DragRace Hack Revisited: Auto-Shift

[Christophero Sly]

Well, you could download it and try!    

 

Yeah I know, but I'm too lazy to download an emulator.

 

Yes, the car automatically shifts when the revs reach maximum.  In 4th gear, it revs up to the limit and stay there.  You can never blow your engine.  To play the game, all you're really doing is holding down the button for the entire race.  Not a whole lot of fun, really.

 

As one who is obsessed with this game, it's very interesting to note what is going in the auto-shift hack. I was wondering how the race managed to end with the car still in 4th gear. Thanks for the explanation!

[+Atarius Maximus]

I guess I assumed the game was using the best shift points, so I just held the button down. That's not the case at all, there is a little bit of strategy here. I just got a 5.44 with the hacked code.

[Christophero Sly]

I guess I assumed the game was using the best shift points, so I just held the button down.  That's not the case at all, there is a little bit of strategy here.  I just got a 5.44 with the hacked code.  

 

Wow! What did you do to get that time?

[+Atarius Maximus]

Holding the joystick (or left arrow on the keyboard) to the left keeps the rev's maxed. Holding it to the left the entire time will slow you down, though. It's trial and error, I can't really explain it perfectly, you're going to have to try it yourself. There are some major graphical bugs when you're holding the stick to the left, the screen jumps all over the place.

 

I haven't been able to get that 5.44 consistently though, I'm usually in the 5.7's.

 

Someone download this and try to beat my score!

[Christophero Sly]

Holding the joystick (or left arrow on the keyboard) to the left keeps the rev's maxed.  Holding it to the left the entire time will slow you down, though.  It's trial and error, I can't really explain it perfectly, you're going to have to try it  yourself.  There are some major graphical bugs when you're holding the stick to the left, the screen jumps all over the place.  

 

I haven't been able to get that 5.44 consistently though, I'm usually in the 5.7's.

 

I'm just looking for clues or insight that might improve my un-hacked times. My current best is 5.61.

 

As long as the hack only auto-shifts and doesn't alter the code in some other way, then the fact that a score of 5.44 can be achieved on the hacked version suggests that 5.4x times are at least possible on the unhacked cartridge version.

[+Atarius Maximus]

I wish I could give you a better idea of what I did, but I can't really give any more detail. I'll keep playing, and pay more attention to my technique, and if I achieve a score in the 5.4's again I'll tell you what I did.

 

I suppose a 5.4 would be theoretically acheivable on the un-hacked cart based on my score, however I didn't write the auto-shift code, Thomas did. I just incorporated it into my hack. Maybe he could comment on that issue.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I suppose a 5.4 would be theoretically acheivable on the un-hacked cart based on my score, however I didn't write the auto-shift code, Thomas did.  I just incorporated it into my hack.  Maybe he could comment on that issue.

The game physics don't work like they would in reality.

 

Therefore you can max the revs by using the clutch and then after releassing it accelerate faster than without the using clutch. Todd Rogers had explained that already and my hack just makes it much more obvious.