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Carloads of Kudos
By Keith Procter (Gamertag: daddynathan)
Here's something you probably already know: Project Gotham Racing® 2 is a challenging game. Part of the joy of playing it is seeing the progress I’ve made since getting a copy of the game as an early Christmas present. I’ve beaten the Kudos World Series at the Silver level, and I’m on the verge of a double-digit ranking on XboxLive (just under 20,000 Kudos short of level 10).
You might find my performance less than impressive. And I admit, I’m a long, long way from being an expert PGR™ 2driver. Luckily, I work in close proximity to people who are. Lately I've been talking to members of the PGR 2 Test Team, looking for tips that will help me—and you—move up the Xbox Live ladders.
First I asked Jimbo, thePGR 2 Test Lead, for some pointers on PGR 2 driving techniques that would boost my performance in all areas of the game. With these suggestions in hand, I was able to slice more than 10 seconds off my best time at the Nürburgring and beat all the Silver level Kudos World Series challenges that stood between me and the new love of my PGR 2 life, the Porsche 911 GT1.
Now I’m rededicating myself to beating the KWS at the Gold level. The events that give me the most trouble are the Cone Challenges. I'm okay when the primary challenge is driving really fast, but I struggle with the parts of the game where driving with style matters most. Jimbo passed me on to a Design Lead at Microsoft Games Studio who excels in Cone Challenges, Chris.
It's a lot harder than it looks.
Chris had some good advice on advanced driving techniques that will help you rack up baskets of Kudos. Here he focuses on performing 360s and stringing together combinations of moves.
"Performing a 360 is pretty easy, assuming you have a rear-wheel drive vehicle,” he said. “Typically most cars in PGR 2will do a doughnut from a standing start simply by pushing the steering to one side and standing on the gas."
That sounded easy enough, but then it turned out that there was a little more to it than that.
"Some vehicles have four-wheel drive (or handling idiosyncrasies) that won’t allow them to do this so easily. With those vehicles, you can typicallywhip the car into a power slide by throwing it one way and then the other from a medium speed, say 60 mph, then holding the steering to one side while holding the throttle wide open. To coax a truly stubborn vehicle into a 360, you can typically tap the brake while simultaneously holding the throttle wide open and turning.”
So why would you want to do a 360, you might be asking? Well, it's worth a fair amount of Kudos in its own right, but it's also a good place to start if you're trying to string moves together. Chris explains:
"Typically, it’s best to throw a 360 in at the beginning or end of a race or Kudos chain. Otherwise, you run the risk of breaking the Kudos chain because a 360 takes awhile to complete, especially in the slower cars. If you throw a 360 in at the beginning or the end, you can lengthen the chain without much risk of breaking it.
"When you have a long chain (you’ve linked moves together for an entire lap or two), this can be worth a significant amount of Kudos. Many challenges give you only a few extra seconds to complete a lap. If you can throw in this extra move, it can really make your score stand out. Sometimes you may spin out while racing or in the middle of a Kudos chain, and you can try doing a 360 to transform a mistake into a plus."
Hey—turning a mistake into a scoring opportunity! I liked the sound of that, especially considering the number of mistakes I typically make. Unfortunately Chris then went on to make me feel completely inadequate once again.
"I’ve done a 360 around a single cone in a Cone Gate after I spun out trying to make the gate, picking up the 360, the cone gate, and keeping my Kudos chain for the entire two-lap challenge!" 
Too easy? Okay, tough guy; next time try doing a 360 around a gate.
Now that's driving with style. Linking moves is a much more advanced technique, though; instead of just reacting to the track, you need to think strategically about how you want to drive it. Luckily Chris had some guidance on which combos you should try, at least when first attempting these maneuvers.
"As far as connecting combos, the easiest moves to link are typically Cone Gates, Slides, and Good Lines. Good Lines are the hardest because not everyone sees them at first—they aren’t standing there like bright orange cones. They are critical to keeping a Kudos chain going, so if you don’t see how it’s possible to span the distance between two cone gates, look around and see if there’s a corner where you can get a Good Line awarded (drive close to the apex of a corner while moving as quickly as possible). Often there are curbs on the inside of corners, and if you hit these right, you can bump the car up onto two wheels, earning you additional Kudos and keeping the chain going. Two Wheel and Good Line moves really separate the pros from the novices. What’s really stylish is when you clip an apex with only the inside front tire while counter-steering sideways. This way you typically pick up Nice Slide, Two Wheel, and Good Line bonuses all at once! That’s pretty satisfying to say the least."
Yes, that's true enough—the only time I've landed Two Wheel Kudos, it was by accident. But now's clearly the time to start trying these moves … on purpose. I already had plenty to think about, but Chris had one last tip to share.
"If you can’t see how it’s possible to chain together a particular section, try throwing in an emergency brake slide for a brief amount of time between gates. Often this will provide enough time to keep the chain going through a section. You’ll have to balance the slide against the loss of momentum, but after you see how it’s done, it starts to become second nature. Watching the world’s best ghosts over Xbox Live is pretty compelling as well; you really see how it’s possible to sneak a few kudos here and there, and they add up!"
Got it? Now go out there and score, score, score!
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