CHEATS

Additional Colour

Beat the game in Expert Mode to unlock a third colour scheme.

Jet Buggy

Achieve 100% on the level checker when building your car to gain access to the Jet Buggy.

Beelzebub Buggy

Beat Expert Mode in first place to unlock the Beelzebub Buggy. This motor is fast and isnt adjustable

Additional Expert Races

Complete Expert Mode on Championship difficulty setting using the Beelzebub Buggy to unlock extra races.

DRIVING TECHNIQUES

Powersliding

You'd think that a game like Buggy Heat would encourage drifting. It's a logical enough assumption. Alas, Buggy Heat's vehicles don't so much eat up the road with aplomb as nibble a bit. Needless to say, you should drift for as short a time as possible, counter-steering at the first opportunity in order to bring yourself out of the slide.

Drifting isn't all bad mind - at times, it's essential to drift in order to tackle more problematic corners, bt the game punishes players so heavily for overdoing it that keeping drifting in check becomes a top priority. You can tell when the vehicle is actually drifting as it begins to leave tyre marks on the track, so keep a constant look out for this visual clue and minimise the chance of losing momentum before realising that you've begun to skid by accident.

Handbrake

for those tricky bends, coaxing a powerslide with regular steering is no problem at all. However, by the time you've turned as far as necessary and counter-steered to break out of the drift you'll probably have sacrificed a lot of speed. The handbrake provides an easy way to throw the vehicle into a slide without having to lose quite so much velocity by invoking a tighter turn and allowing you to re-apply the gas more quickly.Some loss of speed is inevitable and it's over-use will lead to you heading down the track sideways ina manoeuvre that will grind the vehicle to a halt; used sparingly however, the handbrake is a useful ally.

Steering

Even relatively slight turns can throw your vehicle into a speed-stealing slide. Your use of the analogue pad therefore needs to be extra-light at times. Try to set up a good line early when exiting corners in order toreduce the amount of adjustment needed as you approach the next. You want to be travelling as straight as possible in order to maintain the best overall momentum. The analogue nature of the throttle should be exploited to navigate tight corners without throwing the vehicle into a slide or having to cut the powe altogether.

Argy Bargy

Another area in which tha game flaunts expecation - contact with your competitors is not to be recommended. Collide violently with an opponent and its your good self who'll be shunted out of the way whilst your intended victim speeds on regardless. Keep your eyes on the position of other racers as there is a danger that they'll box you in as you try to pass, squeezing you against the barriers and critically reducing your speed. This can cripple your chances during the expert championship.

Be wary of general contact with your opponents too as simply touching another vehicle will compromise your speed, even if there is no bullying involved!

Tuning

You don't need to change anything to clear normal and hard championships whilst nothing seems to make the expert competition a more pleasing experience! A couple of settings do stand out as being beneficial, however. First of all is the Gear Ratio which for the most part should be set to favour acceleration. The nature of Buggy Heat's courses means that usually you have to slow down quite often during each race whilst rarely getting the chance to hit top speed - having decent acceleration should help you make the most of this situation. The next setting you need to consider is the suspension. Time spent in the air is time you can't spend steering and accelerating on the ground - reducing the amount of bounce your suspension gives therefore becomes important as it helps to avoid catching 'air' and rolling

Carvin' A Trail Through....

France

This track will do it's best to trip you up, lulling you into an inappropriate area of the course and leading you into a bad line for any following corners. Stickto the middle-to-left of the track in the opening section or else you'll fall foul of the vicious turn which prcedes the first bridge. The approach to the second bridge is equally tricky - this time stick to the middle-to-right of the track or else your line will lead you up the embankment to the right of the bridge. You can stay and turn as you grab air off the dune before the bridge... but this is a tricy manoeuvre.

USA

Despite being the first port of call in the normal competition, the American track can still throw up the odd demanding feature. Take the long corner which leads to the beach as wide as possible, holding a shallow curve and mainaining as much speed as possible - hugging the barrier will only cause you to lose velocity. The tunnel section brings with it a small danger of skidding-out so don't be complacent when entering. Remain close to the centre of the tunnel as this allows you to get a straight line out onto the closing section of track as early as possible.

Egypt

A demanding track. Display fine throttle control over the opening section to maintain as much grip as possible. Cut the accelerator completely when exiting the pillar section and cruise the long corner, decelerating in order to make it through past the final columns without any mishaps. When coming out of the final hairpin onto the high dunes, it's actually possible to spot the guiding posts as you break each peak - use this fact to line yourself up with the tarmac early.

Peru

Relatively pleasant with many straight sections of track so try and get lined up as quickly as possible when coming out of the corners to achieve maximum velocity. The corners themselves are true analogue fodder and require both incremental steering and throttle. You can pull hard left upon exiting the tunnel in order to cut over the small mound. Be sure to decelerate enough to allow a straight line over the top though - if you steer whilst off track it'll quickly become a long-cut. The penultimate hairpin can be cut too, reducing it to a mere 90-degree left turn! Bear all this in mind and you should be able to give the opposition a race.

Japan

Made all the more difficult by the proficiency of the CPU drivers, this track has some nasty features. Take a straight line through the opening S-bend and if your line allows it, break to the right of the bumps in the road. You may as well stay left when the track splits into two as the pillars reduce any advantage which the extra lanes would have given you and the right-hand section leads straight onto more undulations. The hairpins are concrete based so even though you must reduce your throttle as usual, it's possible to turn a little more harshly and get away with it.