Tips on how to be faster

While it is true that this game is as simple as an arcade racer can get, it does NOT mess around, and expects a higher level of proficiency than one might initially expect from this kind of games. Although practice and memorizing the track layouts will be the most important factor on getting better times, there are also some nice tricks that one can apply in order to get better times.

Avoid air time

Contrary to popular belief, going through a jump in this game doesn't mean that you are going fast. While it is technically true, since you need to go fast in order to leave off the ground, the car loses speed while on the air, so make sure to avoid jumping as much as possible.

Avoid sliding whenever possible

Yes, sliding can make taking turns more easily, but try to avoid doing that if possible. As you can imagine why, doing that will make you go overall slower, since the car is no longer gaining speed. Thus, always try to keep as much momentum as possible by forcing yourself to play this game as if it featured more grippy physics.

Obviously, if you have to deal with sharp corner, to full steer is the only option, since otherwise you would be breaking way too much to make that possible.

Getting a perfect start

While this game doesn't feature a proper "perfect start" like most arcade racers, the game will make your car take a while to let you upshift to second gear, and having really poor acceleration too. So, the best way to proceed is to just press the gas pedal when the race actually starts. Then, accelerate up to 30km/h and immediately shift to 3rd gear, since shift times make your car slow down a tiny bit. Once that's done, the general rule of thumb of proceeding with shifting is to just go to 4th gear once the car reaches a speed of around 190 km/h.

Hit the walls if they can help you turn faster

Sometimes, some turns can be done faster if you happen to hit the wall around the turn's apex or outside of the turn, since you will be slowing down faster than by using the brakes. The best place to practice this is in Riviera, because its two hairpins allow you to slightly clip through the apex if done correctly.

Keep a proper throttle control

While it is true that most arcade games will let you get away with just pressing the accelerator as if it was a digital input, Sega Rally 2 is a game that offers analog inputs for accelerating and braking, and thus, most basic tricks like tapping the accelerator will be something that can be used in order to make turns without fully stopping to accelerate.

Learn the characteristics of each type of terrain

The game features 6 different types of terrain, all of them feature different characteristics, and they make the cars behave in very different ways, which will inevitably change how you proceed in each stage, specially with the chosen tunes if you are playing the 10 Year Championship mode.

Here's the list of all the terrains that Sega Rally 2 can throw at you, while using the tarmac as the base point of comparison:

Name	Grip	Acceleration	Notes
Tarmac	5/5	5/5	-
Gravel	4/5	5/5	-
Grass	3/5	4/5	It should be avoided at all costs, except for some corner cutting
Water	1.5/5	1.5/5	It should be avoided at all costs, no exceptions
Snow	2.5/5	4/5	Steering takes more time than usual, because the lower the grip, the longer it takes to fully steer
Mud	4/5	5/5	-

All of these terrains can be affected by rain, which makes it really easy to slide while turning, thus making small corrections pretty hard to do. Keep in mind that this is only present during the 10 Year Championship mode and on some Time Attack tracks.

Picking a 5 gear manual transmission

Anybody who plays any racing game should know by now that picking manual transmission is the only way to play these games properly, and this game is no exception. Like most games, picking automatic transmission will make your car go slower, because the game doesn't really follow the power band efficiently, it just shifts whenever the RPM needle reaches the point of maximum power, which is not always the best choice.

Regarding the number of gears, some cars offer a 6th gear long transmission. For some reason, it is recommended to pick the shortest amount of gears possible, probably due to the time lost during shift times does make the longer gears the more optimal choice.

Utilize the breaks properly

As we said earlier during the slides tip, braking is not a thing that you want to do at all, except when dealing with tight hairpins. While braking it is a valid strategy when used correctly, a more involved but also better way to proceed in this cases is the following one:

When entering the corner, stop accelerating, and start steering and braking towards the direction of the corner
Slightly after starting to break, use the handbrake to make the car turn even more
Once you reach the turn's apex, stop braking but not handbraking
Let go of the handbrake and start accelerating once you have reach the turn's exit