huge decreases of
speed. Just be sure you are going straight when you do this -- full
stops from great speeds + turning = loss of stability -- maybe even a
wipe out!!!
On the subject of full stops from great speeds, try taper braking: sit
up normally (that is, don't push up or down on the right thumbstick),
apply both brakes, lightly at first, then gradually harder. As the
weight of the bike shifts forward, press even harder on the front brake
-- you may also need to lean back to avoid doing an endo.
One last thing: unlike in cars, it's a bad idea to try to reduce speed
by downshifting. It screws up your balance and traction. Use the
brakes.
c. Cornering, Turning
Cornering on a motorcycle has a lot in common with cornering in a car:
i. "Straighten out" the turn and use as much of the road as possible
to maintain maximum speed: enter from the outside edge of the turn, hit
the inside of the corner (that is, the "apex") as you go through, exit
to the outside edge again.
ii. Brake enough to set your entry speed before you start turning.
Once you are turning, start pressing the accelerator so that you
maintain your speed through the turn, and then lean back (weight
transfer to the rear tire for traction) and increase your speed
gradually as you exit the turn -- then you'll be able to seriously
speed up (don't forget to lean forward again for minimal air
resistance) once you are on the straight-away again. If you must brake
at all while in a turn (for example, if you hit the turn too wide and
are afraid you are going to go off the track), lay off the accelerator
and lightly press the rear brake (and if you really need to seriously
swing your back end around to reorient your bike in the correct
direction, try a powerslide as described below).
iii. Look through the turn! The hands follow the eyes, as they say.
Look at the line you want to drive, not the bike or the scenery. The
sharper the turn and / or the faster you are going, the further you
should look through it.
d. Skidding, Sliding
If you start skidding or sliding, steer into it, just like you would if
you were driving a car. This is counter-intuitive to beginners, but it
makes sense if you think about it. If you steer away from the skid,
you are setting your tires perpendicular to the skid which results in
less traction. Steering into the skid (while leaning forward for
maximum front wheel traction) sets your tires parallel to the skid,
giving you more traction. Once you've regained control, you can start
to turn again. It should go without saying that you should stay off
the acceleration and the brakes while skidding -- either will just
aggravate the problem.
e. Jumping, Bumping
It's a bad idea to go flying over jumps and bumps. First of all,
you're giving up control, and might end up wiping out. Second of all,
you're losing valuable acceleration while your tires are off the road.
Lean back a bit (sitting up normally will also do fine) and use the
rear brake lightly for a second before you hit the crest of the bump or
hill.
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4. Tips for the Beginner
Stay away from the so-called Training Maneuvers (in the Career Mode) at
first -- they're a pain! It's a bit of a misnomer as well -- they
don't really train you, they just throw a bunch of stuff at you and
expect you to figure it out. Start out with Time Trial mode and just
run laps for a while. Start slow -- don't even go out of first gear
until you can take all the turns perfectly, then speed up to second
gear, etc. After that, just have fun in the Quick Race section for a
while. Only once you really feel comfortable should you go to the
Career Mode (including the Training Maneuvers).
Keep the Player Assist Arrows on until you get the hang of it. They
inform you of turns, let you know if you're entering them too fast,
etc.
The four-stroke bikes are more powerful, but they are much more
difficult to drive. Stick with the two-stroke bikes until you're an
expert.
Use automatic transmission. Like I said before, in this game (unlike
some others, like Sega GT 2002), manual transmission does not seem to
me to have any significant advantage over automatic transmission.
When you have to pick a pre-fab rider (like for Time Trial mode),
choose one with the best Cornering stat -- that's going to be most
important while you learn. Later when you build your own rider, I
recommend (Cornering = Braking) slightly greater than (Acceleration =
Top Speed) while you're still learning. Once you start competing more
seriously, then I recommend (Cornering = Acceleration = Top Speed)
slightly greater than Braking.
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5. Special Maneuvers and Tricks
I'll go over some of these again at the relevant Training Maneuver, but
I thought a quick list of the most common ones would be helpful.
i. Powerslide through corners: method a = fully release accelerator,
then quickly reapply it, OR method b = tap rear brake. (Note: you can
change the Powersliding level in the Options menu.)
ii. Wheelie: lean back in your seat (not too far though) while
keeping your speed constant.
iii. Endo (a.k.a. "Stoppie"): hit front brake and lean forward.
iv. Doughnut: lock front brake, accelerate hard, turn sharply.
v. Burnout: while stationary, apply front brake hard while pushing
the accelerator hard -- the rear wheel will spin -- then release the
front brake to do a burnout start (you can also creep forward a bit
first by easing up on the front brake a little).
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6. Training Maneuvers Walkthrough
a. Getting Started
After you've driven around for a while in Time Trial and Quick Race
modes and you're feeling more comfortable handling a bike, head to the
Career Mode. Here you will need to create a rider. Some of this
process is just cosmetic (name, nationality, number, etc.), so just
pick whatever you want. Some of it is more important, though . . .
Choosing a bike is super important (natch). As stated above, stick
with the two-stroke bikes -- the four-stroke bikes are usually too hard
for novices to control. Therefore, select "Bike" then select "Style"
and scroll through the models and pick one of the two-stroke models:
either the Honda NSR 500, the Proton KR3, or the Yamaha YZR 500. Any
of these three will do for now -- pick the one you think looks coolest.
:-) Finish picking the colors and other cosmetic tidbits, then select
"Done."
Next, you'll have to pick a Difficulty level. Choose Rookie. Later,
when you're better, you can choose higher difficulties to earn more
points.
Next is Rider Credit Distribution. This is also very important. Here
you get to spend points on Cornering, Braking, Top Speed, and
Acceleration. As stated above, I recommend (Cornering = Braking)
slightly greater than (Acceleration = Top Speed) while you're still
learning. You start with 18 points to spend on the four stats. Of
course, you should choose whatever you think is best, but for what it's
worth, I started with 5 Cornering, 5 Braking, 4 Top Speed, and 4
Acceleration; as I gained new points, I generally kept Cornering and
Braking 1 or 2 points above Top Speed and Acceleration.
Once you're all set up, go into the Career mode and select Training
(it's at the top of the list). You'll have fourteen training maneuvers
to complete and earn points toward upgrading your bike. Below, you
will find a detailed walkthrough of each maneuver. You are going to
find these difficult at first. Don't get discouraged, I'll get you
through it! First though, a few words of advice.
After you select the maneuver, but before you actually start it, you'll
see the CPU demonstrate the maneuver for you. Pay close attention and
watch it several times if necessary in order to see exactly what it is
doing and how it is doing it. My walkthrough will be an explanation of
what you are seeing, more or less.
Start slow. Don't even be thinking about the time limit or trying to
complete the maneuver within the time limit. Totally ignore the time
limit! Pretend it doesn't exist. Practice each maneuver repeatedly at
a very slow speed -- don't even let yourself get out of first gear!
You'll run out of time, but it's okay, it'll still let you finish
practicing. (You'll just have to ignore the big ol' "Challenge Failed"
sign flashing in your face!) Once you can complete the maneuver
perfectly at a slow speed, go a little faster, maybe just another 10
mph. And so on, increasing the speed, until you suddenly find that
you've completed it successfully within the time limit!
You can complete all of the training maneuvers with automatic
transmission. This will let you focus your attention on other things,
especially braking.
Also, don't go off the track!!! Not only does it slow you down, but it
actually removes time from your clock. You'll never pass like that!
You don't have to complete the Training Maneuvers in the order listed.
Feel free to do the ones you find easier first. That will earn you
points you can use to upgrade your rider, which should then make the
other maneuvers a bit easier.
You may find it useful to set the camera to the farthest third-person
perspective -- this will give you the most peripheral vision, which
really helps around obstacles.
One unusual trick that works for me: turn the sound off. The sound of
the engine revving, the music blaring, and the timer counting down
stresses me out and distracts me. Mute the t.v. and put some Vivaldi
on the stereo. Trust me.
Okay, enough advice. You ready? Let's go!
b. Maneuvers
Training 01: 180 Degree Turn
Take a second to look at the course. Heck, drive around freely the
first time to check things out. There's a start / finish point and a
180 degree turn just up ahead, marked with cones and a center obstacle.
The maneuver seems simple enough: enter on the left side of the turn,
turn 180 degrees around the obstacle, exit the right side of the turn,
and head back to the starting point. Turns out, there's a trick to it,
as you might imagine.
Ready? Hit the accelerator full blast and lean forward a second later
for maximum speed. You'll notice you're heading straight toward the
center obstacle, so veer left a little so that you are headed toward
the center of the left-hand entrance to the turn. About ten feet
before the entrance to the turn, do the following simultaneously: lean
backward, let off the accelerator completely, and hit the front brake
fully. A second or so later, once you've entered a few feet into the
turn and slowed down enough, release the brake, lean forward, and turn
right as sharply as possible.
When you've gone through the turn about half way (maybe 80 or so of the
180 degrees), you'll notice that you are not quite turning sharply
enough. A motorcycle can't normally make that short a 180 degree turn
without a little trickery. That's where the doughnut trick comes in.
Do this: lean forward (you should already be doing this, actually), put
the front brake on fully, and hit the accelerator full-blast. You
should start doing a doughnut: your front tire will lock, skidding
forward only slightly, your rear tire will spin, and your rear end (or
rather, your bike's rear-end, to be precise!) will spin around.
You will only need to do a partial doughnut (maybe a half-second's
worth) to turn the rest of the way. Once you are pointed toward the
finish, let off the brake AND the accelerator for an instant and lean
back to regain traction on the back tire, then punch the gas and lean
forward again a second later for maximum speed. Head toward the
finish. You should make it with at least a couple of seconds to spare.
Congratulations! You just finished the first training maneuver!
Training 02: Chicane
You might be wondering what a "chicane" is. I'm glad you asked. It's
a movable barrier, often used to reduce traffic to single file,
especially around curves. That's what you'll be dealing with here.
A word of warning: this one is hard for beginners. I had the worst
time with it at first. Stick with it, and don't get discouraged! My
advise to practice each maneuver slowly goes triple for this one.
Okay, let's get to it. Watch the CPU take the course and notice the
layout. The course starts with a long curve to the left with a left-
lane chicane (that is, a chicane that forces the course into a narrow
lane on the left-hand side) about half-way through. Then the course
straightens out very briefly with a right-lane chicane. Then there is
a long curve to the right with a left-lane chicane. Then there's a
medium-long straight-away. At the end of the straight-away, there's a
right-lane chicane immediately followed by a 90 degree left turn with a
left-lane chicane. This is immediately followed by a 90 degree right
turn with a right-lane chicane. After this is a short straight-away
with a left-lane chicane, immediately after which is the finish. Whew!
Start by slamming down the accelerator all the way and then leaning
forward for maximum speed. You should be able to go through the first
two chicane full speed, no braking (after you've practiced several
times slowly and worked your way up to full speed, I mean). Notice how
the CPU takes the long curves with as wide an arc as possible, leaning
the bike only slightly to the side the whole time (with minor
adjustments when necessary).
Just after the second chicane, on the short straight-away before the
third chicane, head a bit more over toward the left-hand side of the
course, then lean right ever so slightly to start a slow curve right so
that you can pass through the third chicane (a left-lane one) without
going off the left-side of the track. You should be able to do this
section without braking, though you might need to let off the
accelerator a little bit to bring your speed down slightly if you think
you're going to fly off the track or into a chicane.
Then go balls out on the medium-long straight-away before the two 90
degree turns. Taper brake (see above, paragraph two of 3.b.iii --
"Both Brakes Together") before passing through the right-lane chicane
at the end of this straight-away (just before the 90 degree left hand
turn).
Now for the two 90 degree turns. Try to drive a single straight line
through both of them. It's a bit too narrow for a perfectly straight
line, but you should be able to come close with a minimum of turning.
If you hit the chicanes or go off the track, then you didn't taper
brake enough before hand; also, you shouldn't need to brake through
these two 90 degree turns, though you might want to squeeze the
accelerator slightly to keep your speed up.
Once you've finished this (more or less) straight line through the two
90 degree turns, you'll need to turn about 45 degrees to the right,
accelerate, zoom by the last chicane, and reach the finish. Ta da!
Training 03: 360 Degree Turn
This is like the 180 degree turn, only twice as much. That was
supposed to be a joke. Anyway.
Notice that the start and finish points are not the same place, as they
were in the 180 degree turn. The start point is south (for the sake of
argument) of the center obstacle and the finish point is north of it.
So you approach the center obstacle from the south, do a clockwise 360
degree turn around the center obstacle, then head north to the finish.
First notice that the road is wet. That means you can't start by just
hitting the accelerator as hard as possible, or you'll spin out for a
while and lose valuable seconds. Therefore, you need to accelerate
more gradually from the start point. As with the 180, you'll be
pointed directly toward the center obstacle, so veer left a little.
When you get close to the center obstacle, lean back and hit the front
brake hard to slow down. Then release the brake, lean forward again
(weight transfer to the front tire for traction for turning), and turn
sharply to the right, and then quickly press the front brake hard
again, then the accelerator hard a instant later. You'll start to do a
doughnut. You don't want to do a total doughnut though, or you'll just
be spinning around a stationary point, so release the front brake half
way or so for an instant and then press it on again hard. Then repeat
this: pump and release the front brake while keeping the accelerator on
full while you turn, and you should do a nice turn around the center
obstacle. Go 360 degrees around it, then head toward the finish.
That wasn't so bad, was it? If you have any trouble at first, ignore
the course completely and just practice straight-up doughnuts for a
while, then practice them with the pumping brake technique. Then you
should be ready to do it around the center obstacle.
Training 04: Hold a Wheelie
Wheelies are easy. Go really fast and lean back. You'll do a wheelie.
Balance properly and you'll be able to hold it for several seconds.
That's all there is to it. Just don't lean so far back that you crash.
Make sure you start the wheelie before the start line and hold it
through until the finish line.
Frankly, that was so easy, you don't even deserve it. But you get it
'cuz THQ loves you.
Training 05: 360 + 180
To be honest, I found this one difficult to complete in the allotted
time. I ended up skipping it for a while in order to complete as many
other Training Maneuvers I could so that I could upgrade my rider as
much as possible before returning to this.
This is a 360 turn followed by a 180 turn. I've already taught you how
to do each of these (Training Maneuvers 1 and 3 above). The only real
difference is that the road isn't wet, so you'll have a bit more
traction than you did in Training Maneuver 3.
Make sure you do the 360 degree turn as tightly as possible around the
center obstacle in order to save valuable seconds. Also try to do the
skidding, partial doughnut technique as smoothly and quickly as
possible. This might require a kinder, gentler pumping of the brake.
That sorta sounded naughty . . .
Training 06: Powerslide
Very easy. Get going fast. Sometime between the start and the finish,
while you are turning fairly hard, release the accelerator then slam it
back on again. You'll do a brief Powerslide. That's it.
Training 07: Slalom
A "slalom" is a zig-zagging, weaving course around obstacles. The goal
is to get from start to finish while weaving around the sets of
barrels.
Notice the line the CPU takes through the course. As it passes each
barrel, it is already aimed at the passing point of the next barrel.
That requires that the apex of each turn occur before you reach the
barrel. You should be toward the end of the arc of your turn as you
pass each barrel, straightening out and starting your next turn as soon
as you pass by each barrel.
Re-read the section on corning (sec. 3.c -- especially part ii.) and
follow this advice for each turn -- especially the bit about braking
into each turn, and accelerating out of it. If you turn at the proper
arcs, you won't need to be going super fast to complete the course in
the allotted time.
Be sure to practice this one slowly and work your way up to full speed,
and you'll beat it before you know it.
Training 08: Burnout
This might take a few tries, but it's not too hard. You have to start
the powerslide before the start line and hold it until the finish.
Start accelerating. Don't lean forward, just sit up normally. Before
the start line, squeeze the front brake fairly hard but not all the
way. Your back tire should start spinning and kicking up dust. Ease
off the front brake as much as possible so as to move forward as
quickly as possible, but not so much that you stop spinning the back
tire. Continue the burnout until the finish line.
Training 09: Endo
Also pretty easy. Accelerate and lean forward. Don't go too fast,
though -- I found about 30 mph to work well. Sometime between the
start and the finish, squeeze your front brake fairly hard (while
keeping the acceleration on), but not all the way or too suddenly (or
you'll just flip over). Your back tire should come off the ground for
a second. Release the brake to drop it back to the ground. That's it.
Training 10: Slalom + 180
You've done the two parts of this separately (Training Maneuvers 7 and
1), now string them together. There's nothing new here to learn. Just
notice that the road is wet, so you'll need to compensate for a slight
lack of traction. As with all of them, practice slow, then speed up
little by little. As with the other combination Training Maneuver
(Training 05: 360 + 180), I found this one a bit of a pain, so I left
it for later, after I had completed more training maneuvers and earned
more points to upgrade my rider.
Training 11: Hold a Corner
This is pretty easy. Remember the first long curve of Training
Maneuver 2 ("Chicane")? That's what you're doing here, just for
longer. Drive in one big slow circling turn, passing through the
center-lane chicane. Practice slow, speed up a little each time,
eventually you'll beat it. No trick to it.
Training 12: Obstacles
VERY east, especially if you practice slowly first. Drive the course.
Avoid a couple of obstacles. The only thing remotely new is the
hairpin turn towards the end. Re-read the Corning section (3.c.) and
apply it: set your speed before you end the hairpin turn, then
accelerate out of it. Drag the rear brake a bit if you need to sharpen
up your turn to avoid flying off the track. That's it. Frankly, I
think they ran out of things for us to do . . .
Training 13: Perimeter
Drive around a big circle then stop in the marked area. Geesh, this is
too easy. They definitely ran out of things for us to do. The driving
in a big circle part should be no problem for you by now. Stopping in
the marked area without passing by it may take a couple of tries. Use
taper braking as described in the Braking section (3.b.).
Training 14: Perfect Lap
Consider this one your final exam. There's nothing new in this (in
part, quite literally -- you've actually run parts of this track
already in some earlier training maneuvers (e.g., #2)). I've taught
you everything you need to know to complete this, you just have to put
it all together. Practice slowly and work your way up. Recall your
training in cornering and braking, and go to it. Make me proud.
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7. Concluding Thoughts
If you've managed to complete all 14 training maneuvers, then you are
ready for some serious racing. Practice some more in Time Trial and
Quick Race if you want, but the real fun is to be found in the Career
Mode. I won't be writing a walkthrough for it (waaaay too long), but I
may add some other things to this walkthrough at some point: perhaps a
guide to the Stunt Mode, maybe a list of FAQs. If there's anything in
particular you are especially interested in seeing, email me and let me
know. In the meantime, please enjoy this wonderful game.
Good racing!
