This is a cut down version of my GPL guide, if you want to read the full thing please read it here https://fzerocentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=14395

I Unlocking everything needed 1: Machines

-When starting the game you already have the Golden Fox unlocked, it’s one of the best machines in the game and also a good learning machine.

-To Unlock the Twin Noritta, you’ll need to max out Cap. Falcon’s story mode (unlocked after beating Rick’s 2nd mission). You don’t have to beat the whole story, just get $2’550’000’000, which can be done by beating missions (even just playing #1 a dozen time will do the job)

The Twin Noritta is the best machine for new players and people who don’t like doing DDT (or much drifting). It can do most skips in the game easily since it’s got the 2nd best jump in the game.

-To Unlock the Night Thunder you need to have gotten at least bronze on all ZTs in C and B class, to unlock ZT you’ll need to beat a cup.

The Night Thunder is the best machine in the game, but it may be tricky to use if you’re new. It’s best used when taking long drifts.

-To Unlock the Deep Claw, simply beat Gold Cup on any difficulty. The Claw has the best jump in the game and can perform every skip in the game. I suggest it for when you want to learn the many skips the game has.

-To Unlock the Blood Hawk (Hell Hawk), you’ll need to beat Platinum Cup on Expert. The Hawk is a mix of NT and TN, having sharper drift than NT and a higher jump. I recommend using this whilst trying to learn how to drift properly or are just struggling with NT still.

These are the most important machines to unlock, to unlock every machine you’ll need to: -Complete all Stories and max them all out to $2’550’000’000

-Beat all Cups on all difficulties (note that beating a cup on a higher difficulty counts it for the lower ones too)

-Complete all ZTs with at least Bronze

You can find a tier list for all machines in the other guide

-In short, the best machines are the ones with A boost, B boost at minimum.

II The Basics

1: Strafing, Drifting and Blast Turning

These are the easiest and most Important things to know, even if you’re playing casually or speedrunning.

-Blast Turning (Blast Tapping) is the best and intended way to turn (especially sharp turns), it's as simple as repeatedly pressing A when turning, you can either spam it or use it a little (generally each time you press A you turn around 45*, so for some turns you can just press 1-2-3 times and done...or just spam).

-Drifting is as simple as holding the opposite shoulder button to the direction you’re taking (so if you’re going right, hold L and if you’re going to the left, hold R). This is the best way to take turns and helps every machine take turns (especially with Blast turning). It may sound weird but it’s easy to get used to. The lower the grip of the machine the longer the drift (with Space Angler having the shortest one in the game, and Night Thunder the best one), and some have inside and outside drifts (basically even if 2 machines have the same grip level, one will drift to the inside, and the other to the outside).

-Strafing is the most basic speedrunning technique. It involves you tilting your machine at an angle and holding either L or R (depends on what side you chose). If you’re efficient you can use a strafe to turn it into a drift later on. Every machine can strafe.

2: Side Attacks

Side Attacks are one of the most overpowered things in this game. They can be used to extend jumps (and do skips), sharpen your turns, and can be used on the finish line to cross early. They are used in an advanced technique called SARB (Side Attack Rail Banging), which will be focused on later.

2.1: SA Jank

-On some occasions you may get flung out of nowhere in the opposite direction when SAing during a turn. This can be averted by Blast Tapping at least 2-3 times before the Side Attack.

-Sometimes the Side Attack won’t register properly and instead you’ll just lean twice

3: Corner Cutting and Skipping

Now this is some of the more meaty stuff. A lot of the tracks in the game have big skips in them and some minor corner cutting

-You can drive between pretty much any wall and dirt patch without losing speed (example, any dirt patch on Tradition Park 1/2)

-You can drive between mines on tracks like Blast Track and Wreckage Circuit, it’s mostly done on Lap 1 but it can be done on boost laps.

-A lot of jumps in the game usually either lead to a skip, or a small corner cut

-By far the best machine to learn skips with is the Deep Claw, because of its jump, but the Noritta, Hawk and Fox are also good for smaller skips. If you want to know which machines can do which skips please view the other guide I've posted on SRC which lists them all and comes with a video example

4: Settings

This is an important part of any run, casual or competitive. In GPL the settings are counted by the slider, which goes from 0 to 16.

Generally the best to use for a RTA run is 8/16, with more variations being used in TA

5: Speed and Energy preservation

These turn the game into Survival horror, but are important to know still.

-When not boosting, every time you are above the Top Speed it will rapidly decrease until it’s back down, stuff like SAs and blast taps will only make the deceleration increase rapidly, after a while drifts will too. The best way to maintain speed is to do short drifts, few blast taps and definitely not touching the rails at all. You don’t have to worry about this if you are boosting.

-Most tracks don’t allow for nonstop boosting, so you’ll have to keep track of where and when to boost. I suggest looking at other runs to get a sense of where to boost. Fortunately there are also tracks where you can boost nonstop, but you’ve also got extreme cases where you can’t boost more than twice.

III DDT

Alright, these are the 2 most important advanced technique to learn for RTA and in general

1:DDT

Short for Drift Driving Technique, this involves you doing drifts on straights, but you might know it as the “drunk way we drive in WRs”. Generally the longer the drifts, the better the DDT. It’s why Night Thunder is the best Machine for this (and in general), with Blood Hawk 2nd.

By far the best machine to start learning DDT with is the Golden Fox, since it doesn't use long drifts, but instead, you do quick and short ones. After getting used to it, you can move onto using BH and NT.

Generally most Machines with D or lower grip can DDT, with exceptions

1.1: BUT DAAAAAAD I DON’T WANT TO DDT

You can still get good times with just strafing, the best machines for that are the Noritta, Gazelle and Anchor. Generally anything with A boost. Some B boost machines can also work.

Again a friendly reminder, this is a cutdown version of the FZC guide I've made, this mostly only shows the stuff that is usable for RTA, if you want to know more please read the original version