Driving with Style

It’s not just that Project Gotham Racing® 2 has a level of graphics so sumptuous you’ll crush your fingers in an attempt to stroke the skin of that Ferrari or a physics engine that induces you to twist in your chair in a vain attempt to use body English to wrestle it around a corner. No, PGR2 also has a marvelous and unique concept: Kudos. The world’s languages have many words that refer to a certain kind of style and grace—élan, mojo, je ne sais quoi, the right stuff. For PGR, though, all you need to know is Kudos—this is your reward when you do something with flair.

And, you get to do it at 150 mph!

What sets PGR2 apart from the rest of the world of console racing is its different roads to success. You can take the familiar route and go for raw speed as your measure of excellence, but you can also add a level of skill and daring in just how you go fast. The game rewards you with style points—Kudos—by measuring your performance in key areas as you motor through some of the most beautiful cities in the world. The Kudos system looks at:

• Position: Place in the race.
• Fast Lap: Get more points for setting the fastest lap.
• Time Bonus: Get a bonus for each second ahead of a targeted time.
• Clean Race: How much of the landscape did you bounce off of before completing the race? You get extra points if you manage to miss it all. But take note: You don’t lose points for bouncing off of other cars in the race, just objects. Smashing into other cars—why, that’s just racing!
• Overtake: How many competitors did you pass? The game makes a distinction between just passing a guy and passing him when you had to draft to get up the necessary speed.
• Draft: By following very closely behind another car, you can let the low-pressure area behind it “pull” you along. This allows a slower car to stay with and even pass a faster one by “sling-shooting” past it. In an apparent violation of physics, two cars drafting can actually travel faster than either one alone.
• Cone Gates: If you don’t knock them over while passing between them, you get points. Duh!
• Clean Section: Get points for not bouncing off of the objects in the landscape between two points on the track.
• 360: Do a 360 on the track and get extra points. The game doesn’t care if you do it forward or in reverse.
• Air: Make like a jet plane and get all four wheels off the ground!
• Two Wheels: Get extra points for doing your best bicycle impression.
• Race Line: Shorten your way around the track by starting wide and cutting to the inside of each corner to increase your speed in cornering. Be careful to exit in a way that sets you up for the next turn.
• Slide: Two-wheel and four-wheel drifts are kings here. Hint: You can use the handbrake (A button) to break loose the rear end. This can really help your car around tight corners!
• Combo: Put together groups of the above. If you hit anything—other than another car—you break the combo string.

Not all of these Kudos parameters operate in each event. Some are unique to particular events; for instance, Cone Gates are only found in Cone Challenges.

Here are some other pointers that will help you master all the tracks and challenges:

• Good things go great together! Your Kudos will mount even quicker if you manage to link two or more moves together. So, for instance, the Kudos that you receive for power-sliding around a corner will be even greater if you also manage to pop up on two wheels in the process; if you cap that by also taking a good line through the turn, your Kudos is magnified all the more!
• The better you know the track, the faster you’ll drive. Part of driving well is knowing where you’re going. Is that next turn 80 degrees or 90? What’s the best entry speed? What are the best braking and acceleration points? A slow drive around the track may help.
• Sometimes, you have to go slow to go fast. Winning is more than having the pedal to the metal all the time. If your high-entry speed is causing you to carom off the guardrails on a particular turn, you may have to slow down sooner.
• Watch the fast guys! At the higher levels, the CPU players will find and use the fastest lines around the track. Observe where they’re lined up, when they brake, and when they get back on the gas. Once you find the fast line, try to use it every circuit. For higher-level instruction, sign on to Xbox Live and download a ghost—a translucent representation of the way another player navigated the course. This is a cool way to race against the best players in the world and learn their tricks.

With these tools, you should be well on your way to mastery. Remember: Life begins at 170!

By Rapier