Ever wished you had just a little bit of vertical control as your vessel flies agonisingly over the track? This is the update for you.
Using the new pitch controls, you can now adjust your vertical trajectory whilst in the air, using the analog stick or up and down on the arrow keys. This change to handling opens up a whole new layer of strategy, allowing the player to finesse their landing for minimal bounce, make sure they land exactly on a gate, avoid obstacles, or simply rescue a bad shortcut attempt. Pitch control is designed to be powerful, but not overpowering - the effect is useful, but quite small.
The goal is to give you a greater feeling of control, but you still need to plan ahead and recognise what is and isn’t a good shortcut. Beginners will be able to land more shortcuts correctly, whilst experts will be able to manage their landings to maintain speed and momentum and press their advantage.
In addition, a new stat, "Bounce", allows you to build a vessel with more or less bounce, useful for keeping yourself grounded. Just be aware that reducing bounce may require you to compromise other vessel stats.
Vessel stats have been reorganised around these changes:
- “Handling” has been renamed to “Steering”. This determines the rate of steering both on the ground and in air.
- “Handling (Air)” has been renamed to “Air Control”. This determines your vessel’s pitch control speed, as well as how well the “Steering” stat works in the air.
- “Bounce” has been added as a new stat. You can now outfit your vessel to minimise bounce, although expect to make compromises in other areas.
- “Boost Speed” has been removed. This was redundant, as “Boost Capacity” largely determined boost speed due to the acceleration effect over time.
In order to accommodate these changes, vessel components now have new stat buffs associated with them.
Full release notes can be found here.
This is the most significant upgrade to the game’s handling system since boost was implemented some time ago. Let me know what you think about the update below, or on the discussion boards. Enjoy!