ModNation Racers General Discussion

[earlizd1]

After a few days of testing various tracks

we were able to determine these facts

-All speed settings have same top speed

all setting can reach the same top speed on a flat track by just chain drifting continually (this takes quite a while)

or

you can reach top speed by landing in reverse over a red boost pad

(also a carefully timed tap of boost at key areas in a drift)

-The setting affects how you accelerate and the top boost speed (boost speed is never faster than top speed)

as an example lets say the top speed is 70MPH (fastest you can possibly go)

with +2 accel your boosting top speed would be about 58mph

with +2 speed your boosting top speed would be about 67-68mph

- Boosting (including green boost pads) above top boost speed slows you down

as mentioned in the previous topic say you are travelling at 70 MPH and you have +2 accel , if you were to use boost your speed would drop down to 58MPH

only known exception to this is landing reversed on a red boost pad (also a carefully timed tap of boost at key areas in a drift)

thanks to kumiydcjhgvctka , blackjet2000, turmis21, AngelG_No55_FTW,glaudea, lloyd2k4, assyrion and anyone else I may be  forgetting

[blackjet2000]

Was fun ^-^

[Kuningaskotka]

I thought this was an interesting find that may be hard to believe, but we tested it thoroughly and confirmed that it's indeed true.

The reason this hasn't been public knowledge for so long is simple. As earl said it, it takes a long time to build up speed by drifting and it is quite tricky. With high speed settings you can accelerate much closer to top speed by boosting. On all UFG tracks there are bumps and jumps that slow you down so you can't maintain top speed with low speed settings.

For the record we ran tests on the tracks WHALE twilight (by tadaryou) and test (by earlizd1). The former has a place to use the red boost pad 'glitch' which shows the effect much more easily. Test track then again had no boosts or jumps whatsoever to see the actual effect of settings. Earlizd1 managed to beat the lap record with -2 speed setting.

[Lloyd2k4]

I think a note on counter-drifting and its effects with +handling and +drift settings should be made, as well.  Define counter-drifting for everyone too so they don't get confused ;D

[Kuningaskotka]

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Lloyd2k4 wrote:

I think a note on counter-drifting and its effects with +handling and +drift settings should be made, as well.  Define counter-drifting for everyone too so they don't get confused ;D

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Indeed.

The way we got to top speed with -2 speed setting was continual counter-drifting, that is steering in the opposite direction of the drift. Basically we drifted continuously and during each single drift we steered in the opposite direction.

Curiously this did not work with +2 handling (+2 acceleration). We were not able to get to top speed with those settings.

Therefore it is suspected that +2 handling may make it impossible to get top speed by just drifting.

On another note, earl said that boost speed is slightly slower than top speed even with +2 speed settings. This has not been confirmed yet. With max speed settings the boost speed and top speed are very close to each other, and may actually be the same. That's why you don't notice any slowdown in time trial mode.

[C_Wilson_24]

So are you saying if there are 2 people racing, one has setting of "0" Speed and one has setting of "+2" Speed, that when they both reach top speed, they are going the same speed?

If that is true, then I have been wrong all this time.

So if you are boosting, then it is better to have a higher Speed setting, so it doesn't slow you down so much?

If not boosting, then wouldn't it be better to have, say, "0" Speed setting, so you can accelerate to top speed faster?

Is this as confusing to you as it is to me???

[poncedailyown]

Whoa Doc, this is heavy.

[thirteen23]

This is a good read.  I've had a suspicion for a long time that boosting(on pads, at least) has slowed me down at times....not to mention hot lap/time trial ghosts purposefully avoiding certain pads.  I've never considered it more than that though.  This would explain why once and a while I see a racer with some really bizarre settings manage to remain competitive in a room full of players with all similar settings(+1, +1 usually) 

I'm gonna pop in the game tonight and try some things out.  Thanks for the inspiration guys.

[Kuningaskotka]

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C_Wilson_24 wrote:
So if you are boosting, then it is better to have a higher Speed setting, so it doesn't slow you down so much?

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Yes, naturally.

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C_Wilson_24 wrote:

If not boosting, then wouldn't it be better to have, say, "0" Speed setting, so you can accelerate to top speed faster?

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Yes and no.

The speed setting only affects the maximum speed you can have while boosting.

The acceleration setting only seems to affect your acceleration when you are not drifting.

The advantage you get with 0 speed (against +2) is quicker take-off from zero. However once you start drifting and get to good speed there is no advantage of having high acceleration.

Getting to max speed without boosting is roughly as fast with any setting. And it is actually quite difficult.

However getting to max speed with boosting is much faster using +2 speed. Other settings hit their boost speed limit earlier and have to use the slower method to accelerate after that.

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C_Wilson_24 wrote:
Is this as confusing to you as it is to me???

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No. It's just much harder to explain than to understand through experience.

[AngelG_No55_FTW]

These results are quite surprising, but there's no rest for the MNR Science Team! I've come up with more speed tests:

• What puts the player directly at top speed (apart from the glitch)
• How some types of terrain slow karts down (there's a kind of snow with trails that seems noticeably slower than tarmac and most other terrain, apart from some kinds of terrain that are obviously slower, seen in places like Village Run and Terraced Drop)