Drive Like an Expert in PGR4

Project Gotham Racing® 4 adds several new wrinkles to its long established and critically acclaimed gameplay. We've braved the dynamic weather, mastered the motorcycle, and reacquainted ourselves with the art of Kudos, so now you may reap the rewards of our racing toil. Good luck in your own racing career.

Burnout at the line for Kudos.

Balanced Ride
Veterans of the Project Gotham Racing series may know precisely what kind of ride fits their style, but newcomers are well advised to stay away from specialized vehicles. Don't focus too much on top speed, acceleration, or even handling for that matter. Stick with the versatile jack-of-all-trades vehicles until you get a proper sense of your preferred driving style.

This is especially important in career mode. With each career segment broken into three distinct challenges, find out whatever car or motorcycle has a good shot at competing in every kind of race type.

Respect the rain.

Drifts and Tricks
Drifting around corners has long been a staple of the franchise, but motorcyclists will have to come to terms with the increased difficulty of drifting on two wheels. Augment what drifts you can manage by performing tricks coming into and out of turns. Perform an endo while hitting the brakes heading into a turn, and then wheelie as you accelerate out of the turn to score big.

Use the Minimap
Unless you have the utmost confidence in your track memorization skills, glance consistently at your minimap throughout a race. Knowing the location of the upcoming turn and its severity will enable you to set up your approach to the turn, and get you through faster.

Double Drift
When you spot an S-turn, it's time to brush up on your double-drifting skills. Begin a drift around the first corner, then tap the emergency brake and crank the wheel to the other side. This will earn loads of Kudos in a hurry. Since S-turns are typically generous in width, use them to sharpen your drift skills.

Braking on Bikes
The shift from car to motorcycle can be seamless and fun. But just as drifting on a motorcycle is a touch less forgiving and needs a different approach, turns require a different strategy. On a bike, brake coming into a turn long before you would in a car. This way, you won't go splat against the wall, and it provides a bit of lead-time for attempting an endo.

Cockpit view recommended for cars.

Draft, Slide, Overtake
Performing a several-hundred point drift is certainly worthy of celebration, but earning Kudos in bunches comes down to more than a single maneuver. Learn to combo Kudos moves together into long strings with healthy multipliers. Always look for that next Kudos-earning opportunity while still in the midst of your current trick.

The easiest and most efficient of these elusive combos is the draft, slide, overtake tactic. Tuck your front fender behind an opposing driver to draft until you reach the next turn. Then, perform a hard drift—preferably on the inside of your opponent—and overtake them. Taken alone, each trick provides only a modest gain, but put together with the 3x multiplier, your Kudos total will shoot up.

Weathering Ice, Standing Water
The natural impulse for any driver when skipping over standing water or losing control on a patch of ice, is to jam on the brakes. This will almost certainly result in a spinout. Stay patient, and wait till your tires gain traction again. Then hit the brakes or accelerate, depending on the situation, and maintain control of your vehicle.

Tactical Perspective
Driving games are dominated by the first-person perspective for a reason. Sure, it's nice to look at your glossy speedster from the outside, but your depth perception suffers considerably, making turns far more difficult to navigate than they need be.

While this remains true for cars, motorcycles are more easily controlled from the less frantic third-person perspective. Because of the motorcycle's burst of acceleration and the constant tilting while cornering or even just adjusting your line on a straightaway, the third-person camera provides an all around more stable view.

These driving tips should help you stay on the road, and more importantly, stay ahead of those behind you. Now, get in your car and drive!

Article by Ryan Treit