TXRZ strategy guide
TXRZ tips.
These recommendations are based on what I've read and learned beating the game.
Use them or lose them at your discretion but please do not publish them on other
sites without gaining my approval. There are no real secrets, just common sense.
I’m sure that you know most of them already but they may help you to save some
cash or avoid some pitfalls.
All the detailed information is from the European PAL version of the game.
Getting stated and Upgrades.
1 Get the strategy guide and wanderers requirement list from Gamegfaqs and read
them.
2 Start with the lancer CE9A, you can complete about 40%-60% of the game before
having to buy another car. If you don t pick a group A car you will need to buy
another car fairly quickly. If you start with a group C car I suggest you buy
one of the newer Lancers or any of the Imprezzas as soon as you open them up. If
you start with one of the group B Sylvias you can just about reach the Speed
king stage but be prepared for long chases and hard battles against the 4w drive
cars.
3 Buy tire and suspension upgrades as soon as they are available.
4 Clutch and flywheel. I recommend level 4 once you upgrade the engine,
I don’t bother with level one gearbox but buy level 2 and up as soon as they
become available. See setting ratios later
5 Buy engine and muffler upgrades as soon as they are available providing
that you already have the best available tires/suspension fitted. Don’t forget
to max out the turbo boost when you fit your first engine upgrade & don’t go
more than 2 steps above the engine tune with the muffler, level 2 engine works
fine with level 3&4 mufflers but loses power at level 5.
6 Body mods. Don’t bother with levels 1 or 2 they just add weight and don’t
really improve handling. From level 3 up, they reduce weight, so buy them as
soon as they are available.
7 Aero parts. Use level 2 hood straight away (saves 20kg) use the mirrors when
you can (less drag for top speed), from level 3 up buy them as soon as available
as they reduce drag/weight and improve handling. The overfenders always add
weight and sometimes spoil the looks of the car. sometimes they improve the
looks and they don’t seem to alter performance much, so it’s your choice.
8 Dress up parts. The headlights and grill shave a few lbs./KGs and slightly
reduce drag but I think its more down to personal choice on looks.
9 New tuning levels open up as you beat your rivals cars but the maximum levels
on a low mileage car are: engine 6, muffler 7, gearbox 4, suspension 5, tires 9,
body 4, aero parts 5. If you want engine 7, muffler 8 and body 5 you’ve got to
put 1864miles/3000 kms on the car you want to tune. The miles take time and
Level 7 engine tunes cost from 200,000 to 500,000 so make sure you do it to the
right car!
10 Settings. This varies from car to car and with driving style but my choices
would generally be:
Ride height at or near the bottom (minus15)
Acceleration/ brakes, where you like, for me +8
Steering +15 for cars that don’t turn well, 0 or less for twitchy cars.
Brakes to the front for cars that turn too much and towards the rear for cars
that are difficult to turn.
Springs/dampers, Towards the top (+15) for cars that don’t turn, the middle or
below for twitchy cars. Higher settings make the car more responsive, lower
settings make it drift/slide more.
Turbo, towards max, where else?
11 Gearbox settings depends very much on the gearbox/car/tune level but it
usually should be a curve for the 5 and 6 speed boxes and only become close to a
straight line on the level 4 sequential gearbox.
Here is how I set mine for level 2 and 3 gearboxes.
Take the car to the TA oval. Run the car and look at the rev counter, watch what
the revs drop back to as it changes into 2nd gear (or 3rd)(say for example 5500
rpm).
Go to the gearbox settings and move them all to the right (high) leave 1st and
2nd alone for 3rd go left 1 notch, 4th 2 notches, 5th 4notches, 6th 8notches.
Run the car and watch the rev counter, if the engine revs drop below 5500
Move that gear (and the gears above it) 2 more notches left. Run again.
Keep doing this until all gears do not drop the revs below 5500rpm it doesn’t
matter if they are a little above this value, the changes Should be smooth and
even paced and the ratios probably look like a j shape.
OK, now you can adjust the final drive gear. Run the full oval, what you want is
the car to be getting to within 10/15 mph (15/25kph) of its top speed by the
time it reaches the 1st corner. The rev counter should be near or into the red
zone at this point. If the rev counter is well below the red zone you need to
increase the final drive ratio say from 3.60 to 4.00 and try again, if the car
tops out before it reaches the first bend you need to lower the FD ratio say
from 3.60 to 3.20.
I know it takes a bit of time but it will make it easier to beat the harder cars
if you get it right.
The level 4 sequential gearbox is slightly different and easier to set.
Put everything except FD ratio to the right and run the car.
Change the FD ratio as above so that you are close to top speed by the first
corner on the TA oval. If the car bogs down on the line move 1st gear to the
left until you are happy. Carefully watch the changes, if the revs drop too far
or the car takes too long to pull through the gear you might want to move the
gear 2 or 4 notches left. Repeat until you are satisfied with the cars
performance.
For low power cars you may end up with a backward c shape, for medium power cars
you may get a vertical or diagonal line. For speed kings and the other specials
you may end up back with the J shape as these cars are all limited by the game
to a 424kph top speed, so its not about top speed but how fast you can get
there.
Racing.
1 Avoid Yellow barriers, concrete dividers and big lorries like the plague, if
you hit one head on you’ve probably lost! If you are not well in front go for
the nearest course barrier (the see through yellow and black ones) and take the
draw. Most of the AI cars brake hard into the bends, if you plan your line you
can slide by them and then block them from then on. Get used to blocking, as the
leaders/devils will usually out accelerate you.
2 Your car loses power every time you hit a wall or car, and when you beat the
last blue dot in a section you are likely to be challenged by a team
leader/devil/Zodiac. If you have beaten 5 or 6 cars in row before this, your car
could be well down on power and surprise, surprise you lose. Get used to going
back to the garage every 3 to 6 wins to keep your power level up. Also one
wanderer needs 365+ days to appear and each time you go back to the garage, you
add a day. Even when doing this I usually only have around 260 racing days
clocked up before I get to this last wanderer.
2 When there are only 2 or so unbeaten rivals left in a section, go back to the
garage to keep the cars power up. Choose a restart point that allows you to be
challenged on your favourite part of that section when you have finished beating
the last rival.
3 Adjust your car's gearing/steering for different parts of the track. For
Kanjyo and the tighter parts of Shinkanjyo you need good acceleration and
cornering. For Wangan/Yokohane you need top speed and straight-line stability
because every steering correction costs you speed, so adjust the final
drive/steering accordingly.
4 You get most money and only get upgrades by beating team leaders/devils or
Zodiacs so try to be methodical and clean out section by section. If you dodge
about here and there you will come across cars that you cant beat without
upgrades. From memory you get an upgrade available each time you beat a devil or
every 2nd Zodiac.
5 If you don’t have 500hp+ or your car wont go 320kph/200mph don’t bother trying
the Yokohane/Wangan sections as you are unlikely to win, clean out the Kanjyo
and Shinkanjyo first so you get all the upgrades. You may need a new car to win
here but if you want to try, take on the vipers 1st, their lack of traction
makes them slower to accelerate and they tend to crash a lot, if you cant beat
them you need a tune-up/new car.
6 If you can’t beat a car go back to the garage and choose a restart point that
gives you the advantage. Some cars you cant beat unless you can get in front and
block or unless they screw up. Sometimes it’s telling you its time for a new
car. Some rivals will hold back and block you until you hit something, then they
are gone! . Don’t get too close, hold back and stay at least 2 or 4 car lengths
back and when they go one side of a truck you punch it round the other side.
Wanderers.
If you haven’t got the wanderers requirement list be prepared for a lot of
wasted time and frustration.
Pick them off as you meet them but don’t worry if they cancel. I wouldn’t even
think about meeting the wanderer’s requirements until you have beaten speed
king. Even then you wont find most until you’ve beaten white Charisma as once
you’ve beaten him there are only wanderers left. (&400#)
The requirement types break down as follows:-
Car makes, car colour, drive type, model year.
Specific licence plates.
Tune levels from no engine tune to level 8 muffler.
Number of cars in your garage, from 6 up to 25.
Car mileage, from new,to more than 1864m/3000km.
Number of wins over 100 and days from 30 to 365.
Money, from 100,000 to 3,000,000.
Specific days/times, every 3,5,7 or 10 days and times 9pm to 4am.
Beating specific cars.
The list is an excellent start but probably impossible to get accurate, for
instance, Gentle Rain didn’t appear for me until I beat Iron racer or
uncrushable Alexander. As I beat the one after the other I’m not sure which was
linked or even if they are always linked in every game.
Hints. Viper GTS counts as luxury foreign for Steam storm and master position.
You can use White Charismas car or any Mazda (except the MX5) to beat jet
skater, its every 7 days, not 7 in the days digit!
You can beat Iron racer in Craftmans S30Z.
Fast phobe is parked on the bridge above the road, take the slip road left
before you reach his static blue dot.
Last flight, I don’t think you can race him until you have a top speed of at
lest 249mph 395kph recorded or maybe until you’ve beaten white Charisma.
When you get 80% of the game completed think about meeting the wanderers'
requirements whenever you buy a new car.
Don’t worry they will all show up in the end.
Cars.
Buying cars? Save your game first then buy and tune your chosen car. Do not save
your quest, take the car to the test oval and roughly set it up give it a try,
if it goes well, do not save your Time attack, but take it into quest and try it
against some rivals. If you are happy, save your quest, if not reload your
quest, you’ve got your money back and you are ready to try another car. I know
this may seem a pain but there are some cars you can’t tune very much and some
are just awful. You will not have enough money to buy all the cars in the game
that you want! So you better buy good ones!
If you want to compare cars take a look at my car lists (published separately)
To buy and take cars to the top level of tune available from new (less than 1860
miles 3000 km) costs roughly the following:
Group C 160,000 to 350,000 each.
Group B 330,000 to 534,000 each.
Group C 350,000 (not turbo) to 850,000.
To take the Group A specials to the top level will cost around 1,000,000 each
and you only win around 10million total. (3million speed king, 5million white
Charisma and approx.  2million all the others).
Remember, you need 1million and 3 million in the bank for two of the wanderers
so beat them before you spend all your cash.
Recommended cars.
Starting the Game.
Group c Old Civic (QX3)
Group B Old Sylvias (RPS13X)
Group A Lancer (CE9A)
2nd car
NSX RPT6 if you want something to go round corners, but you need to be a good
driver as its down on power but cheaper to tune than turbo cars. Its lack of
power means it struggles against 4w drive cars at Wangan/Yokohane
Lancer CP9A6M series handles well and fast acceleration. You will probably need
one to beat the cars at Yokohane/Wangan. You can win with your starting Lancer
But be prepared for quite a few losses.
Imprezza GC8 series have slightly more power than the Lancers and are 100kg
lighter but maybe don’t handle as good. Again great for Yokohane/Wangan and I
prefer them to the Lancers (don’t use the new Imprezza (Tagda/Tasti) its not as
good.) The later GC8S or C6 handle the best, the G8C4 is the fastest but the
handling is slightly unpredictable.
If you can wait, the imprezza GC8K is one of the best cars in the game, the only
Imprezza with a 2.2litre engine and it outhandles any of the fastest cars. I’ve
beaten Speed King, White Charisma and 400# in it at 709 Hp. (6 engine 7muffler).
It doesn’t arrive until you have beaten around 340 rivals, so unless you are a
fantastic driver you will have already have replaced the Lancer CE9A. Maybe you
could think about it for your 3rd/4th car.
3rd Car
Speed Kings R34 KK is good in a straight line, not so hot on the bends but Ok.
4th Car
White Charisma FD3RK as Speed kings but worse on corners, very twitchy and can
spin
26th Car
400#, Datsun 240/60/80? with a Skyline engine (S30ZX). Out of sight in a
straight line but ridge racers worst drift car in the corners. 26th car? Well
yes, you’ve got to have beaten all the wanderers to get to it and you need 25
cars in your garage to do this. You need over 1,000,000 in the bank to buy and
tune this car and you better have it before you beat it as it will take forever
to earn it afterwards. You might want to save your money and buy 20+ cheap
junkers so you have plenty of time to decide how to spend your cash after you
have beaten the game.
Best group C car Sylvias SR15S, S14q, MX5 NB8RS, Civic QX7 Or the Almera N15N1.
Fastest FF car Eclipse D32AGS or Integra MH8 (handles better).
Best group B car Sylvia RPS13X or P13KK, Eclipse D32AGS if you like FF. or try
the Stagea C34M for 4wd.
Best Group A car Impezza GC84K, GC8C4 or Lancer CP9A6M
Best special Speed kings R34K is probably the best balanced special car.
The best car in the game?
The fastest car in the game, in a straight line, is the S30ZX but if you’ve got
to corner (whoops there it goes again). The fastest most consistent car I have
yet found is the Imprezza G8C4, at top level tune it weighs 878kg with 866Hp and
it laps the test oval in just under 59 seconds. Speed king (at 1276kg/1258 hp)
is 3 seconds a lap slower, the other specials tend to crash a burn fairly
frequently so make your own mind up.
Cars to think about
Remember, if you plan to take a two-wheel drive car to high levels of tune you
will be short on traction up to 4th/5th gear! Also because the game physics
seems to concentrate on car weight rather than drag the lighter cars usually do
better than the heavier but more powerful cars.
Viper GTS. You need one for wanderers but lack of traction means
Lancers/Imprezzas leave it for dead and suspect handling means you probably
don’t want to tune it to the limit. Try it without a rear wing, it actually
handles better!  Make sure that the FD ratio is all the way to the right so you
use the engine torque and get less wheel spin.
Porsche 964T, Fast in a straight line but poor traction limits acceleration and
tail happy, best drift car in the game. You’ll love it or hate it but it can be
very fast.
Skylines, lots of power but a bit heavy unless you want to clock up the miles
for a level 5 bodytune, also very expensive to tune, besides you’ve probably
got/want Speedkings Skyline, there isn’t a better one.
3000gts, (Z15/Z16 etc). Too heavy to accelerate fast and don’t corner but look
good. (Love the, Z16AC, looks a bit like an old Ferrari)
300ZX, Z32... Look good, sound great but wont turn in corners unless you are way
down on the power levels.
RX7, a bit down on traction and power against the best cars plus you’ve probably
got White Charismas version
A lot of the Devils/Zodiacs cars look good but cost a lot and are horrible to
drive, try before you buy, or you could waste a lot of money!
Cars not to buy, do not waste you money on any of the following:-
In general, any of the devils/Zodiacs, many are fast but they are just like they
are in the game, they do not handle. Buy some just for their looks but for
winning races forget them all except Speedking, White Charisma & #400.
RX3 fast but virtually uncontrollable with any suspension/settings (if you want
to use it to beat Iron racer , steer with the D pad)
KPCG10 - handles ok, should be good but a slow slug.
For more info, look at my separate car list.
One last word, 400#, you wont beat him, whatever you are driving, unless he
makes 2 or 3 mistakes. Don’t worry, just drive something that handles good, keep
trying and you’ll beat him in the end. The easiest car to beat him with is
probably Speed kings if you have taken it to L7 engine L8 muffler, if you are
confident, a Lancer or Imprezza will do.
How long will it take?
To get to the end of the game everyone needs around 30 hours (4 to 5 days or
nights) with the PlayStation/game on autopilot to get 1864m/3000km on at least
one car. (I’d suggest Speed Kings or your Lancer/Imprezza).
(You know about autopilot don’t you! you have read the guide that I said to get
as item one on this list haven’t you! Honestly! Some people!
OK as a recap, go to quest and beat someone, don’t press any buttons and the
game will go onto auto pilot, take the disk out, yes it still runs but the roads
vanish leaving you car flying through the air. Close the drawer, switch off the
TV and leave everything alone. This adds around 60miles/100kms per hour. When
you want to Restart, put the disk back in, wait for the roads to reappear before
you press any buttons, save your game or race again then save and the miles will
be added to the cars odometer.
Unless you like cruising or losing you will never clock up 1860 miles in a
reasonable time remember even averaging 200mph its 9 hours without a break.
Actual gaming time
20 hours if you’re obsessed and very lucky and follow all the guides
40 hours if you’re keen but easily distracted
60 hours if you are not used to setting gearboxes/suspensions
I don’t personally enjoy the game once you’ve beaten #400 so I tend to just
start again. I expect it complete it in 4 days with between 2 and 10 losses but
if you choose the wrong cars or make the wrong spending decisions it may take 20
days or you may have to restart as that will be the quickest way to finish the
game.
Acknowledgements Thanks to J.Chartrand and Wolf feather for their excellent
guides at gamefaqs, they helped me through the game for the first time, Plus
anonymousse and all the posters at the TXRZ forum for their help/info/ideas.
Hope this helps you
Please do not Publish this document on other websites without first gaining my
approval.
Tj58
Copyright 2002 Tj58