NEED FOR SPEED: MOST WANTED BLACK EDITION FAQ/WALKTHROUGH v1.30 2006-01-30 Copyright 2005, 2006 by Barry Scott Will *GAME VERSION NOTE* This FAQ was written while playing NFSMW's Black Edition on the PC. The Black Edition is also available on Playstation 2 and XBox. The Black Edition includes eight additional bonus cars, three additional tracks, some unique vinyls and a Black Edition Challenge in the Challenge Series. The primary career mode is the same in both the Black and standard editions. For more NFS Most Wanted info, including a 100% complete savegame, tutorial videos and a visual version of this guide, visit: http://www.pyric.com/nfsmw/ Need for Speed Most Wanted is copyright 2005 by Electronic Arts. This FAQ/walkthrough is not endorsed by, nor is the author associated with, Electronic Arts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To contact me about the guide, send email to: pyric@cavecreations.net Please include "NFS Most Wanted FAQ" in your subject line so I don't auto- discard the message. Also, please read the FAQ carefully prior to asking for help on any part of the game. If you send me additional suggestions or hints for the game and I find them useful, you will be acknowledged in the Credits. If you found this guide useful and would like to contribute a small token for my efforts, you may send money through PayPal to: paypal@cavecreations.net Or use the Donate link found on my Web site: http://www.pyric.com/ Thank you, and enjoy the guide! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Front Matter Contact Information Table of Contents Section A: Overview A.01: Review A.02: Frequently Asked Questions Section B: Gameplay B.01: Controls B.02: The Blacklist B.03: World Map B.04: Safe Houses and Shops B.05: Performance Tuning B.06: Visual Upgrades B.07: Special Unlockables B.08: Ten Tips to Get You Started Section C: Career Mode C.01: Blacklist Member 15: Ho Seun (Sonny) C.02: Blacklist Member 14: Vince Kilic (Taz) C.03: Blacklist Member 13: Victor Vasquez (Vic) C.04: Blacklist Member 12: Isabel Diaz (Izzy) C.05: Blacklist Member 11: Lou Park (Big Lou) C.06: Blacklist Member 10: Karl Smit (Baron) C.07: Blacklist Member 9: Eugene James (Earl) C.08: Blacklist Member 8: Jade Barrett (Jewels) C.09: Blacklist Member 7: Kira Nakazato (Kaze) C.10: Blacklist Member 6: Hector Domingo (Ming) C.11: Blacklist Member 5: Wes Allen (Webster) C.12: Blacklist Member 4: Joe Vega (JV) C.13: Blacklist Member 3: Ronald McCrea (Ronnie) C.14: Blacklist Member 2: Toru Sato (Bull) C.15: Blacklist Member 1: Clarence Callahan (Razor) C.16. Rockport's Most Wanted Section D: Other Game Modes D.01: Challenge Series D.02: Quick Race Section E: Cars E.01: Stock Cars E.02: Bonus Cars Section F: Driving 101 F.01: Drivetrains F.02: Tracks F.03: Using N2O and Speedbreaker F.04: Performance Tuning F.05: Police Pursuits Version History & Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section A. Overview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A.01: Review ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're looking for a realistic driving simulator, this is not your game. Need for *Speed* is the name of the game, and that is what it delivers. While you will find a "vehicle damage" option, all it does is affect the appearance of your car, not its performance. After the previous two "Underground" games in the NFS series, MW returns to more racing-centric gameplay, though still with the "street" background to the story (such as it is). While tricking out your vehicle visually is still an option, it isn't really required unless you need to tone down the heat on your car. You can freely roam about the city, as in NFSU2; however, you also have the option of jumping directly into events rather than having to drive to each one. The game takes place during an autumn day in the city of Rockport. It's a large game world with good detail and plenty of shortcuts and off- road opportunities. NFSMW also marks the return of luxury sports cars such as two models from Lamborghini, the Ford GT, Dodge Viper and more. The cars are beautiful. The graphics are detailed. The game is very, very fast. What more do you want? A.02: Frequently Asked Questions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q: How do I sell parts? A: Go to a shop and "buy" stock parts for your car. This only works for parts such as body kits, spoilers, etc. You can't do this with performance or visual upgrades. However, the money to be earned this way is pretty small and generally not worth the trouble unless you're desperate for cash. Q: So what's a good way to earn money? A: You can play race events as many times as you want and win the cash reward each time. Once you get to BL#7 (Kaze), a few minutes spent on a race will earn you 10,000. You can also Challenge each Blacklist member until you win his or her ride and then sell any cars you don't want. Q: How do I get the pink slip for Blacklist X? A: You pick one of the ? bonus markers. If it doesn't have the pink slip, you pick another one. If the second one doesn't have the pink slip, you press ALT-F4 on the PC or the Reset button on your console, reload and race the Blacklist member again and take two more guesses. Each time you reload, the pink slip is randomly inserted (and, sometimes, may not even be available). So it all comes down to racing the Blacklist member over and over until you get lucky. Or, just deciding you don't need every Blacklist car and getting on with the game. Q: Can I play my own music in this game? A: Only by turning off EA Trax and Interactive Music (Options>Audio) and playing your music in WinAmp, iTunes, Win Media Player, etc. Q: Are there any mods or trainers? A: Yes. A good place to start looking is Need For Speed Unlimited at http://www.nfsunlimited.net/ Q: I'm in the final pursuit and I can't find the old bridge! A: It's west of Rosewood. Just south of the baseball stadium, on Hwy 99, there's a road leading west. During the game it is blocked by construction equipment; however, once you get the phone call letting you know the old bridge is open, you can go through and head off into the sunset. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section B. Gameplay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B.01: Controls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NFSMW can be played with the keyboard or a gamepad. The default controls are: +--------------------+-------------------+-------------+ | Action | Keyboard | Gamepad | |--------------------+-------------------+-------------| | Accelerate | Up | Button 1 | | Brake/Reverse | Down | Button 3 | | Steer Left | Left | X Axis | | Steer Right | Right | X Axis | | Handbrake | SPACE | Button 2 | | Speedbreaker | Right CTRL (or G) | Button 4 | | N2O | ALT (or X) | Button 7 | | Shift Down | CTRL | | | Shift Up | SHIFT | | | Reset Car Position | R | Button 6 | | Engage Event | ENTER | D-Pad Up | | View Blacklist | B | D-Pad Down | | View World Map | M | D-Pad Left | | View SMS Messages | TAB | D-Pad Right | | Play Next Song | T | | | Change Camera View | C | | | Look Behind | L | Button 5 | | Pull Camera Back | P | | | Pause | ESC | Button 8 | +--------------------+-------------------+-------------+ You can remap the controls by choosing Options>Controls from the Main Menu or the in-game Pause Menu. B.01.a) Control Descriptions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Accelerate: Just what it says. On the PC, the control is digital--you're either on the pedal full speed or off it. Unless...you have a gamepad or wheel with analog controls. NFSMW supports analog input, so if you map acceleration to an analog control (e.g. to the right thumbstick on your gamepad) you can get a full range of thrust. Brake/Reverse: When going forward, this key brakes. When standing still, this key accelerates you in reverse. Steer Left/Right: Self-explanatory. Steering using the keyboard is, again, digital and can be kind of tricky. It's best to have a steering wheel or gamepad with an analog thumbstick to use for steering so you can have more precise control. Handbrake: Applies the emergency brake. A quick tap is useful for power- sliding around hard turns. Speedbreaker: A new "bullet-time" feature added to NFS. Pressing this button puts the game in slow-motion so you can steer your car more precisely. Speedbreaker only lasts a few seconds and recharges when you're driving fast. N2O: Gives your car a shot of nitrous oxide, providing a speed boost. You must purchase a nitrous system for your car first and your system must be charged. The nitrous system recharges while driving fast. You can hold the key down to provide a sustained burst of speed. Shift Down/Up: Self-explanatory. You have to manually shift your car in drag races, even if you normally use automatic transmission. Reset Car Position: After a particularly bad crash, press this key to put your car back on course ready to go. Using this key in a police pursuit will almost always result in an instant bust, unless all the cop cars around you were disabled in the crash. Engage Event: Enter a race, shop or safe house by driving into the glowing ring that marks the spot in the game world and press this key. During police pursuits, press this key to bring up details on your current pursuit standings. View Blacklist: Shows your current rival and all defeated rivals, targets and available races and milestones. Use this to jump instantly to any race or milestone challenge. View World Map: Opens the world map. View SMS Messages: Opens your Cingular cell phone menu with both voice and text messages for viewing. Play Next Song: If you have EA TRAX turned on, press this key to skip the current song and start a new song. Change Camera View: Rotates between the four main camera views: - Bumper: first-person perspective that shows none of your car. - Hood: first-person perspective that shows most of the hood of your car, the closest approximation of a real-life view. - Close: third-person perspective from behind and close to your car. - Far: third-person perspective from behind and far away from your car. Look Behind: Switches to a rear-view so you can check up on the pursuit. Pull Camera Back: Pulls the camera further back from the car and also swings the camera down to give you a low-profile view of your car and the surroundings; it will return to its original position when you release the key. Pause: Brings up the Pause Menu, which varies depending on your current location and activity. - During a race, you can: - Resume race - Restart race - Jump to Safe House (quit race) - Return to free roam (quit race) - Performance tuning - Options - In free roam, you can: - Return to free roam - Jump to Safe House - Performance tuning - Options - In the Safe House, you can: - Return to free roam - View the Blacklist - Select a different car - View your rap sheet - Save your current game - Options B.02: The Blacklist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Career mode, you must work your way up the Blacklist--a gang of street racers--to get revenge on Razor (the #1 Blacklist member) for stealing your car. To advance through the Blacklist, you have to do a number of things. B.02.a) Win Races ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are a minimum number of races that must be won before you can face a Blacklist member. There are six different types of races: Circuit, Sprint, Lap Knockout, Drag, Speedtrap and Tollbooth. These race types are described in Section F. B.02.b) Attain Milestones ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Milestones are steps along the way to achieving the "street rep" you need to gain the respect of Blacklist members and earn the right to race them. Milestones involve run-ins with the police and come in a variety of flavors: Pursuit, Bounty, Trade Paint and Photo Ticket are just a few. See Section F for information on Evading Police and Section C for the specific Milestones available for each Blacklist racer. B.02.c) Earn Bounty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your bounty represents how badly the police department wants to put you away. As you have run-ins with the fuzz, your bounty will increase. You must accumulate specific amounts of bounty to earn the right to race a Blacklist member. B.02.d) Challenge the Blacklist Member ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you've reached the targets for a Blacklist member, you can enter the Rival Challenge for that member. The Rival Challenge consists of two or more events between you and the Blacklist racer. If you win the events, you defeat the Blacklist racer, collect your rewards and move on to the next member. You must win all events in one sitting, you cannot save your game between events. Your reward for beating a Blacklist member is cash and markers. You may choose two of six different markers. There are three bonus markers, which do not reveal their contents until chosen. These markers display a question mark (?). They may contain additional cash, get out of jail free cards, additional impound strikes, the pink slip to the Blacklist racer's car (i.e. you get the car) or other goodies. The bonus markers are randomly set, so there's no way to predict what you will get. *NOTE* The bonus markers are *RANDOM*. Some people have latched onto a pattern, or think the pink slip shows up in the same spot each time; however, none of these methods work to get the pink slip. Some people get really lucky and win almost every Blacklist car, others win only three or four. If you desperately want the Blacklist cars, you'll have to exit the game immediately after choosing the second marker, before pressing Continue. (On a PC, press ALT-F4 to shut down the game; on a console, just hit the Reset button.) Or, turn off Autosave (Options > Gameplay) and exit the game normally after defeating the rival and then reload. After reloading, you'll have to race the Blacklist member again and try the markers again. There is also one marker each for a unique visual upgrade, performance upgrade and parts upgrade. While you can choose a specific type of upgrade, you do not know what the actual upgrade will be (might be a new spoiler, hood, vinyl, engine, transmission, etc.). The unique parts won with markers are called "Junkman" parts and are available in the back room of any shop. When in the shop, press [1] to enter the back room and add Junkman parts. If you want to maximize the performance of your cars, select performance markers from Blacklist racers and hold onto them until you get late into the game and start picking up some exotics. Load them up with Ultimate parts (as you unlock them) and then add the Junkman parts on top of that. A car with all Ultimate + Junkman parts will have full performance stat bars (Top Speed, Acceleration and Handling). B.03: World Map ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open the World Map to view available events, shops, safe houses and to activate the GPS system. Click an event, shop or safe house on the map and choose Yes to activate GPS. When GPS is active, an arrow will appear at the top center of the screen pointing you in the correct direction. There are three boroughs in Rockport: Rosewood, Camden Beach (further divided into Point Camden and Gray Point) and Downtown. You begin in Rosewood, in the northwest part of the map. After defeating Blacklist #13 (Vic), you can drive through Camden Beach, which takes up the eastern side of town. You can cruise Downtown in the southwest after defeating Blacklist #9 (Earl). The first time a new area opens, you should spend some time driving around in free roam to get a feel for the streets. The more familiar you are with the game world, the easier it will be to race as you will know what's coming without having to look at your minimap as often. You'll also have an easier time in pursuits, when you are making your own "track". B.03.a) Major Landmarks & Shortcuts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Rosewood State University: this large structure sits in the center of Rosewood and has a circular road around it. It's fun to drive through the halls of the college, but is of little use otherwise. - Rosewood College Hospital: sits south of the University in the middle of a switchback. When going downhill (southbound), you can jump through the hospital (except in some races where it's closed off). Northbound, there is a ramp going uphill past the lower half of the hospital (on the west side). This shortcut is only occasionally available in races. - Highland Trail & Forest Green Golf & Country Club: this park and golf course adjoin each other in the northeastern section of Rosewood. They make for great off-road fun, but don't try them with anything other than a FWD or AWD car. Also, be very careful of the trees. There's a nice pursuit breaker and hiding spot in the park. - Hickley Field: a baseball stadium on the west side of Rosewood, this is a great place to evade pursuits as there are breakers outside each entrance and a hiding spot on the west side. Break into the field from the east side, then break out on the west side and slide right into the hiding spot. The breakers should have rid you of any cops following and you'll be all set to wait out the Cooldown period. - The Alley: in the northern part of Rosewood is an alley that serves as a shortcut in a large number of races. It cuts off a corner of the road that runs past Hickley Field, northbound, and then turns east and then south toward the college. - Hwy 99: is the highway around Rosewood. There are a number of wide open areas, but also some long tunnels and narrow bridges. This can be a great place for a pursuit, as long as you don't run into Rhinos in a tunnel or on a bridge. - Bus Station: positioned directly in the center of the map, it displays as a diamond-shaped area in between Rosewood and Downtown. The bus terminal is notable for a couple of pursuit tricks described in section F.05.g: Pursuit Hints & Tips. - Trucking Depot: just south and a little west of the bus terminal is a warehouse with a number of truck trailers pulled up outside. While it occasionally looks like a good shortcut in some races, stay out of it as you will have to slow down to thread your way through. - The Mall: is a shopping center northeast of the bus terminal. Roads between Rosewood and Camden Beach converge around here and many races allow you to cut through the mall. There's also a nice pursuit breaker in the center. - Old Drive-in: this abandoned theater lies southeast of the mall. It's a nice pursuit breaker, but don't use it as a shortcut--you lose too much speed breaking through the movie screen and catching air afterwards. - Lighthouse: this beacon of hope lies on an island at the south end of Camden Beach. There's a narrow passage underneath the lighthouse and you should always cut through there whenever passing this way, which you will do frequently in races through Point Camden. There's also a hiding spot on the north side of the island. - Boardwalk: the boardwalk lies along the east side of the river, just north of the lighthouse. A good number of races take you through there, but you don't need to bother with it during pursuits as there are no pursuit breakers in it. - Docks: the "port" in Rockport is directly across the river from the boardwalk and is a fairly involved area. There are several races that take you through the area, but it's best avoided during pursuits. - Train yard: just west of the docks is a train yard. Stay out of it at all costs. Weaving your way through boxcars is not helpful during either races or pursuits. - Twin Towers: north of the lighthouse, along the river just where it bends sharply west, are two tall towers. Many races take you around this area and it appears there is a shortcut underneath. Don't be fooled, the parking areas under the towers are full of concrete pylons that spell instant loss if you hit one of them. Although, there are hiding spots under these towers for use during pursuits. - The "Back Street": in the southern part of Camden Beach is a narrow, alley-like street that cuts a big chunk off many races (and a few races force you to go through it). - Penitentiary: the penitentiary is similar to the hospital in that it lies in the middle of a switchback. It is just east of the twin towers and when going downhill (from west to east) you can sometimes jump through the prison. There's no shortcut through when going uphill. - Oil Refinery: on the eastern edge of the map, directly between Point Camden and Gray Point is an oil refinery. Many races take you around this plant. Never go through it, as you're more likely to wreck than save any time. - Trailer park: this area is located in north-west Gray Point. Some races benefit from cutting through the park, some don't (and some don't allow you to cut through). It also has two pursuit breakers and a hiding spot. - Cannery: a large dock/warehouse area on the southwest side of the Gray Point inlet (Dunwich Bay). The cannery is notable mostly for the air you can catch on a couple of jumps inside. One jump is easy to see, the other involves finding an opening that takes you up on the roof of the main building and allows you a big jump coming off the other side. Just for fun as there's not much real use in it. - Hwy 201: is the highway around Downtown. It has a number of twists in it, including a 360 degree loop in the southwest corner. Not as conducive to flooring it as Hwy 99, but still a good route for pursuits. - Riverfront Stadium: this football field is located along the south side of Downtown, in the middle of Hwy 201. The best route around it is to the north of the stadium (west-bound lanes of 201). You can also run through the field, but there are no pursuit breakers, so it's not much use in a pursuit. - Amphitheater: an open air theater located in the western portion of Downtown, just north of the stadium. There's a good pursuit breaker in the amphitheater and another just north of it in a construction zone that leads to a jump onto Hwy 201. - Sunken Road: running through the southern part of Downtown, in between the stadium and the amphitheater, is a sunken, enclosed road with only a few entrances. It's under construction and has a pursuit breaker and a hiding spot. If you can get into it with only a few cruisers on your tail, you can shake them off with the breaker and then hide. B.04: Safe Houses and Shops ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each of the three boroughs in Rockport has a Safe House, a car lot, and a handful of one-stop shops. Each Safe House acts as your entry/exit from the game world and your garage for storing your fleet of cars. You do not have to physically drive to a Safe House, you can use the Pause Menu while in free roam to jump to a Safe House. Car lots contain all the stock cars available in the game (see Section E). You must reach certain stages of the game in order to earn the right to purchase most of the cars. One-stop shops handle performance, parts and visual upgrades to your ride. You must drive to car lots and shops in order to use them. When in a shop, press [1] at the main menu to access unique parts won from racers (with markers). Pressing [1] opens the back room and gives access to these special parts. B.05: Performance Tuning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you were expecting something along the lines of NFSU2, you'll be highly disappointed. Performance tuning your ride consists of sliders, and there's no way to test or measure your performance other than driving the car after you make adjustments. For a complete description of tuning options, see section F.04. B.06: Visual Upgrades ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While you can still rice your ride, there's not as much variety as in NFSU2. Visual and parts upgrades exist mainly for people who like to play with customization. The only time you really need to change the look of your car is if the car gets too hot and you don't want the police to recognize it; and, then, all you really need is a new paint job and, maybe, a different body kit. B.07: Special Unlockables ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the start screen (the screen that says 'Click to continue' and appears right after the opening cinematic), type in the following codes. You have to type the codes blind (i.e. nothing shows on screen), so type carefully: castrol: Unlocks a Castrol Syntec Ford GT in the Bonus Cars. burgerking: Unlocks the Burger King Challenge in the Challenge Series. B.08: Ten Tips to Get You Started ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #1: Put nitrous on your car as soon as you can (after beating Sonny-- Blacklist #15). Nitrous is the best performance upgrade you can have as it allows you to more quickly recover from clipping a wall or hitting another car. #2: If you hit a civvie car or truck (excluding tractor-trailers), 19 times out of 20 the vehicle will spin out right. The other 1 time the vehicle will spin out left and then come back right. So, when you hit a civvie, always dodge left. #3: Learn when to take a hit. Sometimes dodging traffic will hurt worse than hitting the other car. This is especially true on narrow bridges or exit ramps, where dodging may cause you to clip a wall and spin out. Turn down "World Detail" in your advanced video options to get rid of lots of extraneous junk on the roads and minimize the hits you do have to take. #4: Don't try to complete every pursuit milestone as you play. Do the photo tickets and one or two other milestones (such as Pursuit Evasion, which is easy to earn) as needed to advance. Later in the game, when you're running long pursuits for Blacklists one, two and three, you'll earn the earlier milestones as you earn the current milestones. For example, while you're earning 850,000 Bounty for Razor's milestone, you'll also earn all the other Bounty milestones from previous racers. While you're running roadblocks and spike strips for Bull, you'll complete all previous Roadblock and Spike Strip milestones. #5: Learn your engine's sweet spot and get perfect launches on every race. Perfect launches are especially important in drags, so stick with one or two cars as your primary racers and learn how to get perfect launches. Follow a perfect launch with some nitrous to get an early lead. #6: If you are in a 2x2 starting position for a race, you will always be in back. If you get a perfect launch in this situation, immediately aim for the gap between the front two cars. Otherwise you'll waste your perfect launch by bumping the car in front of you. #7: Handling is more important than Acceleration and Acceleration is more important than Top Speed. Keep that in mind when choosing a car. Most courses won't allow you to race at top speed because of all the curves and turns, so keeping your car off the wall is more important than flying through at 200+ mph. #8: Learn how to use N2O properly. You don't want to hoard nitrous, because it recharges quickly, so there's no use in "saving" it until later. On the other hand, you don't want to use it all up and keep it empty--you should always have some reserve to help you out of a tight spot and you'll want a full meter when approaching a speedtrap or the end of a race. Overuse of nitrous also leads to out-of-control driving, which ultimately slows your average speed. Use your nitrous wisely and it will serve you well. #9: Practice "driving with the map". Racing by following the barriers isn't enough. You don't want to be surprised by a sudden 135-degree turn or a 180 loop. Glance at the mini-map every few seconds so you'll know what's ahead. The mini-map will also show you upcoming speedtraps and tollbooths in those races. #10: Always be sure to have some cash on hand or a Get Out of Jail Free marker in case you get busted. Get two cars in your garage as quickly as possible, so you can keep racing if one gets impounded. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section C. Career Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You begin career mode with an extended series of FMV sequences that set up the story, such as it is. During these cutscenes, you have to win three races, which is not hard to do. The first two races are Sprints and then a 2-lap Circuit. Your "hot" BMW will barely break 140 and the other cars are much slower--consider this your tutorial to get you used to racing. You shouldn't have any trouble beating the races. After those three races are won, you start a race against Razor. Don't worry too much about it, you won't be finishing this race. More FMV sequences set up the beginning of the main story: you find yourself with 30,000 cash in your pocket (40,000 if you have an NFS Underground 2 career save on your system) and a small selection of cars to get you started on the racing circuit again. If you have the extra money from playing NFSU2, buy a Golf GTi, it's the best starter car. Otherwise you want the Lexus IS300 or the Fiat Punto if you want good handling. The Chevy Cobalt SS is faster, but handling is poor. Once you've selected your car, you have to start working your way up the Blacklist. NOTE: "CP" in the race descriptions means "cop probability". Maximum means the cops will almost assuredly be chasing you during the race. Minimum means you can breathe easy--no cops to worry about. C.01: Blacklist Member 15: Ho Seun (Sonny) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This here is Sonny. He's dumped a whole lot of cash into his car. That ride is worked so don't be fooled, it's a rocket. He does anything he can to get a hold of parts before they hit the streets." Ride: Golf GTi Targets: - Race Wins: 3 - Milestones: 3 - Total Bounty: 20,000 The races here are pretty easy, especially if you were able to buy the Golf. You don't even need to spend any money on upgrades. Don't be put off by Sonny's best scores on his Rival Challenge races, you don't have to beat those scores to beat him (or any other Blacklist racer). If you weren't able to buy a Golf at the beginning of the game, try to win Sonny's car when you collect your race markers. Available Race Events: - Circuit (Ironwood Estates): 1,500 cash; 4.2 miles (2 laps); CP: minimum This is a short, easy course, but it does have a couple of shortcuts. The first will be just visible to your left soon after the start/finish line and is blocked by a wooden fence (easily breakable). This path travels through the woods, cutting off the next two curves. If you miss the first turn, the second part of this shortcut will appear soon after to your right. The second shortcut is a narrow alley between buildings that chops off a large corner. As you come off the highway, you'll make a sharp left turn and then see another sharp left. Stay straight at that second left to hit the opening of the alley. - Sprint (Diamond & Union): 1,500 cash; 3.5 miles; CP: maximum This sprint is pretty wide open through the first three-fourths of the distance, then goes through the switchback near Hickley Field and a quarter of the way around the college to the finish. There's one little shortcut near the beginning of the course, but it's such a tight squeeze it's likely to cost you more time. Stick to the main course and try to build up a good lead before you leave Hwy 99. - Lap Knockout (Hickley Field): 1,500 cash; 5.1 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum A simple circle around Hickley Field. The only slightly difficult portion is the turn through the round-a-bout, which can cause a lot of sliding if you oversteer. There are no shortcuts. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 5,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 2 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 5,000) Evade police pursuit in less than 4 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 5,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 2 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 4,000) Get clocked at over 80 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (5,000 cash): - Circuit (Campus Way): 5.6 miles (2 laps) Not much to say about this course. There's one shortcut, but it doesn't shave off much distance, is very tight and has a hard left turn coming out. Avoid the shortcut and stick to the main course. Make sure you bleed a little speed as you enter the double switchback and save some nitro to boost yourself to the finish. - Circuit (Highlands): 4.3 miles (2 laps) This is the Ironwood Estates course, but going in the opposite direction. The alley shortcut is a bit more difficult to hit as it's a 45-degree turn to the left and has a narrow opening. If you can hit it, you will save several seconds; but, if you hit the wall when trying to enter, you're through. Only try for it if your car has decent handling. The shortcut through the woods plays about the same, with an entry to the left near the finish line. C.02: Blacklist Member 14: Vince Kilic (Taz) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This crazy fool is a major heat score. Blacklist gave him the name 'Taz'. He hates cops and they hate him. Watch yourself around this guy. He prowls the streets of Rosewood looking for newbies." Ride: Lexus IS300 Targets: - Race Wins: 4 - Milestones: 3 - Total Bounty: 50,000 Taz is not that big an increase in difficulty over Sonny, and his Lexus IS300 is nothing special. Add a nitrous kit (at the least) to your starter car or use Sonny's Golf if you won it. Available Race Events: - Circuit (Petersburg): 2,000 cash; 8.6 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum This course is roughly rectangular. The first and third turns have shortcuts. On the first turn, there's a parking lot to the left that will cut a second or two off your time. When you reach the third turn, stay to your left (into oncoming traffic) to take the shorter turn--it's worth at least two or three seconds. - Sprint (Hwy 99 & State): 2,000 cash, 5.0 miles; CP: minimum The alley shortcut is open, but you'll lose too much time trying to make the hard right into it, so go around the longer way. As you leave the college circle and head for the country club, go around the right-hand turn and straighten out into a cut-through under some trees. - Sprint (Clubhouse & Hollis): 2,000 cash; 3.7 miles; CP: maximum There are no available shortcuts on this sprint, except for a parking lot as you leave college circle. You'll go downhill past the hospital, but it's closed off so you can't jump through it. The track is pretty technical-- you'll want a car with good handling. - Lap Knockout (Rosewood College): 2,000 cash; 7.4 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum A short course that takes you 3/4 of the way around the college and past the stadium. You can use the alley shortcut on the northeast side of the course, but beware of the sharp left turn coming out of the alley. You're probably better going around rather than through the alley. - Tollbooth (Skyview & Campus): 2,000 cash; 3 tollbooths; 5.1 miles; CP: minimum - 1.6 miles in 1:10 - 1.5 miles in 0:45 - 2.0 miles in 0:45 This is a flat-out speed race around Hwy 99. Times between tollbooths are generous, so floor it and you shouldn't have any trouble. - Circuit (Heritage Heights): 2,000 cash; 7.5 miles (2 laps); CP: minimum This is a very straightforward course. There's no advantage to either the left or right lanes in the split lane portion of the course, so stay right and save yourself having to dodge oncoming traffic. The third major turn in the course is a hard, 90-degree left. There are no shortcuts in the course. Available Milestones: - Bounty (Bounty 6,000) Get 1,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 6,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 15,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Infractions Challenge (Bounty 6,000) Evade the police pursuit with a minimum of 3 infractions to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 4,500) Get clocked at over 93 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 4,500) Get clocked at over 90 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (6,000 cash): - Sprint (Stadium & Highway 99): 4.9 miles This is a real sprint--lots of long, relatively straight areas where you can open it up. No shortcuts. - Sprint (Rosewood & State): 4.1 miles Another fast course. There are two small shortcuts in the middle section of the course, but you won't lose anything if you miss them and might lose a lot of speed if you try to hit them and clip a wall. One is a cut-through behind the main entrance of the water park, the other is a parking lot at the first hard left turn. C.03: Blacklist Member 13: Victor Vasquez (Vic) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This dude's been holding it down in the #13 slot for a while now. He can't break out of his rut and no one can run him out. He's slack and dangerous but knows how to handle his ride. He'll smoke you if he gets the chance." Ride: Toyota Supra Targets: - Race Wins: 4 - Milestones: 3 - Total Bounty: 100,000 Vic will be your last "easy" Blacklist racer. If you're looking down the road to a 100% complete Rap Sheet you will want to run a lot of police pursuits before Challenging Vic. At this stage of the game you only get level 1 and 2 heat and they are easily dealt with. Run lots of short pursuits going for the big 5 infractions: ramming police, hit-and-run, driving off roadway, damage to property and avoiding arrest. You'll need to rack up 500 infractions, total, to rank #1 lifetime and it's a lot easier to do it now than later when you have to face heat levels 3 through 5. Hopefully you won either Sonny's or Taz's car so you have at least two and can switch back-and-forth to keep down to heat level 1. When you do Challenge Vic, keep challenging him until you win his Supra. It will easily take you through the next three racers. Available Race Events: - Sprint (Rosewood & Lyons): 2,500 cash; 3.7 miles; CP: maximum About midway through this course there's a back-road "shortcut" that will cost you more time than it saves. When you reach the section where the road splits, take the right fork--you'll have to make a 45-degree turn just past a doughnut shop. This is the slightly faster route. - Lap Knockout (City Center): 2,500 cash; 4.8 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum There are small shortcuts through parking lots on several of the turns in this course. On a small, tight course like this, you'll need to use them and avoid any serious wreck. There's no margin for error on such a short track. - Lap Knockout (Rosewood College): 2,500 cash; 10.2 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum The alley shortcut north of the college is an excellent way to gain some time on your opponents. There are no other shortcuts on the course. - Tollbooth (Hwy 99 & Highlands): 2,500 cash; 3 tollbooths; 5.1 miles; CP: minimum - 1.4 miles in 0:50 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 2.3 miles in 0:50 Top-speed racing on Hwy 99. Put the pedal to the metal. - Tollbooth (Hwy 4 & Forest Green): 2,500 cash; 3 tollbooths; 6.3 miles; CP: minimum - 1.8 miles in 0:55 - 2.8 miles in 1:35 - 1.7 miles in 0:45 When going past the country club, look for the cut-through under some trees to the right. Get used to that cut-through, it shows up in a lot of tracks. Keep it floored on Hwy 99 so you have some extra time to thread your way around the college. - Speedtrap (Diamond & State): 2,500 cash; 3.3 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 10%, 37%, 55%, 74%, 94%. For your first available speedtrap, these traps are not the easiest to hit. Most come right after a big curve so you'll be hard pressed to get any real speed going through them. Save your nitrous and hold it down when you get in sight of a trap. - Speedtrap (Forest & Ironwood): 2,500 cash; 3.9 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 17%, 34%, 58%, 77%, 89%. You can open it up on the first two speedtraps--the mall shortcut is open, but you may want to avoid it as the second trap is soon after and you don't want to lose any speed at that point. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 11,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 4 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Bounty (Bounty 11,000) Get 5,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 11,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 4 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 5,000) Get clocked at over 108 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 5,000) Get clocked at over 105 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (6,000 cash): - Sprint (Union & Hollis): 5.6 miles Once you've made use of the ubiquitous under-tree cut-through near the golf course, open it up down the road past the mall and remember to avoid going through the truck depot. - Sprint (Heritage & Campus): 3.6 miles There's a 180-degree turn very early in the race, and Vic will interfere with you if he's close. Try for a perfect launch followed by a quick burst of nitrous to get an early lead so you don't have to worry about him as you thread your way through the first half of the course. The only shortcut worth noting is the parking lot to your right as you near college circle. C.04: Blacklist Member 12: Isabel Diaz (Izzy) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Izzy is definitely a chick you don't want to mess with. She knows everything there is about cars, on and off the road. She's got her ride wired tight. She comes from a long line of race fanatics. Everybody she runs with is either a cousin, friend or uncle. They all stick close so don't get on her bad side." Ride: Mazda RX-8 Targets: - Race Wins: 4 - Milestones: 3 - Total Bounty: 180,000 Camden Beach is open to you now, so there's more city to explore and more races from which to choose. You'll notice the races are becoming a bit tougher. If you haven't won a BL car yet, you'll need some performance upgrades on your starter car. Concentrate on handling upgrades (suspension, tires and brakes) before speed upgrades. You get your first drag race at this stage. While you can complete the objectives without dragging, you might as well get used to it, as you'll have to win some drags later in the game. Izzy's RX-8 is a sweet ride, but not that big an improvement on Vic's Supra, if you got it. If you manage to end up with both, go ahead and sell your starter car for money to upgrade the Toyota and Mitsubishi. The next big jump in Blacklist cars won't come until you face Baron; but, he's a couple rivals down the line. Available Race Events: - Circuit (Omega): 3,000 cash; 6.5 miles (2 laps); CP: maximum Omega hits you with a hard right turn just off the line, then it's pretty standard fare for the remainder of the course. After the second major turn, there's a bit of a confusing area where the course passes through a large intersection. The right-side wall is far off the course, so stay left to avoid losing a second or two bumping through the medians. - Tollbooth (Hwy 99 & Route 55): 3,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 4.8 miles; CP: maximum - 1.2 miles in 0:50 - 1.2 miles in 0:40 - 0.8 miles in 0:25 - 1.6 miles in 0:50 Try to pick up as much time through the first tollbooth as you can, you'll need it to get through the twisting course ahead of you. Just past the first tollbooth is a shortcut to your left (look for the flashing yellow construction markers). This will help you pick up two or three seconds. - Tollbooth (North Bay & Chase): 3,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 4.7 miles; CP: minimum - 0.6 miles in 0:40 - 1.5 miles in 0:45 - 0.5 miles in 0:20 - 2.1 miles in 1:05 The first part of this course is fairly tight, with lots of curves. Get through the first two tollbooths with time to spare and you can cruise to the finish. - Speedtrap (Hwy 4 & Clubhouse): 3,000 cash; 3.6 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 6%, 36%, 49%, 73%, 91%. There's a speedtrap right in front of you as you start, so a perfect launch is a big help (remember to aim for the gap between the cars in front of you so you don't suffer a fender- bender right before the trap). Trap #4 is on the curving switchback around the hospital, so it helps to have a big lead going into that one. - Drag (Bayshore & Boardwalk): 750 cash; 0.9 miles; CP: minimum Your first drag race! Aren't you the lucky one. Read the tutorial on drag racing in section F.02.f, then try this one out. It's actually pretty easy. Don't change lanes until you approach the tunnel, then switch two lanes right, pass one car, then switch one lane left, pass another car, then one lane right and speed to the finish. - Sprint (Campus & Chancellor): 3,000 cash; 4.2 miles; CP: minimum Right away you're on the switchback around the hospital. You can't jump through the upper half of the hospital, but you can jump through the lower half. That will give you a big lead. Once past the hospital, as you approach the left turn, only turn slightly and then immediately straighten out to take a parking lot shortcut through the next right-hand turn. Next up is the shortcut under the water park; this is followed by a sharp 135- degree turn. Then it's on past Hickley Field--the alley is open, but slowing down to make the hard right into it will cost you more time than you'll save. Take the long way around and sprint to the finish. - Sprint (Rockridge & Union): 3,000 cash; 5.1 miles; CP: maximum This one's all about top speed, so use your fastest car and open it up on the highway. Don't forget the cut-through near the golf course. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 19,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 8 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 19,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 3 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 19,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 4 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 5,500) Get clocked at over 114 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 5,500) Get clocked at over 121 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (8,000 cash): - Sprint (Chase & Bristol): 3.8 miles A short and shortcut-free sprint. Keep your speed down when going through the refinery so you don't bounce out of control. - Circuit (Diamond): 8.9 miles (2 laps) Diamond has four shortcuts, and, while none are spectacular, consistent use of them can shave 10 or more seconds per lap. Right out of the gate you have the cut-through under the trees near the country club entrance. Then, the mall is open for a shortcut about midway through a lap. When the road splits, take the 45-degree turn right for the faster course. Finally, you can cut through the parking lot to your right as you enter college circle. C.05: Blacklist Member 11: Lou Park (Big Lou) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This slab of Korean muscle considers himself a real ladies man. He's all show. Rumor has it; he panics around the cops and bails on races the first chance he gets. Along with that they say he has problems working the clutch so he's slow off the line. I wouldn't count on it if I was you." Ride: Mitsubishi Eclipse Targets: - Race Wins: 5 - Milestones: 3 - Total Bounty: 300,000 The races are definitely getting tougher. By now you should have at least two cars in your stable. If one gets too hot (or is impounded), you can cruise with the other. Make a play for Big Lou's pink slip if all you've got is a starter and your current ride, then sell the starter car and use the money to keep your other two rides upgraded. Available Race Events: - Sprint (Beacon & Station): 4,000 cash; 3.4 miles; CP: minimum Start off going under the lighthouse. That's your first and last shortcut. The course is very technical over the first half, with lots of hard turns. Keep your car under control and try to keep enough of a lead so the other racers aren't pushing you into wall. Take the south route around the twin towers; it's a little bit shorter. Avoid the jump through the old drive-in, you lose too much speed going through rather than just going around. - Circuit (Hillcrest Boundary): 4,000 cash; 9.2 miles (2 laps); CP: minimum Don't forget the cutoff near the country club; but, avoid the alley north of the college. You'll lose too much speed coming out of it and trying to make a hard left onto a narrow street. - Speedtrap (Seaside & Fisher): 4,000 cash; 2.7 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 14%, 36%, 54%, 65%, 88%. After the first speedtrap you'll make a turn to the left and go over a hill. Slow down right after the trap and take the turn sharply or you'll catch too much air and come down on a wall and out of control. The last trap is in the middle of a S-curve, save some nitrous to boost yourself right before you hit it. - Tollbooth (Chase & Waterfront): 4,000 cash; 5 tollbooths; 6.7 miles; CP: minimum - 0.6 miles in 0:35 - 0.4 miles in 0:15 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 2.9 miles in 1:15 You'll need a fast start to catch the first two tollbooths--avoid taking the shortcut through the old drive-in. After that you can open it up on the highway and gain some time through tollbooths 3 and 4. When you leave Hwy 99 and enter Rosewood, stick to the right-hand path and take the shortcut under the water park. - Tollbooth (Route 55 & North Bay): 4,000 cash; 3 tollbooths; 5.5 miles; CP: minimum - 2.0 miles in 1:20 - 1.3 miles in 0:40 - 2.2 miles in 1:10 Times are generous, so keep your car under control and you should be fine. As you come past the mall and make a left, there's a good cutoff to your left and several more as you go down the hill toward the last tollbooth. - Sprint (Bristol & Bayshore): 4,000 cash; 3.8 miles; CP: minimum Keep your speed down as you go through the refinery to avoid bouncing out of control. As you leave the tunnel after the refinery, there's a shortcut through some beach housing to your left, but you should avoid it and stick to the main road. After the switchback you can open it up a little, but slow down well before the last right-hand turn. There's a big hill right before that turn and you don't want to catch too much air or you'll crash and burn only four blocks from the finish line. - Speedtrap (Rosewood & Hwy 99): 4,000 cash; 3.9 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 15%, 31%, 45%, 58%, 66%, 78%, 89%. Most of the traps on this course are right around corners. Go into Performance Tuning and move your Nitrous slider several stops to the right so you get strong boosts coming out of the corners and through the traps. The bus station is actually open to you as a shortcut, so use it and boost into the trap that's just beyond it. - Drag (Heritage & Rosewood): 1,000 cash; 1.7 miles; CP: minimum This is a long drag course with a lot of jumps. Make sure you let off the accelerator whenever you catch air or you'll blow your engine. As soon as the race starts, switch two lanes right so you are in the lane that is directly right of the center median. Stay in that lane until you pass through an intersection with a vehicle (usually a truck) coming through from your right. (Don't worry, if you've been going full speed you'll pass right in front of the civvie.) Then switch right one lane and continue back-and-forth between the two right lanes as you pass each vehicle and finish the race. Available Milestones: - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 30,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 20,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Roadblock Challenge (Bounty 30,000) Dodge 2 police roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Infractions Challenge (Bounty 30,000) Evade the police pursuit with a minimum of 4 infractions to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 6,000) Get clocked at over 118 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 6,000) Get clocked at over 118 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (10,000 cash): - Circuit (Circle Rose); 6.8 miles (2 laps) - Circuit (Switchback); 8.9 miles (2 laps) These courses are almost identical, they just run in opposite directions (and Switchback is a little longer). Both take you around the hospital (and you have to go around, no cutting through), a quarter of the way around college circle (cut through the parking lot on the south side) and past the country club (use the cutoff under the trees). Switchback takes you down past the mall, which you can use for a shortcut. C.06: Blacklist Member 10: Karl Smit (Baron) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This flake calls himself 'Baron'. He's a rich guy from the coast. He things garage custom is an excuse for being broke. As far as he's concerned, 'if it's not name brand, it's nothing.' Go show 'm what home grown rides can do." Ride: Porsche Cayman S Targets: - Race Wins: 5 - Milestones: 4 - Total Bounty: 500,000 You should definitely make a play for Baron's Cayman. Kept upgraded with performance parts, it matches against any other car in the game. If you miss his pink slip, immediately hit ALT-F4 (PC) or the Reset button (console), reload and race him again until you get his Porsche. Even though Baron is driving this fine machine against you in the Challenge, you shouldn't have too much trouble with him; but, you'll need a car with all current unlocked performance upgrades. Available Race Events: - Lap Knockout (Ocean Hills): 5,000 cash; 12.9 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Try to pick up a very early lead before you make the hard left into the tunnel. If you're behind the other cars, they tend to bunch up and come almost to a complete stop right at the tunnel entrance and you're almost guaranteed a crash. Stay to the right in the tunnel to get the shorter turn lane. After the old drive-in, at the end of a straightway, there's a nasty 135-degree turn. You'll see this turn again, so learn it now. There's a small cutoff for the turn that makes it a bit easier, but you'll really need to approach the turn with Speedbreaker on so you can make the best time through it. The rest of the course is shortcut free, but full of twists and turns, so keep your ride under control. - Lap Knockout (Bayshore): 5,000 cash; 9.6 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum You can jump through the prison for a big lead; but you have to be careful. Go through too fast and you'll flip your car and your big lead will turn into a big loss. Hit the upper level at about 100mph for the most effective jump through the levels of the prison. There's a beach shortcut open at the bottom of the hill from the prison; but don't risk it unless you have good control--it's narrow and traction is bad. There are no other shortcuts in the course. - Tollbooth (Hwy 99 & Union): 5,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 5.8 miles; CP: minimum; - 1.2 miles in 0:50 - 0.4 miles in 0:15 - 0.6 miles in 0:20 - 3.6 miles in 1:55 This is a very technical course with lots of curving roads, several hard turns and the hospital switchback. The only shortcut comes near the end of the race--through the parking lot as you enter college circle. You'll need to be fast to the first tollbooth as the next two are very close together and you won't get an opportunity to make up time between them. - Tollbooth (Waterfront & Bristol): 5,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 6.1 miles; CP: maximum - 1.1 miles in 0:55 - 2.1 miles in 1:05 - 2.0 miles in 1:15 - 0.9 miles in 0:25 The only thing you really need to know about this one is to use the trailer park shortcut north of Dunwich Bay. - Sprint (Boundary & Marina): 5,000 cash; 3.2 miles; CP: minimum Another course that demands the best in handling. Stay to the right around the twin towers. Go under the lighthouse, boosting with nitrous to the finish. - Sprint (Stadium & Hwy 1): 5,000 cash; 6.4 miles; CP: maximum It's the return of the Killer Corner north of the refinery. First you have to get through south Camden Beach. Stick to the right-hand path around the twin towers, and take it easy through the switchback near the beach. When you go through the refinery, keep an eye out for the 135-degree turn at the north end. From this direction, it's a lot easier to make the turn using the small cutoff. As you come down the hill toward the finish, look for small shortcuts around each turn. - Circuit (Hospital Switchback): 5,000 cash; 7.0 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum The usual suspects are here: the cutoff near the country club and the parking lot south of the college. The hospital is not open for cutting through, so you have to wind through the switchback. - Speedtrap (North Bay & Seaside) : 5,000 cash; 2.7 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 24%, 49%, 72%, 95%. This is a twisting course with no shortcuts. The traps, fortunately, are all placed at the ends of relatively straight bits of road so you can get a good boost leading up to them. Available Milestones: - Bounty (Bounty 35,000) Get 10,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 35,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 30,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 35,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 5 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Roadblock Challenge (Bounty 35,000) Dodge 4 police roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 8,000) Get clocked at over 108 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 8,000) Get clocked at over 114 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 8,000) Get clocked at over 139 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (12,000 cash): - Sprint (North Bay & Harbor): 4.7 miles You start by going half-way around the college--use the parking lot shortcut as you leave the circle. The upper half of the hospital is open for jumping, so go through at about 110mph, then go around the lower half. Look for a small cutoff just south of the train yards and go under the lighthouse. Baron's Porsche is a fine machine, but if you catch all your shortcuts and have a full tank of nitrous to make a run for the finish line, you should beat him with seconds to spare. - Drag (Harbor & Ocean): 1.0 miles The less lane shifting you do in this race, the better. Get your Perfect Launch (you'll need it against Baron), then switch to the right-hand lane. After the tollbooth, go left one lane. As your car auto-steers past the lighthouse, it will probably push you back over to the right-hand lane. That's OK. Stay there, but watch for the auto-steer moving you back left when entering the bridge. Get back over in the right lane until near the end of the bridge, then move left one lane and left one more time as soon as you get off the bridge. Boost to the finish. C.07: Blacklist Member 9: Eugene James (Earl) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This guy hails from the lower eastside of Rockport but now rides on the coast. He's a big fan of imports and goes out of his way to take on the big blocks." Ride: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII Targets: - Race Wins: 5 - Milestones: 4 - Total Bounty: 790,000 The AI opponents in the races are becoming smarter and will more frequently use shortcuts, so you have to do so as well. By now you should be familiar with Rosewood and Camden Beach. Spend some time in free roam getting to know the back streets. If you won Baron's Porsche you should blow through the races; if not, buy yourself a Cayman, GTO or Monaro and trick it out for performance. When you beat Earl, try to win his Lancer, as it's AWD and a great car for pursuits. Available Race Events: - Circuit (Dunwich Bay): 6,000 cash; 7.4 miles (2 laps); CP: minimum There are two cutoffs close together about halfway through the course. The first appears on your right as leave the long straightway on the southern end of the course. Look for red-and-white striped construction barriers and scoot through to shave off a couple of seconds. Just a few hundred feet later, you'll begin a 180-degree curve to the right. Hug the left wall to find a cutoff for the first loop of a switchback. - Drag (Seaside & Camden): 1,500 cash; 0.8 miles; CP: minimum You start in the right-most lane. Immediately move left one lane. Go around one car, move right one lane and go past two cars. Go left one lane, past one car, right one lane, past one car, left one lane and then left one more lane as you leave the tunnel. Stay in that lane to the finish. - Tollbooth (Skyview & Waterfront): 6,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 8.2 miles; CP: maximum - 1.5 miles in 0:50 - 3.0 miles in 1:30 - 1.7 miles in 0:45 - 2.0 miles in 0:55 Race as fast as you can to the first tollbooth to build up some time for the turn through Rosewood. The alley shortcut north of the college is not open, so you'll have to go around. There's another opportunity to race at top speed between tollbooths 2 and 3. Use the mall shortcut on your way to the final tollbooth. - Speedtrap (Seagate & Horn): 6,000 cash; 4.9 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 22%, 30%, 44%, 63%, 73%, 89%. About half the traps come right after turns, including the one at 73%, which comes right after a hard left out of the boardwalk. Push your Nitrous slider to the right in Performance Tuning so you can get strong boosts into the traps. - Speedtrap (Hollis & Chancellor): 6,000 cash; 6.3 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 12%, 23%, 31%, 47%, 59%, 85%. Near the beginning of the race you can cut through under the water park, but there's a trap right beyond it, so be careful about losing control in that tight space. The middle four traps are on Hwy 99 so build up a big lead on those. Finally, after the last trap, you can jump through the upper half of the hospital (not the lower) but don't bother unless you're physically way behind the other racers. - Tollbooth (Bristol & Route 55): 6,000 cash; 6 tollbooths; 7.4 miles; CP: minimum - 0.7 miles in 0:35 - 1.2 miles in 0:45 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 0.7 miles in 0:25 - 2.0 miles in 1:00 The first tollbooth comes up in a hurry, so make use of the little shortcuts on the curves as you go downhill. The construction cutoff opposite the old drive-in will get you to tollbooth 2 even faster, then you can open it up on Hwy 99 to tollbooth 3. After the fifth tollbooth, jump through the prison at about 110mph to save some time to the finish. - Circuit (Boundary): 6,000 cash; 6.5 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Straight-up racing. No shortcuts and only a couple of difficult turns. - Lap Knockout (Fisher Road): 6,000 cash; 9.3 miles (3 laps) CP: minimum Right away you can pick up a big lead by jumping through the prison. Enter the top level at about 100mph to get all the way down without flipping your car. You'll need that lead since there are no other shortcuts. You've got to deal with the 135-degree turn north of the refinery, but you're approaching from the south so it's easier to get through. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 46,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 12 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Bounty (Bounty 46,000) Get 30,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 46,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 3 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Roadblock Challenge (Bounty 46,000) Dodge 6 police roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 16,000) Get clocked at over 149 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 16,000) Get clocked at over 136 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 16,000) Get clocked at over 139 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (16,000 cash): - Speedtrap (North Bay Cannery): 3.7 miles Speedtraps at 17%, 37%, 51%, 67%, 91%. Remember, you don't physically have to cross the finish line first, as long as you have a substantial lead in cumulative MPH. Since you have to use the same car for both Blacklist races, take your car with the best handling for the Sprint race and use strong nitrous through the traps in this race. There's a little jump right before the trap at 67%; get a lot of speed up before you catch air so you don't slow down too much. - Sprint (Camden & Route 55): 8.1 miles This is a long, arduous sprint with lots of twists and tight turns-- including the Killer Turn north of the refinery. Your main hope of beating Earl lies in two areas: 1) Earl will almost always use the trailer park shortcut, which actually slows him down, so you stay out of the trailer park and boost past it to pick up an early lead. 2) When leaving the boardwalk, Earl will come to almost a complete stop before making the hard left turn, so you have to take that turn fast; and, if you're a little behind Earl at that point, take it wide so you don't hit him. Those are the only two areas where you have a chance to pick up some space on Mr. James, so keep the rest of the race clean and make sure you don't miss your chances. C.08: Blacklist Member 8: Jade Barrett (Jewels) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This sweet thing goes by the name Jewels. She's all about big block and muscle. She's got a lot of mileage under her wheels so don't be tempted to do anything stupid. She's got some serious power under the hood." Ride: Ford Mustang GT Targets: - Race Wins: 5 - Milestones: 4 - Total Bounty: 1,180,000 Two things happen when you begin this stage: Downtown opens up and pursuits can heat up to level 4. However, unless you already have a car at heat level 3, you're going to have to play tootsie with the fuzz for a long time before inching your way to level 4. Pick up the Infractions and Photo Ticket milestones and leave the rest for later. There's no particular need to make a play for Jewels' Mustang, unless you've still only got a 2-car stable. Available Race Events: - Lap Knockout (Cascade): 8,000 cash; 7.1 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum - Lap Knockout (Hwy 201): 8,000 cash; 9.3 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Both these races are on small, tight courses with plenty of turns and no shortcuts. (You can cut through under the water park on the Hwy 201 course.) - Speedtrap (Dunwich & Bayshore): 8,000 cash; 3.8 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 26%, 50%, 65%, 86%. The trap at 65% sneaks up on; as you come out on the beach south of the refinery, you'll start to turn right and then head straight ahead (a sort of mini-chicane) and the trap is just around the curve. As soon as you pass the last trap at 86%, hit the brakes (normal brakes, not emergency), you're about to fly over a hill and if you have too much speed you'll fly right into the wall. - Speedtrap (Rose & Rockridge): 8,000 cash; 6.0 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 19%, 32%, 46%, 58%, 70%, 83%, 94%. The first thing you'll notice is the ramp is open in the lower half of the hospital, take it up for an early physical lead on your opponents. Open up on the highway (3 traps) to build a good lead (physical and on the leaderboard). Once back in the city, the shortcut under the water park is NOT open, so don't try it. - Sprint (Heritage & Diamond): 8,000 cash; 6.3 miles; CP: maximum The small cutoff under the water park gives you a slight edge early, then put the pedal to the metal on Hwy 99. When you reach the hospital, jump down through it for a big shortcut to the finish line. - Tollbooth (Union & Hwy 99): 8,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 5.8 miles; CP: minimum - 3.5 miles in 2:00 - 0.6 miles in 0:20 - 0.5 miles in 0:15 - 1.2 miles in 0:35 Your ability to beat this race will be determined by how much time you have remaining when you reach the first tollbooth. The next two come so quickly you have very little space to gain ground. The final stretch has a little room for error-correction, but not much. If you can get through the first 2/3 of the race well, you'll have it beat. There are no shortcuts. - Tollbooth (Waterfront & Hwy 99): 8,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 8.2 miles; CP: minimum - 2.0 miles in 1:20 - 1.7 miles in 0:45 - 3.0 miles in 1:30 - 1.5 miles in 0:50 The only open shortcut is through the mall near the beginning of the race. There's plenty of highway driving to gain time between tollbooths 1 and 2 and between 3 and 4. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 60,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 18 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 60,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 6 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Spike Strip Challenge (Bounty 60,000) Dodge 2 police spike strip roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Infractions Challenge (Bounty 60,000) Evade the police pursuit with a minimum of 5 infractions to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 24,000) Get clocked at over 147 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 24,000) Get clocked at over 147 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 24,000) Get clocked at over 132 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (20,000 cash): - Sprint (Camden & Ironwood): 7.7 miles Jewels is a careful driver, which is bad because she's less likely to make a mistake. But, it is also good because she's slow. Take a fast car into this Challenge and race all out--especially on Hwy 99--and you should have no problem beating her. - Drag (Union & Rockridge): 1.2 miles Get a perfect launch and quickly boost so you get ahead of Jewels and then switch left into her lane. Go around the one car, then go right one lane. The course will auto-steer you up onto the sidewalk to pass the construction area; once you pass it, switch to the left-hand lane. Stay left as you go around the curve, passing a truck entering from the right and a car. Past the car, go back right, pass a car and then go left. As soon as you pass a car entering from the right, go right, pass a car, then left, pass a car, then back right. As you come around the curve approaching the stadium, take your finger off the accelerator. Watch the news van come out of the stadium and, as soon as it's clear, hit the nitrous. You'll need to make one more switch left then back right to finish. C.09: Blacklist Member 7: Kira Nakazato (Kaze) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Kaze is crazy. What she can't conquer with skills, she demolishes with speed. Don't let her sweet looks fool ya. She'll trash anything she sees, including you. She's not afraid to ding her ride to put you out of commission." Ride: Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 Targets: - Race Wins: 7 - Milestones: 4 - Total Bounty: 1,680,000 The difficulty of the races ratchets up a bit. You should have at least three cars in your stable now, and at least one of them needs to be a mid- range racer such as a Cayman S, GTO or Elise. During races, watch out for your AI opponents ganging up on you to slow you down. They're real team players and you aren't on their team. Find a car you're comfortable with in corners, the races in this stage are full of tight turns. Available Race Events: - Sprint (Interchange & Bond): 10,000 cash; 5.0 miles; CP: maximum There are several hard turns, especially once you get into Downtown. Try to pick up a big lead on Hwy 99 at the beginning of the race, and cut through the bus station to extend the lead. Then hold on to the finish. - Tollbooth (Route 55 & Projects): 10,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 6.2 miles; CP: minimum - 1.1 miles in 0:50 - 1.1 miles in 0:40 - 1.2 miles in 0:50 - 2.8 miles in 1:40 The one big shortcut is the back street in southern Camden Beach. Tollbooth times are still pretty generous, so if you're having a hard time, get a faster car. - Speedtrap (Fisher & Interchange): 10,000 cash; 5.1 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 14%, 25%, 38%, 57%, 73%, 89%. Use the mall shortcut near the finish line so you don't lose any points from your total. - Tollbooth (Hwy 201 & Hwy 99): 10,000 cash; 5 tollbooths; 8.4 miles; CP: minimum - 1.8 miles in 1:00 - 1.9 miles in 0:40 - 1.5 miles in 0:50 - 1.4 miles in 0:35 - 1.8 miles in 0:35 High speed racing on the open highway. When you pass the first tollbooth, stay to the left to take the shorter route around Riverfront Stadium. Other than that, just keep it floored. - Lap Knockout (Century): 10,000 cash; 10.5 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Near the start you can cut through the bus station to pick up a lead. There are no other shortcuts on this fairly long Knockout course. - Circuit (Century Square): 10,000 cash; 4.1 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum A short, tight race around the center of Downtown. Use a car with very good handling, there won't be much chance to reach top speed. There are no shortcuts. - Sprint (Union Row & Ocean): 10,000 cash; 7.7 miles; CP: minimum Basically, an extended version of Interchange & Bond. Get a big lead on Hwy 99 and cut through the bus station, then hold the lead as you race through the tight turns of Downtown. - Circuit (Heritage & Omega): 10,000 cash; 7.1 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum After passing the trailer park (don't go in the park), there are lots of small cutoffs as you go downhill. Once through the switchback, look for the construction zone cutoff on your left (near the old drive-in). - Tollbooth (Beach & Skyview): 10,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 6.4 miles; CP: maximum - 2.0 miles in 1:10 - 0.8 miles in 0:30 - 1.0 miles in 0:25 - 2.6 miles in 1:10 If you can make good time through Point Camden to the first tollbooth, the remaining race will be a breeze. You'll want a car that corners well to take all the sharp turns during the first third of the race. - Drag (Ocean & Harbor): 2,500 cash; 1.0 miles; CP: minimum This is a nasty little drag race as you have to fight against the auto- steering. You want to jump to a big lead and immediately move right two lanes until you get on the bridge. Dodge left, then back right and keep tapping right as you exit the bridge else the auto-steer will push you right into the civvie on your left. As soon as you get to the lighthouse, move into the left lane to avoid the van pulling out, then let the auto- steer take over until you get to the tollbooth. Dodge left one lane, back right, left again, then two lanes right after you get past the cement truck. Dodge one car and back left one lane to the finish. Available Milestones: - Bounty (Bounty 70,000) Get 75,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 70,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 50,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 70,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 3 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Roadblock Challenge (Bounty 70,000) Dodge 8 police roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 34,000) Get clocked at over 158 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 34,000) Get clocked at over 142 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 34,000) Get clocked at over 111 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (24,000 cash): - Sprint (Diamond Valley): 6.1 miles Kaze will go all out against you, so she tends to make mistakes. Your only hope of winning is to race clean and pick up the shortcuts. The first shortcut is through the mall. When you reach Hwy 201, stick to the right- hand lanes to get the smaller turn into Downtown. Near the finish, just past the amphitheater, cut hard right to pick up a second or two. - Sprint (Stadium & Chase): 6.6 miles There really are no shortcuts on this highly technical course. You'll want a car with good cornering ability because you will need it. Try to keep one eye on the mini-map so you aren't surprised by the turns. C.10: Blacklist Member 6: Hector Domingo (Ming) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This here is Ming. He prides himself on keeping his ride looking stock. He's fast and shreds radar traps everywhere he can. He's the straight goods. Word is he got his ride from some rich cat who talked when he should have been listening. Don't take 'm on until you're ready." Ride: Lamborghini Gallardo Targets: - Race Wins: 7 - Milestones: 4 - Total Bounty: 2,300,000 You really, really want Ming's Gallardo. Your primary car used against Kaze will be sufficient to handle Ming and the other races in this stage. Keep racing Ming until you get his car, then use it for the rest of the game. If you win one of the higher Blacklist cars (JV's Viper and Bull's McClaren stand out), you can use the Gallardo as your primary pursuit car: AWD + exotic speed = great cop baiter. Available Race Events: - Sprint (West Park & Lyons): 12,000 cash; 3.2 miles; CP: minimum A short race through Downtown with some particularly nasty turns, including a devilish little chicane at about 75%. Use a car that takes corners very sharp. No shortcuts. - Tollbooth (Interchange & Tunnel): 12,000 cash; 6 tollbooths; 8.1 miles; CP: maximum - 2.8 miles in 1:35 - 0.5 miles in 0:15 - 0.6 miles in 0:20 - 2.3 miles in 1:15 - 1.0 miles in 0:25 - 0.9 miles in 0:25 Lots of curves and tight turns on this course. A car with good handling and very quick acceleration will make this one easier. If you can swing the price, the Lotus Elise was made for courses like this, though it's lack of top-end speed makes it a specialty car rather than an all-around racer. - Speedtrap (Boardwalk): 12,000 cash; 5.1 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 15%, 23%, 33%, 54%, 71%, 88%. The first three traps are close together, so don't blow your nitrous wad on any one of them. The other three traps are around tight turns or curves, so build up your lead on the first three. - Sprint (Hwy 201 & Lyons): 12,000 cash; 4.5 miles; CP: minimum The last part of this race has a lot of curves and a couple of tight turns. Build up a big lead over the first 2/3 of the race. - Tollbooth (Penitentiary): 12,000 cash; 6 tollbooths, 7.8 miles; CP: minimum - 0.5 miles in 0:30 - 1.3 miles in 0:35 - 1.4 miles in 0:35 - 1.6 miles in 0:40 - 1.5 miles in 0:50 - 1.5 miles in 0:35 There are no shortcuts and the course forces you to go around the south side of Riverfront Stadium. You may want to slow down a bit there so you don't crash into a concrete pillar. - Lap Knockout (Coastal): 12,000 cash; 7.2 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum The start of this race is like a demolition derby as your opponents jostle each other and you getting around the opening corners. Try to establish an early lead so you don't get knocked around. This is another course with lots of curves, tight turns and no shortcuts. Be careful going over the hill leading down to the water, catch too much air and you'll fly into the wall. - Lap Knockout (Rosewood Hillcrest): 12,000 cash; 7.2 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum The alley shortcut north of the college is open if you can get into it (hard right turn). On a short track like this, it's worth a lot of time. - Sprint (Bond & Country Club: 12,000 cash; 5.7 miles; CP: minimum A long haul up some very twisting streets takes you past the bus station, which you can use as a shortcut. Then it's time to open it up for the last half of the race on Hwy 99. - Speedtrap (Hwy 99 & Campus): 12,000 cash; 3.9 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 18%, 37%, 51%, 62%, 73%, 88%. Right after the first trap, turn through the bus station for a shortcut. Stay straight out of the station, taking the right-hand side of the diamond split. Once you get into Rosewood, go easy on the nitrous as the last four traps are spaced close together. - Drag (Riverside & Terrace): 3,000 cash; 0.8 miles; CP: minimum The race starts on a road divided by a concrete median. Your opponents are going to clog the right-hand lanes, so the first thing you want to do is go left so all you have to worry about is traffic, which is predictable, and not the other racers, which are not. So start the race and shift one lane left, then auto-steer will shift you another lane left and you can ride that lane through the split part of the road. As soon as you reach the end of the median, go right or you'll hit a crossing car. Go all the way to the far right lane until you pass a car, then go left one lane and go underneath the crossing tractor-trailer and on to the finish. - Tollbooth (Hwy 201 & Forest): 12,000 cash; 5 tollbooths, 8.4 miles; CP: minimum - 1.7 miles in 0:45 - 1.3 miles in 0:30 - 1.7 miles in 0:45 - 1.8 miles in 0:35 - 1.9 miles in 0:45 This is the first really hard tollbooth race. It's all highway and the times between tollbooths are not lenient. You'll need a car with high top end speed and you'll have to maintain a high average speed (about 150mph) through the course. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 80,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 22 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 80,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 7 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Roadblock Challenge (Bounty 80,000) Dodge 10 police roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Spike Strip Challenge (Bounty 80,000) Dodge 4 police spike strip roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 46,000) Get clocked at over 111 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 46,000) Get clocked at over 107 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 46,000) Get clocked at over 158 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (28,000): - Circuit (Little Italy): 5.0 miles (2 laps) The most interesting thing about this race is the start line and finish line are not the same. Otherwise it's a short race around Downtown with lots of turns and no shortcuts. Fortunately, Ming doesn't know how to handle that fancy machine of his, so a good fast car that corners well will take him down easily. - Speedtrap (North Bay & College): 6.1 miles Speedtraps at 10%, 20%, 29%, 44%, 51%, 62%, 81%, 92%.This race is a bit harder. Ming may not drive well, but his Lambo is fast. You'll need a fast car with your Nitrous Performance slider pushed a few notches right so you get a strong boost going into the traps. There aren't any shortcuts, but, when you get to the diamond-shaped split, stay straight (left side of the diamond) for the straighter course. C.11: Blacklist Member 5: Wes Allen (Webster) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Webster's always talking about rides, performance, racers, blah, blah, blah. Won't shut up. He's got some crazy idea that he's gonna make it big. When he ain't street racing, he's hanging out at shops. His ride is tuned to the max. Apparently the interior is stripped of everything that isn't related to speed." Ride: Corvette C6 Targets: - Race Wins: 7 - Milestones: 4 - Total Bounty: 3,050,000 The races in this stage start getting a lot more technical and the tollbooths start getting tighter. You'll start running into chicanes more often and more 135-degree and even 180-degreen turns (not curves). Webster's 'Vette is a nice car, but you don't need to keep racing him for it, there are better rides coming. Available Race Events: - Lap Knockout (Dunwich Village): 14,000; 10.4 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum As you wind your way up past the cannery and around to the trailer park, take advantage of the small cutoffs along the main course. - Circuit (Ironhorse): 14,000 cash; 8.4 miles (2 laps); CP: maximum No shortcuts. Tight turns. You know the drill. Look out for what is almost a 180 right before the finish line. - Sprint (Lyons & State): 14,000 cash; 8.8 miles; CP: minimum This is the reverse of the Rival Challenge Speedtrap and Sprint races (see below). After a wide open race on Hwy 99, you'll go around the north side of the college (the alley is not open) and then through the park. Try to avoid the trees and use an AWD vehicle if you have a good one. Try to have a good lead before you get into the twisting part of the course in Rosewood. - Speedtrap (Country Club): 14,000 cash; 6.5 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 17%, 34%, 47%, 64%, 78%, 88%. Lots of open road racing with plenty of relatively straight road in front of traps 1, 2, 4 and 5. - Speedtrap (Fairmont & Clubhouse): 14,000 cash; 5.6 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 22%, 44%, 69%, 84%, 97%. First up is an almost-180 down into the sunken road Downtown, where you'll find the first trap. Racing full speed through here is dangerous due to all the concrete pillars in the center of the road. Coming out of the sunken road, stay close to the right wall as there's a right/left chicane as you exit. Later in the course, avoid the drive-in shortcut as it only causes you to lose speed. - Tollbooth (Stadium & Beacon): 14,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 8.1 miles; CP: maximum - 1.5 miles in 0:45 - 2.4 miles in 1:05 - 2.8 miles in 1:15 - 1.4 miles in 0:45 As you start, go left to catch the north lanes around Riverfront Stadium, and stay left to take the shorter turn into Downtown. There are no other shortcuts on this course. The times are definitely getting tighter--you'll need to average a little over 120mph on this very technical course. - Speedtrap (Bond & Riverside): 14,000 cash; 4.5 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 13%, 25%, 42%, 86%. As you start, you'll turn and go through the Downtown police station. Stay to the left and take out the tower, you'll slow down the competition. There are only four traps, so you need to maximize your speed through them. - Sprint (Camden & Fisher): 14,000 cash; 5.0 miles; CP: maximum Make sure you hit the mall shortcut right after the race starts--the computer racers certainly will. That's it as far as shortcuts go. - Tollbooth (Bay Bridge & Forest): 14,000 cash; 6 tollbooths; 8.1 miles; CP: minimum - 0.8 miles in 0:40 - 1.8 miles in 0:30 - 1.5 miles in 1:10 - 0.6 miles in 0:20 - 0.4 miles in 0:15 - 3.0 miles in 1:20 Avoid the shortcuts through the old drive-in. Take the cutoff near the country club. Drive real fast. Tollbooth races should be old hat by now, and one of the easier events to win. - Tollbooth (Skyview & Coast): 14,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 6.4 miles; CP: minimum - 2.6 miles in 1:20 - 1.0 miles in 0:25 - 0.8 miles in 0:25 - 2.0 miles in 0:55 You still need to average a little better than 120mph over the course, but the first half of the race is mostly open road, so you should be able to pick up a lot of spare time through the second tollbooth. Watch out for the very tight right turn coming out of Camden tunnel. Available Milestones: - Bounty (Bounty 90,000) Get 200,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 90,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 100,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 90,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 2 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Spike Strip Challenge (Bounty 90,000) Dodge 6 police spike strip roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 60,000) Get clocked at over 180 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 60,000) Get clocked at over 130 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 60,000) Get clocked at over 186 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (48,000 cash): All three of these courses were designed by someone suffering severe sleep deprivation. They are nightmares of tight turns, twisting roads and lots of obstacles. The Speedtrap and second Sprint both run through the park, so you'll want an AWD vehicle (like Ming's Gallardo or Earl's Evo8) and make sure it's not riding low. Fortunately for you, Webster is an awful driver and makes a lot of mistakes. One thing he does do right is hit the shortcuts; so should you. - Sprint (Beach & Chancellor): 4.9 miles Take the back street shortcut through south Camden Beach and make sure you catch the little cutoff next to the docks. Those are the last shortcuts you'll see on this course. - Speedtrap (State & Petersburg): Speedtraps at 5%, 13%, 27%, 34%, 51%, 66%, 83%. You'll take the circuitous route through Rosewood, including going around the hospital (no shortcut). The traps through here (the first four) are on curves or just around corners. Then it's past the country club (don't forget the cutoff) and into the park, which has a trap right at the entrance. Webster seems to have a problem here, so push hard while off-road. Going past the college, the alley shortcut is not open, so you can't run straight through the sixth trap, you have to corner right in front of it. - Sprint (State & Warrent): 8.8 miles This course is identical to the previous Speedtrap. C.12: Blacklist Member 4: Joe Vega (JV) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I don't know how JV does it, man. His nights are spent in the clubs and days on the streets. This guy's got a lot of street rep. Cops hate him and racers want to be like him. His flash green Dodge Viper has cops swarming around it all the time." Ride: Dodge Viper SRT 10 Targets: - Race Wins: 7 - Milestones: 5 - Total Bounty: 4,050,000 Welcome to the world of level 5 heat. Try to avoid getting to level 5; there will be plenty of opportunity (and need) to take pursuits to that level later in the game. JV's Viper is a sweet ride that is upgraded with lots of parts you won't unlock until you beat Ronnie (BL #3). While it may not be fun racing him until you pick up his pink slip, you should do so. If you can handle a RWD car, the Viper is a great ride. If you're having trouble with the races at this stage, try buying a mid- range car (maybe an Audi, with AWD) and only putting Pro performance parts on it. The game matches your car's performance (within reason) and slowing down the races might help you win them more easily. You'll still need a fully tuned fast car for the tollbooths, those races don't adjust for slower cars. Available Race Events: - Tollbooth (North Bay & Beacon): 16,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 7.8 miles; CP: maximum - 0.9 miles in 0:55 - 3.1 miles in 1:40 - 2.0 miles in 1:15 - 1.8 miles in 0:45 Right away there's a cutoff to your left. As you wind your way up the hill, there's a good cutoff on your right as you go around the second left curve. Just past the first tollbooth, look for the construction area cutoff on your left. After going through the cannery, you can take a shortcut through the trailer park (45-degree turn to the right) and hit a couple of pursuit breakers as you do so, if the cops are already on your tail. As soon as you come out of the trailer park, look for a cutoff to the right (orange-and- white signs are blocking the entrance). Watch out for the hard right turn coming out of the boardwalk. - Circuit (Waterfront): 16,000 cash; 5.3 miles (4 laps); CP: minimum You start right above the prison, the top half of which is open for jumping. (And, this time, the AI cars will jump, so you have to as well.) There aren't any other shortcuts in this course. - Lap Knockout (Chancellor Way): 16,000 cash; 9.5 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum You can gain an immediate advantage by cutting through the parking lot entering college circle. Coming up to the hospital, take a hard left into the hospital and use the ramp for a shortcut up through the lower half. - Speedtrap (Terminal & Financial): 16,000 cash; 8.0 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 14%, 30%, 46%, 64%, 71%, 92%. A car with good cornering ability is needed, especially for the last trap, which is right around a hard right turn. - Speedtrap (Hwy 99): 16,000 cash; 5.0 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 10%, 32%, 39%, 49%, 56%, 72%, 87%. Despite the name of the course, precious little actually takes place on Hwy 99. Don't use too much nitrous on the second trap (32%) as trap #3 (39%) is not far ahead and is just around a corner. When going through Rosewood, the shortcut under the water park is open, with a trap not far beyond it. - Speedtrap (Green & Fairmont): 16,000 cash; 5.4 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 13%, 27%, 44%, 55%, 71%, 91%. After a downhill run, be careful not to try to cut through the old drive-in while going the wrong way. When entering Downtown, watch out for the right/left chicane that puts you into the sunken roadway--there's a Speedtrap (71%) right in the road entrance and it's symbol blocks the chicane from view on the mini-map. Coming out of the sunken road is a tight 135-degree turn. - Sprint (Valley & State): 16,000 cash; 6.1 miles; CP: maximum Take the right-hand path from the start to gain a small advantage and don't forget the mall shortcut as you come uphill from the bus station. - Lap Knockout (Industrial Front): 16,000 cash; 7.2 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Short. Tight. No shortcuts. Lower your speed approaching the finish line or you'll catch way too much air. - Circuit (Gray Point): 16,000 cash; 7.1 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Right after the start, stay to the right to avoid a hard left turn at the end of the left-hand path. After passing the trailer park, look for cutoffs along the downhill run. At the bottom, after the switchback, find the construction cutoff to the left. - Tollbooth (Beacon & Riverfront): 16,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 8.1 miles; CP: minimum - 1.4 miles in 0:55 - 2.8 miles in 1:20 - 2.5 miles in 1:05 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 As you leave the docks, you'll start up a steep hill. Bleed speed or you'll fly off the top of the hill and right into a wall. At the diamond-shaped split, the right path will be a little faster. When the path splits again a few blocks later, staying right gives you more road to work with. - Tollbooth (Industrial & Omega): 16,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 7.4 miles; CP: minimum - 3.2 miles in 1:40 - 1.5 miles in 0:45 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 1.3 miles in 0:40 Nothing terribly exciting, or difficult, about this course. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 100,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 28 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Bounty (Bounty 100,000) Get 325,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 100,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 150,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Infractions Challenge (Bounty 100,000) Evade the police pursuit with a minimum of 6 infractions to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 76,000) Get clocked at over 180 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 76,000) Get clocked at over 164 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 76,000) Get clocked at over 152 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (54,000 cash): - Speedtrap (Dunwich & Hills): 4.4 miles Speedtraps at 11%, 27%, 44%, 52%, 64%, 88%. You and JV start out facing each other, which works in his favor as you have to do a 180 immediately and he does not. Use the trailer park shortcut after passing the first trap. Traps 3 through 5 are close together, so don't waste nitrous. Just remember, you do not physically have to cross the finish line first to win a Speedtrap race, just make sure JV doesn't pull too far ahead of you and use a car with Ultimate nitrous and good acceleration to keep your trap scores high. - Drag (Rosewood & Heritage): 1.3 miles There are a lot of jumps in this one. Remember to let off the accelerator when you jump so you don't blow your engine. Start with a shift to the right-most lane and stay there until you pass one car, then shift left. As you go around the first turn, your car should auto-steer back into the right-most lane. Keep tapping RIGHT to keep your car in that lane and go underneath the tractor trailer and then pass a van. Shift left one lane before you make the jump. Stay in this lane until you pass a concrete median, then shift left again. You'll go around a right curve then left curve, then shift back right and on to the finish. - Speedtrap (Petersburg & Hwy 201): 5.0 miles Speedtraps at 30%, 48%, 72%, 90%. Going through Rosewood, if you use the cutoff under the water park, there's a trap just beyond it so you'll have to boost through the shortcut. With only four traps, you're going to have to make each one count so use up your nitrous for each one. C.13: Blacklist Member 3: Ronald McCrea (Ronnie) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You know Ronnie. He's one of those rich freaks that thinks he's ghetto. He definitely ain't from around the way. Got his car as a graduation gift from his parents. Don't be fooled though, the guy knows how to drive. He's been to every race school you can think of." Ride: Aston Martin DB9 Targets: - Race Wins: 8 - Milestones: 5 - Total Bounty: 5,550,000 By now, your biggest problem is earning enough milestones and bounty to challenge the Blacklist racer. Get the Photo Ticket and Pursuit Evasion milestones and then work on one of the others--Trade Paint is good as you can ram lots of cars in a short amount of time. If you hit a roadblock and don't have but one or two cars on you, turn around and hit the roadblock again for even more tagged police cruisers. The race AI continues to "improve" and you'll need to run pretty clean races, which will be hard to do with all the twists and turns the game designers throw at you. By now you should have a car you are comfortable with; use it for the races and, if its heat level gets too high, give it a new paint job. Available Race Events: - Sprint (Seagate & Camden): 18,000 cash; 7.0 miles; CP: minimum The only shortcut is near the beginning, through the trailer park. There are small cutoffs as you come up the hill from the cannery. - Lap Knockout (Riverside): 18,000 cash; 17.6 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum As you leave Downtown, cut through the bus station and take a left as you exit for a shorter route. - Circuit (Omega & Industries): 18,000 cash; 8.5 miles (4 laps); CP: minimum Near the start is the construction cutoff to your right (across from the old drive-in) and at the next left turn look for the cutoff straight ahead to avoid a 180. Coming up the hill from the cannery, look for the entrance to the trailer park on your right and zip through there. - Tollbooth (Petersburg Projects): 18,000 cash; 6 tollbooths; 9.7 miles; CP: maximum - 0.8 miles in 0:35 - 1.7 miles in 0:45 - 3.1 miles in 1:30 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 1.5 miles in 0:45 - 1.2 miles in 0:30 Getting through the first three tollbooths will severely test your driving skills. You'll have to maintain an average speed of about 130mph through some very twisting streets. If you can make it through that third tollbooth, the remainder of the race is quite easy. - Sprint (Bond & Forest Green): 18,000 cash; 5.2 miles; CP: minimum You get a shortcut through the bus station, but at this point in the game, the AI is likely to use the same shortcuts. - Lap Knockout (College Switchback): 18,000 cash; 9.6 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum Not one but *two* switchbacks--around the hospital and near Hickley Field. You can't jump through the hospital; but, you can gain a small advantage by cutting through the parking lot near the finish line. - Speedtrap (Heritage & Warrent): 18,000 cash; 8.9 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 5%, 12%, 15%, 24%, 31%, 40%, 51%, 62%, 78%, 93%. Every trap in this course but one (78%) is right after a turn or in the middle of a curve. This actually gives you an advantage if you can turn cleanly and power out of the turn or curve you should have a huge advantage over the AI. - Speedtrap (Masterson & Route 55): 18,000 cash; 7.0 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 9%, 19%, 38%, 47%, 67%, 82%, 93%. About half the traps in this course are on turns or curves. Right after the sixth trap, turn right through the trailer park to pick up some physical space on your opponents. - Tollbooth (Petersburg & Project): 18,000 cash; 6 tollbooths; 9.9 miles; CP: minimum - 1.0 miles in 0:40 - 1.9 miles in 0:45 - 1.3 miles in 0:30 - 3.1 miles in 1:30 - 1.8 miles in 0:45 - 0.8 miles in 0:25 This is the Petersburg Projects course in reverse. As you open on Hwy 201, you should be able to build a comfortable margin before entering the twisting streets of Downtown and Point Camden. - Tollbooth (Wharf & North Bay): 18,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 7.3 miles; CP: minimum - 1.6 miles in 1:00 - 1.7 miles in 0:55 - 3.1 miles in 1:30 - 0.9 miles in 0:35 After the first tollbooth, you can jump through the prison. Go about 120mph through the upper half to avoid flipping your car, which will cost you more time than the jump gains. After the second tollbooth, stay right when the road splits through Dunwich Village, then take the shortcut through the trailer park. As you approach the third tollbooth, look for a cutoff to your right through a construction zone. Just beyond the third tollbooth, stick to the left wall as you go around a turn and you'll pick up another cutoff. The final little cutoff is just before the final tollbooth. - Sprint (Hwy 99 & Projects): 18,000 cash; 7.5 miles; CP: minimum The prison is open for jumping through, which will help you pick up a big lead. But it's so early in the race, it may not be of much help. If you have a tendency to flip your car when jumping, just go around through the switchback. - Drag (Boardwalk & Bayshore): 4,500 cash; 1.3 miles; CP: minimum Coming off the boardwalk you should be in the right-most lane. Stay there past one car, then shift left one lane, pass a car, then go right and go under the semi. Then go left one lane and hold that lane until you draw even with the twin towers, then dodge right. Hold the right lane until the road narrows down to two lanes then dodge one car to reach the finish line. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 140,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 32 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Bounty (Bounty 140,000) Get 600,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 140,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 2 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 140,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 8 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 94,000) Get clocked at over 139 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 94,000) Get clocked at over 158 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 94,000) Get clocked at over 177 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (60,000 cash): - Circuit (Bay Bridge): 7.8 miles (3 laps) A rough course with a 270-degree loop and a sharp 135-degree turn right before the finish. Ronnie's DB9 doesn't handle real well, so use a sharp cornering car and you shouldn't have any difficulties. When going through the Camden tunnel, stay to the right to take the shorter route into the loop. - Sprint (Seaside & Lennox): 5.4 miles Lots of twists and turns early in the race, so you'll want to make sure you stay close to Ronnie. Once you get past the twin towers, you can open it up a bit. - Circuit (Camden Tunnel): 7.9 miles (2 laps) This is the Bay Bridge course in reverse. You'll run into the 135-degree turn right off the bat, so keep away from Ronnie or he'll most certainly push you around going through that turn. As you come around the 270 loop, stay to the left to get the shorter path into the tunnel. C.14: Blacklist Member 2: Toru Sato (Bull) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "If it weren't for Razor, Toru would still be hanging down at the docks dreamin' of the Blacklist. This fool thinks he's got a sleeper, calls it reverse psychology. The only thing stock on his ride is the paint. Toru likes to keep his car mint so give him a bump when you can." Ride: Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Targets: - Race Wins: 8 - Milestones: 5 - Total Bounty: 7,550,000 At this point, to earn the milestones you need to challenge Bull, you're going to play with the heat level 5 cops. Available Race Events: - Circuit (Campus Interchange): 20,000 cash; 13.9 miles (2 laps); CP: minimum Three-fourths of this race is on the open road, so you should be able to build up a big lead. As you cut through Rosewood, the alley shortcut is open, but probably not worth the slowdown (hard right turn to get in) on such a long course. - Circuit (Country Club): 20,000 cash; 13.9 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum The Campus Interchange course in reverse. This time you can easily use the alley shortcut as it's a 45-degree turn to the left early in the course. But watch for the hard left turn coming out. - Tollbooth (Beacon & Petersburg): 20,000 cash; 8 tollbooths; 9.3 miles; CP: minimum - 1.7 miles in 1:00 - 1.0 miles in 0:35 - 1.5 miles in 0:40 - 1.8 miles in 1:15 - 0.9 miles in 0:30 - 0.5 miles in 0:20 - 0.6 miles in 0:15 - 1.3 miles in 0:35 After the first tollbooth, drive in the left lane. As you fly over the hill, there's usually a car in the right lane and you don't want to land on it. After the fourth tollbooth, there are several cutoffs to the right and left as you work your way up the hill. - Tollbooth (Petersburg & Bond): 20,000 cash; 4 tollbooths; 11.9 miles; CP: minimum - 3.7 miles in 2:00 - 1.8 miles in 0:35 - 3.8 miles in 1:45 - 2.6 miles in 1:00 You can't use the shortcut through the hospital, but you can cut through the parking lot south of the college and the cutoff near the country club. Run wide open on Hwy 99 to build a cushion for racing through the narrow streets of southern Rosewood. - Tollbooth (Bond & Beacon Bridge): 20,000 cash; 5 tollbooths; 13.2 miles; CP: minimum - 1.2 miles in 0:30 - 1.7 miles in 0:35 - 2.1 miles in 0:45 - 6.3 miles in 2:40 - 1.9 miles in 0:45 All the times in this course are tight. Note the approximately 170mph *average* speed you need to maintain to tollbooths 2 and 3. From tollbooth 3 to 4 you need to maintain an average of 140mph, while driving through the football stadium and every twist and turn Downtown. After the fourth tollbooth, as you enter the docks, continue straight instead of following the marked course around to the right. You'll save yourself several seconds. - Speedtrap (Lennox & Camden): 20,000 cash; 5.7 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 3%, 11%, 27%, 42%, 58%, 83%, 91%. You need a good start. The first trap is right ahead, and you do not want to be jostling with your opponents as you try to get around the corner. As you approach the turn off Hwy 201, near the sixth trap (83%), stay to the right. After the turn, you'll have a greater distance to boost into the trap. - Sprint (Camden & Dunwich): 20,000 cash; 7.2 miles; CP: maximum You don't get any cutoffs until you're over half-way through the course. Then you'll pick up a small cutoff if you hug the left-hand wall as you pass the mall. After going through the cannery, you can cut through the trailer park. - Lap Knockout (Petersburg Crossing): 20,000 cash; 17.8 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum The bus station provides the only shortcut on this course. As you enter Downtown, you'll cut through the park, and then there's a little chicane that takes you to the sunken road. As you leave the sunken road, you can almost go straight to hit Hwy 201. - Lap Knockout (Valley & Hwy 201): 20,000 cash; 10.0 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum A short, fairly straightforward course. No shortcuts. - Circuit (East Park): 20,000 cash; 8.5 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum No shortcuts. Lots of curves and turns. - Speedtrap (Industrial & Green): 20,000 cash; 6.9 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 14%, 24%, 37%, 53%, 64%, 82%. After the second trap, stay right for the shorter turn into the tunnel. - Drag (Camden & Seaside): 5,000 cash; 1.3 miles; CP: minimum Immediately move right one lane and stay in that lane until you get in the tunnel. Weave through traffic in the tunnel, staying in the right two lanes. You should be in the far right lane coming out of the tunnel through the tollbooth. As you go up the hill past the docks, switch left two lanes and on to the finish. Available Milestones: - Cost to State Challenge (Bounty 180,000) Evade the police pursuit with a cost to state of 200,000 to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 180,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 9 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Roadblock Challenge (Bounty 180,000) Dodge 12 police roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Spike Strip Challenge (Bounty 180,000) Dodge 8 police spike strip roadblocks and evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 114,000) Get clocked at over 194 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 114,000) Get clocked at over 136 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 114,000) Get clocked at over 165 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge (75,000 cash): - Circuit (Oil Refinery): 8.4 miles (3 laps) Just what you need--the Killer Turn in a Rival Challenge. And it's near the finish line as well. You can't pick up a big lead on Bull (unless the AI glitches, which doesn't happen often). So you might want to practice that 135 at the north end of the refinery before you challenge Bull. There are no shortcuts on this course. - Sprint (Ironhorse & Coast): 5.9 miles Pick up the little cutoff just past the mall near the beginning of the course. After passing the cannery, you'll go around a left curve and just past that is the 135-degree turn at the north end of the refinery. If, coming off the left curve, you straighten out early, you should be able to slide around the 135 easily. - Sprint (Seaside Interchange): 8.4 miles There aren't any helpful shortcuts on this course. There are a couple of interchanges where you want to take the right-hand ramp for the shorter turn. Try to pick up a lead on the section of Hwy 99--you should be able to maintain it as you head down towards the river. C.15: Blacklist Member 1: Clarence Callahan (Razor) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Razor rocketed to the top of the Blacklist using your ride. Now he's holding it down and rolling the streets like he owns them. He'll do anything he can to give himself an edge. That includes messin' with your head. Remember, you can't trust anything he says." Ride: BMW M3 GTR Targets: - Race Wins: 9 - Milestones: 5 - Total Bounty: 10,000,000 The races at this stage aren't particularly more difficult than the past couple of stages. And Razor is easier to beat than you might think. When you beat Razor, the game automatically starts an FMV and the final pursuit. *IMPORTANT* If Autosave is turned on, the game will save your progress after you beat Razor. So if, during the final pursuit, you get busted (or the game crashes), you can restart right at the beginning of the pursuit. If Autosave is turned off, there is no place for you to manually save your game, so if you get busted or the game crashes, you have to Challenge Razor again. *TURN AUTOSAVE ON*, before Challenging Razor. As with Ronnie and Bull, you'll probably experience the most frustration trying to earn the milestones and bounty needed to meet Razor's targets. Available Race Events: - Circuit (Hastings): 25,000 cash; 17.9 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum A very long course with no significant shortcuts. The AI will tend to cut through the old drive-in, and it's close to the finish, so you may be forced to jump through there as well. - Sprint (Hwy 2001): 25,000 cash; 8.5 miles; CP: minimum Yeah, the name's a typo and the race hardly takes place on Hwy 201 at all. Anyway, you can take a shortcut through the bus station and the cutoff near the country club. The alley north of the college is also open, though you may want to avoid it due to the tight left turn coming out of it. - Sprint (Diamond Park): 25,000 cash; 7.4 miles; CP: maximum The jump through the prison is your only chance of giving yourself a big cushion on this course. - Sprint (Industrial & Bristol): 25,000 cash; 5.7 miles; CP: minimum Most of this is high-speed driving on Hwy 201; bring a fast ride. - Lap Knockout (Smuggler's Wharf): 25,000 cash; 11.6 miles (3 laps); CP: minimum A lot of twists and turns in the middle portion of this course. The rest is pretty wide open. If you head left immediately from the start, you'll find a cutoff that will give you a quick lead. The back street through the middle of Point Camden is open and will give you a substantial lead on any AI car that misses it. - Tollbooth (Route 55 & Chase): 25,000 cash; 9 tollbooths; 15.6 miles; CP: maximum - 3.1 miles in 1:40 - 1.6 miles in 0:35 - 0.9 miles in 0:30 - 1.9 miles in 0:45 - 2.8 miles in 1:30 - 1.1 miles in 0:25 - 0.8 miles in 0:20 - 2.3 miles in 1:20 - 1.1 miles in 0:40 Stay out of the trailer park, you can't use it as a shortcut. As you approach the first tollbooth, look for a cutoff through a construction zone to your right. - Tollbooth (Petersburg & Camdem): 25,000 cash; 12 tollbooths; 19.9 miles; CP: minimum - 1.3 miles in 0:40 - 1.2 miles in 0:35 - 2.2 miles in 0:45 - 2.6 miles in 1:00 - 1.2 miles in 0:35 - 2.0 miles in 0:45 - 2.2 miles in 1:10 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 1.2 miles in 0:40 - 1.4 miles in 0:40 - 1.2 miles in 0:40 - 2.0 miles in 1:00 The first several stages of this race are on Hwys 99 and 201 and you should be able to build up a large time bonus by the time you enter Point Camden and the times become tougher to meet. There are a couple of small cutoffs (that you should recognize by now), but no real shortcuts. When going through Dunwich Village, stay to the right to avoid a hard left turn. Stay out of the trailer park. - Speedtrap (Union Row & Seaside): 25,000 cash; 4.8 miles; CP: maximum Speedtraps at 12%. 27%, 39%, 53%, 67%, 82%, 90%. You pass the alley north of the college right away, but it's not open. While most of the traps are around curves, only one (27%) is around a tight turn, so you should be able to keep up a high average speed. - Speedtrap (Ironhorse & Bristol): 25,000 cash; 7.4 miles; CP: minimum Speedtraps at 9%, 16%, 27%, 37%, 51%, 65%, 74%, 82%, 92%. The first three traps are just around fairly tight curves and turns. As you approach the third trap (27%), avoid the cutoff to your right--if will push you into the air right as you're trying to pick up speed for the trap. - Sprint (Bay Bridge & Seaside): 25,000 cash; 8.3 miles; CP: minimum Watch out for the very tight 135 after you pass Hickley Field. Try to build up a lead on Hwy 99. - Tollbooth (Marina & Lennox): 25,000 cash; 5 tollbooths; 10.7 miles; CP: minimum - 1.3 miles in 1:10 - 5.1 miles in 2:40 - 1.8 miles in 0:35 - 1.4 miles in 0:25 - 1.1 miles in 0:25 The course is very convoluted, including a switchback through Riverfront Stadium. However, the times--especially through the first two tollbooths-- are pretty generous and you shouldn't have much trouble with this one. There are no shortcuts. Available Milestones: - Trade Paint (Bounty 220,000) Evade the police pursuit and tag a minimum of 35 police vehicles to successfully complete this challenge. - Bounty (Bounty 20,000) Get 850,000 bounty in a single pursuit. Once done, evade the pursuit. - Pursuit Evasion (Bounty 220,000) Evade a police pursuit in less than 2 minutes to successfully complete this challenge. - Pursuit Time Challenge (Bounty 220,000) Get into a police pursuit lasting at least 13 minutes. You will need to evade the pursuit to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 136,000) Get clocked at over 149 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 136,000) Get clocked at over 139 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. - Photo Ticket (Bounty 136,000) Get clocked at over 198 MPH to successfully complete this challenge. Rival Challenge: - Speedtrap (Warrent): Speedtraps at 11%, 26%, 39%, 48%, 57%, 66%, 75%, 85%, 91%, 97%. Remember that you do not have to finish physically in front of Razor. You just need to beat his combined speed rating, which should be fairly easy. These are traps placed on wide stretches of relatively straight road. You can use the cut through under the water park, but there is a trap just beyond the exit, so be careful going through. The mall shortcut is also open; again, with a trap just beyond the exit. - Drag (Terrace & Riverside): Stay in your starting lane until you are through the tollbooth and have passed one car, then shift one lane left. Continue going right/left through the traffic until you reach a divided portion of the road. As soon as you pass the concrete divider, shift to the middle of the three left lanes. As soon as a car passes to your right, shift one lane right (you should be just left of the median. Boost to the finish. - Sprint: (Forest Green): 7.5 miles You'll want to cut through the old drive-in on this course. Razor will, so you've got to follow. - Circuit (Clubhouse): 10.4 miles (3 laps) The obvious cutoff near the country club is near the start line. The less obvious ramp that cuts up through the lower half of the hospital is open at about the 3/4 mark. Razor will use this cut through, so you must learn to use it as well. It will be a hard left turn to get into it, and there are trees bracketing the entrance. Practice making the turn before starting Razor's challenges. - Sprint (Clubhouse & Lennox): 10.0 miles Razor won't typically jump through the hospital, so that's your big chance to gain a lead and hold it through the very tight turns as you go south through Rosewood. There's a big hill near the finish line, so let off the accelerator a bit or you'll fly right into the wall. C.16: Rockport's Most Wanted ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After beating Razor, you get the plot twist du jour and you're all set for one final police pursuit. You're back behind the wheel of your BMW, recently used by Razor. Cross now gets involved personally, and you get a special Heat Level 6 pursuit. As the pursuit starts, immediately steer left to hit a pursuit breaker. Take the third left turn and look for a pursuit breaker on your left (Ocean Hills Police Station). Turn left into the station, jump the ramp and hit the tower to shake more cars off you. Then veer a little right and go down the hill and hit the water tower at the bottom to give yourself some breathing room. From the water tower, turn right and head past the twin towers and straight on to the bus station. Park up on the loading platform roof and wait until you get a call from Mia telling you the road to the old bridge is open and you can escape by jumping across the bridge. The old bridge is located west of Rosewood, just south of Hickley Field, on the road that leads west, out of town. Prior to this moment, that road has been blocked by construction equipment and mounds of dirt. Jump from the bus station platform and head left and hit the gas station pursuit breaker. Turn left around the corner ahead to catch a doughnut shop breaker and stay on this road, which leads straight to the old bridge. Watch out for roadblocks and don't let the cops box you in. Head out the newly opened road and jump the bridge. Congratulations! You are now the Most Wanted Racer in Rockport (and the rest of the nation, if Cross has any say in it). To get a 100% complete game, you must: 1) Finish all available races and milestones for each Blacklist member. You can use the Blacklist option in the Safe House menu to return to any Blacklist stage and choose a race. To complete milestones, go to any BL menu and choose the Bounty option to start a pursuit. 2) Rank #1 both Lifetime and Single Pursuit in all Rap Sheet categories. These are all pursuit milestones, so you'll have to run pursuits until you achieve the #1 ranking in every category. The most difficult milestone is the Lifetime Infractions. You need 500 to rank #1, and, since you can only earn a max of 8 infractions in a single pursuit (and earning 8 is difficult, 5 or 6 is more common), you're going to be running a lot of pursuits to earn those 500. See Section F.05.g for a tip on earning 4 infractions in 30 seconds. 3) Complete all 68 (69 if you have Black Edition) Challenges in the Challenge Series. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section D. Other Game Modes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ D.01: Challenge Series ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Challenge Series is a set of 68 special events consisting of Tollbooth Time Trials and various police pursuit challenges. The Black Edition includes a 69th Challenge. There's also a secret Burger King Challenge that can be unlocked (see Section B.07). The car you drive is preset for each Challenge; you can choose whether to use Manual or Automatic transmission. You cannot do any performance tuning on your ride in a Challenge. You cannot bring up the world map during a Challenge and you are limited in the areas of Rockport you can roam during pursuits. You will need to be very familiar with the city and the available pursuit breakers and hiding spots. During Tollbooth Challenges, you will be always be chased by police; however, the pursuit will end when you finish the Challenge (successfully or not). The first eight Challenges are very easy. Tollbooth times are generous and you should be able to finish at +20 or more seconds without using any nitrous. Police pursuit is at heat level 1; these aren't the smartest cops on the road. In fact, your biggest challenge will be keeping the cops around long enough to meet some of the pursuit Challenge requirements. 1) Tollbooth Time Trial Complete in less than 2:40 2) Pursuit Length Evade police after at least 1 minute 3) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #1 or #2) Complete in less than 2:45 4) Bounty (unlock by beating #1 or #2) Evade police after earning a bounty of at least 1,000 5) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #3 or #4) Complete in less than 3:30 6) Pursuit Evasion (unlock by beating #5) Evade police in less than 5 minutes 7) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #5) Complete in less than 3:00 8) Cost to State (unlock by beating #6 or #7) Evade police with a cost to state of at least 25,000 Pursuit moves up to heat level 2, which is really not that much tougher than heat level 1. Tollbooth times continue to be generous, though you'll probably be finishing in the +10 to +15 second range. Challenge #16 briefly moves you up to heat level 4, so you get some spike strips to dodge, but you go back to heat level 2 for Challenges 17 and 18. 9) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #6 or #7) Complete in less than 2:50 10) Roadblock (unlock by beating #8 or #9) Dodge at least 2 roadblocks and evade the police 11) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #10) Complete in less than 3:30 12) Trade Paint (unlock by beating #10) Tag at least 5 police vehicles and evade pursuit 13) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #11 or #12) Complete in less than 3:45 14) Infractions (unlock by beating #11 or #12) Receive at least 4 infractions and evade police 15) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #13 or #14) Complete in less than 4:00 16) Spike Strip (unlock by beating #15) Dodge at least 2 spike strips and evade pursuit 17) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #15) Complete in less than 3:20 18) Pursuit Evasion (unlock by beating #16 or #17) Evade pursuit in less than 4 minutes Tollbooth times start to get a little tighter; and, with heat level 3 cops chasing you most of the time, there's not as large a margin for error. The pursuits actually become...well, challenging; but, you should still have a fairly easy time moving through these next 12 Challenges. 19) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #16 or #17) Complete in less than 4:05 20) Pursuit Length (unlock by beating #18 or #19) Evade police after at least 7 minutes 21) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #20) Complete in less than 4:00 22) Roadblock (unlock by beating #20) Dodge at least 6 roadblocks and evade the police 23) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #21 or #22) Complete in less than 3:15 24) Infractions (unlock by beating #21 or #22) Receive at least 5 infractions and evade police 25) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #23 or #24) Complete in less than 4:00 26) Trade Paint (unlock by beating #25) Tag at least 8 police vehicles and evade pursuit 27) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #25) Complete in less than 3:30 28) Cost to State (unlock by beating #26 or #27) Evade police with a cost to state of at least 50,000 29) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #26 or #27) Complete in less than 3:00 30) Bounty (unlock by beating #28 or #29) Evade police after earning a bounty of at least 50,000 Pursuit heats up to level 4, which means spike strips and helicopters during pursuit Challenges. The tollbooth trials also become much more difficult. Not only have times between tollbooths become less forgiving, but the cars you are given are frequently less agile than they should be. Things start off with a bang in Challenge #31 when you are given a DB9 that handles like a whale in shallow water. 31) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #30) Complete in less than 3:45. While this may sound counter-intuitive: don't drive too fast. The Aston-Martin wallows alarmingly and it's easy to lose control on this very technical course. Make sure you catch the back street on the southern end of Camden Beach (keep going straight after a hard right turn past tollbooth #1). 32) Pursuit Evasion (unlock by beating #30) Evade pursuit in less than 3 minutes. If you take the first left, you can easily reach Hickley Field and its pursuit breakers and hiding spot in less than two minutes. 33) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #31 or #32) Complete in less than 3:30. This one's actually a bit easier as it's all open highway driving. Just keep your car floored and be sure to use the north (west-bound) lanes past Riverfront Stadium. 34) Roadblock (unlock by beating #31 or #32) Dodge at least 8 roadblocks and evade the police. Thankfully, this one Challenge starts at heat level 3, so you can probably finish it before you have to worry about spike strips. 35) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #33 or #34) Complete in less than 3:35 36) Trade Paint (unlock by beating #35) Tag at least 12 police vehicles and evade pursuit 37) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #35) Complete in less than 3:35 38) Infractions (unlock by beating #36 or #37) Receive at least 5 infractions and evade police 39) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #36 or #37) Complete in less than 3:35 40) Pursuit Length (unlock by beating #38 or #39) Evade police after at least 10 minutes The next ten Challenges are quite different. You will be driving a variety of unusual vehicles rather than a tuned racer. As a trade-off, the time trial courses are slightly more forgiving--but not much. All the cars do include a nitrous system so you can get a little boost now and again, but the nitrous systems are weak, so don't depend on them. 41) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #40) Beat this course in 4:33 driving an econo-box pizza delivery car 42) Roadblock (unlock by beating #40) Dodge 6 roadblocks and evade police while driving a pickup truck. 43) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #41 or #42) You get a minivan (yes, a minivan) to beat this course in 4:30 44) Spike Strip (unlock by beating #41 or #42) Dodge 6 spike strips and evade police while driving a police cruiser 45) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #43 or #44) You have a Pontiac GTO police cruiser to beat this course in 3:35. One bonus: it's a closed course so there's no traffic and no pursuit. 46) Cost to State (unlock by beating #45) You have to achieve a cost to state of 100,000 and evade police... in a garbage truck. The 100,000 cost isn't hard as the truck will destroy anything it hits. Getting away is a different matter. 47) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #45) Get your taxi cab through this course in less than 4:30 48) Pursuit Evasion (unlock by beating #46 or #47) Using a police SUV, evade pursuit in less than 4 minutes. This is actually quite difficult as the SUV is slow and doesn't handle well. You start near the country club, so your best bet is to double back through the golf course and park and head for the stadium and its pursuit breakers and hiding spot. 49) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #46 or #47) Another closed course trial: beat 3:45 in a police Corvette. 50) Bounty (unlock by beating #48 or #49) Use a cement truck to earn a bounty of 100,000 and then evade police. The truck is prone to roll over, so you're going to have to drive real slow and depend on your size to bowl over pursuing cars. Back to normal Challenges. At this point, your get heat level 5 in both the tollbooth trials and the pursuit challenges. Sgt. Cross will frequently show up in the pursuits--he's worth a big bounty (200,000) if you take him out (useful for Bounty Challenges). 51) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #50) Complete in less than 4:10 52) Pursuit Evasion (unlock by beating #50) Evade pursuit in less than 4 minutes 53) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #51 or #52) Complete in less than 4:10 54) Cost to State (unlock by beating #51 or #52) Evade police with a cost to state of at least 150,000 55) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #53 or #54) Complete in less than 3:45 56) Bounty (unlock by beating #55) Evade police after earning a bounty of at least 1,000,000 57) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #55) Complete in less than 4:35 58) Roadblock (unlock by beating #56 or #57) Dodge at least 10 roadblocks and evade the police. (This Challenge starts at heat level 3.) 59) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #56 or #57) Complete in less than 5:05 60) Pursuit Length (unlock by beating #58 or #59) Evade police after at least 15 minutes 61) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #60) Complete in less than 5:00 62) Spike Strip (unlock by beating #61) Dodge at least 10 spike strips and evade pursuit 63) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #62) Complete in less than 7:00. Don't be fooled by the large amount of time--this is a long course and the CLK 500 you're given is twitchier than The Waco Kid's shootin' hand. This is a very tough Challenge. 64) Trade Paint (unlock by beating #63) Tag at least 20 police vehicles and evade pursuit 65) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #64) Complete in less than 4:50. Through the first two tollbooths (representing 2/3 of the distance) this is a very technical course at which the Punto you're driving excels. The last three tollbooths require flat-out speed and here you will have problems. You'll want at least 10 seconds of bonus time when you clear that second tollbooth. 66) Cost to State (unlock by beating #65) Evade police with a cost to state of at least 200,000 67) Tollbooth Time Trial (unlock by beating #66) Complete in less than 8:50. The first four tollbooths are the toughest. You must push your Lambo to top speed as quickly as possible and hold it there with no mistakes. Once you get off the highways headed into Camden Beach, times between tollbooths are more generous and you can relax a little bit and still finish with +10 seconds to spare. 68) Pursuit Length (unlock by beating #67) Evade police after at least 30 minutes. Now's the time to use the bus stop trick to rack up those minutes without a lot of work. 69) Burger King Challenge: (unlock with special code, see B.07) A Sprint race through Downtown with you driving your BMW M3 GTR (the car you had stolen from you). Win the Burger King Race to unlock Junkman parts in the performance customization menu for My Cars. To use Junkman parts, go to the My Cars menu option in the main menu. Add a car and upgrade it. (Make sure you've gone all the way through at least Blacklist #3--Ronnie--so all Ultimate parts are unlocked.) Choose Performance parts, press [2] to upgrade to max stats, and checkout. Your car is now outfitted with all ultimate parts. Go into performance upgrade again, and go to each part (engine, transmission, etc.) and choose the Junkman package. Checkout. Your car will now have max stats in all three categories. Please note, even though all cars show the same stat bars when fully outfitted, they don't perform the same. The faster the car when stock, the faster when fully upgraded. I.e. a Gallardo with 100% stats still beats a IS300 with 100% stats. My Cars are only useable in custom Quick Races. 70) Black Edition Challenge: "In this event you will be pursued by supercharged Heavy SUV's. This will be the most difficult challenge in the series. You need to Get a Bounty of 500,000 and evade the pursuit to be successful." Despite the description, this is really not that bad. You're driving a '67 Camaro and you can run through Rosewood hitting pursuit breakers. The bounty on the heavy Rhinos is quite large and it shouldn't take long to rack up the bounty you need. In fact, you can just do a 180 as soon as you get control of your car and race back to the stadium and pick up the 500,000 bounty in less than a minute. This doesn't always work, so you may have to do it two or three times to beat the Challenge, but, at least you don't have to play with the Rhinos. D.02: Quick Race ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Quick Race is just that: a single race against one or more computer opponents. You can set up a race in two ways. D.02.a) Quick Play The computer randomly selects a track, number of opponents and a car for you to drive. You can accept what you are given, or press [1] to randomly select a new track and car. D.02.b) Custom Race You select a course, the number of opponents, the amount of traffic, the probability cops will show up, the difficulty level and whether or not you want "Catch Up" AI turned on. (Catch Up is also known as "rubber band" AI because the computer cars are never allowed to get too far behind nor too far ahead in the race.) You also choose your car from among any of the stock or bonus vehicles that you have unlocked, or any of the cars you've built up in Career mode, or any custom cars you've put together with the My Cars feature. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section E. Cars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *NOTE* The numbers for Top Speed, Acceleration and Handling are out of 10.0 and for comparison purposes only. They are based on the percentage of the status bar that is filled when the car is in original condition (i.e. no performance parts added by you). E.01: Stock Cars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number in parentheses after the car's name is the cost of the car. +----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+ | Car | Top Speed | Acceleration | Handling | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lexus IS300 (27,000) | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.9 | | Unlock: Starter car | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Fiat Punto (27,000) | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.7 | | Unlock: Starter car | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Chevrolet Cobalt SS (26,000) | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | | Unlock: Starter car | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Volkswagen Golf GTi (35,000) | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | | Unlock: Starter car | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Audi TT 3.2 quattro (35,000) | 1.9 | 1.0 | 2.4 | | Unlock: Beat Sonny, | | | | | Blacklist member 15 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Audi A3 3.2 quattro (32,000) | 2.1 | 0.8 | 2.3 | | Unlock: Beat Sonny, | | | | | Blacklist member 15 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mitsubishi Eclipse (30,000) | 2.8 | 1.3 | 2.5 | | Unlock: Beat Taz, | | | | | Blacklist member 14 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Audi A4 3.2 FSI quattro (35,000) | 2.0 | 0.8 | 2.1 | | Unlock: Beat Taz, | | | | | Blacklist member 14 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Toyota Supra (40,000) | 3.1 | 2.1 | 1.7 | | Unlock: Beat Vic, | | | | | Blacklist member 13 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Renault Clio v6 (40,000) | 2.9 | 2.1 | 1.9 | | Unlock: Beat Vic, | | | | | Blacklist member 13 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mazda RX-8 (32,000) | 2.6 | 1.3 | 2.0 | | Unlock: Beat Izzy, | | | | | Blacklist member 12 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Cadillac CTS (32,000) | 2.6 | 1.6 | 0.9 | | Unlock: Beat Izzy, | | | | | Blacklist member 12 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Ford Mustang GT (36,000) | 3.0 | 2.4 | 1.4 | | Unlock: Beat Izzy, | | | | | Blacklist member 12 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII | 3.6 | 3.2 | 3.1 | | (36,000) | | | | | Unlock: Beat Big Lou, | | | | | Blacklist member 11 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (75,000) | 4.1 | 2.7 | 2.0 | | Unlock: Beat Big Lou, | | | | | Blacklist member 11 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Pontiac GTO (35,000) | 4.6 | 3.0 | 2.8 | | Unlock: Beat Baron, | | | | | Blacklist member 10 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Vauxhall Monaro VXR (35,000) | 4.6 | 3.0 | 2.8 | | Unlock: Beat Baron, | | | | | Blacklist member 10 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche Cayman S (60,000) | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.5 | | Unlock: Beat Baron, | | | | | Blacklist member 10 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Subaru Impreza WRX STi (42,000) | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.7 | | Unlock: Beat Earl, | | | | | Blacklist member 9 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mazda RX-7 (31,000) | 4.6 | 4.0 | 3.5 | | Unlock: Beat Earl, | | | | | Blacklist member 9 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 (75,000) | 4.4 | 2.9 | 5.0 | | Unlock: Beat Jewels, | | | | | Blacklist member 8 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lotus Elise (48,000) | 3.3 | 4.2 | 5.5 | | Unlock: Beat Jewels, | | | | | Blacklist member 8 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Aston Martin DB9 (90,000) | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.5 | | Unlock: Beat Kaze, | | | | | Blacklist member 7 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche 911 Carrera S (75,000) | 4.6 | 4.2 | 6.7 | | Unlock: Beat Kaze, | | | | | Blacklist member 7 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Dodge Viper SRT 10 (98,000) | 5.7 | 5.4 | 4.0 | | Unlock: Beat Ming, | | | | | Blacklist member 6 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lamborghini Gallardo (120,000) | 4.1 | 5.1 | 8.6 | | Unlock: Beat Ming, | | | | | Blacklist member 6 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche 911 turbo S (105,000) | 5.7 | 5.5 | 7.5 | | Unlock: Beat Webster, | | | | | Blacklist member 5 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Chevrolet Corvette C6 (80,000) | 5.2 | 5.3 | 7.4 | | Unlock: Beat Webster, | | | | | Blacklist member 5 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lamborghini Murcielago (265,000) | 7.6 | 6.3 | 8.9 | | Unlock: Beat JV, | | | | | Blacklist member 4 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Ford GT (270,000) | 8.6 | 5.8 | 8.6 | | Unlock: Beat JV, | | | | | Blacklist member 4 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren | 6.2 | 6.7 | 8.8 | | (300,000) | | | | | Unlock: Beat Ronnie, | | | | | Blacklist member 3 | | | | |----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche Carrera GT (280,000) | 6.7 | 7.1 | 9.1 | | Unlock: Beat Ronnie, | | | | | Blacklist member 3 | | | | +----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+ The Golf GTi is the best car for the first few stages of Career mode. Unfortunately, you can only get it at the beginning of the game if you: a) have an NFS Underground 2 career save on your PC; or, b) cheat in some money. You normally start with 30,000 cash, but can start with 40,000 and get the Golf if you have an Underground 2 savegame. If you don't have the money to buy a Golf, pick up the IS300 for handling or Cobalt SS for speed. Regardless of the car you start with, don't spend too much money on upgrades, you'll replace this car before too long. If you're having trouble winning Blacklist members' cars, then you'll need to buy new ones. The Toyota Supra is your next target after the starter car. After that, the Pontiac or Vauxhall are good upgrades. The Lotus Elise is also a good car for expert drivers--it accelerates faster than a jackrabbit and corners better than any other car, but it's very light and gets thrown around easily. Next, you should try to obtain the Viper or 911 turbo S. At the high end, if you can afford it, any of the last four cars (Murcielago, Ford GT, McLaren or Carrera GT) will blow the competition out of the water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ E.02: Bonus Cars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bonus cars are either pre-modified versions of stock cars, or special cars not available during Career mode. Bonus cars can only be used in Quick Race and Online modes and cannot be tuned. The exception are the Blacklist member autos, which can be won from the Blacklist during Career mode. +-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+ | Car | Top Speed | Acceleration | Handling | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Volkswagen Golf GTi (Sonny's car) | 2.4 | 1.7 | 0.9 | | Unlock: Beat Sonny | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lexus IS300 (Taz's car) | 2.1 | 2.1 | 1.3 | | Unlock: Beat Taz | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Toyota Supra (Vic's car) | 4.3 | 3.7 | 3.2 | | Unlock: Beat Vic | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mazda RX-8 (Izzy's car) | 4.4 | 3.9 | 4.6 | | Unlock: Beat Izzy | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mitsubishi Eclipse (Big Lou's car)| 4.4 | 3.8 | 4.8 | | Unlock: Beat Big Lou | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche Cayman S (Baron's car) | 6.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 | | Unlock: Beat Baron | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lancer Evolution VIII (Earl's car)| 5.8 | 5.9 | 6.3 | | Unlock: Beat Earl | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Ford Mustang GT (Jewels' car) | 6.1 | 5.6 | 5.1 | | Unlock: Beat Jewels | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 (Kaze's car)| 7.2 | 6.2 | 8.5 | | Unlock: Beat Kaze | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lamborghini Gallardo (Ming's car) | 9.1 | 8.7 | 10.0 | | Unlock: Beat Ming | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Corvette C6 (Webster's car) | 9.0 | 9.3 | 10.0 | | Unlock: Beat Webster | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Dodge Viper SRT 10 (JV's car) | 9.4 | 9.3 | 10.0 | | Unlock: Beat JV | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Aston Martin DB9 (Ronnie's car) | 8.6 | 8.8 | 10.0 | | Unlock: Beat Ronnie | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes SLR McLaren (Bull's car) | 8.8 | 9.8 | 9.7 | | Unlock: Beat Bull | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | BMW M3 GTR (Your car) | 9.7 | 9.7 | 6.3 | | Unlock: Win Career mode | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG | 5.6 | 7.5 | 7.2 | | Unlock: Beat event #68 in | | | | | the Challenge Series | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | 9.3 | 9.4 | 9.4 | | Unlock: Get 100% game complete | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche 911 GT2 | 4.5 | 7.7 | 8.0 | | Unlock: Complete every event | | | | | in the Challenge Series | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Castrol Syntec Ford GT | 9.6 | 8.9 | 10.0 | | Unlock: Special code (see B.07) | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Chevrolet Corvette C6 | 7.6 | 8.0 | 9.2 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche 911 Carrera S | 6.3 | 6.4 | 8.3 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Lotus Elise | 5.2 | 6.3 | 7.6 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz SL 500 | 5.7 | 5.0 | 4.3 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Toyota Supra | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.0 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | 9.3 | 9.4 | 9.3 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG | 5.5 | 7.7 | 7.1 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | Porsche 911 GT2 | 4.5 | 7.7 | 8.0 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS | 1.9 | 4.9 | 4.0 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | |-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------| | BMW M3 GTR | 3.4 | 7.2 | 7.4 | | Unlock: Black Edition bonus | | | | +-----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+----------+ You should try to win the pink slip of each Blacklist member's car--even if you don't need the car, you can sell it for cash. Select one of the three bonus markers, and, if it's not the pink slip, select another bonus marker. You should be able to collect a lot of tuned cars this way. The top Blacklisters (from Ming on up) have great cars that can finish the game for you without any upgrades. If you want to make sure you get the pink slip each time (and don't mind running some races over), you can re-race a Blacklist member. If you don't win the pink slip, before pressing Continue (which saves your game), press ALT-F4 on the PC or the Reset button on a console, restart the game, reload and challenge the Blacklist racer again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section F. Driving 101 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ F.01: Drivetrains ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The cars in Most Wanted come in three different drivetrains: 1) Front Wheel Drive (FWD): the engine drives the front wheels and the back wheels as loose. FWD cars corner easier than other cars because the wheels that are doing the steering are also the wheels providing the traction and the back end just goes along for the ride. However, for good (or better) drivers, FWD cars stick to the road too much, and they won't slide through corners as fast as other cars. - Chevy Cobalt SS - Fiat Punto - Mitsubishi Eclipse - VW Golf Gti 2) Rear Wheel Drive (RWD): the engine drives the back wheels and the front wheels are loose. Because the wheels doing the steering (the front) are not providing most of the traction, RWD cars feel very twitchy and can slide out of control very easily. But, in the hands of a decent driver, this sliding ability can be utilized to take corners very fast. Once you've mastered the technique of powersliding around corners, you'll never want to take anything but a RWD car into any race. The cost is a tendency to spin the rear wheels when starting from a full stop. And that twitchy feeling is magnified whenever you go off road--even just up on a sidewalk. Forget about trying to get decent acceleration from a full stop if you are off road (for example, on the golf course). - Aston Martin DB9 - BMW M3 GTR - Mercedes-Benz SL 500 - SL65 AMG - Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 - Dodge Viper SRT10 - Ford GT - Ford Mustang GT - Corvette C6 - Corvette C6.R - Cadillac CTS - Pontiac GTO - Vauxhall Monaro VXR - Lotus Elise - Mazda RX-8 - Mazda RX-7 - Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren - Porsche Carrera GT - Porsche 911 Carrera S - Porsche 911 GT2 - Porsche Cayman S - Renault Clio V6 - Lexus IS300 - Toyota Supra 3) All Wheel Drive (AWD): the engine drives all four wheels. AWD cars can accelerate extremely fast from a full stop because they are less likely to spin their wheels. They are also very stable off road and have great acceleration regardless of the surface. AWD corner easier than RWD, but not as well as FWD. AWD cars are excellent vehicles for using in police pursuits; and, they are also good for racing if you can't get a handle on rear wheel drive. - Audi A4 3.2 FSI quattro - Audi TT 3.2 quattro - Audi A3 3.2 quattro - Lamborghini Murcielago - Lamborghini Gallardo - Mitsubishi Lancer EVOLUTION VIII - Porsche 911 Turbo S - Subaru Impreza WRX STi F.02: Tracks ~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are six different types of race events in NFSMW... F.02.a) Circuit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A standard race around the city streets. Each racer must complete two or more laps around the course. Circuits are more forgiving of mistakes than most other races as they are longer and you'll usually have plenty of distance to make up lost time. You definitely want to be in first place going into the last lap, and starting the race in first doesn't hurt either. F.02.b) Lap Knockout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lap Knockouts are circuit races with slightly shorter laps (on average) and the last place competitor at the end of each lap is disqualified ("knocked out"). This means there's not as large a margin of error as in the normal circuits--you can't be in last place at the end of any lap. The number of laps is equal to the number of competitors less one. I.e. if there are four racers total (including you), there will be three laps. All Lap Knockout races in Career Mode are three laps. F.02.c) Sprint ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A race from point A to point B through the city streets. Rather than a number of laps, the leaderboard will show the percentage of the race that is complete. With sprints, it is important to get a good start and maintain the lead. Use nitro at the beginning of long, relatively straight portions of the course to build up a cushion over your opponents. F.02.d) Speedtrap ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Speedtraps are sprints; but, to win you must have the highest cumulative speed as measured by photo speedtraps spaced along the course. You don't necessarily have to cross the finish line first; however, if you are not first, you lose some points from your total--six points are deducted from your total speed for each second you are behind the first-place finisher. Winning a Speedtrap is all about keeping your car under control and nitro- boosting through the traps shown on the mini-map. F.02.e) Tollbooth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tollbooth Time Trials are only available in Career and Challenge Series. The time to each checkpoint is fixed and does not vary based on the type of car you use in the race. Any time left on the clock when you reach a tollbooth is added to the time remaining to the next tollbooth. E.g. if you have 0:17.20 remaining when reaching a tollbooth, and the time available to reach the next tollbooth is 0:45.00, you will receive 0:45.00 + 0:17.20 = 1:02.20 to reach the next tollbooth. To make Tollbooth races easier, always use whatever car has the highest top speed and best acceleration. Handling is less important since your only enemy is the clock and you don't have to worry about other racers. Just make sure you can handle the car well enough to keep from slamming into walls. F.02.f) Drag ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A straight-up test of your speed and shifting ability--you have to manually shift gears in a drag race. Watch the shift icon at the top center of your screen. If you shift when there's no icon, you get an Early Shift and you lose some speed. If you shift when the icon is blue, you get a Good Shift and gain a little speed. If you shift when the icon is green, you get a Perfect Shift and gain more speed. If you shift when the icon is red, you get Over Rev, lose speed and possibly burn out your engine. You don't need to steer the car along the course; it's "on rails" and will follow the road automatically. What you do have to do is dodge traffic by changing lanes left or right. Each tap on your steering controls changes you one lane. If you want to switch two lanes left, you have to tap the left turn button twice. Memorize the traffic pattern (it's always the same) and use Speedbreaker if necessary and you shouldn't have any problems with drags. F.03: Using N2O and Speedbreaker ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're familiar with previous NFS games, you've used nitrous before. A nitrous system provides a boost to your speed. You can give the N2O button a quick press or hold it for a sustained burst. You have a limited amount of nitrous, shown by the green, semi-circular meter underneath your main gauge. As you drive fast, the meter recharges. Use quick bursts of nitrous to grab the road the straighten yourself out of powerslides. You can also use a quick burst to push yourself into the next gear (when using automatic transmission). Use long, sustained boosts to speed through photo checkpoints or to keep your opponent at bay when approaching the finish line. Speedbreaker is a new feature added to NFSMW that puts you into slow-motion so you can drive more accurately. Speedbreaker is automatically available on all cars, and the amount of time you have is shown by the yellow, semi- circular meter above your main gauge. As you drive fast, the meter recharges. Press the Speedbreaker key to enter slow-motion. A yellow meter appears in the center of the screen, showing the time remaining. Aim your car and then press the Speedbreaker key again to exit slow-motion. Use Speedbreaker to get around hairpin turns, to run roadblocks, dodge spike strips and evade Rhinos (police SUVs) during police pursuits. F.04: Performance Tuning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can tune your car during races or free roam. Open the Pause Menu and choose Performance Tuning. There are seven adjustable sliders: F.04.a) Steering ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Suspension upgrade to access this tuning slider. "The steering slider lets you control how quick the steering response is. Moving the slider to the right will increase the steering quickness while moving it to the left will decrease the steering quickness. Quicker steering is usually better as long as you are able to still control your car." If you're a really good driver, you can combine quicker steering with lower ride height and more downforce to take turns a lot quicker. Otherwise, leave this at default or turn it down one notch. For drag races, you will want this turned up one or two notches for quicker dodging of traffic. F.04.b) Handling ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Suspension upgrade to access this tuning slider. "This slider allows you to tailor your car's handling to suit your driving style. If you would like your car to slide a little more, move the slider to the left. If you like your car to slide less, move the slider to the right." Leave this at default or move it right one stop unless you're really good at powersliding through turns, then move it left one or two stops. F.04.c) Brakes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Brake upgrade to access this tuning slider. "This slider lets you adjust the brake bias of your car towards the front or rear. Adjusting the brake bias to the front or rear will affect how much your car is able to turn while braking. Adjust the slider to the right to move the brake bias forward and adjust it to the left to move the brake bias toward the rear." Rear-wheel drive cars will want a little more brake on the front end to keep from going completely out of control in a turn. Front-wheel drive cars will want a little more brake in the rear for the same reason. All-wheel drive cars can leave the setting at neutral. F.04.d) Ride Height ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Suspension upgrade to access this tuning slider. "This slider allows you to raise or lower your ride height. Moving the slider to the right will raise the ride height, while moving it to the left will lower the ride height. Generally, a lower ride height improves handling but can also make your car harder to control if the road is not smooth." Lowering your car will help you cornering, but is probably a bad idea considering all the off-road shortcuts and rough patches you hit during the game. You can probably leave this setting alone or move it left one notch. There's really no need to raise your ride's height. F.04.e) Aerodynamics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Body Kit or Spoiler upgrade to access this tuning slider. "This slider allows you to increase or decrease the overall downforce on your car. Increasing the downforce will help your car stick to the road but will affect your top speed. If you like your car looser and more likely to slide, try decreasing the downforce." Putting a spoiler on your car and increasing the downforce will definitely help you stay in control when cornering. Considering how many races require good handling over high speed, the hit to your car's top speed won't be that big a deal. For tollbooth trials and drag races, you can decrease the downforce and pick up a little bit of speed on the high end. F.04.f) Nitrous ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Nitrous upgrade to access this tuning slider. "Adjust the slider towards the left for a longer but less powerful N2O boost. Adjust it towards the right for a more powerful boost but with less duration." In most situations, you want to use quick boosts of nitrous to help you straighten out of a slide or get into the next gear. Set your nitrous slider a point or two right to get more grip when coming out of powerslides. For drag races, adjust it two or three points left to get longer bursts down the home stretch. F.04.g) Turbo/Supercharger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You must install a Turbo or Supercharger upgrade to access this tuning slider. "This slider lets you adjust the characteristics of your induction system. Move the slider to the right to shift your torque boost into a higher RPM range. You'll sacrifice boost in the lower RPM ranges but will gain more torque at the top end. This is useful for high speed tracks. Move the slider to the left to spread the torque boost across a larger range of RPM's. This is useful for tighter tracks where you need boost while accelerating out of corners." Move this slider right for tollbooth trials and drag races. Move it left for most other events, including police pursuit. F.05: Police Pursuits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Police pursuits (PP) are probably the most exciting part of NFSMW. A PP can start in one of two different ways: you can drive by a police car in free roam or race mode; or, you can choose a Milestone from the Blacklist menu and be thrown into a PP. There are five stages to a PP based on the "heat level" of your car. The heat level of your car is shown as a yellow, segmented ring around the minimap. As more segments light up, you're advancing to the next stage. (The heat level is also shown on the car select screen of the Safe House and when buying visual upgrades for your car.) Whenever you enter a PP, you begin at the stage indicated by your heat level. To lower your heat level you can change the look of your car (paint, body kits, etc.), or leave it in the Safe House for a while and drive another car. F.05.a) Heat Stage 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You'll encounter mostly normal police cruisers. They'll occasionally try to block you or bump you, but mostly they just chase you. They're also extremely dumb and it's easy to lose them, which can be frustrating when you're trying to make a pursuit last a long time to meet milestone requirements. Fortunately, once a PP is on, the pursuit escalates quickly. F.05.b) Heat Stage 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unmarked police cruisers are thrown into the mix. Now they start trying a rolling block, where three or four cruisers get in front of you and try to slow you down. Boost past them, or make a quick turn onto a side street or off-road path. You'll also start running into roadblocks, but these will be pretty easy to dodge. Use Speedbreaker to find the weak point and hit it at full speed. Try to aim at the rear end of a single-depth car in the block, or shoot for a wide gap. F.05.c) Heat Stage 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The police bring out their Rhinos--reinforced light SUVs that will stop you cold if you let them hit you. If you see police units coming straight at you, hit Speedbreaker and dodge them. Also watch out for Rhinos in roadblocks, don't try to break through their part of the line--find a gap elsewhere. F.05.d) Heat Stage 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The police call in a copter for aerial cover. You won't be able to fully evade the police unless you find a hiding spot with a roof or the copter breaks off to refuel. You'll also start to see spike strips mixed in with the roadblocks. Use Speedbreaker to avoid them or your pursuit is over. F.05.e) Heat Stage 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meet the Corvette Cops. These guys are fast and they can stop you in a heartbeat. Combined with all the hazards introduced in earlier stages, you want to avoid getting to stage 5 if you can. The best way, of course, is not to start a pursuit unless your car is stage 1 or early in stage 2. Then you can play with the police for a long time before getting to stage 5. Usually, once you get to stage 4, you want to end the pursuit quickly, unless you're going for a spike strip Milestone, in which case you have to keep going for a while. F.05.f) Milestones ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During pursuits, you will be trying to earn one or more of several different types of milestones. You must reach these milestones to earn the right to challenge a Blacklist racer. Of course, you have to successfully evade pursuit in order for any of the milestones to count. Many of the milestones can be completed in a single pursuit. For example, you could have a single pursuit that earns you Bounty, Cost to State and Trade Paint milestones. Bounty ~~~~~~ You have to earn a minimum bounty during a pursuit to reach this milestone. You get the highest bounty for immobilizing police cruisers, so hitting pursuit breakers, ramming cop cars, etc. is your best bet for racking up your bounty. Cost to State Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During the pursuit, you must rack up a minimum amount of charges to the state. Destroy cop cars, civilian cars, tollbooths, gas stations, etc. Infractions Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commit a minimum number of infractions to reach this milestone. There are eight different infractions: - Speeding: drive fast - Excessive Speeding: drive faster - Reckless Driving: drive at top speed The speed necessary to get one of the three Speeding infractions varies depending on the performance of the car you're driving and the area in which you are driving. Generally, on the highways, you can get a speeding ticket in the 120 - 150 mph range, excessive speeding between 160 - 190 and reckless driving at 200+. You can get these infractions at lower speeds on city streets. - Ramming a Police Vehicle: self-explanatory - Hit and Run: ram a civilian vehicle - Damage to Property: hit light poles, tollbooths, signs, etc. - Driving off Roadway: drive on anything not the main road, even sidewalks - Resisting Arrest: automatic when you evade the police In order to earn an infraction, there must be at least one cop car near you when you commit the crime. Photo Ticket ~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have to be clocked at a certain speed (or faster) when passing through the photo ticket icon. These milestones cannot be made during a pursuit, but you can do them either in free roam (icons show on your map) or by using the Milestones selection on the Blacklist menu. Pursuit Evasion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have to evade police (i.e. end a pursuit) in less than a specific amount of time. This type of milestone can rarely be combined with any other milestone. The best way to complete this milestone is to use a car with Heat level 1, as the level 1 cops are easier to outrun or outmaneuver. Pursuit Time Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This milestone requires that a pursuit last more than a specific amount of time. Starting a pursuit at Heat level 1 (and driving slowly and carefully so the level 1 cops can keep up) is a good way to start on a Pursuit Time Challenge. Roadblock Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dodge a minimum number of police roadblocks to earn this milestone. Roadblocks don't show up until Heat level 2, so you might want to start at that Heat level to earn this milestone quickly. Spike Strip Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This milestone requires you to dodge a minimum number of roadblocks that have spike strips. Spike strips begin showing up at Heat level 4; if you aren't already using Speedbreaker when you approach a roadblock, you definitely want to begin doing so once you reach Heat 4. Spike strip roadblocks dodged also count towards regular roadblocks dodged. Trade Paint ~~~~~~~~~~~ This is pretty simple: just bump fenders (or outright total--your choice) a minimum number of police cruisers. Each cruiser can only be "tagged" once, so ramming one car over and over doesn't help. Hitting cars in a roadblock counts as tagging vehicles. If you don't have many cops on your tail, you can turn around and keep ramming through roadblocks, hitting a different car each time. F.05.g) Hints & Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Use a vehicle with all-wheel drive (AWD). - Don't do all the pursuit milestones for each racer. Just do enough to move on in the game. (Doing the Photo Tickets is usually pretty easy. And you can also do Pursuit Evasion if that's available.) Other milestones can be earned retroactively. For example, if you're running roadblocks at Blacklist #2, the roadblocks you dodge will count towards filling the milestones for BL numbers 11, 10, 9, 7 and 6. - Listen carefully to the police chatter. This will clue you in as to what the cops are planning, where they think you are and if they have spike strips laid out for you and the location of the strips. - Circle one of the two larger highways (99 around Rosewood or 201 around Downtown), unless you get more than five cops on your tail. Then turn into the city and start hitting pursuit breakers to lower the congestion. - Use Speedbreaker liberally. - Larger cars going at a high rate of speed can hit Rhinos head on and flip them (earning a nice bounty in the process). The two heaviest (in the game, not in reality) AWD cars are the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8 and the Subaru Impreza WRX. - A good method for ending a pursuit is to approach Hickley Field (the baseball stadium west of Rosewood) from the east, go into the stadium-- hitting the pursuit breaker--then bust out the other side and drive directly into a hiding spot. - Another method for ending a pursuit is to drive into the bus station, drive up one of the ramps at one end of the station and position your car on the ledge directly between the two ramps. The cops will lose sight of you, even if they're right below you and you can just wait for the pursuit to end. This works well for heat levels 1 to 3, mostly works at heat level 4 and rarely works at heat level 5. - Use the bus terminal trick to rack up bounty and pursuit length milestones. Drive into the bus terminal, drive up the right-hand ramp and drive through the window onto the top of one of the bus loading platforms. Maneuver your car near one corner and go watch TV for a while. The cops will futilely bash their cars into the platform trying to reach you and you can earn bounty, cost to state and pursuit length without even paying attention. - Earn 4 infractions in 30 seconds. If you're going for that 100% complete game and need to earn 500 infractions to rank #1 Lifetime, then this "trick" will help a lot. Select a car with heat level 1 or 2. Go to any Blacklist menu and choose Bounty. Pick the Ocean Hills Police Station and begin the pursuit. Immediately run forward and ram the police car (Ramming a Police Car). Don't hit him too hard, you don't want to disable him...yet. Continue forward and drive on to the sidewalk (Driving Off Roadway) and hit some light poles (Damage to Property). As you go down the hill, hit the water tower on your right to take out the cop car. Immediately take another right turn, race up the hill and turn left into a hiding spot. You'll get the three infractions plus Resisting Arrest (automatic any time you evade the cops) in less than 30 seconds. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version History & Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ v1.30 2006-01-30 - Finished race descriptions in walkthrough - Added Ten Tips section B.08 - Added a few new questions to the FAQ (section A.02) v1.20 2006-01-03 - Added more race descriptions to walkthrough - Added more landmarks/shortcuts to section B.03 - Added a few more tips to Police Pursuits, section F.05 - Finished Challenge Series descriptions v1.10 2005-12-23 - Added a lot of information to Driving 101 - Added some race course descriptions to Career Mode - Removed redundant Tracks section (Section F) - Added additional gameplay information to Section B - Added more Challenge Series descriptions v1.00 2005-11-27 - First published version SPECIAL THANKS: - Posters to the GameFAQs message boards for the unlockable codes and the list of drivetrains (FWD, RWD or AWD) for each car - Blossom from GameFAQs for a complete savegame - bigredk001 from GameFAQs for speeding infractions requirements - M Mariani for correcting the drivetrains of the Eclipse and 911 GT2 - Biacsi Andrei for pointing out I left the Subaru out of the list of AWD cars Tables created with Tablemaker by Jonathan Chang: http://www.losmonos.netfirms.com/cgi-bin/tablecsv.pl Written and Copyright 2005, 2006 by Barry Scott Will This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/