I am writing this based mostly on my own research. This section of the guide discusses strategies for running each of the separate categories.

General Strategy

There are three ways to lose significant amounts of time in the run: Losing races, racing the wrong rivals, and spending time between races. Almost everything I will write is to minimize these time losses. First, some general principles that apply in every category:

• Speed, and therefore power, are very precious. Because you are chasing moving targets around the road, going 10% faster can often result in reaching the next rival 20% sooner.
• While in a race, if victory is fairly certain, then your primary objective is to reach the next rival on the highway as quickly as possible.
• Except in special circumstances, do not drive around large portions of the track to get to another rival. Quitting and going to the next night are often faster.
• Stopping and waiting for the rival behind you is faster than racing towards the one ahead.
• Your car should always be fast enough to win races easily.
• Racing previously beaten rivals only makes sense if the rival is worth a lot of money or you are in serious need of cash. In all other cases, it is faster to quit and reload.
• If it is obvious that you will lose a race, immediately retire and challenge him again. Now on to some specific categories.

BEAT 1 DEVA

Easily the most RNG-heavy category. The goal is to race all rivals from any two teams, and then race and beat Grim Reaper. In a perfect run, that means beating Rolling Guy and Curving Edge, which are both the smallest and easiest teams. However, because there is so much RNG, I have sometimes completed SS Limited and even gotten very close to finishing Elegant Wild. If you encounter any racer on track who does not belong to one of these four teams, or to R-Gangs or Cupid Arrows (they are worth a ton of money), then you should probably quit and reload, which will be faster than continuing on to the next rival. Of course, if you get good RNG then beating Grim Reaper will also be a significant challenge because you will not have faced enough racers to get good upgrades. To give an idea of how brutal this run can be, I have attempted 120 runs, and only thrice did I find all the regular rivals I needed before 25 minutes were up. With perfect RNG and clean races, getting a run under 15 minutes is theoretically possible. For your car, get the S13 or EK9 and immediately buy Engine Stage 1 and a Muffler. The S13 is slightly faster, but the EK9 has cheaper upgrades, which can make a big difference. I think the optimal choice of car actually depends on the RNG you get on track. In any case, aggressively keep your engine as upgraded as possible, which will reduce the time between races and dramatically improve your odds against Grim Reaper.

BEAT ALL DEVAS

The goal is to race all rivals from any 8 teams and then beat Banshee. The 8th team is Twister, but it is a good idea to race R-Gangs and Tokio Jungle as they appear, since it is unlikely to get all eight of the first teams. Towards the end of the run, I never race anyone from a team beyond Tokio Jungle. Start with the S13 or EK9 with Engine 1 and muffler. After this, there are two possible routes:

• Midgame car route: Buy at most an Engine Stage 2 for your first car. Then, as soon as possible, buy an R32, R33, FD, FDD (requires beating Midnight Cinderella), or possibly even the GC8. Whichever car you pick, you should be able to get it basically fully upgrade before you reach Banshee.
• S13/EK9 route: Upgrade your car as much as you can and try to beat everyone with it. I have two problems with this strategy: 1) Stage 4 and 5 engine upgrades together cost as much as a new car, which will be faster anyway as soon as you get it, and 2) the slower car can make it far more difficult to beat Nocturnal Wolf and Banshee on your first try, which wastes time.

BEAT ALL RACERS

The goal is to beat all 141 rivals as quickly as possible. Because the order in which they appear matters little, this category has by far the least RNG. Start with an S13 or EK9 with Engine Stage 1 and Muffler. It is important to get a faster car as early as possible (remember to sell your old car), but you have two options:

• Complete the run with three cars: Buy an R32, R33, FD, FDD, or GC8 as early as possible and buy all useful upgrades. (Red Devil and ZERO are very fast opponents.) Later on, replace it with the R34D (after beating Red Devil) or the P930 (after beating ZERO). For the R34D, you will need about 230,000 CP, plus selling your old car, to purchase and fully upgrade it. For the P930, you will need about 410,000 CP. Either way, you will probably have enough money to do it as soon as you unlock the car. Then complete the run with that car. (Personally, I prefer getting the R32 and then R34D.)
• Complete the run with two cars: Buy an R32, R33, or FDD as early as possible and buy all useful upgrades. All three of these cars should be fast enough to complete the run without too much difficulty. I do not prefer this strategy because the time needed to replace and upgrade a new car is about the same as the time lost by losing and restarting a single race. Finally, I mentioned it in the Rivals guide, but it is worth repeating here for those who prefer to race on one track over the other. White Witch (Speed Master) appears to never spawn on the B track. It is possible that one or more rivals never spawn on the A track. So as you are nearing the end of the run, you may need to switch tracks for a little bit.