SUP Multiplayer Racing (Free) has been riding high in the charts since its launch last year. That’s hardly surprising given its ‘pick up and play’ mentality. It’s a fun and simple futuristic take on the humble racing genre.

However, it’s also a little overly keen on in-app purchases and video ads, so who could blame you for wanting to find the best route to an entirely free experience. Here are some tips on how to avoid spending money while still progressing hard and fast in the game.

Learn to drive effectively

Speed is of the essence, as you’d expect, but there’s no acceleration button in SUP Multiplayer Racing so what do you do?

First and foremost, you slipstream. if you’re behind an opponent, stay behind them and draft. You’ll know you’ve got this right if there’s a blue haze engulfing the front of your car. Then, pick your moment wisely and hit the ‘change lane’ button to (hopefully) go flying past the opposition. Time this just right, and you’ll be almost unbeatable.

The best drivers are able to switch lanes rapidly, switching in and around other cars, before tucking in behind their next opponent. Treat it as a form of leapfrogging.

Remember – your opponent can do the same as you. Try to never allow them to stay behind you for any length of time, otherwise they’ll be benefiting from your speed. Keep your distance.

You want to be constantly flowing through the traffic rather than repeatedly getting stuck behind opponents.

Look out for roadblocks and be ready to move aside. Similarly, don’t switch lanes when there’s a barrier between the lanes otherwise you’ll lose time.

Dirty tricks can pay off

If you hit ‘change lane’ midway through a leap, your car switches but also starts spinning. Time this just right and you can actually take out your opponent in midair. It’s a tricky one to master but it can make a substantial difference at slowing down a foe.

Don’t be afraid to switch lanes just to whack into your opponent. Oftentimes, offensive moves like this are the best route to success. Even if you happen to barge into an opponent just as you’re passing an open piece of track, you can knock them off the road and slow them down massively. It’s good to be tough.

It’s also possible to jump on top of another car which can dislodge them and give you a significant edge.

Using any form of dirty trick is perfect for slowing your opponent down massively. It’s often more useful than just beating them through speed as it’s more skills focused than just down to what upgrades your car has.

You can use emojis as a form of trash talk against your opponents but it’s a bit of a waste of time. Show off your abilities through your racing. Not through dumb emojis.

Don’t change lanes when there’s no barrier to the side of you. You’ll just fall off the edge and slow yourself down.

Also, don’t bother ramming into the back of another car. It’ll just speed them up.

Focus on boosts

When racing, you’ll come across plenty of coins as well as boost pads. Always prioritize the boost pads. Crossing the finish line first, or near enough, will always give you way more points than just picking up a few coins along the way.

Starting at the back of the grid? You get a free NOS boost to start you off. Don’t waste it straight off. You’ll just barge into a bunch of cars and get stuck. Save it for when the track is opening up a bit and you’ve got room to move around.

NOS Turbo recharges slowly naturally, as well as when you go over a boost pad. Conserve it. For the early and mid part of the race, you want to mostly use boost pads, unless the gap between you and first place is extending too far.

In particular, save boosting for when you’re on the final straight of the race so you can inch ahead of your opposition at the last second, leaving them no time to make amends.

You’ll gain trophies whether you finish last or first, but you get more for a better placing so aim for that.

Desperate for coins?

If you’re really keen to gain some easy coins – pull off some air tricks. While leaping over a yellow ramp, hit the ‘change lane’ button (briefly renamed to ‘air tricks’). Perform a 360 degree rotation when in the air, and you’ll gain some bonus coins.

You can also drift on the track for extra coins. Drive at speed then change lanes fast to perform a drift. It’s a form of showboating more than anything so if you want to win the race, don’t expect this to work. It’ll gain you a few coins though.

Upgrade your car regularly

Upgrading your car is easy but something you need to keep on top of. Generally, you won’t have the money to upgrade everything possible. Instead, focus on certain sections, and what the game recommends as a good upgrade.

Anything that boosts your speed is, obviously, worth focusing on, but also consider your driving style. Handling or the NOS turbo can come in handy too. Try to keep your vehicle well rounded while you’re upgrading.

Always watch videos to speed up your upgrade so you can get straight on with using it.

When switching cars, look out for the car that has a ‘recommended’ label above it. Using it will double the trophies you receive in a race, which leads to you levelling up faster and greater rewards. Cars are chosen randomly so the ‘recommended’ car might not actually be better than your regular car. In which case, be prepared to upgrade it before you use it.

Once you’ve completely upgraded all parts of your car, you can evolve it into another build. That provides you with a considerable increase to your stats, while unlocking another bunch of upgrades to work on.

Expect to watch a lot of videos

Video ads dictate a ton of stuff in SUP Multiplayer Racing. Be patient and always accept them. After every race, you can watch one or more to unlock simple rewards.

You can also use them to speed up upgrades or double your reward. It’s dull but it’s pretty profitable.

Never use premium gems to speed up upgrades or to unlock a chest faster. It’s a waste of an expensive form of currency when you could just watch ads instead.

If you’ve run out of energy and can’t race any more times, you can watch a video for an extra dose of 20 energy. It’s a quick fix if you’re trying to play an extended session of SUP Multiplayer Racing.

Chests

Chests are received after every race. They can’t be opened immediately though. The basic blue chest takes 2 hours while the best kind – gold – take 6 hours. Don’t be temped to use gems to unlock them, but do watch ads to reduce the unlock time.

You can’t keep more than 4 chests at any one time so try not to waste your potential earnings here. You can always watch videos multiple times to unlock them faster.

Chests provide cash and parts, but they also offer power-ups. Power-ups include nitro item boosters, and gold coin boosters. They’re small but helpful additions to your arsenal so don’t forget to equip them.

Always be working on unlocking a chest. Log in throughout the day just to swap these around so that you’re consistently working towards new stuff. You can have push notifications set up to be reminded of this.

Don’t forget to create a track

Creating a track is a neat side hobby for SUP Multiplayer Racing players. Once you make a track, it can be played worldwide with players voting on it. In exchange for plenty of up-votes, you gain some easy gems for later use. It’s worth playing around with and if you get lazy, you can always hit the ‘Random Track’ button to let the AI do the hard work for you.

Achievements are helpful

Make sure to unlock achievements as you go along. Most of them are straight forward such as racing a set number of times or winning a few races. Others might require a little more planning like drifting a particular length or taking down some cars. Work on these and remember to redeem them when you’ve completed the objective.