This guide is aimed at all skill levels, however, some parts of the guide obviously won't be relevant for everyone, that's fine. My goal with creating this guide is to teach others some of the things I've learned whilst playing this game as there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of content in that regard, feel free to let me know if there's something I missed or if I got anything wrong.

This part is mainly aimed at newer players and will hopefully teach you a few things about the game in order to start you off, if you're new to this game, I recommend learning these skills first before moving on to some of the more advanced techniques (this game is pretty easy once you get the hang of it so it shouldn't take you too long).

The Lynx is the best car but it can be quite hard to control at first, use what you feel comfortable with whilst getting the feel of the game before worrying about car choices.

No matter what you do, the AI will always destroy you at the start, the main objective of the game is to catch them up before the end of the race, so don't worry that you can't keep up with them for the
first few laps.

The first few times you play a map, you will crash; a lot. Don't worry about keeping up with the opponent cars and try to focus on learning the maps, the easiest way to learn a map is to go into a cannonball race with these settings:

• Traffic Density: None
  
• Racers: 1 (yourself)
  
• Rivals: OFF (you can put them on if you are going for certain achievements but more on that later)
  
• Tracks: 20

Then, set every map to the one you're trying to learn.

First things first, I believe that the best way to learn the game itself (rather than a specific map) is to play the Grand Prix cups as they allow you to do 5 laps of the same map and each race can be restarted individually if you mess up one stage, additionally, the first few stages will be relatively slow as the cars will not be upgraded all the way. Winning all 3 Grand Prix Cups will unlock a fourth cup as well as 5 additional tracks.This is just my opinion and of course, the best way to learn is to do something you're enjoying so if you like any of the other modes better, play them instead.
The most important skills for you to move up from the beginner level is to become comfortable with the maps and your car, don't worry about winning races or achieving top times, focus on being able to switch between drifting directions without thinking about it, know when you will need to switch directions and start to feel the maps rather than looking and reacting to them. If this doesn't make any sense to you, don't worry, just play the game and these skills will start to develop naturally over time.

• Hold your acceleration key down before the countdown finishes, it will allow you to start off slightly faster and there's no timing required to get this.
  
• There's no way to get a boost at the start of the race, just move to the side and let the other cars overtake you so you don't get hit in the back and spin out.
  
• Spinning out, crashing and clipping multiple objects in a row will absolutely kill your times so avoid doing this at all costs.

By now you should be feeling confident in steering the car, you should be able to drift without having to think about it and you should be able to change directions instantly, once you get to this stage, you can start thinking about maybe learning a specific map and going for a leaderboard time.
Now is the time to think about switching to the Lynx if you haven't already, it really does make a huge difference in your times and you will find it next to impossible to get any leaderboard times without it.
The most important skill you will need to get out of this level is confidence in your movements, this means:

• Changing direction when you know a sharp turn is coming but before you can see it in order to keep your speed up.
  
• Not letting up on the acceleration when you're right on the edge of the track and almost clipping the scenery on the side. Go for the perfect racing line, every time.

• When drifting, you should always make sure that you're tapping the breaks as quickly as possible before hitting the accelerator again, it may not seem like you're losing much time but those few km/h really add up over multiple laps of a track.
  
• Try to catch the slipstream of cars overtaking you at the start of the race, to do this you will need to move out of the way and then back into the slipstream to make it register, you can use this to give yourself a boost at the start or in some cases even stop yourself from getting left behind altogether.
  
• Chaining slipstreams off multiple cars will allow you to achieve much higher speeds, if you move from one slipstream to another, there is no reset period, the slipstream will simply continue, use this to your advantage by moving yourself behind the closet car and getting a slipstream before slingshotting yourself to the next one to continue the slipstream.
  
• Your time is not affected by your position on the track, take advantage of this by always taking corners as wide as possible to give you the best time to react to the next corner.
  
• If you are in a drift and you can see that you're about to hit the scenery, tapping the breaks while holding the accelerator can often save you from spinning out completely. Be aware that holding the breaks for too long will cause you to come out of the drift.
  
• When cornering, you should always try to turn as little as possible as this will decrease the amount of frames needed to change direction on the next turn.
  
• Some of the maps have corners that can be taken without drifting, this very much depends on your speed so a lot of them will only work on the first lap, taking corners without drifting is always preferable as it will allow you to gain speed faster and actually makes a considerable difference to your times. Some examples of corners that can be taken like this are:
  
  • Morning City - First Corner (Lap 1 only)
    
  • Aquatic Ruins - First Corner (Lap 1 only)
    
  • Highgate Cemetery - Fourth Corner (Any lap)
  This is not a complete list and there are plenty of corners that this can be done on, use your own map knowledge and find the rest as they will make a considerable difference in your times.

You are now a drifting legend, you eat, sleep and breathe sideways, exclusively listen to eurobeat (which is good because doing this will actually add 25 km/h to your cars' top speed) and make others call you by some nickname like 'Takumi' or 'DK'. Now is the time to ascend to the next level and become a drifting God.

The most important thing now is to practice the specific maps that you want to get leaderboard times on, as I mentioned earlier in the guide, the easiest way to learn a map is to do 20 laps of cannonball on it with no other cars around, but again, do whatever you want, as long as you're having fun you will improve faster.

• When drifting, you will find that the corner actually pulls you through most of the way on its own, if you are in a straight line, coming up to a tight corner that you don't feel confident about, start the drift early while keeping in as straight a line as possible and hit the turn key just before you hit the corner, you won't turn completely before the corner starts to pull you around.
  
• It's sometimes favourable to hit the back of a car you are slipstreaming off in order to keep the slipstream going, this is not always the case and depends on your speed relative to the car, if hitting the car loses you more speed than you're gaining between hits: stop.
  
• It is sometimes also favourable to allow a car to crash into the back of you at the start of a race as this will spin them out and allow you to latch onto their slipstream as they go past slow enough due to their lost speed causing you to accelerate faster. This can be done with multiple cars but should only really be attempted if you're confident that your car is much faster than theirs such as in the final stage of a cup.
  
• Some corners can be taken in succession without stopping the drift in between, this is only possible when there are two corners going in the same direction after one another (so, either two left turns in a row or two right turns in a row), this will save you the drop in speed from tapping your breaks and save you a little bit of time when done correctly. To do this, take the corner as wide as possible and when you come out of the corner, instead of letting go of the drift, keep tapping the direction key so that you are kept in the final frame of the drift, when you get to the next corner, simply hold the key down all the way as if it was a normal drift without touching the breaks. There are not many places that this can be done as it requires two consecutive corners of the same direction but a few places you can do this are:
  • Neon City - Corners 9 and 10
    
  • Monument Valley - Corners 5 and 6
    
  • Akagiyama - Corners 2 and 3
  There are a few others but I'll let you discover them for yourself.

WINNING THE FIRST 3 GRAND PRIX CUPS WILL UNLOCK A FOURTH CUP ALONG WITH 5 ADDITIONAL TRACKS
With that being said, here's how to maximise your chances of winning.

The car you choose doesn't matter as they all start off with the same stats so choose your favourite.
You can buy an upgrade in the shop before the first race, I recommend always prioritising speed over the other two so buy an engine upgrade before starting Stage 1.

Winning a stage will get you more money, allowing you to buy more upgrades, it is possible to win the cup without winning every stage as you will get points for your position within each stage, the position you finish a stage in will determine your starting position in the following stage.
If you restart a stage you will have to buy the upgrades from the part shop again as they will reset, you will still have the same amount of money so this can also be used if you mess up and buy the wrong upgrade.

Winning every race will allow you to max out your speed before the fifth race as well as get two levels in acceleration and one level in handling, this is the ideal build and what you should be working towards when buying your upgrades.
If you lose a stage and don't feel like starting over or you simply just don't want to follow this path then don't worry, the cup can be won with most combinations although, having a low top speed will significantly hamper your chances of getting a top tier time. The most useful upgrade is Speed followed by Acceleration followed by Handling which you should ideally only buy if you feel like you can't control your car enough to avoid crashing
If you find yourself clipping objects often, consider putting more points into acceleration as it will allow you to regain your speed faster, there's no point having a high top speed if you're never reaching it.

Get to the finish line in Arcade Mode.
Arcade Mode just means Grand Tour, get to the end before time runs out, you don't need to beat any rivals to get this achievement.
Get to all the exits in Arcade Mode.
There are 5 exits which are Akagiyama, Highgate Cemetery, Metropolis, Neon City and Parthenon, to get this achievement simply reach all 5 time runs out, there is no requirement to beat the rivals.
Visit all the tracks in Arcade Mode.
Just pass through all the tracks at some point, pretty self explanatory, again, no need to beat the rivals at the stage, completing it is enough.
Defeat all the rivals in a single Arcade Mode run.
Again, pretty self explanatory.
Complete all possible routes in Arcade Mode.
There are 16 possible ways to get through the Grand Tour, there is a screen at the start that shows 'Routes Taken' for a complete list of routes, see RacerBest's Map of all Possible Routes
Reach every exit defeating all the rivals along the way.
This does not mean every route, simply all 5 exits
Win the Corresponding Cup
Win all the races in all cups.
The race can be reset if you are about to lose and you can try again, there is no punishment for this and essentially gives you unlimited attempts at every stage.
Defeat every rival character in Arcade Mode at least once.
Doesn't have to be in one go or 5 in the same run, just beat them at any point during the Grand Tour to get this achievement.
Win a race with every car model in Quick Race Mode.
Just win with every car model, be aware that some settings when setting up a Quick Race may cause achievements to not unlock, if this is the case, a warning will appear at the top of the screen. Always make sure to check this to avoid wasting your time for nothing.
Stay on the slipstream for more than 15 seconds in any mode.
An easy way to get this is to just keep bumping into the back of the car you are slipstreaming from, easiest in modes with lots of cars.
Win a race in Grand Prix mode without any car upgrades.
Pretty easy to do this on the first race of any cup.
Complete a stage in arcade mode without touching anything.
Relatively easy to do this on the first stage of the Grand Tour, bear in mind that you don't need to win the stage, just complete it.
Win a cannonball race of 5 or more tracks.
Again, be aware that some settings may stop you from getting achievements.
Defeat all the rivals in a cannonball race of 5 or more tracks.
Make sure you have Rivals turned ON, this can be completed at the same time as the previous achievement.
Win a cannonball race of 15 tracks.
Win a cannonball race of all 5 nighttime tracks, in any order.
The 5 tracks are Akagiyama, Highgate Cemetery, Metropolis, Neon City and Parthenon.
Win a cannonball race of all 5 secret tracks, in any order
These tracks are unlocked when you beat the first 3 cups, they are Aquatic Ruins, Virtual Plaza, Mystic Cave, Polygon Peaks and Stardust Speedway.
Win a battle royale match.
Complete everything.
Get every other achievement.

Extra Achievements

The following achievements don't need to be completed to unlock Perfectionist III, They have their own unique art and require you to beat a certain rival on a certain track. This doesn't need to be on the Grand Tour so the easiest way to get this achievement is to do a cannonball race of 20 tracks with no other racers and rivals turned ON. Then, simply race the same track over and over until you get the correct rival, once the rival is beaten, you will get the achievement and don't need to complete the remaining laps, simply quit the race.
There are currently 5 of these achievements and to get them you need to:

• Defeat Tofu boy in Akagiyama (Deja Vu)
  
• Defeat Camilla in Highgate Cemetery (Translucent Black Capes)
  
• Defeat Alex in Metropolis (Nothing Personal)
  
• Defeat David in Neon City (Wall Street Racing)
  
• Defeat Bob Norman in Parthenon (The Joy of Racing)