strategy guide

Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Learn how to ditch the heat and climb the blacklist in our tricked-out guide

words: cameron lewis

ps2/xbox/360/gc/pc

contents

getting started

walkthrough

codes and secrets
controls dashboard driving
climbing the blacklist #15: sonny #14: taz #13: vic #12: izzy #11: big lou #10: baron #9: earl #8: jewels #7: kaze #6: ming #5: webster #4: jv #3: ronnie #2: bull #1 razor the great escape

codes secrets

race proles
circuit drag lap knockout speedtrap sprint tollbooth
police pursuit strategies
infractions heat levels dirty cop tricks

www.gamesradar.com

getting started controls

GETTING STARTED

CONTROLS
The buttons and sticks used for different elements of driving will differ for each platform. Heres a quick rundown of the elements you have control over.
you into reverse and accelerate you backward.

NITROUS

E-BRAKE (AKA HANDBRAKE)
The emergency brake. Very useful for locking up the wheels, which allows for power drifts and the like.
Shoots Nitrous Oxide into your fuel stream, yielding a turbo-like effect. Acceleration is enhanced while holding this down. Must be installed as a custom upgrade, since no stock car includes it standard.

SHIFTER

ACCELERATION STEERING
Your best friend: the gas pedal. Analog steering that controls the direction your front tires face.
Used to change gears manually. While using an automatic transmission you wont use this, but theres no avoiding it in drag races because every shift is manual.

VIEW BLACKLIST

View your current standing on the blacklist, and what you have left to accomplish before you can take down the next chump.

SPEEDBREAKER

VIEW WORLD MAP

BRAKE/REVERSE

Normal left-pedal braking. Once stopped, continuing to hold it will shift
Bends time and space. Okay, not really, but it does slow everything down, giving you an enormous advantage in reaction time. You only get a limited amount of Speedbreaker, but it recharges as you race.
A birds-eye view of the streets youre racing on. Selecting landmarks will turn on the GPS system, which puts a helpful rotating arrow just below your rear-view.
SPEEDBREAKER SLOWS EVERYTHING DOWN, GIVING YOU AN ENORMOUS ADVANTAGE IN REACTION TIME

VIEW SMS

Listen to messages of encouragement from Mia and Rog, or Razors whining.

CHANGE CAMERA

Cycles between the four available views: bumper, hood, close-up third person, and far third-person. We recommend the hood view for best racing results.

LOOK BACK

dashboard driving
The virtual equivalent of swiveling your head around to look out the back. Most useful in pursuits and drag races, where youll want to block off attempts to pass you.

RESET CAR

Under especially nasty crash conditions, you might invoke this to throw your car back on the road quickly. Very rarely used. Dont go thinking you can use this to get away if the police box you in, as itll invariably result in an insta-bust.
into a Sprint, Tollbooth, or Speedtrap event, or pursuit and bounty milestone completion stats.

SPEEDOMETER

level indicator. The longer a pursuit lasts, the further clockwise around the dial your heat will grow. For each revolution, another level is added.
Pause the game. No NES-style slo-mo pops, but itll save your neck when the phone rings.
In the lower right, this sucker will give you your current ground speed, RPMs, and nitrous and speedbreaker gauges.

PURSUIT STATUS

RADAR DETECTOR
DASHBOARD RACE/PURSUIT INFO
Depending on whether youre racing or running, the upper right of the screen will keep you apprised of your current lap time, current place, percentage
Just under the rear-view, the radar detector will let you know, both aurally and visually, whether youre near a cop or speed trap. Just remember that yellow is an unmanned camera, everything else is an actual cop. Thankfully, it wont continuously hoot and holler during pursuits, only during the initial warning.
This appears at the bottom of the screen during any pursuit. At the top left is the number of cops youve traded paint with. At the top right, the number youve disabled. In the middle is the count of vehicles currently giving chase. If backup is on the way, youll see a countdown at the bottom thatll tell you how long until it arrives on the scene. The bar below the current cop count runs from Busted to Evade. If the cops start boxing you in, limiting your speed, youll see it gravitate, in red, toward Busted. If it gets all the way there, youre screwed. If youre outrunning the goon squad, and theyre losing sight of you, the bar will make its way, in green, toward Evade. If it gets all the way there, the entire pursuit status indicator will change to the cooldown bar, which grows as long as you remain out of any cops line of sight. When it gets all the way to the right, youve successfully evaded your pursuers.

LAP KNOCKOUT

Lap Knockouts are just a variation on Circuits, with the contestant in dead last getting eleminated at the end of each lap. The same considerations apply, but you should treat each lap as a race unto itself, since you cant afford to bide your time and rocket out from behind in the nal moments. Avoid trading paint with the other racers as much as possible, and dont even think about attempting a trafc snarl-up, since it will only serve to slow
POWER SLIDE THROUGH TURNS, THEN POUND NITROUS INTO THE ENGINE
you down in the long run. Get out front early, and stay there at any cost. This is the event where traditional racing discipline becomes most important, namely, the speed coming out of a turn is more important than the speed going in. Get in the habit of braking heavily as you approach a turn, power-sliding through it with a tap of the hand-brake, and then pounding nitrous into the engine and slamming the pedal to the metal through the trap itself. The downshifting trick mentioned in the Getting Started: Driving section will also help you succeed. taking you from the sharp turns of city streets to the sweeping curves of major highways. Weighing risk versus reward as you pick your path is crucial, and the nal result will depend heavily on your vehicles handling and performance characteristics. Proper preparation will give you an advantage in the sprint. Dont just jump into the race, take a moment to memorize the most challenging stretches of track as indicated by the overhead view. Go in with a game plan; trafc should be the only surprise you encounter.
speedtrap sprint tollbooth

SPEEDTRAP

A speed trap race is something of an oddity. Each course is tted with police radar guns at intervals along the track, which you want to blow through as fast as possible to score points. Its entirely possible to nish rst but lose the event, and vice versa. Stay focused on scoring points in the speed traps. Early races of this type place the cameras in the middle of straightaways and places where its easy to rack up the MPH, but before long youll nd them immediately after nasty turns or on congested thoroughfares.

SPRINT

Sprint races feature the longest and most varied tracks of the game,

TOLLBOOTH

Tollbooth events are really just gloried time trials: blow through each checkpoint with time left on the clock to keep the race going. Because theres no track repetition working in your favor like in a Circuit or Lap Knockout, approach each race like a Sprint. Examine the overhead map, identify trouble spots for the particular vehicle youre driving, and get going.
POLICE PURSUIT STRATEGIES

INFRACTIONS SPEEDING

Pretty easy to do this, as youd expect: just oor it. As people call in to complain, the cops will take interest but they wont come looking for you too vigorously.

infractions heat levels

EXCESSIVE SPEEDING
Continuous high speeds during a pursuit can rack up another infraction, but it doesnt seem to get the cops too worked up either.
RECKLESS DRIVING Now youre really ying, both on the
roads and off. This tends to get the cops upset and calling for backup, since theyre losing sight of you at this point.

RAMMING A POLICE VEHICLE

Cops hate being rammed, so its a great idea to pull this one as often as possible. Use this move to make a clean getaway or rack up bounty points. Ramming damage alone cant stop you, but it can take a cop out of the running. These cops are represented by a disabled white arrow on your GPS map.

HEAT LEVELS HEAT LEVEL 1

Garden-variety police chase. Standard-issue police cruisers try to block and nudge you, sitting directly in front of or behind you when they can, but really dont cause too much of a headache. Flooring it, taking sharp turns, and using pursuit breakers will usually bring these chases to a stop, but ramming the heck out of the rst cop on your case will end it quickly.

HIT AND RUN

Plow into an innocent bystanders car in the presence of a cop, and youll chalk up another felony.

DAMAGE TO PROPERTY

This covers anything thats breakable and costs the city money: park benches, bus stop structures, windows, trees, street signs, and so forth.

HEAT LEVEL 2

RESISTING ARREST
If you get boxed in by a few cruisers, and somehow manage to punch a hole through, youll get pinged with this rebellious little number.

DRIVING OFF ROADWAY

Evade the out-of-practice donut-andcoffee addicts of level 1, and youll quickly nd yourself at heat level 2. Unmarked police cruisers appear, lights ashing, and show off a tad more teamwork. Rolling roadblocks are their favorite, and theyll announce their plans over the scanner. Weak stationary roadblocks will also crop up infrequently.
Stampede. Theyll also show up in the roadblocks, so look for a gap you can pry open, as these suckers wont move without a bulldozer. Avoiding trafc at this stage and above is critical, because banging into a retruck or log-hauler can give the cops a crucial opportunity to box you in. If you havent been paying attention to the radio chatter, now is an excellent time to start listening for clues to the cops tactics. You may have escaped from previous pursuits without bothering with hiding spots, but at Level 3 and above the cool-down ticker moves so slowly that hiding spots become invaluable. Remember that even the ofcial blue circle hideouts are useless if youre in a cops line of sight, so the more out-of-the-way the better. Better yet, head to one of your safehouses to lay low for a while.

HEAT LEVEL 4

Take a high-speed detour through the local golf course or boardwalk to incur this infraction.

HEAT LEVEL 3

The cops start using tougher cars, but of greater concern are the Rhino SUVs that come gunning for you, two at a time, using a dirty trick we call The www.gamesradar.com
The police call in aerial support in the form of a pursuit helicopter. If you manage to ditch your wheeled pursuers, youll need to nd shelter under a roof before the cooldown even starts. Luckily, the choppers dont have tons of fuel, and get turned around
fairly easily. Losing them isnt as much of a chore as you might think. At heat level 4, the roadblocks you encounter are upgraded with spike strips, which are the worst pursuit threat of the game. Avoid them at all costs.

HEAT LEVEL 5

The local and state cops lose control of the chase, and federal agents driving the Chevy Corvette C6 step in. Outrunning the C6 requires a top-tier car, so pursuit-breakers and sharp turns are more important than ever. SUVs suddenly seem turbocharged, and amazingly, the helicopter introduced in the last heat level will start dive-bombing your car. If youre really naughty, youll even get to seeand take outSergeant Crosss own striped Corvette. Getting away will take all your skill and patience. The best thing you can do for yourself is get to an environment rich in pursuit breakers, and start taking the cops out one by one until youve thinned the crowd, then head for an out-of-theway cool-off spot. The stadium signs are particularly useful for taking out groups of cops at once.

dirty cop tricks

THE STATIONARY ROADBLOCK These come in a few different avors,
depending on your current heat level. Any police vehicle, including a helicopter, can be placed at one. A good general rule is to head for open spaces rst, or the rear end of a vehicle if you cant nd a gap (thus avoiding the extra mass of the engine block.) Your speedbreaker is an excellent way to pick a precise point of impact, so use it the instant you see the fuzz lined up for a roadblock. Follow the speedbreaker with a shot of nitrous and then veer around the nearest sharp corner. You should get yourself out of sight without too much difculty. Then either let the ticker count up, nd a hiding spot, or hit a safehouse.
or the rare helicopter. Though a glancing blow on a Rhino can pry open a hole, helicopters just plain dont move an inch.

THE STAMPEDE

DIRTY COP TRICKS THE PIT MANEUVER
PIT stands for Precision Immobilization Technique. A cop will weasel up into your blind spot on either side, and then put his front bumper hard against the side of your rear, doing his best to make you lose control and spin out. The best thing you can do is simply stay out ahead of him, but if he does manage to send you for a loop, use your speedbreaker to regain control and then nitrous the heck away from him.
Once you hit Heat Level 3, Rhino SUVs charge at you. These irritating monsters will slam into you head-on at every available opportunity, and getting them off you once theyve made contact can be a challenge. Use your speedbreaker at the rst sight of them to keep from getting ground up, but if they do connectand they usually willyoure better off backing up, or powering off to the side, and then heading for the hills.

THE ROLLING ROADBLOCK

Any number of cops will try to get around you, box you in as tight as they can, and then slow down for the bust. While it starts off with one in the front and one behind, this tactic will grow until youve got Corvettes and Rhinos on all sides, all squeezing you like a grape. If you nd yourself surrounded, you need to punch a holefast. Use nitrous to ram between two vehicles, cut the wheel hard away from the nearest wall, or e-brake turn, then gun it through the inevitable hole in the side or rear.
In later heat levels, be very wary of the open spaces: most of the time, theres a spike strip just waiting to bring your spectacular Steve McQueen driving escapades to a screeching halt. Roll over a set of these and youre nished, so use your speedbreaker liberally if the scanner hasnt already telegraphed which side of the road theyre on. It is possible to only pop one tire, and then get away with an enormous dose of luck, but anything more than that and youre toast. Dont bother trying to nudge other cops over the strips, either, as theyll be mysteriously unaffected. The ramming rules change a bit if youre up against the massive Rhinos www.gamesradar.com
to the main course. Feel free to shave the corner immediately after, however. Watch your speed going into the Scurve early on, or youll wind up pinned against the bricks. The right-angle turn into the second lap can really foul you up as well, so make judicious use of speedbreaker slo-mo. In the second course you can shave some seconds early if you take a risky trip through the car wash, and theres an alley shortcut to a highway straightaway that you should take full advantage of, as long as youre not stuck in the Cobalt SS. Theres also a slight advantage to going off-road toward the end of the circuit, no matter what car youre driving. Though you should always go for the performance marker rst, if you dont already have the Golf you should really keep beating Sonny until you get lucky on the markers and grab his pink slip. Turning off auto-save is a smart play when youre attempting this sort of thing, so you dont accidentally lock yourself out of going back for another try. If you do win it, sell your old car for cash, and check out your new sled. If you dont feel like going to the trouble, just save up your cash as much as you can and hold out for a better selection.

walkthrough climbing the blacklist #15: sonny #14: taz

WALKTHROUGH

CLIMBING THE BLACKLIST
You start out by handing the pink slip for your BMW to Mia so you can race Razor, who at this point is #15 on the blacklist. How well you race here makes no difference at all, destined as it is to end prematurely, so just have fun. You then ashback to 6 days before this fateful race, when youre introduced to Sergeant Cross, who keys your ride after he hints that hes got someone on the inside of the local racing scene. Ronnie and Bull, your future #3 and #2 rivals, make early appearances as well. Youll even have your only race against Rog at this
hard drive or memory card, youll get an extra $10Kenough to afford the Golf GTI, which you should denitely go with. If you cant afford it, the Lexus IS300 is your next best bet. You can try the Chevy Cobalt SS if you really want speed, but it handles like a brick, so we advise against it.

#15: SONNY

Sonnys rocking a Golf GTI, the same ride youll probably have. Your best option, if possible, is not to spend any money at all. Save it all for your next car. If you must upgrade to win, put in a nitrous system to give you the edge where you need it. Both races against Sonny are 2-lap Circuits, and theyre pretty straightforward despite the fact that blacklist racers seem to catch up a bit too easily. As ever, you want to minimize contact with walls and trafc, but if you nd yourself running neck and neck, dont be shy about nudging him into the oncoming trafc. The rst race has a shortcut immediately after a cafe, but youre better off avoiding it since the distance is pretty much the same, and the in and out turns are both perpendicular www.gamesradar.com

#14: TAZ

You should rst try blowing through the races leading up to Taz, and Taz himself, without any upgrades. If you dont have a Golf and nd yourself having trouble, install a nitrous system and work your way up from there. Tazs Lexus IS300 is one of the starting cars, and you dont have a
IF YOU NEED TO UPGRADE TO WIN, CHOOSE NITROUS
point. No matter what you do, though, the sequence ends with Razor making off with your ride. At this point youll be able to buy a new car, albeit one thats a far cry from your lost M3. If you have a Need for Speed Underground 2 save on your

SAVE TIME BY USING OFF-ROAD SHORT CUTS
your time. Around 65% youll come to a spot where you can choose between three different paths, but neither of the alternates offer anything substantive over the main tunnel. At the very least, avoid the rightmost option, as it will actually increase the distance you must travel.

#12: IZZY

You should be in a Supra by the time you face Izzys two challenges, and chances are youll want to at least upgrade it with nitrous. Also consider upgrading the engine to the Race kit and installing a Pro Stage 1 Turbo as well. Sell whatever bits and pieces necessary to raise the cash, because the upgrade is worth it. Izzys rst challenge is a Sprint. Knock out the water tower supports to smooth out the rst real turn, and focus on making the straightest possible line through the mostly long, sweeping turns. A jump or drive through the renery might be fun, but will only hurt www.gamesradar.com
Next comes a Circuit that boasts four shortcuts. Beating Izzy is going to be much easier on you if you use all of them on both laps. First is an off-road shortcut you used in the rst race against Vic, which youll approach immediately after the opening turn. Next is an alley thatll take a few hundred feet off your lap distance and give you some breathing room. When you hit the fork in the road, hang a right to save yourself a harder left. This also gives you a longer straightaway for acceleration (once again avoid the dip beneath the clock tower to maintain your speed.) The third shortcut is through the parking lot of the prison, which makes more of a difference than you might think. The last shortcut is the same one you hit during the second race against Vic, taking you through a smooth parking lot sweep that saves you from losing speed on a sharp right. If you win Izzys ride, pick one to continue with. The RX-8 has better handling, but the difference between them is really marginal after theyve both been upgraded. Youll now have access to all the Pro performance partstake advantage of them now, because chances are youll need them.
walkthrough #11 big lou #10: baron
AVOID THE DIP BENEATH THE CLOCK TOWER TO MAINTAIN YOUR SPEED
from your second race against Sonny? Be sure to catch it going the other way, as its just as useful in this direction. Your favorite off-road shortcut even makes an appearance in the nal turns. This is one of the most grueling races youve faced yet, but use all these goodies to your advantage and youll cut this sap off at the knees. After beating Big Lou, upgrade your nitrous system to the Super Pro wet shot. If you won his ride, keep it and ditch your rst car for cash (if you havent already.) ones you used against Big Lou. Around 73% youll be able to swing a cool jump just left of the main road, but its really just for show, so dont expect to carve a lead out of it. You can also take a right through the train yard at the same part of the course, but youre more likely to slam into a wall than save any time. The gravel alley at 82%, however, will cut down some distance and save you from bleeding speed on a sharper turn, so youll denitely want to take it. When the road forks, stay in the middle to blow through a tunnel and keep more of your speed. Stick to the left coming out, and draw the shortest line to the nish. The second race is your rst drag strip against a blacklister. A logging truck will pull out early on, so stay to the right to avoid it. Other than that, keep a hawkish eye on trafc, pull as many perfect shifts as you can manage, use some nitrous after each one, and you should blow by Baron. You might need a couple times through to get a handle on the trafc patterns, but thats really all you have to worry about here. If you win Barons Porsche, take a moment to pop in a Super Pro wet shot

#11: BIG LOU

Big Lou may fancy himself a ladies man, but hes not all that tough on the street (his show-off entrance notwithstanding.) Both of his races are Circuits. The rst lets you use two of the same parking lot shortcuts you used against Izzy, along with the the off-road corner-cutter that should be like an old friend by now. Find the fastest lines through the remainder of the course, and take the nal rightangle turn with a speedbreaker. The second circuit lets you use the parking lot shortcuts of the rst race, but in reverse. Coming out of the rst lot and entering the second is a little trickier in this direction, but the time benet is still worth it. The dip beneath the clock tower is becoming less important at these higher speeds, so get used to not risking the pedestrian walkway as often. Hang a right at the fork, and breeze through the nearby gas station. Remember that alley

#10: BARON

Barons Porsche Cayman S is nothing to sneeze at, and if you can snag the pink slip, youll come away with a great ride to start your climb up the single digits of the blacklist. In fact, its so good that you should just keep racing until you get lucky with your marker picks. The rst race against Baron is a Sprint. There are two early parking lot shortcuts you should breeze through, since theyre the same
nitrous system. If you dont, consider nding a way to buy your own Cayman S, especially if you start having trouble with the new round of competitors.

#9: EARL

Earls Mitubishi Lancer Evolution VIII isnt quite as tapped out as a fullyloaded Cayman, even if the Caymans rear-wheel drive can make it a little touchy. First up is a Speedtrap. Concentrate on staying stable on the road, since the straighter a line you can cut through the twists and turns, the better youll do at each trap. The offroad shortcuts at 77% and 81% will help you make the most of trap #5. The lead-up to each marker gives you ample time to make the most of your nitrous as well, so beating Earl shouldnt be too big of a challenge. Next is a Sprint. Theres a must-take dirt ramp off to the side at 12% that leads to a blow-by through the trailer park. Watch the left coming out. There are a few corner-cutting shortcuts immediately after as well. Individually they dont help a lot, but in sum they can take seconds off your time. At 28% and 36% are brutal rights on

#5: WEBSTER

The blacklist is kicking things up a notch: starting with Webster, you must now defeat each gearhead in three separate events. Websters Corvette C6 is a damn sweet ride. Trafc is a big threat to your success, and learning the trafc patterns is almost mandatory. In the rst Sprint, duck under the lighthouse at 20% [scr_026.eps]. At 33%, head left through our familiar gravel alley cut-off. Wave to the pokey as you cut through its parking lot again at 90%. Next up is the Speedtrap challenge, and all of them are placed in tricky spots. Number one is right after a sharp right, Number two is in the
DONT LET THE GPS TRICK YOU INTO THE PRISON SHORTCUT
middle of an S-curve, and it doesnt get any easier from there. Taking the offroad shortcut at 47% is crucial to winning, as is picking a dirt path to follow and sticking with it to avoid crashing into trees and rails. This is a four more to go. If you won Websters Corvette, hop in it and let your other ride cool off. Otherwise, double-check the parts on your current whip and lower heat where you can.

#5: webster #4: jv

#4: JV
JVs driving a Dodge Viper SRT10 thats packing upgrades you wont even have access to until after you beat Ronnie at #3specically, the Ultimate engine and supercharger upgradesso winning the pink slip will give you a considerable edge, and almost everything you need to challenge for #1. JVs rst challenge is a short Speedtrap course. The rst two traps give you decent enough lead-ups, so you shouldnt have much difculty posting decent speeds there. At exactly one third of the way into the track, youll come across a choice of
AT THESE BLISTERING SPEEDS, YOU DONT HAVE TIME TO GLANCE DOWN AT THE GPS
three paths. The one on the left takes you over a jump. The one in the middle is the ofcial track line. The one on the right is the one you want [scr_027. eps], since it has a straighter line into trap #3, meaning better overall speed. Trap #4 comes during a sweeping righta soft steering touch and welltimed nitrous boosts will put you on top here. Trap #5 is best approached through the gas station at 63%, though you can do almost as well on the road if youre so inclined. The sixth and nal trap comes at the end of a set of S turns, so slow into them and focus on coming out full force. Now comes another wonky Drag trial, which includes an action movie moment where you absolutely must go under a trucks trailer as it crosses the street from right to left, just before the clock tower dip. Its cool, but makes for a challenging bit of racing. Keep your wits about you, slow when you must, and use nitrous when you can. Third up is another quick Speedtrap. Start out by taking the left set of lanes, but cross in the tunnel for a smaller stirrup bend. Power-slide quickly before the rst turn really gets rolling, so that hopefully you get all your traction back in time to nitrous through trap #1. Coming up on #3, youll have a choice of left or right. Take the right if youre feeling slow, as itll give you a little more time to hit the nitrous. Otherwise take the left. The next trap comes after a tight turn on city streets. Watch out for oncoming cars thatll steal the momentum youve built up. Hopefully you grabbed the Vipers pink slip. If you didnt, dont sweat it. Keep going in the car you used to beat JV. Make sure you throw an Ultimate direct port nitrous system in whatever ride youre using, and do what you need to visually to keep your heat level under control.

#3: ronnie

#3: RONNIE
Ronnie may act like a jackass, but hes no pushover on the pavement and hes driving a nice Aston Martin. As long youve maxed out your ride you should be in good shape, especially if you scored JVs Viper.
First up is a Circuit starting at the Bay Bridge. The tightest turns tend to have some breathing room on the sides, so cut them down by nding the straightest line through. Youll notice theres a 3-way choice early in the course, where you can go left, right, or through the parking garage. [scr_028.eps] The parking garage is the quickest, but its very risky: One wrong move and youre zeroed out on a support beam. Youre better off taking the low road on the right, and smoothing out the right turn into the tunnel as much as possible. Youll also nd a split after the bay tunnel; take the shorter right side. Just before the end, shave some time off by opting for the right path at the stacked blue shipping containers. If you do this last on all three laps, you can take your time down by a few seconds, as long as youre careful of the metal bridge supports in the middle of the road. The second challenge is a Sprint that opens with a straightaway. If you havent already, you might try manual shifting to make the most of your cars transmission. The hairpin turn at 22% is heinous whether you stay on the road or not, but cutting through the gas station takes a little distance off, but be careful of tricky maneuvering. Once again, at 31%, the GPS map might trick you into thinking you can take a shortcut through the prison but youre still going the wrong direction to take advantage of it. Turn in there by accident, and youre stuffed. Shortly thereafter, watch out for the garbage and re trucks on the road. If you hit or get stuck behind one, you might as well restart the race. Last up is another Circuit, but only two laps this time. Immediately after starting, hang a left toward the ashing lights to nail a jump thatll cut some distance off each lap. Right after that is a crazy hairpin turn into a narrow space thatll take all your skill to get right. If Ronnies nearby at this moment, hell stick you so make sure you get a jump at the starting line. Head down and to the left at the fork in the road, then slam through the tunnel to a right-angle left thats a perfect time for a speedbreaker. Take a left rather than going through the high rises treacherous garage or wasting energy on the high road to the right. This race can be harder than it looks from the map, so dont be afraid to take a few practice runs. If you win Ronnies ride, cash it in. Only two more to go!

#2: BULL

Bulls driving an SLR McLaren, but the car itself isnt much of a match for any of the top-level rides you have access to by now. All the performance parts in the game are open to you, so make the most of them. Spare no expense. Bull rst puts you through the paces on a Circuit that starts at the oil renery. Right out of the gate you can take advantage of a shortcut on the right, though it wont benet you much on the rst lap. On the left after the tunnel, youll see a coned-off bit of off-road with a ashing light. Its hairier than the main road, and doesnt give much of a benetbut if youre up to showing off a little, give it a shot. The same goes for the elevated boardwalk on the left shortly after. You can plow through the gas station on the right after passing the high rise, but itll really only slow you down. Toward the end of each lap theres a hairpin right that you can cut down to size by using the dirt pull off [scr_029.eps] preceding it. You need to be ready to cut the wheel at the top of the hill leading up to the dirt pull off. Stay out of the renery, rinse, repeat. The middle event is a Sprint, and the rst of six off-road corner-cutters hits at about 10%. If you get a perfect launch and can nail all of them at speed, youll start out in pretty good shape. At almost 50%, before the renery, youll be able to cut down the severity of a hairpin turn, just as you did in the last race. Stay out of the renery again, but take the minor shortcut to the tunnel on the right, the same one that opened the previous Circuit. As ever, avoid brickwalling into the prison, and watch your speed on the curves around it. Cut corners wherever you can on the back half, but keep a sharp eye out for strategically placed trafc. One more Sprint, and Bulls out of your hair for good. Take the right turns where the road forks at 6% and 14%. Most of the turns that look hard from the GPS map can actually be cut down to some degree, especially when theres a parking lot nearby (as there is at 24%.) At 28% theres a really nice alley shortcut to the left that you should take no matter what. Brake hard into the awful hairpin right at 36%, power-slide to face the right

#2: bull

TAKE THE ROAD TO THE RIGHT INSTEAD OF RISKING THE PARKING GARAGE SHORTCUT
direction, and pump in some nitrous to get back on your feet. Take the right-hand exit at 54%. From here on out, its pretty much classical racing, just dont let the GPS map fool you into slamming into the back of the drive-in theater screen at 91%. Now nothing stands between you and Razor. Hes got a surprise for you, though.
YOULL HAVE TO WIN FIVE RACES TO TAKE THE TOP SPOT FROM RAZOR
The rst of two Sprint challenges follows. There are a couple nasty trucks to watch out for, like the one that always seems to spill its load at 18%. You can take a fun little excursion through the train yard here, but it wont help your time any. The well-worn gravel shortcut at 26%, on the other hand, most certainly will give you an edge. Dont forget to hit the tunnel under the lighthouse at 32% as well. At 54% youve got that nasty hairpin you had to contend with in your second race against Ronnie. Take the gas station for a shorter distance, but watch out for the walls and supports. At 62%, youve got the prison deadend to avoid again, so just stay on the main track. At 82%, head left through the old drive-in movie theater for a shortcut jump through the movie screen. Beat cheeks to the end (using your speedbreaker whenever trafc gets ugly) and bring home the win. Two more to go. First up is a Circuit. Use those off-road shortcuts you should know by now. If youre going to win, youll need to hit the alley at the sign for the North Bay on every lap, so practice diligently. When youve got the speed to carry you, cut corners across grass with a tap of the e-brake. Cut through the prison parking lot on every lap if you can get into the following switchback without wrecking. Last race of the game, and its a Sprint. Make the most of the grassy expanses at 6% and 10% to shave some time off, and head off-road to the left at 18%. Watch your speed on the S-curves at 36%. Know that prison parking lot weve been telling you to avoid since you rst came across it?

#1: razor

#1: RAZOR
Nope, not just three races. Five. Five full races (though one is a drag.) Set aside some time for Razor, because youre not going to breeze past him in ten minutes. Hes still rolling in the ride he stole off you, so this is as personal as it gets. Event #1 is a Speedtrap. Trap #1 comes at the end of a mostly straight opener, so make the most of it with some nitrous. Take the lefts on the forks immediately after it. Rack up as much as possible on trap #2 in the tunnel and switch over to the righthand side. Trap #3 lies toward the end of a long sweeping right, and trap #4 is in another straight section, giving you more opportunities to score high. At the halfway mark, stay straight at the fork to avoid losing speed on unnecessary turns. Denitely take the alley shortcut on the right at 53% [scr_030.eps], so you can blow through trap #5 at full throttle. Trap #6 comes at the end of another straight section. Hang a right at the fork immediately after the donut shop. Trap #6 is the rst one that will give you any real trouble, since youll need to drift across the grass, deal with oncoming trafc, and time your nitrous boost perfectly to get the numbers you need. At 82%, make sure you take the alley on the left leading into trap #7 for the highest possible speed. Trap #8 comes at the overpass on the following straightaway, followed quickly by the nal trap on a minor turn leading into the nish. Now its time for the nal drag race. The only real challenge here is the trafc and a parked truck on the righthand side near the nish line. Cut a straight line wherever you can, stay in Razors way when he wants to pass, and youll come out on top without too many restarts.
walkthrough the great escape
Well, in the nal race of the game you can actually take advantage of it! At 81%, stay to the left and away from the parking garages of death. Finish up by power-braking through the nal turn onto the boardwalk, then gun it to the nish line for the win.
down. Your only option is to just keep running, ramming, speedbreaking, and plowing through pursuit breakersat least until you get a phone call at the ve minute mark telling you how to get to the high road out of town. That special spot will be marked on your map, so just do your best to head toward it. If you prefer, you can aim for Rosewoods Highway 99 from the get-go and circle as long as