Tips for newbies
A replay is not good enough if you know you can do it better.
When driving a power gear car (Indy, ACURA, Ferrari, Corvette), never start racing the track normally before you have repeatedly checked for a power gear way, and are complete sure there is none.
Join a team! Apart from providing assistance by sending replays, teammates will make competition racing much more fun for you.
Know your opponents. If you are aware of the personality and racing patterns of your opponents, you can figure out how they are doing on a track just by talking to them, or by analyzing their decoy times.
Be quiet. Don’t let your opponents get information about your time in any way. It’s tempting to brag about your cool replay in the middle of the month, but if you want to win, that is a bad idea.
Listen to music while racing, then it won’t easily become boring.
Always drive a track in the right order. You must start with the beginning, max that out all you can, and then go on to the next part. Don’t drive the ending part of a track before your beginning is perfect, unless you are in an important battle for leading time bonus.
Remember to save your replays while making them. Even though you can just rewind and continue, saving your replay secures that you won’t lose it by accidentally pressing “Re-start driving” instead of “Continue driving”.
If you are getting tired of racing, watch some of your favourite old replays instead - it will make you feel good and more motivated.
Never give away your best time when battling for leading time, unless you have to. You can weaken a replay by stopping before the end and driving slowly across the finish line.
Before you begin racing on a track, always test your car’s gearing: switch to manual transmission, choose Skid as your opponent, give him the same car as you, and race on a track, which starts with a very long straight road. Then switch to F2 view, and see who gets ahead. Optimize your shifting until you drive faster than Skid on the straight road (Skid is better with some cars than with others)
On some tracks, if the competition rules allow it, it can be an advantage to race with the Mindscape 1.1 version of the game, instead of the Broderbund 1.1 version. This is mainly if there are tunnels on tops of hills (in Mindscape, you can jump through the roof without crashing), or if you have to cross into corkscrews (left/right) from the side. Remember to calculate with the slight disadvantage that you get because the cars are a little slower.
Be fair. Even though it is an advantage to trick your opponents, you should always stop when you know your opponents will be hurt or angry. It’s just a game, not a war.
Be a part of the community. This is the main way to stay motivated and not give up racing. The Stunts community is a brilliant and friendly assembly of people who share an interest, and who can compete with each other, help each other, analyze races and talk about Stunts or anything else.
If you are a new racer, don’t despair if you are far away from the leading times. All who joined Stunts competitions have improved their skills very dramatically, because these online competitions challenge you infinitely more than Skid or your friends at school. The key to becoming a better driver is dedication, and accepting that you don’t become a winner in one day - it took a long time for all of us.
In any part of a track, always look for a trick before you drive it the ordinary way. You should also try to do any trick, even if it looks impossible. It might work anyway, and if it does, you have a great advantage.
Maxing a replay out is a boring task, so don’t save it for the end of the month. Max your replay out from the very first time you drive the track, then you will have a competitive replay earlier.
Remember the difference between the four power-gear cars. The Indy, Ferrari and Corvette have high-speed power gears, which means their top speed is 245 mph. The ACURA has a low-speed power gear, which means the top speed is 203-209 mph. The Indy and ACURA have flexible power gears, which means they can achieve power gear speed without jumping, just by being in the 5th gear when entering a loop, or, when jumping, being in the fifth gear and above a certain rpm value. (this also counts when driving around a left/right corkscrew). The Indy, Ferrari and Corvette all have spinnable power gears, which means you can make slide-turns on the grass or the road, and keep your power gear speed afterwards. If you attempt such a turn with the ACURA, you will lose power gear speed.
Always try to participate in the race from the very beginning. Even if there is no leading time bonus in sight (but maybe there will be with the probably forthcoming introduction of advanced LTB calculation), it makes racing much more interesting. Remember that points aren’t everything!
Some obstacles should almost never be driven ordinarily: loops, left/right corkscrews and up/down corkscrews. But remember that there are exceptions.
As a general rule, you will race better on the tracks you like. So spend your time on those instead of working a through a track you don’t enjoy driving.
Always remember that as a part of the Stunts Community, you are encouraged to suggest any ideas, suggestions or improvements to the Stunts competitions and community. There is no king or mafia that is in charge of this community - ideas are respected because of their content, not because of their creator.
Use section-time comparisions. This means when you are making a replay, divide the track into sections, and compare your times on every section with your former replay, or with your team-mate’s replay. Never do a section slower than your former replay or your team-mate (if you can avoid it).
If you are going for a particular place on the track, or going for winning the track, you must remember that many times (particularly the winning time) are improved a lot in the quiet days. So if for example the current #3 has 1.08.00, you can be quite sure that 1.07.80 will not be enough for 3rd place. You must calculate with several seconds (depending on the track) of improvement from your opponents in the quiet days.
It is better to be 6th in a super race, than to win a boring race with no real opposition
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