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A ‘Bluffers Guide’ To Street Racing

(Ten Tips To Improve Your Performance On Need For Speed ProStreet)

So, you’re not a street racer then? No worries. You can bluff it. Here are ten fast and easy steps to dominating your mates at the track. 

1. Get a perfect launch.

Drag races can be won or lost in the first tenth of a second. To get the perfect launch you need two things: grip and timing. Practice warming your tyres for maximum grip before each run- it can shave a second or more off your time. As you come up to the line, get your revs into the green and hold them steady. Now you’re ready to launch- reaction time is crucial. A split second before the light turns green, or the flag girl drops her arms, slam the gearbox into 1^st, mash the throttle, and hang on. But don’t launch too soon or your run is done.

2. Brake late, brake often.

Your brakes are your friends- use them. As you approach a corner make sure the wheels are straight, get smoothly into the brakes to keep the car steady, and then squeeze on more brake to get the car slowed up. This also shifts weight to the front of the car and helps you turn in more quickly. Passing cars under braking is also one of the best ways to get around them. Line up down the inside of your target and get as close as you can. Wait for them to start braking and then get into the brakes a tick after they do. They will slow down faster than you will and you can shoot past and take the inside line into the corner.

3. Steer with the throttle.

Handling in corners has a lot to do with tyres and suspension and weight balance. The other key to getting your car headed where you want to though is your throttle. Don’t be afraid to add gas or get off it a bit to help the car turn more once you’re in a corner. Letting off the gas will slow the car down and get it turning faster. Increasing throttle through the middle of the corner will start you accelerating and you’ll get a good run out onto the straight.

4. Upgrade your kit.

Body kits, spoilers, and hoods- they all matter. Your stock kit is fine for that sleeper look you’ve got going, but if you want to maximise downforce and get the best handling on the track you’ll need to upgrade. Once you get your kit on, be sure to adjust it with Autosculpt to get the most speed, or grip, out of it.

5. Tune your drive not your ride.

Tuning is racing. To get the most out of your ride you’ll need to work on the setup. There are a ton of options to mess with, but before you dive in too far experiment with getting the basics sorted. How does the car “feel”? Tuning the steering input, springs, and rollbars will go a long way towards making the car drive more like you do. Tune your car setup to “feel” right to you and your lap times will get faster- with or without any upgrades. The cams, camber, and caster can come later.

6. Power does not equal speed.

Slapping on loads of horsepower certainly helps get your top speed up, but if you can’t handle it in the corners then your points will plummet. You can’t land the hottest lap times if you’re constantly in the wall. The key to the fastest times is finding your driving limits and then upgrading your car only as much as you need to get ahead of the competition but still keep it on the road. If you’ve gone too far, don’t be afraid to take a few of those upgrades down a notch and try again.

7. Two cars go faster than one.

Learn to draft. Tucking in behind another car allows you to get some clean air and reduce drag on your car. This also reduces drag on the lead car and allows them to go faster. Together you can pull away from the competition. This is especially important on the fastest tracks where pushing through the air alone can leave you in the dust. If you time it right, you can also use the draft to sneak up on an opponent and give ‘em a salute as you slingshot past.

8. Every shift counts.

Whether you’re on the drag strip or the circuit, getting a handle on your gears will significantly reduce your times. Split-second accuracy is the key in Drags and can shave seconds off your time. Make sure that your revs are “in the green” to get a perfect shift- missing a shift will slow you down and lose you time. Learning to use the manual transmission in other races will ensure that you’re always in the right gear for your speed and give you extra throttle control in corners.

9. Obey the three laws of Drift: e-brake, clutch, and nitrous.

Car control is everything in Drift and learning to use these three tools will dramatically improve your scores. As you turn into a corner, tap the e-brake, or “kick” the clutch, to get the car rotating. As soon as the car starts to turn, get back into the throttle hard to get the rear wheels spinning. As you get further into the drift, hit the NOS for a burst of power to keep the drift going for big points. Experiment with all three of these to see how they affect the car at different speeds. The best drifters use all of them to get the most out of each run.

10. You have to go slow to go fast.

It’s a fairly Zen piece of racing wisdom, but it also happens to be true. Everything that happens in the car needs to be smooth- throttle, brake, and steering input. The smoother, or “slower”, you go, the faster you’ll be. The car likes to be balanced. When it is you’ll have all four tires working at their max to give you the best grip you can- and that always gets you around the track a bit quicker than the next guy. So take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the ride.

Clay Jensen

Creative Director – Need For Speed ProStreet

Need for Speed Pro Street – Press Release (XBOX 360)

Compete at the highest level of street racing with Need for Speed™ ProStreet. It’s no longer good enough to simply rule your local neighbourhood you need to dominate on a global stage. Build the ultimate battle machine, take it to multi-disciplinary showdowns and pit your skills and reputation against the world’s best street racers. This is your chance to prove that you have what it takes to be crowned the next street king.

Need for Speed ProStreet is your ultimate taste of the chaos and unbridled adrenaline of street racing. Pushing yourself and your car to the edge can lead to mistakes and this time those mistakes have consequences. Think swirling fields of debris, shredded fiberglass and heinously twisted metal. Every dent, every scratch and every crumpled body panel is a battle scar, proof of your commitment and competitive mettle.

Compete on some of the world’s most iconic racing locations – Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway, the Autobahn and the Nevada desert. The atmosphere is electric – complete with energetic crowds, photo-realistic cars and billowing smoke – all designed to embody the pressure and intensity of the gladiatorial challenge known as Show Down. Need for Speed ProStreet is the realization of the raw power, visceral aggression and intense rivalry that embodies street racing culture.

Key features

• Real, Adrenaline-Fueled Racing — Experience the raw power of steet racing with a brand new physics engine and feel the fire of competition with an intuitively refined AI engine that smartly delivers on real driving behaviors.
• Dominate Across All Racing Disciplines – Becoming the Street King isn’t about winning one single event. You need to prove yourself in four distinct styles of racing. Unleash the power of the beast in a reinvented Drag mode. Master the art of control with Tandem drift, and experience the intensity and rivalry of elite competition with Grip Racing. Completely new to the franchise is Speed Challenge, an ultimate test of speed and control.
• Ride the Edge of Disaster — Street racing is violent and mistakes have consequences. Cars can be torn apart using truly advanced and comprehensive damage capturing technology. Witness cars colliding, metal denting, and debris billowing. To further amplify the realism, crash repercussions such as smoke, dirt spray and dust clouds can affect all racers on the track.
• Redefining Competitive Social Play –Packed with ingenious features that will amp the spirit of competition and create for the ultimate showdown between you and your friends. The rules have drastically changed making for a more intense and aggressive online* arena.
• Performance Drives Results—Your machine doesn’t have to look like much – as long as there are secrets underneath that hood. For the first time ever, see the impact of the Autosculpt technology on performance – all in real time. Sculpt your cars inside a wind tunnel and choose from hundreds of real-world, aftermarket parts to build your ultimate battle machine.
• Share your Tuning Capabilities with the World – Once you’ve designed it share it. The all new Blueprints feature allows you to upload your visual and performance customization settings online*. Once downloaded, you’ll be credited each time your design is used to dominates in a race.
• Photo Real Cars and Worlds— Boasts cars that exude power, menace and raw energy with their look and sound along with the most realistic smoke ever seen in a racing game. Authentic and relevant real world track locations and the best street drives from around the globe combine to create the most stunning racing environments ever.