So, you'd like to try out the 100% category for Top Gear 2. Or, you're considering it. Or, you're just reading this as for fun.

Regardless, welcome, and thanks for reading this template of sorts.

Top Gear 2, at the end of the day, is a racing game, and with speedrunning (would it be... speeddriving?) the entirety of this game, you're going to have to better speed and efficiency of your run, bit by bit. But how do you go about that? The way I see it, you have to approach the game in two sections: early game, and the rest of it. I'll separate the guide from hereon by these sections.

============================== Early Game

If you're truly considering going for this run, you have to learn the first 8-10 tracks, from the track layouts and where to turn, to where and when you want to boost (nitro efficiency will be covered later in another guide). Moreover, you can't get hit by other cars (as damage to your armor causes a dip in your top speed, and maintaining proper top speed is definitely more important than later in the game), and you can't get anything lower than first place in these races (you'll need as much money as you can salvage to keep upgrading your car).

My current upgrade path for this run starts off by getting the 2nd tier Gearbox after the first race, getting the 3rd tier Nitro and the best Wet Tires before Sydney, getting the 3rd tier Engine and the best Dry Tires after Sheffield (Britain), then the best gearbox, and then the best nitro. From here, you're probably close to the second track of Egypt, which will definitely require some form of side armor (the first and second left turns, as well as the weird rights, are awful on this track). After that, you'll probably get the best Engine, the best Front Armor, and (if you need it), any form of rear armor. Unless you're getting rammed from behind all the time (in which case, you're either you're going too slow from other armor bumps, or you've gotten yourself squeezed between a few cars) (Pro tip: don't get yourself squeezed between a few cars), you shouldn't need rear armor until the after Greece. By this point, you've reached...

Late Game

Welcome to Meteora. Have you hit the wall yet? For your sake, I hope you haven't hit the wall yet. Don't go any faster than 180 MPH until after the second tunnel. Once your marker reaches the straightaway before the left turn, go to the left lane, make your left turn, and once you've gone through the bridge, then you can boost, and then boost again about 10-15 seconds after the first one burns out. Those fake turns occur occasionally in other tracks from here on out, and I don't know if it was a sick prank by the developers to do that, but it's there. It's not a run killer by any means, so if you hit it, just laugh it off, recover, and don't make the same mistake again. :D

But yeah, from here on out, dodge cars, don't hit walls, and dodge past cars. In fact, you could break down every track from this perspective...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Phases During Any Given Track -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Beginning: -Get in front of the pack. Try your hardest to do this without using your precious nitro (and 90% of the time, you should be able to). -Get a feel for the track, and figure out where you should boost (again, nitro optimization is explained later in this guide). -Don't ever look back. Just wanted to rhyme here, but don't get hit, and try not to hit anything on or outside of the road.

Middle: -Don't make mistakes on the road. It's smooth sailing after you've passed everyone, so get comfortable with the track, and keep up with nitro optimization, up until...

Finishing: -You'll start lapping cars, depending on the track size, the number of laps, and quickly you've been driving during the beginning and middle sections, and how quickly you passed every car to get into first. This phase usually occurs anywhere between 15 seconds to about a minute after you've passed almost every car. These cars are now obstacles that can ruin any built up speed you have going, whether you run into them, or you hit something on the road by attempting to dodge them. -Dodge cars. -Keep dodging cars. -Don't spin/tumble on the road. -Consider saving a boost for if/when you lose speed. -Pray that more cars don't come with how fast you're going.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Snowing tracks are the worst. Unless it's a straightaway, don't boost, and depending on the turn, don't go any faster than about 200-205 MPH, as you'll slip and slide around (I think the idea is that the track will be icy), adding the potential of losing speed by hitting objects on the side of the road actually a bit easier, now that we've found that you can keep high speeds while maintain a large amount of steering control by performing the Turn Throttling tech, which you can find here. Don't feel like clicking it? I'll sum it up in one sentence: mash the direction you're trying to steer around corners where you'd normally slide after turning at high speeds for too long. Okay? Okay.

Is a stage raining? You'll likely find puddles on the road, which acts as another hazard for dodging cars, as puddles can both push you randomly towards the left or the right and cause you to hydroplane (which causes the same effect as going too fast around a turn on a snowing stage) if you drive over too many of them before or during a turn. Raining stages are not as much of a problem, so long as you have the wet tires. :D

Can you dodge cars, and recover if you've hit something that caused you to slow down dramatically? This is definitely something that will separate a good run from a not-so-good run.

Oh, and keep an eye out for nitrous, red speedups, and yellow money pickups. Those will always be in the center of the road. However, make sure you don't run the risk of crashing into cars or losing speed to pick them up (with the exception of Rome in Italy, which might require intentionally hitting into the left side of the road to pick up the nitrous before the three straightaways).

Tl;dr: Consider your upgrade path, because you'll have to deal with it early game. Don't hit cars and objects on the road. Dodge cars, prepare early for turns, Meteora is the devil that opens the hells of fake turns, snow levels are evil if you go too fast, and watch for puddles and puddle RNG, don't hit cars and objects on the road, dodge more cars, watch for pickups on the road, dodge more cars, don't forget to dodge cars, and definitely dodge cars.