So this trophy is a doozy to say the least. I
thought I had unlocked it 3 times before it finally happened on the 4th try. There are a lot of good guides out there and this one is to simply help those eliminate mistakes and unlock this safely the first time.
Car: So first, I used the Ford Fiestas. Why? Because well, America. Yeah, no, don't use the Fiestas. After that debacle, I settled on using the
Peugot 208 WRX. Why? Because the best AI on the track used it.
However, you could also use the
Renault Megane RS RX because the best players in the world use it. So obviously, it's a good vehicle.
Setup: I use GTR Technical's setups. All credit goes to that channel, amazing work, highly recommend if you are not only going for this trophy, but all time limit trophies.
Peugot 208 WRX:
Renault Megane RS RX:
Racetrack: At first, I attempted this trophy on track that I personally felt I could be better at. After a few hours of getting absolutely nowhere, I realized I was just not skilled enough to do it on any given track. As most guides will point out, the
Hell, Norway track is the easiest place to do this. It is absolutely true and this guide is centered around that track.
Improving skill: If you're like me and not a huge racing game player and/or don't use a wheel, you're likely going to need to practice in order to unlock this trophy. I suggest practicing on time trial mode with assists on (exterior view + automatic transmission). Obviously it should be set to wet conditions. You'll first want to get your regular lap time (not the joker lap) under 40 seconds, preferably 37-38. I know, 1 second error but it makes all the difference as further explained below. Having the ghost helps tremendously as you can tweak your play and know where to turn earlier/later. Once you get your time under 40 seconds and are comfortable, switch to manual transmission with all assists off. You should still have a natural feel for when to turn and such and
hopefully with some extra practice, you will be able to have your run down based more on muscle memory than skill (although skill will be needed 8/10 times when doing the actual race).
Tips: When braking/drifting into a turn, use the brake, then handbrake and ease off the gas. Do not use the hold onto or heavily rely on regular brake. If you are relying on the regular brake often, you are doing it wrong. For this trophy, you want to let go of the gas pedal as you are approaching a turn, tap the brake button and then use the hand brake and once your car is in the motion of drifting, hit the gas pedal again, using the steering to get yourself back in the right spot. You want to be drifting and exiting out of the turn in 2-3 gear as you will have more control. Jump up to 4-6 gear only after you have completed your turn.
I cannot stress the importance of this one piece of advise so remember to ease of the gas pedal, brake and then handbrake when turning - again, this is the most crucial skill to get down and everything will fall into place once you get that down.The race: There are several guides out there that say you can do this outside of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. DO NOT DO THIS! I did not bother attempting it outside this mode because I never found a video guide that proved it. Every guide I saw did this in FIA World Rallycross Championship. That is step 1.
Step 2 is to set AI difficulty to 100. I cannot prove that hardcore damage needs to be on/off but leave it on because in all honesty, it doesn't matter and I unlocked this with it on (and most videos I saw had it set to on as well). Then select your vehicle and then retire from event until you reach Hell, Norway (Event 5). Tune your vehicle and make sure all assists are off and manual transmission is on.
Step 3 is the races itself. This is where guides start to vary dramatically. Some say you can get through the qualifiers and semi-final with assists on. I tried this once, it did not work. Be safe and do the whole event without assists and manual transmission on. Another misconception is what exactly is the "cockpit view." The second time I attempted this, I used the dash view (where you just see the road). It did not work. Be safe and do the whole event in the default view when the race begins, it should be the full layout of the cockpit.
Step 4 is the qualifier rounds. IMO, this is the hardest part of the trophy because advancing is based on time completion, not position. Hence the need to get your regular laps down to 37-38 seconds. You can get 1st place in all qualifier and still not advance because your overall time needs to be below 2:40, preferably 2:37 - 2:38.999. And yes, finishing above 2:38.999 makes all the difference because that 1 second can be the difference of placing 12th or 15+. If you do not place in top 12 of each qualifier round, RESTART. I cannot stress enough the importance of this. Even in 13th place, if you proceed and think you can make up the difference, it will be impossible because the top AIs set record times that not even the best player in the world can do.
So the goal is to finish in top 12 in EACH QUALIFER.
Step 5 is the semi-final and final rounds. These are the victory laps IMO because all you need to do is finish in top 3 for semi-final and 1st place for final (obviously). People have different preferences on when to take the joker lap but all AI are the same, once you get ahead, they back off. I personally did the joker laps in the beginning and caught up to take first by 3-4 lap but if you are barely squeaking by the qualifiers and spending hours and hours to get to this point, save yourself the time and focus on getting in 1st place first, then do the joker lap later on when you have broken away from the pack. On my third attempt, I did all this, placed first, and it did not unlock. It was devastating because everything said I got first place with no penalty time, but once I completed the event (where it shows the podium), it said I placed 5th! This is because I cut the track at some point. And although I was not dinged with penalty time on the results screen, it applied it afterwards.
SO CAUTION: IF YOU HEAR THAT YOU CUT THE TRACK, RESTART. DO NOT RISK IT!!And there you have it. Do all this and once you complete the event and are on the podium, pop goes the trophy.
This may seem impossible to non-racing players but hopefully this guide helps those who are struggling and worried it cannot be done. It can!
Happy hunting :)