Well, I’m almost 200. So I figured I’d write my tips on the game, and if I say anything wrong or if you have anything to add, that would be great! I’m always learning new things about the game, and it’s pretty deep and complex, while also being nail biting tense and action packed! I use the xbox 360 gamepad to play if that matters.
Anyways, I mostly play multiplayer, and I’ve found the best way to get lots of xp is to do lots of multiplayer races. I don’t win typically, but I do okay, and I usually get a nice big clean racing bonus for staying on the track and avoiding crashes whenever possible, so even if I finish 6th or 8th I end up in 3rd or so due to the clean racing bonus, seems like a lot of cars love to hit the walls and while it at times can improve your position, that xp bonus for clean racing is a great way to get ahead.
I play in first person with the hood showing since it seems more intuitive. I play with regular steering and traction control and stability control on, those seem to help me stay on the road and don’t affect the xp.
I like to have the HUD mostly off, except the map, so there’s less distractions. I make sure to not use rewind in single player, so that I’m focused on not making any mistakes - I’ve gained a lot of position by not crashing or making any bad errors, even if that means going slower in turns or letting some rammer pass you or stay in front so you don’t get bumped off the track, until they spin out or hit a wall and you can make a clean overtake.
Don’t worry about losing in multiplayer - the other players are usually pretty good, and each position is a hard fought battle, win or lose. You’ll gain skill from it as you practice, and not all the cars are equal too, even if they’re the same number. On that note, the horizon edition cars seem pretty good, so you can get those from the wheel spins, which you’ll get a ton of just for playing multiplayer, you level up way faster there than in single player, and the opponents are more diverse and exciting than single player, where they tend to form a nice orderly line for you to pass or lose to. Again, not crashing is key, and missing a checkpoint is even worse, so slow and steady wins the race, and it’s entirely possible to get a great rank while taking a more conservative approach to speed and cornering, just by the other players crashing, and then in addition to position you also get that precious clean racing bonus.
I usually don’t use the handbrake, not sure if that’s good or not, and try not to slide, so I brake a little extra going into turns and then accelerate when it’s safe to do so, usually on the 2nd half of the turn.
The racing line is important, if it’s red there’s a big turn coming up so make sure to keep an eye on it, while at the same time noting it’s not 100% accurate so watch the road and checkpoints too, sometimes it says to brake when you can power through it, and sometimes it says to go when if you don’t brake you’ll slide off the road. Following the exact line of it is okay, although I like to take turns from the inside since swerving across the road is just asking to get rammed off the road, and miss a checkpoint or something.
Don’t give up, you still get lots of xp even if you finish in last, and again that clean racing bonus helps a lot, and finishing in the middle of the pack is reasonably respectable. Those other players can be really good, and often they’ll just be more skilled and faster and often in a faster car, so don’t worry too much about winning, and even if you’re in last place you still get rewards.
I haven’t figured out how to launch the car well at the start of the race, seems like they often get a bigger speed boost at start, although I tend to floor it right between when the view switches to first person hood and when it says ‘go’.
To get those horizon cars, find a good one on the auction hall with a minute to go, and then keep bidding on it until you win or the bidding gets too expensive for you. You get a lot of credits by doing multiplayer series races, especially in a horizon edition car with a credits bonus, although skill bonuses are good too as it can improve your position, although don’t worry too much about your ending position and staying for the full 4 races as the credit bonus at the end isn’t that big, and you level up like 3 times per 4 races on average, more if you’re doing longer races and you get a clean bonus and a good position.
Slow and steady is good, if you push it too hard you’ll roll your car, miss a checkpoint, or hit a wall, so don’t overdo it, while also keeping in mind you do kind of want to hustle around that track, it’s not a careful and slow game, and balancing going really fast with not crashing is a key to playing the game. You’ll get better with practice too, and you can see what the other players do as you battle them for position, but if someone seems to be a going a lot faster than you there’s a decent chance they’re going to crash. Try not to be directly behind them when that happens, as they can hit something, stop dead, and then you hit them, and you both end up last. Same for a rammer, they often slow themselves down and whoever they hit too, so avoid people who crash a lot and go for a clean overtake when they crash or slide out in a turn.
Low cars are hard to see out of in first person. Also if you’re behind a pack be careful, as you can’t see the racing line or even the track, so be real careful in a pack, as you can all slide off the track and whoever was being careful behind you gets lots of opportunity for a pass.
I also like to listen to pandora while playing, seems great and better than groove music, just run it in a web browser.
In between the races, when you race to the checkpoint, you can either stay on the road or go offroad or some mix, usually I check how many trees are in the area - lots of trees means stay on the road, a big open desert means take a straight route while being careful not to flip your car, which can mean going a little slower, especially if there’s trees in the way. Also be sure to pick an offroad car for offroad racing, and a track car for onroad, or a ‘medium’ car for mixed.
Singleplayer is [Mod Edit - Abbreviated profanity, profanity and profanity that is disguised but still alludes to the words are not permitted - D], the AI isn’t very good and your rewards are a lot less than in multiplayer, and just for playing multi you get a bunch of credits to get those sweet horizon edition cars, plus you get random cars from the wheel spins, and make sure to upgrade them to the max for the class you want. I usually use auto-upgrade, but tuning and parts tips would be great, I haven’t put a lot of time into optimizing cars, although if you buy HE cars at auction they’re usually already upgraded, and be sure to respect the other players - most of them know what they’re doing, and plenty of them know a lot more about the game than you do.
Anyways, there’s my tips. I’d love to hear tips about my tips, if I’m wrong about anything, or additional tips. Thanks for reading and hopefully we can make each other better at racing around in circles, not crashing, and shaving those precious seconds off the lap times. 