Split Second - That Ryback Thunder challenge

Because it's quick to get into I often run a race in Split Second when I find myself with some spare time. Sure it means I'm making slow progress, but it's fun all the same. As it stands I've just finished the 5th episode and have gold 1st places on all events... except one. From the title of this piece you can probably guess which.

The fourth race in each episode is a challenge race - are you good enough to deserve the [Insert Name here] car? To prove it just race the track using that vehicle and beat the top time that's been set. To make life easier there's no opponents so no other cars shunting you; to stop life being too easy things will be exploding along the track as you reach them.

Checking on the internet this particular challenge does seem to be the biggest frustration, but why is that? The Ryback Thunder is a truck. It has an only slightly above average top speed, lousy acceleration and is terrible at cornering. As such to get any sort of speed out of it you need some long straight stretches of road. Good job the track features some nice tight corners then isn't it?

The time to beat is 1:54.00. Checking the videos and comments and those who've managed to beat it generally do so by only half-a-second. What this means is that you have to take a damn near perfect line through the entire course; shave every corner without hitting the rails by timing every turn to within an inch. With this sort of closeness it's difficult to even judge your performance. The game has no speedometer so you can't accurately judge where you're losing speed, and there's no phantom car so you can see where you should be. Even trying to use landmarks against the time is difficult. Sure hit the petrol station at anything above 01:00.00 and you might as well hit restart, but with these margins there's a big difference between 0:58.50 and 0:58.30 and if you're looking too closely at the clock it means you're not looking at the big explosion that's just been set off around you.

I'll keep trying, but damn this is a doozy to be hit with halfway through the game. It's almost tempting to let Major have a go... but if he suceeds that means I haven't. I could replay it until I manage to hit the time, but if I don't I'll have a gold icon which I don't deserve and that will nag at me.

[Update I finally managed it at 1:53 and some odd hundredths of a second. The two things that helped

1. Drive backwards at the start. The timer won't start and the game will eventually kick you in the right direction at the starting line at full speed.
2. Don't turn or drift. Drive in straight lines and only correct your course minutely. That means aiming wide at corners then gently turning back in so as to clip the corner

 Now be thankful you've won the use of this vehicle that you're never going to use again :-)]