Strategy Guide: Driving

• Unlike most racing games where you simply hold down the acceleration button and never let go, Cro-Mag Rally requires a bit more interaction. In Cro-Mag Rally, speed kills - remember that. You've got to get used to letting go of the gas pedal and hitting the brakes, especially on the levels with tight turns like China and the Viking Village Yes, hitting the brakes slows you down, but in this racing game, "control" is more important than speed.

On the China track you'll be using the brakes a lot!

• Different tracks require different vehicles, and the fastest car is not always the best car. On most of the tracks, good acceleration and traction are actually the most important characteristics to look for in a car. 

• Remember that Cro-Mag Rally's tracks have lots of curves and bumps, and when you hit a bump and get airborne, you will continue to spin in mid-air. When you land after getting airborne, you are likely to skid out if your car has poor traction, and recovering from an uncontrolled skid is much easier with a car that has good acceleration. When driving in a bumpy area try to keep going straight, otherwise, you will inevitably get into a mid-air spin which typically results in a skid-out upon landing.

When catching air, try to be going straight to avoid a mid-air spinout and skid landing.

• If you are involved in a skid-out and your car comes to rest aiming backwards, don't bother wasting time turning the car around. Just start driving backwards until you get a good opportunity to turn back around. The cars in Cro-Mag Rally work just as well in reverse as they do going forward - it's just a little more difficult to get used to steering backwards.

• In single-player mode, you are always going to start each race in back of the other cars. The initial melee of crashing that goes on at the start of each race as all of the cars try to get in the lead can determine the outcome of the rest of the race. If you can avoid crashing into any of the other cars right off the starting line and wiggle your way into first place, then that will usually double to triple your odds of winning the race. Let the other cars lose time by smashing into each other in the first 15 seconds of the race; you try to avoid it.

• If you are in a fast car or in a car with the Nitro activated, don't try to over-steer to avoid hitting steep parts of the terrain. You will usually crash if you attempt to do that, so instead just let your car hit the slope and if you get airborne, just hope you're flying down-stream.

• The Logmobile, and the Chariot are two of the most speed-oriented cars in the game, and the CPU does a good job of driving them. Therefore, these are often going to be "the cars to beat" in many of the races. If you are in a car with better acceleration and traction, then a good strategy is to ram into the Logmobile or Chariot whenever you get a chance. The CPU artificial intelligence is always going to be worse recovering from a crash than you will be.

• When playing in Tournament Mode it is best to focus on getting the Arrowheads on the first lap. This is helpful because then you will have 2 full laps to focus solely on winning the race. If you are constantly having to worry about staying in 1st place and getting the arrowheads on every lap then you are going to lose.

• Most racing games (and Cro-Mag Rally is no exception) have a gameplay feature which gives players in back and advantage over those in front, thus allowing the players in back to catch up. In Cro-Mag Rally, you are given a little extra speed the farther you fall behind in the Place rankings. For example, you may notice that the Geode Cruiser goes about 20% faster when it is in 6thplace compared with its speed in 1st place. What this boils down to is the fact that even if you are in 6th place and all seems lost, you actually stand a fair chance of winning the game. However, the CPU cars also have the same advantage, so keep that in mind.