This help guide is meant for the DTR player who has some basic familiarity with the game and is moving up to the larger NRL 5,463 HP chassis for the first time.  It will not help the seasoned player to any degree.

Running the higher horsepower chassis is substantially different from the original game and it will take some adjusting on your part to get the hang of controlling these mini-rockets.  We will assume your game controller is adjusted properly and that it gives you the precise control desirable to run the game.

It cannot be stressed enough, Seat time is the single most important element of learning to play this new game (yes, it is a new game).  If you don’t practice, it will be a long time coming before you get the hang of it.

Initially, when practicing and working on setups, you will want to change Tire Wear to OFF in game settings.  Go to Quick Race, start out with short 5 Lap runs with only 1 Opponent, and Track Wetness at 50%.  Be sure AI difficulty is at 100%.  Go to Tune and load your setup.  These settings will allow you to know when a different line on the track works better or not as well as if a change you have made to a specific track setup is giving you the desired results – you also won’t need to worry about a bunch of other cars on the track to divert your concentration.  Now just run some laps.  Run some more laps.  Change to 10 Lap runs and go some more.  The more laps the better, because that is what it is going to take.  Eventually you will want to add more opponents for practicing your passing, but for now it can wait.

Now, how did you do?  Did you run a number of those laps without getting off the gas?  Good – because that is your primary goal.  You want to get to the point that you rarely get off the gas.  There are really only a few instances when you will want to lift your foot (or finger) off the gas, and then only long enough to correct the current problem.  One is if you are climbing the outside fence/wall and are going to go airborne or you are heading into the infield area and heading for a black flag.  Both of those situations are bad and you will want to avoid them at all costs.  Additionally, while we won’t go into multiplayer on-line driving etiquette, suffice it to say you want to make your pass as "clean" as possible when overtaking slower vehicles.  It is essential to learn to drive the whole time without lifting the gas for one other very important reason – the fast guys don’t lift either and to compete well, you will need to do the same.   If you feel you just have to lift at the beginning, be sure you do it early into the corner and get back on the throttle fairly quickly – just never lift on the exit side of a corner or you will drift straight to the outside wall for sure (and it will be very ugly).

Okay, now on to the NRL's Original Home Track - Muskogee for some specifics on getting quick lap times.   This track is an egg shaped oval with turns 1 & 2 having the shorter set of corners.   You will also notice there is no inside corner markers such as a fence or rail in these turns – the markers are Black Flags.

Here’s the short version: The quickest way around this track is directly on the bottom through the corners, letting the car drift back out smoothly to the middle of the straights.  This will put you in the proper position to enter the next set of turns.   You will notice the word “smoothly” above.  To turn fast times here you must be very smooth when controlling the amount of drift angle the car uses in both the corners and straights, and you will want to make the corners as short as possible.   Now just, practice, practice, and practice.   Using the NRL Muskogee setup you should expect to be able to run in the mid 13’s with practice.

Now if you want to get to the low 13’s you will need to drive it slightly differently.  We had mentioned earlier that you want to stay away from getting Black Flags at all costs and during races that is a very true statement.  But we are here to learn how to go real fast on this track and to do that you will need to know where these flagmen hang out in the grass area.   Start to shorten the corners up a little at a time by actually driving farther onto the grass area.   As you find the black flags, just make a mental note of where you located them – it will be important if you are going for fast times or to pass an opponent for the win.   We will continue to be using the same setup for these quicker laps, let’s take one lap from the beginning:

As you cross the start/finish line you want to be about one car width from the outside fence and you will aim for the middle of the grass/dirt line in the first turn.  As you are getting ready to enter the turn, turn left slightly to set up your slide and turning back to the right to hold the proper angle – remember to be smooth.  You want the front end of the car actually on the grass entering the turn. Continue to stay at that relative angle position through the rest of turn one and most of turn two.   As you are exiting turn two, cut the angle off and exit on the grass almost a full car width and aim for the middle lane of the backstretch.  You are now setting up for the wide sweeping turn 3 & 4.   Again, aim for the middle of the grass/dirt line in turn 3, set up your drift as before but with less angle than you used in the first two turns.  As you are exiting turn 4, you will notice a gully in the grass area and you want to split that gully in the middle with your car.  The car will be hooking up big time at this point and will be in a drift towards the outside wall.  Let the car continue to drift but only far enough that you don’t hit the wall.  You should now be in a position to repeat the lap again.

Remember, seat time is the one ingredient that will give you the fastest times.

Good Racing!