Graphics/audio settings:

-Vertex light is recommended as it allows you to see more. -Alpha intensity should be set to 0% to turn off on-screen effects like rain or snow. -Fog should be turned off. -Special effects should be turned off. -It's recommended to turn off rear-view mirror since it's useless, unless you are really bad and AI opponents can keep up with you :) -"Night-vision" mode - Go to your graphic's card control panel and set gamma to maximum for green color. This sort of simulates night-vision and basically makes driving at night almost as easy as in a daylight. However, this trick only works in windowed mode. -Engine is limited to 64fps, so it's recommended to stream/record this game at 64fps. I also do not recommend V-sync and tripple buffering as they tend to make the game lag. -Turning off music gets rid of the short delay between pressing the "Race" button and loading screen.

Tricks:

-The game has a 5 second delay between it goes to race results after you cross a finish line, but you can avoid that. When a track is loaded, position your mouse cursor to right lower corner so when you press Esc to open up a menu, your mouse cursor will be right on Quit button. Then after you cross a finish line, just press Esc to open up a menu, click on Quit button with your mouse and navigate to Race results using your keyboard (it's faster than using mouse).

Tracks:

-Hometown - HT -Redrock Ridge - RR -Atlantica - AT -Rocky Pass - RP -Country Woods - CW -Lost Canyons - LC -Aquatica - AQ -Summit - SU -Empire City - EC

Conditions:

-Forward/backward direction

Time difference is based on hot laps. First laps are usually even slower.

CLK-GTR:

-HT: Backward is easier, but about 1 second slower.
-RR: Backward is much more difficult, therefore you will probably lose at least 1 second.
-AT: Roughly same.
-RP: Backward is about 0.5 second faster.
-CW: Backward is much more difficult, but about 2-4 seconds faster.
-LC: Backward is more difficult and about 0.5 seconds slower.
-AQ: Backward is more difficult and about 2-4 seconds slower.
-SU: Backward is about 0.5 seconds faster.
-EC: Backward is easier, but about 2-4 seconds slower.

Lister Storm:

-HT: Backward is easier, but about 1 second slower.
-RR: Backward is much more difficult, but about 1 second faster.
-AT: Roughly same.
-RP: Backward is about 0.5 second faster.
-CW: Backward is a bit more difficult, but about 2 seconds faster.
-LC: Backward is more difficult and about 0.5 second faster.
-AQ: Backward is more difficult and about 2 seconds slower.
-SU: Backward is about 1 second faster.
-EC: Backward is easier, but about 2 seconds slower.

-Mirrored - Theoretically you shouldn't loose any time with this condition, but since majority of players don't play this track layout, you'll probably loose at least 1 second per lap. If you practice enough, the difference should be none.

-Night - If you use the night-vision trick, you shouldn't really see any difference.

-Weather - Contrary to belief, weather doesn't slow your car as much as you'd think. It's mostly about 1-2 seconds per lap. The biggest problem you'll get from this is slightly different handling.

Cars:

-NG subcategory - Lister Storm (check resources to download this car) -3rd gear - 100-150kph -4th gear - 150-200kph, but it's fine to go as low as 130kph. -5th gear - I found this gear to be pretty much useless, unless you need just a bit more top speed and 4th is too short. -6th gear - 200-300+ kph. The game will signalize you to downshift to 5th or even 4th, but you can ignore it. This gear has the same acceleration as 5th, maybe even slightly better, therefore using it for 200kph is fine (you simply don't downshift if you go below 250kph in a corner). Keeping the car in 6th as much as possible saves roughly about 1 second per lap.

-NG+ subcategory - CLK-GTR -3rd gear - 100-150kph. -4th gear - 120-220kph, but if you can, shift up to 6th around 200kph -5th gear - This gear is actually slower than 6th, so only use it if 4th is too short and on short straights. Otherwise skip right to 6th. The reason for still using 5th in some situations is that double-shifting up from 4th to 6th makes the car stop accelerating for a short time. -6th gear - 180-320+ kph. It's fine to go as low as 180.

Beginner tournament:

-4 laps of 8 tracks. -Starts with HT and ends with SU. -Tracks are always in forward direction.

Patterns: You don't need any patterns for this mode.

Expert tournament:

-4 laps of 8 tracks. -Starts with HT and ends with SU. -Each track has its own random conditions. It's recommended to start HT in forward direction and no weather.

Patterns: NG: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CYbDOjdfHrnpx1kFHjwPZ46cuhONAJoCFYc0iveute8 NG+: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15k9wojYddMTOlu1-p3oq1cfOhOeiM_R8ewiPawLCZOg

Beginner knockout:

-2 laps of 7 tracks -Starts with HT, RR, AT and RP. -HT, RR, AT, RP and EC are always in the track pool. -After RP, you want CW as 5th and then AQ as 6th. Do not continue the run if you get different tracks or different order. -Tracks are always in forward direction.

Patterns: NG: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16Mdi5KUFM5F8gZrRq1x5X79PADc5tO7QZBgqSk7c0bg NG+: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ElBHVnpk2h79sZGIzRLcTeTf_8j9zdKICzPzq-VcVtc

Expert knockout:

-2 laps of 7 tracks -Starts with either HT, RR or AT and ends with EC. -CW, LC, AQ, SU and EC are always in the track pool. -You always want HT as 1st and AT as 2nd track. Do not continue the run if you get different tracks or different order.

Patterns: NG: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z4INBEEry_jd8RfAZOwxwZNTlwUthVY_Pu_XYvd9bh8 NG+: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dYbY5Ov38xk61HHXt9wXZSAEjmqQ4UCrrioVKbKnC4E