Gameplay & Driving Tips
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Gameplay
Dead-Heat is a game focussed on supercars - the best of the best. As a result of the focus on these exclusive cars, we have found that very few tuners have significant modifacations available for them, due to both their rarity and their cost. As a result, there is little customisability of vehicles in game, and they are generally raced as they come out of the show room. This means that driver skill and performance is paramount in racing these vehicles!

How many pre-recorded races are there? 1? 10? 100?
In game, there are 399 recorded traces. This is calcualted on cars (19), maps (7), and positions (3). The races are not pre-recorded, sorry for giving that impression. The AI 'traces' are in fact recorded. As a result, for example if you are racing against supercars only (for example the supercar cup) on 1 racetrack, then there are 7 cars * 1 map * 3 opponents (randomly selected). As a result, there are 21 possible traces that might be used. As a result, generally the races will be quite different.

Are the pre-recorded races assigned randomly to each individual car, or to groups of cars?
In our story line mode there are 3 leagues of races. There is the sports car (beginner) (first 4 cars on site), supercar (amateur) (next 7 cars on site) and race-car (pro). There are specific rules for some races, like the American challenge etc, which is US cars only, and many races have distinct themes.

Is there a recording of the race? (can I play it back and save it?)
Yes, there is a full replay mode. All screenshots you see are taken from that mode. When viewing replays, you can observe first person from any of the cars in the race, as well as viewing from various cameras placed around the track.

Driving Controls
There are four controls that you will use to get around the racetrack. These are Accelerate, Brake, Turn Left or Turn Right. When playing in manual mode, you can add to these controls gear shift up and gear shift down. To allow the driver to make the best possible lap times, you will always be around the edge of traction when racing. When turning, accelerating or braking you will be at the absolute threshold of your cars capability, which will allow you to drive at speeds normally achieved only by top racecar drivers!

Driver Assists
There are several noteworthy Driver Assists in Dead-Heat. Firstly, all cars are equipped with Traction Control, making it virtually impossible to spin the vehicle's wheels, except off the line, where the control gives the driver some leeway. Secondly, all cars are equipped with Anti-Lock Braking, which essentially means that the wheels will not lock up under heavy braking. Finally, all vehicles in game are equipped with Oversteer Management, which assists the user in situations where the car oversteers to regain control over the vehicle.Although not technically an assist, it should also be noted that at high speeds (generally 200km/h plus), vehicles no longer operates on their handling thresholds, but instead operate significantly below it. This is because at those speeds, if you cross the threshold, regaining control can be next to impossible.

Gearbox
The automatic gearbox in game selects the ideal shift points for each car in game, which will optimize each vehicles straight line performance. Despite this, the additional control of the manual box is superior around the track once the game has been mastered, allowing superior power-band management.

Grass, Dirt and Sand (Low Traction Management)
On low traction surfaces, driving can be dicey. Although TC, ABS and OM are all active (see Driver Assists), it can still be tricky to maintain control over your vehicle at speed. In a nutshell, acceleration is far slower in grass, and the car is far more prone to oversteer, which can sometimes be difficult to avoid at high speed. As a result cutting across the track is risky business! The DF400R is a great vehicle to master low traction management.

Braking technique
As all braking is done on the threshold of the vehicles capability, it results in massive weight shifts. Often vehicles will shift 70% of their weight to the front tires in such a manoeuvre (though this varies from car to car), and as a result the back end of the car may have significantly less traction. To ensure that you do not oversteer as a result of these weight shifts, it is important to carry out all hard braking in a straight line, before the corner. If you must slow down in the bend, merely lightly tap your brakes, as otherwise you will oversteer. This is because if you try to both turn and brake as hard as the car possibly can, then you will be outside of the vehicles traction circle, which will result in oversteer.Remember, when you do oversteer, the car will automatically assist you if you attempt to opposite lock in the correct direction, which will allow you to get back in control over the vehicle as quickly as possible. We suggest using the DF400R to practice oversteer control.

Acceleration technique
As braking shifts weight forwards, acceleration shifts the cars weight backwards. This results in the front wheels being more prone to understeer than they otherwise would be. To rectify this problem, we had to reduce the throttle available to the user while turning and accelerating to a level below that at which the vehicle would start to understeer significantly. As such, all serious acceleration should be done in a straight line, and the driver should merely attempt to maintain their speed through the corner.

Cornering Technique
The fundamentals of braking and accelerating are the most important things when preparing to take a corner. You must brake in a straight line up to the corner, then try and maintain speed through the corner. It is important not to fiddle with the accelerator too much in a corner, and you should not start to accelerate out of a corner, until you know that you are not going to have to stop accelerating. It is tricky, but once you get the hang of it your cornering exit speed will go up phenomenally. The rule of thumb is, brake hard, maintain speed, and accelerate hard!

Cornering lines are also extremely important if you intend to master Dead-Heat. Using good cornering lines will not only decrease your lap times, but it will also increase your consistency. The basic technique is to start wide, aim to hit the apex of the corner, and then travel wide on the exit of the corner whilst accelerating. Although this seems simple, it is very difficult to correctly hit the apex of the corner, with the majority of people hitting the apex of the corner early. For a good description on apexing and cornering, please go to http://www.modernracer.com/tips/properapex.html. We suggest using the DF380 to practice cornering, as it is a superbly balanced and controllable car.