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IHRA DRAG RACING: GAME GUIDE
by
Jamie Stafford/Wolf Feather
FEATHER7@IX.NETCOM.COM
Initial Version Completed: September 4, 2002
FINAL VERSION Completed: September 21, 2002
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SPACING
For optimum readability, this game guide should be
viewed/printed using a monowidth font, such as Courier.
Check for font setting by making sure the numbers and letters
below line up:
PERMISSIONS
Permission is hereby granted for a user to download and/or
print out a copy of this driving guide for personal use.
However, due to the extreme length, printing this driving
guide may not be such a good idea.
This driving guide may only be posted on: FeatherGuides,
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vgstrategies.com. Please contact me for permission to post
elsewhere on the Internet.
Should anyone wish to translate this driving guide into other
languages, please contact me for permission(s) and provide me
with a copy when complete.
Remember: Plagiarism in ANY form is NOT tolerated!!!!!
INTRODUCTION
For a game which retails for only $9.99 new (in the States),
this is a damn good game :-) On the other hand, it can get
rather repetitive - after all, races are only five to ten
seconds in length, and it sometimes takes longer to load a
new screen than it does to complete a race.
On the other hand, IHRA Drag Racing features nearly thirty
cars in six car classes, along with both Quick Race mode and
career mode (comprised of all other race modes). There are
numerous parts which can be purchased to modify cars for
optimum performance. The CPU-controlled vehicles can and
sometimes do make mistakes, which can include ramming the
rear of the player's car!!!!!
For those who have poor hand-eye coordination, this is
probably not a good game to play, as a pristine launch when
the lights on the 'Christmas Tree' turn green is imperative
for the lowest possible race times; poor hand-eye
coordination will simply result in A LOT of frustration.
Also, getting started can be quite slow (even slower than
getting started in the Gran Turismo series), but once a good
second car has been purchased, things should progress
relatively quickly in a player's career.
GETTING STARTED
When each game begins, enjoy the opening title movie (which
is a bit long compared to other racing games' opening title
movies). Once the game has been loaded for the first time, a
player starts with $10,000 and a default car. However,
before any racing begins, it is best to go to the Options
menu and make changes to the controller to the player's
liking. The only buttons which are truly necessary in this
game are accelerator, brake, and turbo (the D-pad's left and
right buttons are used for steering by default); if a player
wishes to use manual transmission, these buttons should be
customized as well. Once desired controller changes have
been made, save to a memory card and go back to the main
menu.
The main menu presents several options; of interest now is
Race. In the Race menu, select Quick Race. This will cause
the CPU to randomly select a track, the player's car, and the
competition's car - and the two cars selected will often not
even be in the same class. Winning in Quick Race only
results in winning $300, but the money is not necessarily
important at the moment. What IS important here is to become
familiar with the actual racing in this game, specifically
getting one's hand-eye coordination timed just right; the
game manual suggests pressing the accelerator when the lights
on the 'Christmas Tree' turn yellow, but each player has an
individual preference, so this is the time to find that
preference before entering a career. Should a player win a
race, a Winner movie will play, then the screen will show
that the player has won $300.
While this may seem rather worthless, keep racing in Quick
Race mode for at least twenty races. This will help a
player's timing to become more or less instinctual, and any
money won ($300 per win in Quick Race mode) is added to the
player's starting money. This can be very important for
buying parts at the start of a career to gain an advantage
over the competition from the start of the career.
==============================================
SHOP
When ready, head to the Shop to peruse the available cars and
parts. For convenience, I have listed all the available cars
here, in case players wish to buy a particular car from the
outset (if enough money has been won in Quick Race mode -
although this will be a slow way to win money) or later in
the career. The car (Chassis) selection screen includes
other information: drag coefficient, total weight, and
frontal area. This list is sorted by car class:
Class Car Name or Driver Name Price
--------- ----------------------- -------
Classic 32 Ford Coupe $27,000
Classic 41 Willys $25,000
Funny Car Dale Brand $40,000
Funny Car Jimmy Rector $40,000
Funny Car Mark Thomas $40,000
Funny Car Scott Weney $40,000
Funny Car Von Smith $40,000
Pro Mod Al Billes $30,000
Pro Mod Fred Hahn $33,000
Pro Mod Glen May $33,000
Pro Mod Pat Moore $35,000
Pro Mod Shannon Jenkins $35,000
Pro Mod Tommy Gray $33,000
Pro Mod Troy Critchley $30,000
Pro Stock Chris Holibrook $37,000
Pro Stock Floyd Cheek $37,000
Pro Stock John Montecalvo $37,000
Pro Stock Tom Lee $37,000
Stock 68 Mustang $25,000
Stock 69 AMX $20,000
Stock 72 Camaro $20,000
Stock 73 Trans Am $20,000
Stock 98 Trans Am $25,000
Top Fuel Bruce Litton $40,000
Top Fuel Danny Dunn $40,000
Top Fuel Don Lampus $40,000
Top Fuel Jim Bailey $40,000
For those concerned about prices, here is a quick-glance list
sorted by car price:
Price Class Car Name or Driver Name
----- --------- -----------------------
$20,000 Stock 69 AMX
$20,000 Stock 72 Camaro
$20,000 Stock 73 Trans Am
$25,000 Classic 41 Willys
$25,000 Stock 68 Mustang
$25,000 Stock 98 Trans Am
$27,000 Classic 32 Ford Coupe
$30,000 Pro Mod Al Billes
$30,000 Pro Mod Troy Critchley
$33,000 Pro Mod Fred Hahn
$33,000 Pro Mod Glen May
$33,000 Pro Mod Tommy Gray
$35,000 Pro Mod Pat Moore
$35,000 Pro Mod Shannon Jenkins
$37,000 Pro Stock Chris Holibrook
$37,000 Pro Stock Floyd Cheek
$37,000 Pro Stock John Montecalvo
$37,000 Pro Stock Tom Lee
$40,000 Funny Car Dale Brand
$40,000 Funny Car Jimmy Rector
$40,000 Funny Car Mark Thomas
$40,000 Funny Car Scott Weney
$40,000 Funny Car Von Smith
$40,000 Top Fuel Bruce Litton
$40,000 Top Fuel Danny Dunn
$40,000 Top Fuel Don Lampus
$40,000 Top Fuel Jim Bailey
The Engine screen is absolutely LOADED with choices. Here,
an engine can be customized on six levels, from the engine
block to the heads to the intake to the exhaust to the crank
shaft to the type/grade of fuel to be used. Buying the least
expensive of all these options at once will cost $11,400 (the
equivalent of thirty-eight wins in Quick Race mode); buying
the most expensive of all these options will cost $56,900 (or
190 wins in Quick Race mode) - simply pocket change!!!
Tires come in fifteen varieties and are purchased PER AXLE,
with $200 the bare minimum purchase to get the least
expensive tires (Street 27x8.9) for all four wheels. The
most expensive tires are the Drag DOT 33x22.5 tires, at $1220
PER AXLE ($2440 total, or eighty-two wins in Quick Race
mode).
Transmission is the fourth and final selection in the Shop.
Here, there are two separate purchases which can be made:
Transmission (with each transmission type providing different
settings for each gear) and Final Set (which affects all
gears). The cost range is $1200 to $4390 (147 wins in Quick
Race mode) for Transmission, and $1000 to $1730 (fifty-eight
wins in Quick Race mode) for Final Set.
Note that when selecting from the Transmission options, those
gears with '0.000' listed as gear settings are not available.
For example, the HP Custom 4s A ($4390) only has four gears;
'0.000' is listed for both fifth and six gears.
For those interested in buying one of the most expensive cars
and all the most expensive parts for that car, the total cost
is $116,860!!! Given that players have $10,000 to begin the
game, and that only $300 is granted per win in Quick Race
mode, a player wanting to have enough money to buy all this
at the start of a career would need to win 357 times in Quick
Race mode!!!!! Obviously, such a tactic is only suggested
for those who are TRUE drag racing fans!!!
Perhaps most important to remember is that in the Shop, THERE
IS NO CONFIRMATION BEFORE MAKING A PURCHASE. This means that
even if a player accidentally presses a directional button
and make an unintended change, the player is automatically
forced to take that equipment when leaving Shop. Therefore,
it is important to note how much money is on hand BEFORE
entering Shop, just in case.
==============================================
TRACKS
Unfortunately, only six tracks are available in IHRA Drag
Racing; Grand Bend is located in Canada, while the rest are
American tracks. These are:
Name Location
------------ --------
Mid-Michigan Stanton, MI
Cordova Cordova, IL
Grand Bend Grand Bend, ONT
Red River Guillan, LA
Rockingham Rockingham, NC
Maryland Bud's Creek, MD
To customize a season, these six track can be added to the
season column in any order; by changing columns, tracks can
be removed. This allows a player to only compete at tracks
which the player finds most favorable or where the most
success has been attained. Also, adding tracks to the Season
column will change 'Single Event' to 'Single Season' in the
Race menu; in this case, each track will be used in the order
presented in the Season column, and each track will host the
equivalent of a Single Event.
CAREER
When ready, a player can tackle a career. Whereas Quick Race
mode only awards money for wins and does not subtract money
for damages, other race modes WILL take away a player's cash
should the car need to be repaired. Note that repairs often
cost $1000; four Quick Race mode wins are required to
recuperate the cost of these repairs.
Single Race awards $1000 per win. If using the default car,
do not plan on winning much; it would be far better to stick
to Quick Race mode to win enough cash to buy a Stock Class
car (prices here start at $20,000) to be better able to
compete.
Single Event is rather interesting, in that the player has
the option to watch EVERY race in an event, or skip those
races (individually) in which the player is not a
participant. Once in a race, everything operates as
standard. Should the player lose a race, the option is given
to skip out of the remaining races in all brackets, or to
keep going and watch other races (and still have the option
to skip individual races).
Single Season is a season's worth of Single Events. In the
Tracks screen, players can choose which tracks can be used in
a season, as well as the order of those tracks within the
season. Once tracks are listed in Tracks' Season column,
then 'Single Events' will change to 'Single Season' in the
Race menu.
Multiplayer modes allow for two players to race
simultaneously. Each player must use a different memory card
for save data, with Player 1 using Memory Card Slot 1, and
Player 2 using Memory Card Slot 2.
GENERAL TIPS
For those interested in buying one of the most expensive cars
and all the most expensive parts for that car, the total cost
is $116,860!!! Given that players have $10,000 to begin the
game, and that only $300 is granted per win in Quick Race
mode, a player wanting to have enough money to buy all this
at the start of a career would need to win 357 times in Quick
Race mode!!!!! Obviously, such a tactic is only suggested
for those who are TRUE drag racing fans!!!
In many racing games, there is no 'penalty' or problem if a
player simply presses and holds the accelerator button until
a race begins. However, in IHRA Drag Racing, doing so will
mean jumping the start, and the player will be forced to
again prestage and stage. This is NOT as easily as the CPU
makes it appear when auto-staging!!!!! If the prestage and
stage cannot be completed fast enough, the player is
disqualified.
At the start of a race, many cars tend to lift the front end
high into the air. While this certainly looks great, this
slows the car's acceleration, due to the shift in the center
of gravity toward the rear of the car, as well as the much
wider aerodynamic profile causing aerodynamic friction to
slow the car. While some front-end lifting is to be
expected, this can be reduced by using the Turbo as quickly
as possible at the start of a race. However, Turbo cannot
simply be used for an entire run down the track, or else the
car will overheat and the engine will be damaged - or the car
could potentially catch fire.
Once the car is in motion down the track, it is imperative to
keep the car in the assigned lane. Touching or crossing the
center line, or even brushing the barrier, will result in
disqualification. Even worse, the car could incur damage,
which must then be repaired.
Probably because each race is so short (under ten seconds),
IHRA Drag Racing does not support using the Start button to
pause... so there is no point in trying it. However, after a
race, pressing the Start button is the only way to leave the
race results screen and return to the main menu; IHRA Drag
Racing does NOT use the X button for this (even though this
is standard procedure in most PlayStation/PSOne games).
Before beginning a career, it may be a good idea to have at
least $3,000 of 'extra cash' on hand after making any initial
purchases a player desires. This way, should a car become
damaged, the player definitely has the money on hand to make
repairs.
CPU-controlled cars will sometimes make mistakes. If the
opponent is in the lead when a mistake is made, the player
may be able to catch up and make a pass before the Finish
Line by using the Turbo. However, if the opponent is
trailing the player, it is possible that the player will be
rammed from behind, so it is important to ALWAYS be prepared
to take evasive action, even if the player is believed to be
far in the lead.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For questions, rants, raves, comments of appreciation, etc.,
or to be added to my e-mail list for updates to this driving
guide, please contact me at: FEATHER7@IX.NETCOM.COM; also, if
you have enjoyed this guide and feel that it has been helpful
to you, I would certainly appreciate a small donation via
PayPal (http://www.paypal.com/) using the above e-mail
address.
To find the latest version of this and all my other PSX/PS2
game guides, please visit FeatherGuides
(http://www.angelcities.com/members/feathersites/). The
latest version will always be posted at FeatherGuides, while
other Web sites may lag behind by several days in their
regularly-scheduled posting updates.
=======================================================================
Wolf Feather Jamie Stafford
=======================================================================
Just as there are many parts needed to make a human a human, there's a
remarkable number of things needed to make an individual what they are.
- Major Kusanagi, _Ghost in the Shell_
=======================================================================
What isn't remembered never happened. - _Serial Experiments Lain_
=======================================================================
