KEYS TO A FAST TIME - There are two main keys to RetroRacer,
A)
Accelerate
as early as possible out of turns and
B) Hug the inside wall as closely
as
possible.
Accelerating takes precedence over hugging the wall, so if
you
have a choice between accelerating early along with swinging out a bit
wide,
and holding off while turning closely around the corner, go with the
first
option.
TAKING THE U-TURNS - The 5 U-turns are where most players lose time.
First
thing's first, forget all about the brake button, don't even touch it.
As a
more practical replacement you are going to turn into the inside wall
just
prior to each of these turns
(this serves two purposes, 1) It slows you
down
so that you don't hit the outside wall and 2) It puts you in a better
position to accelerate out of the turn at an earlier time).
At almost
the
exact moment you begin turning into the wall for a turn you should
momentarily let go of the accelerator, but before you are even past the
halfway point of the turn you should be accelerating again.
If you do
this
correctly there will be sort of a slingshot effect.
With enough
practice you
will then be able to exit the turn either straight or at an angle,
depending
on what you want for the next turn.
Often times you will get turned around when you attempt to turn into
the
wall too early, don't worry about this as it still happens to me quite
often
especially on the first lap before I get into a rhythm.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS - 1st Turn: This U-Turn is fairly simple.
To take
it
as fast as possible, you will want to follow the description above with
the
following changes.
1) It will be helpful on the next part if you follow
close to the wall on this turn as opposed to swinging out a ways.
2)
You'll
want to exit this turn at a slight angle so that you're pointed
directly at
the next corner.
2nd Turn: First the easy part.
Simply clip the corner of this 90 degree
turn, so that you shave off a little speed.
You then come to one of the
two
most difficult portions of each lap.
Take this U-turn as described
above
with the following changes.
1) Don't worry about getting the slingshot
effect on this turn, it's much more important to have precise control
over
your car.
2) As you exit this turn you will want to have your car
pointed a
bit lower than horizontal, so continue turning to the right until you
are in
this position.
At the same time you will want to let go of the
accelerator
again (only a quick tap for the best time).
3rd Turn: Once you have turned enough so that you're pointed slightly
lower
than horizontal, you will want to almost immediately switch into left
for
the next U-turn and accelerate into it.
If you do this correctly you'll
run
into the corner and curl right around it.
If you do this incorrectly
you
will either get turned around (if you didn't get yourself pointed far
enough
down before turning back to the left) or you'll miss the corner
entirely and
have to make a slow, wide turn (if you had your car pointed too far
down).
This will come with practice, so don't get frustrated if you mess up a
lot.
4th Turn: First you have a couple of easy 90 degree turns.
I'm not sure
exactly what the fastest way of getting around these is, but I usually
like
to cut the corner as close as possible even if it means hitting the
walls a
little.
When coming out of the second of the 90 degree turns you'll
want to
have your car pointed almost directly at the corner of the next U-turn,
so
practice coming out at that angle instead of the usual straight exit.
For
this U-turn you'll want to follow the usual instructions, but you
should
make sure your car doesn't get any lower than the corner (so don't
overshoot
the turn, or you'll waste a lot of time).
In exiting this turn, you
ideally
want to be pointed at the next corner again.
5th Turn: For me, this is probably the most difficult turn, mainly
because
of the short amount of time you have to align yourself correctly.
Forunately, there isn't anything special you need to do. Just make
certain
you get the slingshot effect here, as it seems to be the most important
turn
timewise in my races.
I almost always go fairly wide around this one,
hopefully not quite far enough to hit the outside wall, so don't worry
if
this happens to you.
Next you want to turn to the left a bit (assuming
you
went wide as well), so that you're lined up to go around the last 90
degree
turn and you're done.
I've also gotten into the habit of quickly glancing up at my lap times
on
the straightaway whenever I think I did well enough for it to show up,
but
I'd reccomend against doing this as it does cause me to occasionally
mess up
the first turn.
This is the fastest method that I've been able to come up with so far,
but
I'm sure there are improvements that can be made, so feel free to
experiment
with your turning.
The fastest laps that I've gotten with this method
are
12.00 for the first lap and 11:25 for the subsequent ones.
I also got
11.98
and 11.23, but they came before I had a set strategy, so I don't know
quite
how I achieved them (possibly through a more perfect run of this
strategy or
a difference somewhere).
Kettch