I'd rather have a graphic for you, but I'll try to explain. One hint.. make sure you are loaded up with countermeasures.

The key is to activate your cruise drive ASAP once the race has been started. That racing dude is just as fast as you, so all that matters is the way you race. The shortest connection between two points is.. yes.. a line. One gate is not a point though. Imagine there is a gate and a right curve right after it. What you need to do is cutting the gate's right corner. Do that all the time. And don't start turning into the curve too late, start before you pass the gate, since you will take some time to turn at 300m/s speed. It requires that you always know where the next gate is.. which is easily visible in my opinion. So.. don't go through the middle of a gate, use the edges depending on where the track is leading after the gate. If you need to turn right.. use the right edge. And don't start turning too late. Don't cut the corners too hard, or you will hit the gate.

I tried making a small ASCII visualization from birdview perspective, but the board automatically turns vertical dividers into slashes. Sucks. Lemme run a quick search on Google for a graphic.

Okay.. this one kinda explains it. It is taken from a site explaining the ideal trajectory on a racing course for a motorbike. Open this in a second browser window:

{Edit: err had to move the link to the very bottom, somehow the hyperlink was assigned to the entire following text as well, weird stuff}

You see the track, the curves themselves. In space you only have imaginary curves, but the principle is the exact same. The red line is the path the bike is taking. As you can see, it is much shorter than driving in the middle of the track. In racing it is also the route with the least g-force effects, but that stuff doesn't apply to Freelancer. All that matters is taking the shortest route. You won't win by much, but you will win if you race like this. I hope it kinda visualizes what I meant to say earlier. If you don't understand, lemme know and I'll try to get into more details. Need feedback in that case though. Good luck.

Click here[url.

Edited by - DeepSlumber on 01-03-2003 03:02:45

I got through this the first time -

I was behind the guy by about 1/4 of the distance btw the gate....then near the end (I didn't see what happened), but he went straight instead of going in the curve of the track....and I just went right past him

I got it second time, first time i kinda blew it in the start cause i didnt put cruise engines on, then the guy went out but i still didnt manage to catch him.
anyway he offered me a re-try and i led from the beginning, then the weapons platforms started shooting at me.
Anyway its really easy to do.
just keep trying

The key is really to use the shift-w method for the cruise engines. If you use the f2 way, it'll stop if you get close to anything = not good at all

I got it the first time too, just follwing the rings and make smooth, slow turns.


<@ElectricBrain> TACH IS DEAD! <@Tachyon> am not <@Tachyon> stfu <@ElectricBrain> no u stfu <@Tachyon> no you
<@ElectricBrain> no u <@Tachyon> no you <@ElectricBrain> no u <@Tachyon> NO YOU I WIN
-- Our very fine IRC ops --

Guyz, especially Deepslumber thanx for an excellent explanation, I was a little baffled on the first reply, great stuff!! Truly appreciated. I'm giving it some more tries, keep you posted

You're welcome, I hope you're gonna make it. And as Kahar said.. don't use F2 ("go to". Just engage your sexy cruise drive and put the pedal to the metal. Manual all the way.

Actually... If you have enough cash to burn, trade your uber heavy ship in for a light fighter, such as the Cavalier conveniently available at the Hoods. The race is a cakewalk that. That racer guy really isn't as good as he acts like, it's just that he flies a Dagger, so if you fly anything heavier than that you get a huge disadvantage.

Well, if you have enough cash.

Woot, well guys I made it. And it actually wasnt all that hard indeed. Just kept doing those optimal curves for as much as it was possible. Once you hit a checkpoint, you're a goner...so didnt do that that stuck-up guy was a sore racer indeed

tnx again for all the help!

Beat the guy on my first try. All about takin' the sharp turns!

that was so easy... just hit shift+w and stay behind him, his engines will fail 2 gates before the goal - then just finish the race, that's all ^^

Sorry guys - but i cant win that race - no matter how !

can anybody tell me a cheat how to skip this mission - or send my your mission 6 completed savegame to [email protected].

thx - but this race is work and NO fun !!!

MasterHonk

I had to run this about 7 or 8 times and I had a few choice words for the torture designers at DA for forcing me to sit thru that cut scene. I can't see any reason the AUTOSAVE couldn't at LEAST be where the guy starts the countdown (tho, that's drawn out bad enough). Still, every great game is allowed a few frustrating points in my book.

My only advice is to learn the course and realize that if you are ahead of him near the end, he will make the weapons platforms open fire. He always screws up on one of the last turns so you can stay behind him and then easily win at that point.

MH: Maybe you use the wrong ship

Best Regards
Christian "Bargib" Koerner
Editor in Chief, The Lancers Reactor

OK This is the spoiler center. I 100% HATE the racing part. I'm NOT a racer, I'm an RPG/ space sim fan. So... Could some one please e mail me a save game. I know this sounds like a cop-out but...........

I HATE RACING
To me, the angles of the rings are impossible to get thru.

[email protected]