I just ran through Easy Mode again, same bug happened at Rock Forest reverse so it affects 2 last tracks top speed (but makes so boosting around corners is easier + I think makes the dirt bike not jump on a few jumps) but after you have to restart Moto Racer otherwise the bug will persist even with a difficulty change in the options menu.

Playing through Easy right now, its the first 6 tracks (ending at Lost Ruins) + 6 tracks reverse mode.

Strangely when in reverse mode in Easy mode I got the speed/gear bug where I couldn't reach top speed in 6th (Race) or 5th (Dirt) gear, as if I was stuck in a lower gear even though I could select 6th or 5th (unlike the old bug where you were actually stuck maximum at 5th or 4th gear). But after restarting the game that bug cleared so, got to run it through Easy Championship again to try to see if that's the trigger of that.

Ohh actually I didn't know that medium didn't have reverse mode. What you've said makes total sense thanks for clearing it up.

I think that's fine to submit a time using that method (Taking your split at the end of pocket or end of lost ruins). Like you say Hard AI is a disadvantage and runs in that specific category should in theory provide a faster time.

I just finished a championship again on hard mode mode and yeah AI can be a challenge to get through. But I'm in favour of just an easy and medium run as they're going to be faster than hard and also verifying that the run is done in medium mode if setting a time for hard is going to be hard to prove since difficulty is changed in main menu (asides from looking at the save file which mentions hard).

TL;DR

Easy is its own thing, lets make medium the full tourney speed run only.

I think the Easy run misses Red City and Great Wall + Pocket bikes?

I tested each vehicle on Mali Desert Normal as its more flat than Sahara and doesn't have restrictions unlike the circuit courses so I could test the top speed of each car, truck and bike in Dakar 2 at their longest gear ratio.

Settings used (for Mali Desert) : Tyre Compound: Hard MAX Tyre Pressure: Low MAX Gear Ratio: Long MAX Suspension: Hard MAX and Manual gearbox

My results for top speed, lowest to highest:

Cars: Mitsubishi Pajero: 110 Mitsubishi L200 Straker: 111 Toyota Hilux: 113 Ford Ranger Protruck: 118 Nissan Pickup: 119 Nissan Patrol GR: 120 Mitsubishi Pajero Evo: 121 Aixam Mega Desert: 124

Trucks: Hino: 99-100 Tatra: 104-105 MAN: 110 Kamaz: 115-116

Motorbikes: BMW 650: 93-94 Honda 400: 94-95 KTM Rally 660: 97 Kawasaki KLR660: 103-104 BMW 900RR: 111-112 KTM LC8: 112-113

Been doing some testing and yeah the Aixam Mega Desert for sure is the fastest, tops out around 124 ...somethings per hour (never known if it was MPH or KMPH)

What's your opinion on best car?

I tend to go with Nissan Patrol or the Ford pickup although Hilux and Axim seem to be really fast on desert stages

Yeah we're going to need a forward and reverse for each category ;)