Rally Shox - Strategy Guide (Page 02)
Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Rally Shox - Strategy Guide (Page 02).
Power Championship
Race 1: Arid
Shox Zone 1: This opening Shox Zone begins with a steep
uphill climb on a right-hand turn,
followed by a steep descent into a
left-hand turn whose exit leads up a
semi-steep climb. The rest of this Shox
Zone is a long, gentle downhill run with
several corners, some of which can be
moderately straightlined to save time.
Shox Zone 2: Beginning on dirt, this Shox Zone runs
through the now-famous double-hairpin
section, transitioning to asphalt between
the hairpin turns. The circuit winds
through the mountain cliffs.
Shox Zone 3: Beginning on asphalt, this final Shox Zone
winds past the waterfall between the
mountain cliffs, then transitions to
dirt. The circuit continues winding
between the mountain cliffs with a few
hills thrown in.
Race 2: Jungle
Shox Zone 1: Beginning at the transition from wooden
bridge to mud, this Shox Zone quickly
moves to the winding white sand beach area
encountered in previous Jungle circuits.
Shox Zone 2: Except for a wooden bridge, the entire
Shox Zone is mud. The Shox Zone comes to
an end immediately at the exit of a NASTY
and NARROW right-hand right-angle corner.
Shox Zone 3: This all-mud Shox Zone is a number of
semi-gentle corners with a few hills and
minor jumps.
Race 3: Ice
Shox Zone 1: This initial Shox Zone begins on snow in
the VERY brief straightaway between the
overglorified bobsled course and a right-
hand right-angle corner. The rest of this
Shox Zone is comprised of gentle corners.
Shox Zone 2: Beginning on ice, this second Shox Zone
quickly transitions to snow, with a semi-
significant jump about halfway through
this Shox Zone. The final third
transitions to ice for the bridge, then
back to snow just before the end gate.
Shox Zone 3: After a VERY brief snow section, the
terrain transitions to ice, with a left-
hand right-angle corner following a minor
jump. The Shox Zone ends shortly after
transitioning back to snow.
Race 4: Arid
Shox Zone 1: This Shox Zone is mostly sand, but ends on
asphalt. The circuit here winds between
the tall mountain cliffs.
Shox Zone 2: The second Shox Zone begins on dirt and
has two significant jumps, the landing
zone for the second jump being asphalt in
a right-hand turn. The asphalt continues
for the rest of the Shox Zone as the
circuit snakes around.
Shox Zone 3: Entirely dirt, this final Shox Zone has a
few hills and A LOT of twists and turns.
Race 5: Jungle
Shox Zone 1: Entirely mud except for a wooden bridge,
this Shox Zone has several jumps and A LOT
of high-speed turns.
Shox Zone 2: Beginning at the transition from wooden
bridge to mud, this Shox Zone quickly
moves to the winding white sand beach area
encountered in previous Jungle circuits.
Shox Zone 3: Beginning on the beach, this final Shox
Zone heads back into the jungle and
ends after a narrow and difficult left-
hand right-angle corner.
Race 6: Ice
Shox Zone 1: Beginning with ice thinly layered with
snow, this Shox Zone transitions later to
snow and then to pure ice. There are
several corners, including a tricky
right-hand right-angle corner.
Shox Zone 2: The middle half of this Shox Zone is snow,
with the opening and final fourths icy.
There are numerous corners, several rather
tricky.
Shox Zone 3: The game's final Shox Zone begins on snow,
then makes a sharp left-hand turn into the
overglorified bobsled course.
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RACING TIPS: BRAKING
The first step in driving fast is knowing when, where, and
how much to slow down (braking). In some games, a brake
controller can be acquired or purchased, allowing the player
to customize the brake strength by axle or by adjusting the
bias of the brakes toward the front or the rear of the car;
in other games, this is part of the 'stock' feature of the
cars.
The use of a brake controller will affect the braking zone,
as will other factors. Specifically, the car's speed on
approaching a corner, the amount of fuel in the car at a
given moment, the drivetrain of the car, the weight of the
car, and even the car's center of gravity can all affect the
braking zone. Similarly, the driving conditions - sunny,
overcast, damp, wet, icy, snowy etc. - will affect the
braking zone for each corner (as well as the car's ability to
attain high speeds).
Except for purely arcade-style games, the braking zone will
differ somewhat for each car depending upon its strengths and
weaknesses. It certainly helps for the player to try a Free
Run or a Time Trial (if these modes exist in a given game) to
learn the circuit(s) - including the braking zones.
When looking for braking zones, try to find a particular
stationary object near the entry of each corner; it helps
tremendously if this object is far enough away from the
circuit that it will not be knocked over during a race. To
begin, try using the brakes when the front of the car is
parallel with the chosen stationary object. If this does not
slow the car enough before corner entry or if the car slows
too much before reaching the corner, pick another stationary
object on the following lap and try again.
Whenever changes are made to the car - whether to the brake
controller or to other aspects of tuning and/or parts - it
would be a good idea to go back into Free Run mode and check
that the braking zones still hold; if not, adjust as
necessary using the method in the paragraph above.
For those races which include fuel loads, the car will become
progressively lighter during a race. The lesser weight can
often mean a slightly shorter braking zone; however, if tire
wear is excessive (especially if there have been numerous
off-course excursions), that might dictate a longer braking
zone.
Cars with a higher horsepower output will inherently attain
faster speeds, and will therefore require a longer braking
zone than cars with a lower horsepower output. Try a
Volkswagon New Beetle, a Mini Cooper, a Dodge Viper, a Panoz
Esperante GT-1, a Corvette C5R, and an F-2002 (all in
stock/base configuration) along the same area of a circuit
and note how their braking zones differ.
A final note on braking: To the extent possible, ALWAYS brake
in a straight line. If braking only occurs when cornering,
the car will likely be carrying too much speed for the
corner, resulting in the car sliding, spinning, and/or
flipping. (Some games purposely do not permit the car to
flip, but a slide or spin can still mean the difference
between winning and ending up in last position at the end of
a race.)
If nothing else, players should strive to become of the
'breakers' they possibly can. This will essentially force a
player to become a better racer/driver in general once the
player has overcome the urge to constantly run at top speed
at all times with no regard for damages to self or others.
Also, slowing the car appropriately will make other aspects
of racing/driving easier, especially in J-turns, hairpin
corners, and chicanes.
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RACING TIPS: CORNERING
Ideally, the best way to approach a corner is from the
outside of the turn, braking well before entering the corner.
At the apex (the midpoint of the corner), the car should be
right up against the edge of the roadway. On corner exit,
the car drifts back to the outside of the roadway and speeds
off down the straightaway. So, for a right-hand turn of
about ninety degrees, enter the corner from the left, come to
the right to hit the apex, and drift back to the left on
corner exit. See the Diagrams section at the end of this
guide for a sample standard corner.
For corners that are less than ninety degrees, it may be
possible to just barely tap the brakes - if at all - and be
able to clear such corners successfully. However, the same
principles of cornering apply: approach from the outside of
the turn, hit the apex, and drift back outside on corner
exit.
For corners more than ninety degrees but well less than 180
degrees, braking will certainly be required. However, for
these 'J-turns,' the apex of the corner is not the midpoint,
but a point approximately two-thirds of the way around the
corner. J-turns require great familiarity to know when to
begin diving toward the inside of the corner and when to
power to the outside on corner exit. See the Diagrams
section at the end of this guide for a sample J-turn.
Hairpin corners are turns of approximately 180 degrees.
Braking is certainly required before corner entry, and the
cornering process is the same as for standard corners:
Approach from the outside, drift inside to hit the apex
(located at halfway around the corner, or after turning
ninety degrees), and drifting back to the outside on corner
exit. See the Diagrams section at the end of this guide for
a sample hairpin corner.
If there are two corners of approximately ninety degrees each
AND both corners turn in the same direction AND there is only
a VERY brief straightaway between the two corners, they may
be able to be treated like an extended hairpin corner.
Sometimes, however, these 'U-turns' have a straightaway
between the corners that is just long enough to prohibit a
hairpin-like treatment; in this case, drifting to the outside
on exiting the first of the two corners will automatically
set up the approach to the next turn. See the Diagrams
section at the end of this guide for a sample U-turn.
FIA (the governing body of F1 racing, World Rally
Championship, and other forms of international motorsport)
seems to love chicanes. One common type of chicane is
essentially a 'quick-flick,' where the circuit quickly edges
off in one direction then realigns itself in a path parallel
to the original stretch of pavement, as in the examples in
the Diagrams section at the end of this guide. Here, the
object is to approach the first corner from the outside, hit
BOTH apexes, and drift to the outside of the second turn.
There are chicanes of various types in rally racing, but they
are not necessarily considered as such because the
competitors tend to think corner-by-corner, and not complex-
by-complex like circuit-based competitors.
FIA also seems to like the 'Bus Stop' chicane, which is
essentially just a pair of quick-flicks, with the second
forming the mirror image of the first, as shown in the
Diagrams section at the end of this guide. Perhaps the most
famous Bus Stop chicane is the chicane (which is actually
called the ŒBus Stop Chicane¹) at Pit Entry at Spa-
Francorchamps, the home of the annual Grand Prix of Belgium
(F1 racing) and the host of The 24 Hours of Spa (for
endurance racing).
Virtually every other type of corner or corner combination
encountered in racing (primarily in road racing) combines
elements of the corners presented above. These complex
corners and chicanes can be challenging, such as the Ascari
chicane at Monza. See the Diagrams section for an idea of
the formation of Ascari.
However, in illegal street/highway racing, the positioning of
traffic can 'create' the various corners and corner
combinations mentioned here. For example, weaving in and out
of traffic creates a virtual bus stop chicane (see the
Diagrams section at the end of this guide). Slowing may be
necessary - it often is - depending on the distance between
the vehicles. See the Sample Circuit Using Some of the Above
Corner Types Combines in the Diagrams section at the end of
this guide; note that this is a diagram for a very technical
circuit.
At some race venues, 'artificial chicanes' may be created by
placing cones and/or (concrete) barriers in the middle of a
straightaway. One such game which used this type of chicane
is the original Formula1 by Psygnosis, an F1-based
PlayStation game from 1995, which used this at Circuit
Gilles-Villeneuve along Casino Straight (shortly after
passing the final grandstands at the exit of Casino Hairpin).
One thing which can change the approach to cornering is the
available vision. Blind and semi-blind corners require
ABSOLUTE knowledge of such corners. Here is where gamers
have an advantage over real-world drivers: Gamers can
(usually) change their viewpoint (camera position), which can
sometimes provide a wider, clearer view of the stage, which
can be especially important when approaching semi-blind
corners; real-world drivers are obviously inhibited by the
designs of their cars and racing helmets. Great examples of
real-world blind and semi-blind corners would be Mulsanne
Hump at Le Mans, Turns 14 and 15 at Albert Park, each of the
first three corners at A1-Ring, and many forest-based stages
in rally racing.
Also important to cornering - especially with long, extended
corners - is the corner¹s radius. Most corners use an
identical radius throughout their length. However, some are
increasing-radius corners or decreasing-radius corners.
These corners may require shifting the apex point of a
corner, and almost always result in a change of speed.
Decreasing-radius corners are perhaps the trickiest, because
the angle of the corner becomes sharper, thus generally
requiring more braking as well as more turning of the
steering wheel. Increasing-radius corners are corners for
which the angle becomes more and more gentle as the corner
progresses; this means that drivers will generally accelerate
more, harder, or faster, but such an extra burst of speed can
backfire and require more braking. See the Diagrams section
at the end of this guide for sample images of a decreasing-
radius corner and an increasing-radius corner.
For traditional road racing circuits, increasing-radius and
decreasing-radius corners may not be too much of a problem;
after several laps around one of these circuits, a driver
will know where the braking and acceleration points are as
well as the shifted apex point (should a shift be required).
However, for stage-based rally racing, where the roads are
virtually unknown and the driver knows what is ahead only
because of the navigator¹s instructions (which - based upon
notes - may or may not be absolutely correct), the unknown
can cause drivers to brake more often and/or more heavily.
For rally-based games, such as the Need for Speed: V-Rally
series (PlayStation/PSOne/PlayStation2) or for World Rally
Championship (PlayStation2), there is often specialized
vocabulary used: Œtightens¹ generally designates that a
corner has a decreasing radius, whereas Œwidens¹ or Œopens¹
indicates that a corner has an increasing radius. This need
for Œextra¹ braking is also tempered by the fact that in much
of rally racing, corners are either blind or semi-blind, due
to trees, buildings, cliffs, embankments, and other obstacles
to clear vision all the way around a corner.
One particularly interesting aspect of cornering is one which
I honestly do not know if it works in reality (I am not a
real-world racer, although I would certainly LOVE the chance
to attend a racing school!!!), but which works in numerous
racing/driving games I have played over the years. This
aspect is to use the accelerator to help with quickly and
safely navigating sharp corners. This works by first BRAKING
AS USUAL IN ADVANCE OF THE CORNER, then - once in the corner
itself - rapidly pumping the brakes for the duration of the
corner (or at least until well past the apex of the corner).
The action of rapidly pumping the accelerator appears to
cause the drive wheels to catch the pavement just enough to
help stop or slow a sliding car, causing the non-drive wheels
to continue slipping and the entire car to turn just a little
faster. Using this rapid-pumping technique with the
accelerator does take a little practice initially, and seems
to work best with FR cars; however, once perfected, this
technique can pay dividends, especially with REALLY sharp
hairpin corners, such as at Sebring International Raceway or
those often found in rally racing.
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RACING TIPS: COASTING
Some players may believe that a good racer is ALWAYS either
accelerating or braking. However, this is not always the
best way to approach a given section of a circuit or rally
stage. Coasting can sometimes be beneficial.
First, consider standard street or highway driving. Street-
legal cars are designed for the same foot to be used for both
acceleration and braking (with the other foot used for
operating the clutch if the vehicle uses a manual
transmission). There is always a slight delay between
acceleration and braking as the driver moves the foot from
one pedal to the other; during this time, the vehicle is
essentially coasting - that is, the vehicle's current
momentum is the only thing moving the vehicle.
In real-world racing, there are a number of drivers who use
'left-foot braking.' In other words, one foot is used for
the accelerator, while the other foot is used for the brake
pedal. Yet even in left-foot braking, a driver must take
care to NOT be pressing both the accelerator pedal AND the
brake pedal simultaneously, as this could cause the engine
revs to spike and/or cause undue tire wear. Therefore, even
though for a much shorter duration (perhaps best measured in
hundredths of a second) than in standard 'right-foot
braking,' there is always a short period of coasting.
In many racing games, I find that coasting through tight
corners (including tight chicanes) can sometimes be the best
method to safely navigate these difficult sections - and this
is true in both pavement-based games and in rally-based
games. Certainly, braking properly (i.e., in a straight line
BEFORE reaching the corner or chicane) is key to successfully
coasting. However, using NEITHER the accelerator button NOR
the brake button will cause the vehicle to coast, thus using
the natural momentum of the vehicle to perhaps swing the
vehicle around the corner or through the chicane.
This is actually somewhat tricky to explain in words, and is
really something that each player should try several times
(especially on tight, technical circuits, such as Monaco and
Bathurst, or virtually any stage of a rally-based game) to
truly understand this technique. Once learned, however,
players may easily find themselves adding this technique to
their gaming repertoire :-)
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RACING TIPS: WEIGHT SHIFTS
Modern racing games are especially adept at simulating a
vehicle's weight shift in a variety of situations. This
section assumes that a vehicle is moving in a forward
direction.
When cornering, a vehicle's weight shift is to the opposite
direction; in other words, if a vehicle is turning to the
left, its weight will be shifted to the right (and vice
versa). If the player attempts to corner too quickly, the
resultant weight shift risks to slide the vehicle toward the
outside of the turn; in extreme cases, the vehicle could lift
and have only TWO wheels actually touching the ground, or
potentially the vehicle could even flip onto its side or its
roof!!! While it is certainly fun to see a vehicle on two
wheels or on its side or roof, this is obviously counter-
productive, especially in a close race or in a time trial
mode. Tires and downforce play a role in helping to keep the
vehicle on the ground during cornering, but once a given
speed is surpassed for the type, radius, and angle of the
corner in question, the player will have limited - if any -
control of the vehicle.
During acceleration, the vehicle's weight will naturally
shift toward the rear. In most situations, this is not a
particularly crucial phenomenon. However, if the vehicle is
moving fairly slowly and the player suddenly slams on the
accelerator, or especially if a race has a standing start
(such as F1, TOCA, and rally races), this weight shift should
be crucial. As the vehicle weight shifts to the rear of the
vehicle, the rear suspension and tires could potentially take
a lot of punishment. This is especially important for the
tires, as the extra weight will require an appropriate amount
of 'extra' acceleration (especially if the vehicle uses rear-
wheel drive, which is true of many racing vehicles) to
compensate and get the wheels to turn enough for the tires to
adequately grip the racing surface to help to propel the
vehicle forward. However, overcompensation could result in
excessive wheelspin, which is quite likely to create undue
tire wear.
While braking, a vehicle's weight will shift toward the front
of the vehicle. If the player brakes too late to corner
safely yet still attempts to take the corner even semi-
normally, the weight will load to the front outside wheel (in
relation to the corner; i.e., to the front-left wheel if
taking a right-hand corner) and risk causing the vehicle to
slide off the course in the direction of the front-outside
wheel. Even if not attempting to corner, the weight shift to
the front during braking requires a little extra care to
ensure that the front wheels do not lock (in those games
which support wheel-lock, such as Pro Race Driver).
In rally racing especially, the trick to successfully
navigating many of the tight corners on the various stages is
to use the vehicle's natural weight shifts to help
successfully clear each section of the stage. This requires
excellent knowledge of each rally car's capabilities and
limitations, as well as superb anticipation and planning for
each corner. Obviously, since most rallies are held on
point-to-point stages, there is only one chance to
successfully navigate each twist in the raceway, and using a
vehicle's natural weight shift is crucial to 'getting it
right' the first (and only) time!!!
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