So MotorStorm: Pacific Rift has been out a couple of weeks, and we’re all back from our vacations, rested, refreshed and ready to give you a run for your money on the online leaderboards in Time Attack.

If you’re not familiar with Time Attack in the MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, it’s a game mode where you attempt to get the best lap time possible using one of the vehicle classes on one of the 16 racetracks in the game. It’s different than regular MotorStorm racing, as it’s just you on the track with no opponents to worry about, and it’s all about getting around the track in one piece. If you crash or manually reset the track during the course of a lap, then that time will not be uploaded to the online leaderboards.

There is a different board for each of the eight vehicle classes on each of the tracks, as well as an overall board for each track showing the very fastest times regardless of vehicle used.

Since launch we have had an embargo on members of staff posting to the Time Attack leaderboards, in order to give you guys a chance to get comfortable with the game. Now that embargo has been lifted, and we’ll be on there looking to give you a run for your money (although looking at some of the times that have been posted our ‘leet skills need a bit of work ;-))

Are you struggling to get onto the leaderboards in Time Attack?

Here’s a few tips that might help:

• Conservation of momentum – Braking (obviously) and hard turning all reduce your speed. The fastest laps are the ones where you brake and turn as little as possible.
• Explore different routes – Each track is a myriad of routes. The optimal route for each vehicle will need some searching out to find.
• Exploit your chosen vehicle’s advantages
• Clear the route – After each lap your timer resets, but any objects you have knocked around the track will stay in their new positions. You may want to use a warm-up lap to clear the track of obstacles before going for that hot lap.
• Hang time is slow time – Time spent in the air over jumps is lost time – you’re not accelerating. Keep the height and distance of jumps down to a minimum.
• Turn in the air – While in the air you still have some control over the direction your vehicle is facing. Use this to line yourself up for a perfect exit when you land.
• Nurse that boost – Save your boost for the long straightaways. Boost is more efficient if used in long bursts, as each time you hit the boost the first ‘surge’ costs you quite a lot.
• Watch and learn – If you want to know how some of those really fast times are down, take a peek. Download ghosts from the leaderboards and see if you can keep up.

Early on, there was a bit of a problem with the online leaderboards for some players. This has now been fixed, and we have more than one million scores posted online to-date across all race modes.

Thassit for now, good luck getting those fast times!