Defensive Driving

If there's one thing you need to know about Ridge Racer™ 6, it's that the action doesn't slow down for a second. Zooming around city streets and seaside paradises under the sun's shining glare or the foreboding shadow of an overcast, ominous-looking horizon, you're constantly butting heads with opponents.

The game is designed with competition in mind—finishing first is everything. Standing between you and victory is one corkscrewing course after another, populated by host of opponents who aren't above nudging adversaries into medians or cutting off rivals at the last second. Worse, these individuals, much like yourself, have nitrous-powered turbo boosts.

Wait until there's a pack of cars nearby and
overtake multiple competitors in one shot.

Victory comes down to skill, not luck or an ample supply of sudden, horsepower-adding bursts of speed. If you're planning on ever seeing the end of solo outing World Xplorer mode or etching your claim to fame onto the global time attack leaderboards, well … remember helpful hints like these:

Take Designers' Advice
Before races start, you encounter loading screens with tips which scroll by on the bottom. Rather than sitting idly by twiddling your thumbs, read them. These juicy tidbits explain the basics of drifting, tell you how to get an immediate speed boost right from the starting line, and provide other useful pointers that will maximize performance. Should you find the text is moving too swiftly to read or not scrolling as fast as you'd like, just use the left and right triggers to rewind or fast-forward.

That's what bumpers are made for.

Choose an Automatic
Some people say it's more fun to drive a car that requires you manually shift gears. In the videogame world, it's just more hassle. Save yourself some trouble—pick a machine (the term the game uses when referring to roadsters) that has an automatic transmission. That way, the computer will do some of the grunt work for you, and it's one less distraction to worry about.

Bump and Grind
Many games make a big ado about damage modeling—not Ridge Racer 6. You can slam into competing wheelmen as much as you like without suffering any penalties besides a temporary speed loss. Use this fact to your advantage and put your car between them and the only safe route around corners, slam challengers into walls and otherwise physically make a nuisance of yourself. By being aggressive, you send competitors crashing into barriers or bump them off-course just enough to swipe a higher ranking just before crossing the finish line.

Be careful when drifting.

Don't Overdo It on Drifts
As mentioned in another article link to: Driftin' Away article, drifting—the process of sending your vehicle into a controlled spinout for sake of sharper turning—is a fine science.

Tempting as it is to let gravity do all the work, maintain tighter command over your car, not gambling with fate in hopes of shaving an extra second off your lap time. Always err on the side of caution; if you're not comfortable with the timing on a particular turn, compensate for swerves sooner than normal.

Don't drift unless absolutely necessary either, as it actually slows you down. Think of the feature as insurance against hairpin turns—it's basically a better way of dealing with them than normal. Naturally, there's always a penalty to be paid (here, in terms of speed) for cashing in on one's insurance policy. Therefore avoid doing so if at all possible.

Perk Up Your Ears
Looking at the mini-map is a good way to see what challenges lie ahead. Pressing the X button, which switches the game into a first-person perspective and causes a rear-view mirror to pop up, is likewise a useful means of seeing who's right on your tail. Regardless, both may be distracting during play, which is why you should listen to the announcer's vocal cues.

Pay attention to the warnings he shouts, and you'll know when someone's creeping up on you or is about to overtake your position. Likewise, the narrator also yells out when the last lap's coming up, or the final corner. The guy's even considerate enough to mention when a competitor has activated a nitrous boost. Sure, some sayings are just there to add color, but most also offer obvious clues as to how the race is progressing.

Go-go nitrous boosters!

Use Nitrous Wisely
Press the Y button, and as long as you have juice left in your nitrous gauge, you get a visible speed boost. You can even chain two or three turbocharged bursts together in rapid succession.

However, be careful about when and where you access nitrous. For example, there's no point using it when you're headed around a corner. (Taking turns requires a careful sequence of braking and maneuvering that slows you to a crawl.) Boosting to breeze past a single opponent, unless they're ranked amongst the top three challengers, is also a waste.

Save nitrous for straightaways, where you can comfortably reach maximum speeds. Wait until there's a pack of cars nearby, too—that way, you overtake multiple competitors in one shot. Remember, gaining positions is the tricky part; holding onto them, not so difficult.

Now get out there and start running rings around buddies or artificially intelligent chumps. If you're still having trouble with specific races, do what the champions do: cheat. Watching how top computer-controlled drivers handle each course is the best way to learn the secrets behind mastering each track.

Article by Steve Richter