Career Races
Thunder Riders
- Raid (A 2 B, pick your route)
- 8 Entrants
- SUV's & Trucks
- Mixed Offroad (dirt road / trails + off-road)
- Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1850 FUEL
- Any Difficulty ... Horned Ring Football Helmet, Liveries Doppler
- Night race in smoke/fog that makes viewing a little tricky. However, you can win this one on Legendary with your King Arthur pretty easy using a short-cut. From the start just follow the pack on the dirt road. Once you get to the first red/white arrow pointing to the right, cut off-road (there's a gap to the right of the arrow sign) through the woods/fields straight towards the Finish marker. You'll need to do some fancy driving to avoid all the crap in the way, but you'll end up going down hill and plop onto a dirt road switchback. Head left a bit, bee-lining towards the Finish marker again, and you'll drive right off the edge of the dirt switchback. Don't worry, your King Arthur can handle the abuse. At the bottom of this drop you'll be at the very bottom of the dirt road switchback, giving you a considerable lead from the pack. From there just follow the course. Be careful at the end. You can ramp up the steep inclines on the roads to short-cut towards the finish. The first one you run into will put you onto a large hill which is a pain getting up (which will most likely let the competition catch up to you with the time you waste running up it). The second steep incline on the dirt road is next to the Finish, and it's better to take. It'll basically plop you right next to the asphalt road the finish line is on. While you can win this on Legendary with the Knightmare, it's much easier with the Arthur's acceleration and speed.
Way of the Lumberjack
- Checkpoint (4)
- 9 Entrants
- Motorcycle
- Mostly Offroad (dirt roads + off-road)
- Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1230 FUEL
- Any Difficulty ... Camo Jacket, Challenges Doppler
- On Rookie & Expert this race is dog meat for your Shuriken to eat up and poop out. But, on Legendary things will get a bit tight, because the first 3 riders take off like bats out of hell making it a pain to catch up to them. The problem is the course is mapped optimally. All of the off-road spots are ones you'd normally take to "cheat" in other races, but they're mapped as part of the course. So, the AI will burn through them leaving you litle wiggle room to get ahead unless you pass them legit. However, there's still a few spots to get ahead. From the start, it's tempting to ramp up the steep inclines you first see thinking it'll put you ahead. If you hit them at top speed, however, you'll waste a lot of time in the air watching the competiton pass you by. Instead, slow down to half speed to crest the inclines and barely gain any air. This will help you land and get up to speed again as soon as possible. After that, follow the course up to the 1st checkpoint. After it, you'll keep going and run past a farm house on the left side of the wide dirt road. Once you do, you'll veer left around a bend and see a steep hill/incline with the next checkpoints marker right in front of you almost. Aim for that steep incline. If you hit it just right you'll sail through some trees over that hill ... and land right close to a dirt trail. Follow this dirt trail across an asphalt road, then keep going on it making a bee-line towards the 2nd checkpoint. You'll end up hitting a wide dirt road bend... which is where the course picks up at. If you do this right you'll be in front of everyone with a little breathing room. You'll need to ride solid from here on out, though. Generally, when you think you can do a nice off-road short-cut ... the GPS will point that way and that's part of the course anyways. Just try to straighten out as much of the course as possible, because on Legendary the opponents cut you no slack.
The Good, The Fast, & The Dirty
- Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +1350 FUEL
- Any Difficulty ... Fangs Moto Helmet, Vista Doppler
Challenges
Speed Run
- 1 Entrant
- ATV (Deathwing)
- All Road (asphalt, but with off-road shortcuts)
- From the start make a left and head right off the edge of the road (gently). Roll down the hill towards the first dirt road. Once on it head across and down towards the next dirt road down the hill. Roll across it, too, and you'll face a pretty steep slope. Roll gently down it. Your aiming for that asphalt street cutting across the bottom of the ravine. Once you hit it, make a left and follow it (ignore your GPS.. it'll stupidly suggest you go straight up the ravine side in impossible fashion). If you follow the asphalt road, you'll notice it hooks back up with the outlined course on a series of short asphalt switchbacks. Once you hit that, just follow the course towards the Finish. You'll finish with plenty of time to spare (albeit probably with a pretty banged up Deathwing).
Chopper Chase
- 2 Entrants (You & Chopper)
- ATV (Mudblaster)
- Dirt & Off-road
- Follow the chopper on and off-road until you get to the edge of a ravine. The chopper will start to dip into the ravine. Ignore it; it's being an asshole. Head left around the ravine edge, and the Finish will be on the ravine edge, not down in the ravine. The chopper being stupid actually makes it easier for you, because while it's wasting time going down into the ravine you can swing around and win.
Seek & Destroy
- 3 Entrants (You & 2 Opponents)
- Muscle Car (The Enforcer)
- Dirt Road/Trail & Asphalt
- Your Enforcer handles a lot like The Bullet, so be prepared to slow down on tight turns or else you'll drift off course and waste time. You start out on a wide dirt road, and your Enforcer will willingly tear ass down it. However, the two jokers in front of you (a motorcycle and atv) will make a quick detour to the right onto a dirt trail. Transitioning to this can be a pain, and following along can also be a pain. However, if you can just keep up with them then they'll end up on an asphalt road and make a right again. Once on the asphalt you can tear things up to quickly catch them.
Raid
- 8 Entrants
- SUV (Knightmare)
- Mixed & Off Road
- From the start, ignore the competition (that heads the opposite direction of the checkpoint), and bee-line towards the check-point. This goes across a large section of rough terrain, but ends up at a dirt trail that takes you to an asphalt road. This asphalt road is what eventually becomes the course. So, once you hit it, just keep following it. Stick to the course to the checkpoint. After it, you'll notice the course to the Finish seems to take a large detour. You can either follow it, or forge your own path by bee-lining to the Finish. Either way, you're pretty much going to win at this point.
Blitz
- 1 Entrant
- ATV (Deathwing)
- Dirt Road/Trails & Asphalt (and off-road short-cuts)
- From the start, if you aim to the left of the stream / road barricade you can cut through the trees and come out onto the dirt trail you'll need to take to the 1st checkpoint. This will save a litle bit of time. You can shave a little more by cutting across the last corner to the 1st checkpoint, but it won't be much. After the 1st checkpoint, bee-line through the woods to the 2nd check-point. This will rack you up a nice cushion of extra time. The 3rd check-point is at the bottom of a ravine. You're going to need to head down the road a bit, because if you try to just jump off the ravine edge you'll likely bang your ass up so bad you'll wreck. Head about half-way down the road maybe, and try it near the stream. Once you hit the 3rd checkpoint, there's nothing to do but speed down the asphalt road at the bottom of the ravine to the 4th & finish checkpoints. The 4th has a bit of junk in the way right before you hit it. After you hit it, you can jump off the road into some weeds to bee-line towards the finish. Hop back on the road, avoid more junk, and you'll Finish the challenge with time to spare.
Checkpoint Run
- 1 Entrant
- Buggy (Dragonfly)
- Mostly Asphalt + Some Dirt Roading
- 5:00 to finish 12 checkpoints. Easy, right? Not necessarily. For starters, the Dragonfly lacks speed. Second, it loves to skid out. The good news it is has good brakes. When you come to tight, right or hair-pin turns hit your brake (normal not the handbrake) to slow to half speed. Then round the corner. This will keep you from skidding out, overshooting into the weeds, or spinning your tires trying to get back up to speed. If you just follow the course carefully instead of trying to powerslide around like crazy you'll win with a little time left. So, safer driving prevails here.
Knock-out
- 9 Entrants
- Buggy (Psychotic Fox)
- Dirt Road / Trails
- Once again your Psychotic Fox is called to duty (developers must have loved it, or perhaps didn't have very many buggies in early line up and just kept assigning races to the Fox). The Fox is small and nimble, so you can duck through openings in oppoents and dive through a few trees ok. From the start you'll need to avoid the jackasses in front of you, because they like to slow down for no reason or just group in right in the way. You can catch them weaving around towards the left before making the turn to the 1st checkpoint, and that's a good time to cut in the right side and blow past them. The dirt trail you transition to is annoying to fight opponents on, so just do your best. There aren't too many short-cuts in this one; no major "do this one and you win by default" short-cuts. It's mostly a matter of good driving. What helps you is how dumb the AI is on this competition. They'll be breathing down your tailpipe one second then meters way behind you the next. They seem to get confused making some turns or figuring out some checkpoints. That's to your advantage as you can easily win this with just decent driving.
Wild Track (2 Laps)
- 8 Entrants
- Motorcycle (Twin Freaks)
- Asphalt & Dirt roads/trails (off-road shortcuts)
- Your Twin Freaks will eat this race up fairly easily as long as you remember it's a turn drifter (like an ATV), not a turn hugger (like other Motorcycles). For tight turns, just use the old "slow to 1/2 speed" trick, and perhaps tap your hand brake once to get a tad more drift as needed). When you pass checkpoints, swing your camera around to look for the next, because it helps you find all the shortcuts. Around the start of the race (when it transitions from asphalt to dirt trail) you can just cut through the woods onto the dirt trail. There's a drop-off or two you can take after some check points to avoid wasting time on switchbacks. Just have to be careful to gently roll your bike off the edges. Level your bike out with the lean keys to land on both tires, and you should be fine. Within the first lap you should be dominating the race, and the second lap will just add insult to their injury.
Checkpoint Race
- 10 Entrants
- Muscle Car (Wild Wolf)
- Asphalt then dirt roads
- If you're going to lose this race, it's going to be on the corners, so brush up on your Wild Wolf in free roam before entering. First half of the race is on asphalt as you hit some corners and long stretches over bridges to try and fight your way through the competition. Unless you're lucky or "just that good", you'll probably end up with a competitor or two in front. Don't sweat it, just keep up. There's really no short-cutting on the asphalt part, because hitting a few off-road stretches will either slow you down, send you into the air, or send you sliding past your road/target, wasting more time than saving. It's generally best to just follow the course. Remember to slow down to 1/2 speed (about 50mph) when making sharp corners. Use your normal brake, and hit it BEFORE you start cornering. This will help you do a controlled turn instead of sending you into an uncontrolled drift. If you do start drifitng lay off the gas. Holding down the gas while drifting in the Wild Wolf just causes it to drift more wildly and spin its tires to get going. Point yourself in the right direction, then lay on the gas. When you transition to the dirt roads, you should have a few road shoulders you can cut straight and pass the bozo's in front. The dirt road isn't bad if you keep it around 70-90mph. The final corner before the Finish can hose you if you take it too fast, and you end up out in the weeds or spinning your tires. Slow down to 50mph, corner, and then head to Finish. The left shoulder on this final stretch of dirt roads acts a bit like off-road, slowing you down and throwing you out of contorl a bit. Be careful your Wild Wolf doesn't lose control and slip out into the weeds before victory.
Endurance
- 11 Entrants
- SUV (King Arthur)
- Dirt / Off-road (1st half), Asphalt (2nd half)
- As an Endurance race, you may be tempted to find really out-of-the-way short-cuts, but don't get carried away. The first half of the race, hitting dirt roads and off-road parts, has you heading up a mountain. If you veer too far off the beaten path you could find yourself wasting time climbing the mountain other ways. Generally stick to the course, but short-cut a bit if it bee-lines you towards the 1st check-point. You should be able to put the competition behind you fairly easily. The 2nd half of the race (after hitting checkpoint) leads you to an asphalt road. It looks like it takes a round-about way to get to the finish, but it takes you over a bridge that crosses two steep mountains. So, again, don't veer off course too much. You can easily do 100mph on the asphalt with your King Arthur, and this will just put more distance between you and the competitors. Overall, a pretty easy, straight-forward race, but it neuters Endurance, off-road, SUV racing: it doesn't let you really experiment with off-road short-cuts, and the 2nd half being all asphalt is just a slap in the face.
Vista points
- Black Buzzard Gorge
- Green Valley
- Dove Corridor
- Old Cree Island
- Red Fox Mountain
- Grey Gorge
General Info
- Massive expanse of land
- Mainly composed of steep mountains, providing a driving playground
- Has multiple bridges, which are often a relief to the eye, as well as the explorer wishing to cross a canyon
- Yellowstone lake is located on the west side of the map
- Northern areas offer amazing sights of Rainier Peak