Monthly Archive

I’ve returned to playing Burnout 2 which I still consider the best in the series. It was a bit of a learning (or unlearning, I should say) curve to forget about the 360′s lovely analog stick and triggers and go back to PS2′s stick and using the face buttons for acceleration and brake. The deadzone on the PS2′s analog stick felt huge so I opted to use my trusty Hori Anashin 2 pad with a more comfortable one. I got the hang of it now, but my car’s movements aren’t nearly as smooth as they were with the 360 pad.

My long-term goal is to time attack the point-to-point tracks in Burnout 2 and beat the best times I can find on the Internet. The best times I’ve found are listed on http://www.cyberscore.me.uk and http://www.vgr-fr.com so those two sites will act as my benchmark.

First target: Ocean Sprint (R), my all-time favourite track in the game. Not sure why I like the reversed version more. Best time is 1:38.216, my time is currently at a hair over 1:42. I’ve been playing the track seriously for maybe a week now and have improved my time almost every day.

First improvement came from just remembering how to do the boost start again. It has been a while since I played the game last. Second came from switching to manual transmission. Thanks Outrun Online Arcade, I used to avoid MT before you came along. The biggest improvement which shaved off whole seconds off my time came from figuring out how to boost my way through the tunnel located at roughly the midpoint of the track. It requires taking a slightly unorthodox line in order to avoid both the cars and the walls, with the boost on it’s quite easy to hit either otherwise. Now I can boost my way through the whole track.

My best run still had some small issues with, mostly how I lose time in some corners so hitting 1:41.xxx shouldn’t be a problem, but with my current approach I can’t beat 1:38.216. I do have some ideas on better lines at few places (the last three corners, mainly) so I’m going to have to start trying those. The difference between #1 and #2 times is pretty huge (1.6 seconds) so there might be something big I’m still missing.

Links of possible interest:
Track records @ VGR
Track records @ Cyberscore
Ocean Sprint map, the reversed track I’m playing goes from left to right.

Having the traffic sort of randomized even in Time Attack mode is a bit annoying. There’s usually always a car in the same spot every time, only sometimes it’s a normal car and other times a semi-truck. There’s one point in particular on this track where this is an important factor. Also, the tunnel I mentioned before is really harsh in this case. After the first cars (which are always there) there can be 0, 1 or 2 cars inside the tunnel, one of them in the oncoming lane hidden behind the corner. You either take a risk or a safer line at that point. Kind of a bummer, but I guess the best players will get the best times regardless.

Also, there’s a weird timer-related thing going on. When checking my recorded footage I noticed that the final time is a bit different from what the timer reads when I cross the finish line. I’m not sure if that’s a bug or if the game just doesn’t do the real-time timer correctly or what. Haven’t found any mention of it anywhere. If somebody else has the game and the possibility to check this out, lemme know how your game handles it.