Universal Ridge Racer Slipstream - (by NamcoBandai Games Inc.)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, Dec 18, 2013.

  1. Can anyone explain slipstreaming? Still don't quite understand it.
     
  2. CecilMcW00t

    CecilMcW00t Well-Known Member

    Jan 27, 2012
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    It's when you drive behind a car that's in front of you. You have less wind-resistance so you "slipstream" and gain speed above your normal max speed.
     
  3. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

    Jan 13, 2012
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    Sit close enough behind an AI car for more than a few seconds, you get a boost of speed - it's not like nitrous, you seem to accelerate slightly faster and I think maybe get a higher maximum speed too? The idea is to use that boost to dodge past them and overtake. But the AI can do this to you, too.

    I would agree it's arguably not as clear as it could be. Other than the commentator you get a little icon in the top right showing you're slipstreaming but I don't think there's anything to show someone's about to do it to you. Not sure what else they could do - I don't think glowing trails of light would really suit the game! - but I've found it feels a bit vague at times, so you're not the only one. Still makes for some great, great moments once you at least understand the idea behind what's going on.
     
  4. CecilMcW00t

    CecilMcW00t Well-Known Member

    Jan 27, 2012
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    Yes, like you said, it's still a form of rubber banding. But really well done.
     
  5. Hey, thanks a bunch! Didn't even notice the slipstream icons on the top right!

    Boy learning how to drift and splitstream takes some talent. Some pretty frantic crazy feelings sometimes. Good fun.
     
  6. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

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    #86 EightRooks, Dec 20, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2013
    Ugh, that took a lot of the shine off. Been screaming at the screen quite a bit over the past thirty minutes or more - a maxed out Fiarre is not competitive towards the end of the second Class 4 cup unless you're basically a god at videogames. Penultimate set of races, Harbour Line standard - managed to place 3rd once, had second stolen at the last minute twice, must have tried it ten times or more and can not do any better. Slightest knock and all the other cars go straight past me, and that happens a lot given tilt keeps sending me straight into the sides when I drift.

    I still like the game, but jeez, that's... kinda upsetting. It's still very good, and it's not really a paywall per se (not yet, anyway, though I'm pretty sure one's coming) - I've got enough for a Class 3 car but I wanted enough for the best (non-premium) one. (And it'd be pointless buying a faster Class 4 car as it'd cost far more than I could possibly earn back before I had to start grinding for a pittance.) So yeah, sorry, but that is a nasty, nasty difficulty spike. I do like the greater emphasis on skilled driving here, but so far Asphalt 8 is still the better game overall.
     
  7. Yeah, I too hope there isn't too much grind in the game. Seems to get hard quick, but still new to the game, so we shall see.
     
  8. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

    Jan 13, 2012
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    #88 EightRooks, Dec 21, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2013
    Aaaaand paywall. Best (non-premium) car in Class 3 has virtually no hope of winning the very first race in the cup, you earn a couple of hundred at best for not placing and the first upgrades are 16,000+ apiece. Oh, Namco. You were doing so well! I played the game that much the other day I got a bruise on my hand from clutching the iPod so damn hard. But, yeah, no, this is basically horsepuckey. I can plainly see I could win the race, but in order to do it the game wants me to go back to a grindingly slow car (in comparison to the maxed-out Class 4 I was just using) with one tank of nitrous that can't charge at any decent speed? And try over and over and over again to crawl around the course until I luck into first place? And then to go through the same process a million times until I can finally, finally afford one upgrade? I'm really not seeing how there's any way around desperate grinding at this point other than "be amazing" and, eh, sadly that's not something I can just turn on and off at will, y'know? :(
     
  9. chief78

    chief78 Well-Known Member

    Jul 24, 2012
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    I was trying to warn people. Ever since namco became Namco Bandai, they essentially diarrhea their games onto the market with their greedy, grubby hands still all over it. The fact that the dev came out and admitted that the PS Vita iteration WAS an IAP fest and defended this game as "closer" to a console experience still doesn't make it a console experience. "It's closer, but we still want to be greedy bastards and take more than your up-front anty."

    Plus I honestly don't see how virtual controls could possibly benefit this game. The drifting enacts so fast, and you really have to work the steering.....i just think my phone would come flying out my hand at some point. Now it sounds like that would be due to the paywall....
     
  10. That is not good cause this game had alot of potential. I do hope they can at least increase framerates in the future.
     
  11. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

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    I'd dearly, dearly love to be proven wrong, and I know that even though I'm a grown man I act like a squealing kid over this stuff all too readily. I say I was turning the air blue, I meant it. But that's basically how I see the problem, and I really can't figure out a way around it, or a way to mitigate it - the first car I bought in Class 3 is way, way worse than my Class 4 car, I can't use the Class 4 for Class 3 races, I can't afford to upgrade the Class 3, the payout for placing 3rd or higher is tiny and for anything less than that it's even tinier. There's a god damned amazing game in here somewhere, and I do feel I got pretty much my money's worth - I'd even still recommend it to some degree - but to have a wall slam down across my progress like that feels beyond harsh, no matter how much fun I had up until that point.
     
  12. Yeah, I was worried about that to a degree too about this game. I hope there are ways to mitigate this by buying different things in different order and the such.

    Curious about how many hours you are in.
     
  13. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

    Jan 13, 2012
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    Could have been a mistake on my part; I did buy the highest non-premium car in the class. But buying the first would still only have left me with enough money for one upgrade, and then you can't use the advanced nitro settings, the handling, you only get one tank, etc. etc. until you get any more - it just felt really, really wrong being forced to drop back like that. Asphalt 8 there was always a sense you were improving, or even if you weren't getting a faster car there was usually something you could go back and do with your old ones. I never bothered buying the "right" car in Asphalt 8, knew I'd have to give up on it at some point and still put nearly thirty hours into the game. Slipstream the career mode is almost completely linear, and again, the different "stages"/cups are for one class only. You put all that work into one ride and then past a certain point you have to start again with something that's objectively worse. I just don't think I can handle that.

    ...which is why I uninstalled it. I might come back if they patch it or tweak it or if someone suggests something that makes me think "Ohhh, I see now!" - I liked the gameplay enough I wouldn't mind going through the first cups again! - but for now I've got far too many other games to play for me to want to keep banging my head against a brick wall with this one.
     
  14. GregB

    GregB Well-Known Member

    Sep 4, 2009
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    I've read that you can gain speed while drifting. My experience so far is I usually lose speed when drifting, so it's a risk/reward kind of thing.

    Is there a technique to drifting and maintiIning or increasing speed?
     
  15. Chq

    Chq Well-Known Member

    Jul 20, 2013
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    May someone write a little bit about the framerate of RRS on an iPhone 5 compared to to the framerate of Real Racing 1 on iPhone 5, please?
     
  16. rapaleeman

    rapaleeman Well-Known Member

    Dec 20, 2013
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    The issue I can tell from your posts is that you bought the wrong car. You bought the Danver right? That is a grip car. With a grip car you don't drift hence you really don't earn nitrous unless you upgrade it to max and set it to auto. The car style you bought is really on viable on the max speed cars to prevent you from having to drift every little turn on the shorter tracks. When you get to Class 2 you will see what I mean. Those cars are too fast if you don't know what you are doing so you need to either drift the entire track or have a grip car and hug every turn. As a note, the Class 3 cars are actually faster and have better acceleration than the maxed out Class 4, the issue is you don't manual transmission so it is difficult to see these improvements in speed and handling on the outset.

    Since they introduced nitrous in the PSP version and in turn RR6 on the 360, it has become a key component of the "strategy" as some people in this thread seem to have figured out. Without nitrous you don't stand a chance. I did the entire Class 3 tournaments (both categories, all races) with the Bayonet. It is the first Class 3 car and much like the Fiarre in Class 4 it is more than enough to finish first. I did and I'm not the best RR player out there. I get torn apart online in RR7 on the PS3.

    I have not payed any more money past the $3 initial purchase and have not even used the boosts as I didn't find them required. The first races with an unmodified car are a little tough but once you get UC unlocked (Ultimate Charge) you can boost into turns, drift and earn an entire bar of boost on any sharp turn to blast past the person in front. I have not hit a paywall yet and honestly, I don't expect to. I even had over 50,000 CR earned after the second Class 3 tourney to buy a Class 2 ride. You get more CR as you move up though you don't get as much if you replay a race. You get a finite amount for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd and then X amount for placing. After than initial payout you only get X amount for placing and not the bonus for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

    RR has never been about getting a "better" car. It is about learning the tracks, picking a car that fits your playstyle, and abusing the drift mechanic (and the new slipstream mechanic) to your advantage. Knowing a grip car doesn't earn as much boost as a drift car is key and why I think you were having so many problems. The AI does these "impossible" moves which is why it appears to be rubber banding. I'm sure there is some rubber banding to keep it competitive but I've actually done the same moves they have (boost into a turn, slipstream and gain more speed than my car is technically capable of, earn a tank of boost, exit the drift, and pop of nitrous to soar past the car I was overtaking). I've lead a bunch of races by massive margins without the AI catching up.

    This game so far, and I am up to the Class 2 tournaments has not hit a paywall for me. No place have I felt like I was not progressing unlike Asphalt and RR3 or even my previous obsession NFS Most Wanted. I never felt like I outclassed only outplayed by the AI. Replaying a race I got 2nd in with the exact same setup or a slight tweak in drift angle setting resulted in a 1st place win. I have not replayed a race over and over to either grind CR or attempt to constantly win. I have replayed a race at most twice and that was for me to get 1st. On the times prior it was me screwing up and not the game presenting a paywall.

    These are just my thoughts but so far this is the most accurate and fun portable RR experience. On par with the PSP versions as again, the Vita variant is pure garbage.
     
  17. rapaleeman

    rapaleeman Well-Known Member

    Dec 20, 2013
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    Sorry for the double post but I have an iPhone 5 and have only noticed a couple of frame rate issues on the higher speed cars with 8 cars on track. RR3 for the most part is ok too but on some of the 22 car races, when there are more than 5-6 cars on screen the game can be really choppy and the frame rate can fluctuating.

    Here it seems to play ok but then again I clear out my running programs before firing up any game. I will say that RR can stutter if I get a text or e-mail but generally it is pretty stable and an even experience throughout so far.

    Maybe there are issues on the iPads or iPods as those seem to be the people complaining about frame rates but on my iPhone 5 (not the S as I don't have one so I don't know what performance is like) it plays fine and pretty stable throughout.
     
  18. CecilMcW00t

    CecilMcW00t Well-Known Member

    Jan 27, 2012
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    How can you tell if it's a grip car? I'm confused by the little icons for each car's stats. For example, the little car that looks like it's drifting that has number next to it that's either positive or negative. The class 3 Danver has +26 next to it. Is that how you tell how much grip a car has? If it's negative, it slides more? Also the tire symbol... Nothing is really explained and it's frustrating. There is no glossary that I can see within the game. If I can figure this stuff out, then I'm golden because I beast with grip cars and auto nitrous settings.
     
  19. dnk

    dnk Well-Known Member

    Apr 15, 2010
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    @rapaleeman: Can you save / upload the replays?

    I think he wants to compare RRS and RR 1.
     
  20. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

    Jan 13, 2012
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    #100 EightRooks, Dec 21, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2013
    A well-thought out post, and I can believe a lot of it, though we'll see whenever I finally go back to the game. I still think it has a fair few problems with design - I could bring up quite a lot of minor nitpicks. And I think to say you're not the best at RR still means you're a massive, massive distance above someone like me - I was badly, badly struggling on a lot of races towards the end of the second Class 4 cup and had pretty much given up on taking the Fiarre to the finish and I would argue, based on my experience, it's simply a damn hard game, regardless of whether or not you're playing it "right". At the same time as all that I do appreciate you trying to help, and it's certainly a game I'd like to give another shot - as opposed to, say, GT Racing 2 or 2K Drive, where my response would be more "Nope, don't want to hear it". :p

    EDIT: By the way, if anyone's curious, in my experience all the tracks up to where I got to seemed to run reasonably well on the iTouch, but they certainly weren't perfectly smooth the whole way through, and usually after playing it for quite a while (or after having used the device for other apps first) all of those tracks would have problems at some point, sooner or later. If that makes sense? So the Harbour Line reverse track would run fine for a while, and then for no particular reason I'd come down the curve where you see the whole town laid out and then the framerate would go into single digits. A reboot pretty much always fixed it, but just FYI.
     

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