There is a world you can only understand once you reach that limit...
I did the most unexpected thing today.
If you've played the game Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, then you will understand what I'm talking about. If not, just sit back and relax.
I went my usual way on the arcades today; since the only other good player wanted to race at 800 HP, and the other machine was taken by someone who wanted to finish his card, I decided to do the time attack. Just for the hell of it, I decided to set my Toyota MR2 at 780 HP, which is 7 points in power, and one point in handling. In short, this car was tuned to go at a very fast speed, but go all over the place once it hit the turns. That was okay though; the course I chose, the Central Belt Highway, had long straigtaways that would take advantage of the high horsepower. I would just have to be quicker on the turns.
I start off, and after the first two medium turns, I barrel down the lane and get the first red flash. Red flashes in time attacks mean that you've reached "ultimate speed" at that particular point. I thought, "Cool, three more to go, I guess", and kept driving. After the long straightaways, there came the really technical part of the course, the narrow street with a series of near-consecutive s-turns, not to mention large vertical dividers separating two lanes in two underpasses. I knew I had already screwed up because I had already hit a few walls and screwed my time, but I always race to finish. I'm glad I did.
The section started with two hard s-turns. I hit the wall at the end of the first (hard right then hard left), but I had managed to clear the second hard s-turn (hard left then hard right) with a really good exit speed and activated the second red flash. Then I zoomed through the slight left turn into the first underpass.
Now starts the part that really screws up times. If you go too far left, you'll run smack into the center divider, and too far right, you slow down as your car hits the wall. That part is relatively easy, but immediately after that there is a medium s-turn going slightly left then medium right, and right near the endpoint of that turn is the second underpass with ANOTHER center divider! If you screw up, the worst that would happen is you go smack into said second divider and hit a complete stop, killing your time by at least 20 seconds. If you zoom into the hole, you're most likely going to nick the wall with your car and take off at least 30kph from your speed, 60 if you hit going left and hit the side of the divider from overcorrecting your steering to the right.
It's hard enough to do this turn at 240kph, but in time attacks, this has two consecutive red flashes if you enter and exit the turn at at least 280kph! I think it was faster, but I wasn't looking at the speed. I'll have to make a mental note to check the optimal speed when I watch others play.
I've seen a lot of people pull this turn off flawlessly with a third-person view, and they had 650 HP with 6 points in handling, making it a lot easier to correct your turn on the fly. I was going to try this in a car that drifts like a monkey even with more points in handling, at almost 300kph, and in first-person view. In that split second that I slide in there, unless I was in third-person view, I have no earthly clue if I was going to nick the wall, and thus no real way of telling if I need to correct my steer. It was going to be a matter of guts, and maybe luck.
Then, the unexpected happened.
I zoomed through the first underpass. Activate the third red flash. Then I steered gingerly through the s-turn and into the underpass at maybe 275kph. I wasn't checking the speed, I was more concerned with the fact that I was going in and was maybe going to hit something.
I flew in.
And I flew out. No wallhit whatsoever.
I exit the turn at maybe 280+ kph, and activate the last red flash. And I whoop a "Yes!" out of my lungs! My friend Zen saw it and whooped too.
I finish the course in 4'39"437 minutes. It was a half second faster than my previous record, so I was happy about that. I raised my arms in triumph. Then I saw this appear at the bottom:
You have recieved the title of:
Wangan Master
Apparently Ali was right; 4 red flashes change your title prefix into the course you finish! I had only seen this happen once on Ali's car, and I missed the 4 flashes that he did, so I wasn't entirely sure. I was no longer gonna be called the White Master (lol, no connotations, please).
I've seen some people ask Ali to race their cars for them through the time attack to get their title prefix to change too, and he'd do it mostly because he was nice anyway. I didn't want to have someone else do that for me, and I wasn't looking to do that either. I'm just trying to race the best I can, and try to beat my own record. I bet if I tried to replicate this tomorrow, I'd miserably fail, but that's okay.
It is now here, on my card. It is proof that I have conquered the bayside.
And it is all the more sweeter because I did it.
Today, the bayside. Tomorrow, myself. For the one of the greatest achievements one can obtain is being able to be better than you were the last time.
The hardest person to beat is yourself, after all.
If you've played the game Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, then you will understand what I'm talking about. If not, just sit back and relax.
I went my usual way on the arcades today; since the only other good player wanted to race at 800 HP, and the other machine was taken by someone who wanted to finish his card, I decided to do the time attack. Just for the hell of it, I decided to set my Toyota MR2 at 780 HP, which is 7 points in power, and one point in handling. In short, this car was tuned to go at a very fast speed, but go all over the place once it hit the turns. That was okay though; the course I chose, the Central Belt Highway, had long straigtaways that would take advantage of the high horsepower. I would just have to be quicker on the turns.
I start off, and after the first two medium turns, I barrel down the lane and get the first red flash. Red flashes in time attacks mean that you've reached "ultimate speed" at that particular point. I thought, "Cool, three more to go, I guess", and kept driving. After the long straightaways, there came the really technical part of the course, the narrow street with a series of near-consecutive s-turns, not to mention large vertical dividers separating two lanes in two underpasses. I knew I had already screwed up because I had already hit a few walls and screwed my time, but I always race to finish. I'm glad I did.
The section started with two hard s-turns. I hit the wall at the end of the first (hard right then hard left), but I had managed to clear the second hard s-turn (hard left then hard right) with a really good exit speed and activated the second red flash. Then I zoomed through the slight left turn into the first underpass.
Now starts the part that really screws up times. If you go too far left, you'll run smack into the center divider, and too far right, you slow down as your car hits the wall. That part is relatively easy, but immediately after that there is a medium s-turn going slightly left then medium right, and right near the endpoint of that turn is the second underpass with ANOTHER center divider! If you screw up, the worst that would happen is you go smack into said second divider and hit a complete stop, killing your time by at least 20 seconds. If you zoom into the hole, you're most likely going to nick the wall with your car and take off at least 30kph from your speed, 60 if you hit going left and hit the side of the divider from overcorrecting your steering to the right.
It's hard enough to do this turn at 240kph, but in time attacks, this has two consecutive red flashes if you enter and exit the turn at at least 280kph! I think it was faster, but I wasn't looking at the speed. I'll have to make a mental note to check the optimal speed when I watch others play.
I've seen a lot of people pull this turn off flawlessly with a third-person view, and they had 650 HP with 6 points in handling, making it a lot easier to correct your turn on the fly. I was going to try this in a car that drifts like a monkey even with more points in handling, at almost 300kph, and in first-person view. In that split second that I slide in there, unless I was in third-person view, I have no earthly clue if I was going to nick the wall, and thus no real way of telling if I need to correct my steer. It was going to be a matter of guts, and maybe luck.
Then, the unexpected happened.
I zoomed through the first underpass. Activate the third red flash. Then I steered gingerly through the s-turn and into the underpass at maybe 275kph. I wasn't checking the speed, I was more concerned with the fact that I was going in and was maybe going to hit something.
I flew in.
And I flew out. No wallhit whatsoever.
I exit the turn at maybe 280+ kph, and activate the last red flash. And I whoop a "Yes!" out of my lungs! My friend Zen saw it and whooped too.
I finish the course in 4'39"437 minutes. It was a half second faster than my previous record, so I was happy about that. I raised my arms in triumph. Then I saw this appear at the bottom:
You have recieved the title of:
Wangan Master
Apparently Ali was right; 4 red flashes change your title prefix into the course you finish! I had only seen this happen once on Ali's car, and I missed the 4 flashes that he did, so I wasn't entirely sure. I was no longer gonna be called the White Master (lol, no connotations, please).
I've seen some people ask Ali to race their cars for them through the time attack to get their title prefix to change too, and he'd do it mostly because he was nice anyway. I didn't want to have someone else do that for me, and I wasn't looking to do that either. I'm just trying to race the best I can, and try to beat my own record. I bet if I tried to replicate this tomorrow, I'd miserably fail, but that's okay.
It is now here, on my card. It is proof that I have conquered the bayside.
And it is all the more sweeter because I did it.
Today, the bayside. Tomorrow, myself. For the one of the greatest achievements one can obtain is being able to be better than you were the last time.
The hardest person to beat is yourself, after all.