(Incoming long post)
1. Underpass
Simply, it’s a beautiful track, reminds me of Monaco’s tunnel at the start. The whole track is fast, but there is always a corner in which you must slow up to handle, so driving is still at a premium, but without the sacrifice of close racing. Many other tracks can’t say that. Usually races are competitive, close, and really just overall fun. Underpass has it all.
2. Ridgecrest
I love the go-kart/motocross feel of this track. You have to drive it, but not at the sacrifice of close, fun racing. There is a blind left hander after going uphill that I have seen COUNTLESS people overcook, and smash the wall. The first turn of a race usually also wrecks half the field. Also, the final right hairpin is a hot spot for people to cut the corner, and smash you, and the starting straight is a spot for campers to block you. However, without that, the track itself is incredibly fun to drive and race on alike.
3. Hydro Lane
This track exemplifies competitive, close, go-kart style racing. The track is narrow, yet surprisingly you can still have close racing through the tight go-kart style turns. I hate the fact that the finish of the race happens well before the start line, but that might not be the track’s error, maybe it is. Unfortunate, because the track is beautiful and a close race to the actual line would be really welcome on this track.
4. Perfect
If you don’t get wrecked by some jerk at the start, and everyone stays together through the first turn, this track is incredible. Double-wide roller-coaster style, but with many great racing turns. I kinda don’t like the uphill and then “boost pad” into a left-hand 180, it feels awkward to drive and kinda breaks the flow of the track. But, everything else is smooth, ripe for good racing on this track.
5. Solitude
One of my personal best tracks, however, starts can be a little wild, due to a rock in front of one of the spawning points, which usually cause a mongoose flip right away. I’m also not the biggest fan of the uphill, left, and then right hairpin before the run back to mid-map. It feels a little out of place, and in a good race for position, the narrowing before the turn almost makes it a game of chicken…to change focus from close racing to having to drive the course so quickly can be a bit meh, at least to me it is.
6. Rung
I had my first race on the playlist on this map. It’s a really hectic start, and always a risk of a multi-mongoose crash in the first turn, or first couple even. Overall the track plays well, I do wish though that there wasn’t a little ramp in the river…it may be there to increase speed (since you lose speed riding through water), but to me it does more to cause crashes than anything.
7. Cosmos
This track is the bane of my existence. The start can be frustrating, having to endure jumps with little room for error while focusing on everyone around you. The split paths after an awkward jump is difficult and I have seen countless incidents here. Also, the right path being a full 3 seconds faster (I think) than the left path, even though it is harder to get onto technically, just feels unbalanced to me. The track is beautiful, well-made...however, it can be the most difficult track in the playlist. This is a race of survival. You will pass more people by not falling as opposed to other players, than you will actually passing on the track. I wish I could enjoy this track more than I do. But god knows how many times I’ve had this track bite me. But wow, when you do get into a good race, it gets intense and fun.
8. Collision Fusion
Smooth turns, fun track to race on, and the concept of a collision center in the middle is cool. The only thing is, some people manage to go the wrong way, I’ve heard. Kinda wish that wasn’t the case. While only racing here a couple times, the times where you could be racing with other people was quite fun.
9. Sandstone Slateway
I don’t see the need for the starting platform to be elevated, first off. It makes the race more than ever about getting a good start. If everyone wrecks behind you, you have many seconds over the field right away. And then the uneven ramp, easy to lose control there. It’s a driving course outside, a racing course once you get inside the arena and back out to the start line, before back to the uneven ramp. Mixing up between the two is nice, but having the driving portion at the very start…eh.
10. Funky Factory
Funky Factory is more of a driving track that a racing track, however, close racing is present in each race. I like the idea of split paths with Erosion’s pipes, just not right at the start. The staircase/ramp, in terms of a matchmaking race, unfortunately doesn’t work well. Usually people end up going to the staircase, and hello BOTTLENECK of the CENTURY. Some people seem to know you can’t go right of that. I also wish the chicane part (where both stair and its right paths meet back up) had some walls, because the chicane part itself (at least for me) isn’t quite obvious.
11. Crossbow
The track is similar to Solitude, but with one major flaw…the jump, after the first 180 left, a small right and then jump, at the start of the race…there is bound to be a wreck, and the jump for some reason seems to barely work some of the time. And then, while maybe out of control, you have to suddenly veer right under the bridge. On the first lap of a race especially, this feels more like survival than an actual race…not fun to me.
12. Skid Row
While I’m a fan of the band, this track to me is simply one you have to drive more than race, and I’m not a fan of that. It can also be slightly confusing, I’ve seen multiple instances of people making wrong turns, and the ramp before the finish line? Awkward as anything, especially if you have campers waiting to mess your race up, and it seems to be a hot spot for those campers too.
13. Confined
I just don’t enjoy this track. I feel like I have to focus on driving it the entire time instead of racing others. The first turn looks beautiful…except that instead of actually turning, you can just ride the outside wall because surprise, there are base shields on the wall and you can just bounce off them. Not really driving the turn there…sometime later, a triple-ripple rhythm section sort of thing…I just don’t see the need for it, it’s easy to end up wrecking yourself. The inclined hairpins are a cool addition, but again, it becomes more about getting around the corner in the first place than actually being able to race.
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