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

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