Air Racer advanced tips: Gold, Author and fast lines

To win Gold and Author medals in Air Racer, you need clean laps and smart speed. Full power everywhere is not fastest: a fast plane turns wide, so you brake before tight parts and go full power on the straights. This page has the tricks, the numbers behind them and the fastest way to buy every plane.

Speed is a skill

In Air Racer, how tight you can turn depends on G. The faster you fly, the wider your turn must be to stay under the G limit. Twice the speed needs a turn about four times as wide. That is why a slalom at full speed goes wrong: the plane simply cannot swing from pole to pole in time.

The game's own tests prove it: on Harbour Sprint, a pilot who brakes before the slalom and opens up on the straights beats a pilot at full power, and beats every steady power setting too.

How to use it:

1. Look at the course before you fly: where are the slaloms and the rings close together?
2. Brake a little before the tight part, not in the middle of it.
3. Add full power the moment you leave the tight part.
4. On long straights and wide curves, keep full power.

Start fast, but not too fast

The clock only starts when you pass the start gate. You begin a little behind it and have time to build speed. The best start crosses the gate at just under 370 km/h. Any speed over that costs 1 second for every 10 km/h or part of it, so 371 km/h already costs a full second. The Trainer's top speed is 367 km/h, so with the Trainer just use full power. With faster planes, watch the speed and ease off just before the gate.

Penalty maths

Knowing what each mistake costs helps you choose the smaller one:

What this means:

• Never turn back for a missed gate. It costs 2 seconds. Flying back costs much more. Fly on to the next gate; the missed one is counted when you pass the next.
• A hit pylon is worse than a miss. If you are about to clip a pylon, pass wide instead.
• Short G spikes are free. The "Too many G!" penalty only comes after a little over half a second above the limit. A quick, sharp pull is fine. But the race-ending G limit counts at once, so never yank the stick far past it.
• Each over-G is charged once. Ease off below the limit and the next hard pull can be charged again.

Racing lines

Single poles and slaloms

You may pass a single pole anywhere on its marked side, at any height. Up to 40 m from the pole counts as a clean pass, and farther out on the right side still costs nothing. So don't hug the pole: aim for about 10 to 15 m to the side. That gives a smoother, faster curve and no risk of a hit. The slalom poles on the first courses alternate left, right, left, right.

Blue and red gates

A gate is only 12 m wide between its pylons. Your wings must be within 15 degrees of level, or of upright for a red gate. Roll into position one or two seconds early, hold it steady through the gate, and only then roll out towards the next gate.

Rings like a wave

On Bridge Dive and Grand Final the rings climb to 100 m and drop again. Don't fly a sharp zigzag. Fly one smooth curve, like a hill, that passes through the middle of each ring. Bridge Dive's sixth ring is only 12 m above the water, right under the bridge, so start your dive early after the high rings.

Mastering the loops

These sizes are not shown in the game. Tips:

• Arrive fast. You climb more than 300 m, and speed bleeds away on the way up. Too slow at the top and the nose drops.
• Pull steadily, not hard. A steady pull follows the rings. A hard pull cuts inside them and raises the G.
• Keep the wings level. A tilted loop drifts sideways and misses rings. In Pro there is no helper to level them.
• Use Practice. Choosing the loop in Practice starts you on a level run-in before the first ring, so you can repeat it many times.

On Arch Loop, the stone arch stands at the bottom of the loop. Stay in the middle as you enter and as you come back down.

Flying in Pro

In Pro the wings stay where you put them, and the nose does not follow your turn by itself. Use small rudder taps (Q / E, LB / RB or ↶ / ↷) to line up for gates. Pro has no guide line, so learn each course with Helper on first. Medal times are the same in both modes.

Author medal targets

The table shows each course's Author time next to the fastest flight of the game's test pilot. The test pilot's times are not shown in the game. They show that every Author medal can be won, with only a little room to spare.

Island Chicane and Arch Loop have the least room: under 1.2 s. Fly them with your fastest plane, and with zero penalties.

The fastest route to every plane

The prices add up to 19,500 coins. One good plan:

1. Win Silver on the three Fjord courses. Three first Silvers pay 2,700 coins, enough for the Racer.
2. Fly every new course clean once for the 100-coin bonus.
3. Beat Kite for 500 coins.
4. Win Gold on five courses. Five first Golds pay 10,500 coins, enough for the Racer and the Aerobat.
5. Win Gold on all nine. Nine first Golds pay 18,900 coins. Add six clean bonuses and you can buy all three planes.
6. Author medals and the other rivals pay extra coins on top.

Use replays like a coach

1. Fly a race.
2. Press Watch this flight and choose the By the gate camera.
3. Slow it down to 0.5× with the 2 key, and find the gate where you went wide or turned late.
4. Practise only that gate in Practice.
5. Race your shadow and see if the gap turns green.

Want a target? Ask a friend for their challenge file and race their orange plane. See shadows and replays.

See also

• All nine courses: every gate in order.
• Gates and penalties: all the rules.
• Planes and paints: which plane fits which course.
• Grandpa and the rival pilots: the rivals' times.
• Back to the Air Racer guide, or play Air Racer.

• About Air Racer
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