Hotshot Tales, Part 17: Not an April Fool's Joke - The Eagle Conquers Surf City!
Many players consider winning an Arcade Mode race with the Eagle (Mike's Acceleration-class car) on Surf City in the Expert speed class to be the most difficult task in the game. Why is this? The Eagle is, without doubt, the least effective car in the game; although it has the best Acceleration stat, it has one of the lowest top speeds in the game (only 203 mph) and a very weak Drift stat. Specifically, turning hard on its own is sufficient to initiate a drift - but on anything other than wide, shallow corners, this is generally seen as detrimental. Even worse, continuously holding down the brake button while drifting (a viable technique in some other cars) will cause it to understeer. However, there is one surefire way to keep the Eagle under control in tight corners, such as the tight downhill hairpin at the end of The Marina and the final corner (which is a wider, uphill hairpin) at Surf City.
Above: Mike's Eagle may be the least effective car on paper (despite its class-leading acceleration), but even it can be a race winner on technical tracks if you apply the proper technique.
If you really want to win anything with the Eagle, you'll need to master a secret technique known as the Brake Tap Drift, which involves tapping (rather than holding down) both the brake button and the directional button corresponding to the direction in which you want to turn. This prevents the car's mass from shifting forward, thus counteracting understeer. However, for the tightest corners, you'll also need to downshift from 6th to 5th or even 4th - something only possible when using manual transmission. Even so, without the possibility of engine damage due to over-revving, or even the need to use a clutch pedal, the Downshift Brake Tap (which combines the Brake Tap Drift with downshifting using manual gears), can help the Eagle navigate any hairpin turn without losing too much speed. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended to have at least one nitro boost in your inventory upon exiting such a tight corner; for the fastest exits from these corners, activate it as soon as the car has straightened out sufficiently, and shift up until you reach 6th gear to build up more momentum.
Applying these techniques allowed me to win at Surf City over 7 laps on Expert, but it took me dozens of attempts to do so. Even so, I had to adjust my racing line significantly to avoid going out of control and slamming into a wall. Finally, after an hour or so of finishing no higher than second, I claimed my first win with the Eagle on this event setup.
Above, from top: Winning a 7-lap race at Surf City on Expert using the Eagle required me to adopt a whole new driving style, but after hours of practice, it paid off - and I won by less than a fifth of a second.
In short, the Eagle may be my least favorite car in Hotshot Racing, but even it can become a winner on any track with enough skill and practice.
