MiSTer FPGA Forum

I've been playing the superb Out Run by Jotego since it was released. When you look on Twin Galaxies they have the arcade world record at 52,897,690. Default settings, which means normal cars and normal time. I think the speed boost at the beginning is allowed, but I don't think the Gear Gacha cheat is, I'd be amazed if it is.

So after playing for a while I think the only way to get this kind of score is to have a totally clean drive and never brake once.

I have managed 47,000,000+ by following what is supposed to be the fastest path:
Stage 1 - Coconut Beach - can be done with no braking
Right
Stage 2 - Devil's Canyon - can be done with no braking
Left
Stage 3 - Alps - Brake on second bend, slight brake dab at the end
Right
Stage 4 - Wheat Field - can be done with no braking
Right
Stage 5 - Autobahn - slight brake in middle

I can't see how to make up the extra 5 million points. Maybe lifting off the accelerator early before the corner instead of braking? I also think there is a way to complete the final stage Autobahn without braking. It involves hitting the bends and crossing over the central reservation between the small gaps in the bushes, but you need a lot of luck with the car positions and great timing in the gaps.

Anyone got any other ideas?

An in-game time WR speedrun for the game popped up in my YouTube feed lately. The final score for this run is 49,200,490 - maybe you can glean some tactics from the video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLZnshpObk8

Aspie wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 2:31 pm

I've been playing the superb Out Run by Jotego since it was released. When you look on Twin Galaxies they have the arcade world record at 52,897,690. Default settings, which means normal cars and normal time. I think the speed boost at the beginning is allowed, but I don't think the Gear Gacha cheat is, I'd be amazed if it is.

So after playing for a while I think the only way to get this kind of score is to have a totally clean drive and never brake once.

I have managed 47,000,000+ by following what is supposed to be the fastest path:
Stage 1 - Coconut Beach - can be done with no braking
Right
Stage 2 - Devil's Canyon - can be done with no braking
Left
Stage 3 - Alps - Brake on second bend, slight brake dab at the end
Right
Stage 4 - Wheat Field - can be done with no braking
Right
Stage 5 - Autobahn - slight brake in middle

I can't see how to make up the extra 5 million points. Maybe lifting off the accelerator early before the corner instead of braking? I also think there is a way to complete the final stage Autobahn without braking. It involves hitting the bends and crossing over the central reservation between the small gaps in the bushes, but you need a lot of luck with the car positions and great timing in the gaps.

Anyone got any other ideas?

Unrelated but just wondering if you have to hold down the button for low gear? I thought it would work as a switch between low and high but in my case I have to hold down gear and accelerate to be in low gear and release the gear button for high gear - not super intuitive - am I doing something wrong?

AfterBurnett wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 12:14 am

Unrelated but just wondering if you have to hold down the button for low gear? I thought it would work as a switch between low and high but in my case I have to hold down gear and accelerate to be in low gear and release the gear button for high gear - not super intuitive - am I doing something wrong?

That's correct. I verified this with Jotego because I was confused about that. Every version I've ever played was with a switch between low and high gear, but the arcade version's hardware doesn't work that way, electrically speaking.

PistolsAtDawn wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 1:36 am

AfterBurnett wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 12:14 am

Unrelated but just wondering if you have to hold down the button for low gear? I thought it would work as a switch between low and high but in my case I have to hold down gear and accelerate to be in low gear and release the gear button for high gear - not super intuitive - am I doing something wrong?

That's correct. I verified this with Jotego because I was confused about that. Every version I've ever played was with a switch between low and high gear, but the arcade version's hardware doesn't work that way, electrically speaking.

Ah, I thought that might be the case. Be nice to have toggle as an option though.

How accurate is the core though ?

I know Jotego had to introduce a screen buffer for example

Have you tried a run in Cannonball for a comparison ?

Thanks for the video meauxdal. He gets his best time on the route I mention above, so that's the way to go. If you look at his times he does brake slightly on every stage
Stage 1 - 58.18 - not perfect
Stage 2 - 56.21 - not perfect
Stage 3 - 57.21 - not perfect
Stage 4 - 56.21 - not perfect
Stage 5 - 49.46 - not perfect

I've learned so far that it's essential to get the speed boost at the start. This can get your stage 1 time down to 57 seconds, maybe 56+ if you nail it to the max.
Stage 2 can be maxxed from start to finish. Stage 3 slight braking on the second turn, and just lift off the accelerator on the final turn.
Stage 4 can be maxxed, but you need a bit of luck with the rival car positions at the quick right/left chicane at the end. You have to enter the turn from the right side of the track. If there is a rival car there you've got no chance and have to brake. If it's clear you then make a quick blind left then right, trusting that there is no car on the other side.
Stage 5. I still think this can be done faster. The first three turns are easy enough at full speed. Then the road splits into two lanes. Take the left lane but keep the car to the right so it's right side is almost brushing the central reservation. As the road bends to the left a gap in the bushes on the central reservation appears, ignore this, split seconds later there is a single bush, as soon as you are past this make your move through the gap to the right lane. You can do this without taking your foot off the gas, the extra bit of road lets you complete the turn without slowing down. You can repeat this at the next bend but moving in the left direction. I haven't quite been able to manage this consistently as it's really dodgy. If you can nail the first part of this move there is only a slight braking point left then you can accelerate to full speed and complete the rest of the level.

Last night I almost beat his score. I was having a perfect run, killing all his times through the first 4 stages. Entered stage 5 and the counter gave me 89 seconds to complete. I nailed all the corners right until the last one when a wall of cars got in the way and I had to brake. It would easily have been over 50+ million.

I used to have Cannonball on my Nvidia Shield. But then the controller broke and I couldn't play it any more. Ended up deleting it to save space. It would be interesting to give it a try though.

Finally managed to crack the 50 million

A bit better

Almost a perfect lap

Wow! I don't know if they 'count' the current Mister core or just on an original board, but it looks like you just broke the world record, no? If so, I'd love to watch a playthru of yours because I may have a world record in being the OPPOSITE of your talents with this game. I LOVE 80's Sega and played these games back then. As a youngster, I adored Outrun too and always took any racing game in the arcade on Automatic transmission when allowed; despite everyone else saying the best players had the advantage by using Manual. I've revisited it on MiSTer and still can barely pass a few checkpoints. It's still as fun as ever for me with a good CRT filter (when not playing on my CRT), a low pass audio filter, and with a Racing wheel... I get taken back in time. Thank you Jotego!! Hope we get more racing wheel games like Power Drift and Hard Drivin.

I was also confused on the Low-High gear control. Though I continue to be embarrassingly bad at this game, it is so much fun. Any pointers?

You have to hold the gear button to be in low gear I think. Let go and you go into high.

I finally managed to complete a route in Outrun arcade, only took nearly 40 years...

This was done on Cannonball on the PC though

Seastalker, watch the video posted earlier in this thread by meauxdal. Take the route the guy takes at 24:00, it's by far the quickest. You can complete the whole course with only 2 short dabs on the brakes, the rest of the lap you can be at 293kph. I did think there was a quicker way to do the final stage autobahn, but I have found the way in the video is best. Try and get a speed boost at the start by putting the gears into high and rev the engine so you are in the green. When the flag goes down hit the gear button quickly twice and if you nail it your speed should get up to 293 sooner. It just takes a bit of practice. You only gain about 1 second of time at the end of stage 1 if you manage the speed boost. Also you need a good clean run and the other cars to behave, sometimes they can be blocking the side of the road you need to be on as you enter a corner. As you hit the checkpoint at the end of stage 4 you need 89 seconds on the clock to be on course to get a score over 50,000