So damage only happens the first time you complete a race, right? What happens after you complete every race and still have damage? I noticed that Single Race still looks at damage, at least until you've completed everything (I haven't completed everything yet).

It's frustrating that there's no unlock codes for this game.

i'm not sure I understand your question, but there's always gonna be some damage somewhere on your Racer. Droids repair parts over the course of a race, and the maximum number of droids you can have is lower than the number of upgrade parts you can have, so having some parts of your racer damaged at any time is unavoidable

I mean, what happens if you complete Inferno but still have part damage? Does that damage just stick around forever for that save?

Additionally, how exactly do you get part damage? Is it just from dying, or does regular damage also cause part damage? I've never really seen part damage from regular damage...

Damage is applied when advancing in tournament mode, repeating races you've already won does nothing. I think there will never be damage when you don't crash and getting a higher rank after you beat a track at like 3rd also doesn't count, but I'm not 100% sure about that. There is no way to fix damaged parts after you beat all tracks.

The best way to deal with this is to only get as many upgrades on your playthrough as there are droids. I suggest going for top speed, acceleration and cooling. Once you are at 100%, you can use your prize money to buy the remaining parts.

Couldn't you buy broken stuff at cheap prices and repair it while you're playing it through and collect a lot of money this way and buy all perfect parts in the end + have an easier play through? I think i did it this way.

Yes, you can do that too.

Yeah that's what I do, or switch to a worse part before inferno/last race.

Ah, I was afraid of that. Thanks for the replies!

One other thing worth mentioning with damage that I have noticed playing tournament mode with upgrades is that the risk of damaging parts is much higher if you push your booster past the "Temp Warning" and into "Overheat" meaning your engines will catch on fire for certain in a few seconds. However, it is absolutely impossible to avoid this problem when speedrunning tournament mode because you will underheat and go nowhere near as fast as you have to on these runs by pushing your engines to the brink of engine fire. This part damage from redlining the booster all the time does not happen at all with the base level parts (No upgrades), and in Time Attack and Free Play mode where you can redline your fully upgraded parts with the impunity your base parts.

I have found that as long as I don't crash (or take enough damage to need repairing in race) more than twice in a race, with all 4 pit droids, I will never take damage after a race, even with a fully upgraded pod. Also keep in mind that each pit droid prevents damage to one part, and stock parts can't take damage. So if you have 4 droids and only 4 upgraded parts, you will never take damage.