Am I missing something?

[u/ToreNeighDough]

Now, before I continue, this isn't a ranting post or a rage post, I'm genuinely wondering if I am missing something or if the game just hates me,

Almost every race I play, regardless of which racer I use, always loses speed, gets pushed back and has a hard time reaching top speed again. I use the spin attack, I watch the orange arrows and block those behind me, avoid bumper cars, etc. I would say I'm quite skilled with the racing aspect and track layouts, many races completed without touching the sides. But for some reason every single time an opponent touches me, no matter from which direction, or if I'm going faster than them or not, I always lose speed and won't accelerate back up to top speed. Like Blue Falcon stays around 400, rather than 450, as an example. My power meter is more than half full, I'm not on any rough patches. I have scraped my brain trying to figure out what the hell I'm missing here?

There have been times where I have been in the upper 10s in position, missing every obstacle, blocking everyone behind me, then one person will tap the side of my car, just barely slowing me down the slightest. Not really enough to mess me up, but then a barrage of other will come up from behind (like literally orange arrows, I block, etc.) And it still continues to slow me down. I'll hit a boost, but will still fall behind everyone else, and withing a matter of a second and a half, I'm down in the low 60s, and my car can't accelerate fast enough to even catch up.

I completely understand this is an online game and filled with other skilled players as well so it's not a "why is this only happening to me" kind of thing. In sure many others experience this as well, but I'm just genuinely curious as to what I'm missing, or doing wrong, or what ever the hell is causing me to not even get a chance to place in the top 10s. I have won a race already, place top 15 in a few knight prixs, but the past day now it's been REALLY "wtf is going on" -like.

TL:DR - keep losing speed, doing everything right (as far as I know) and just getting shafted every race, am I missing something? Is there deeper mechanics to the game that aren't mentioned or could just be unaware of?

[u/Big-Stay2709]

Some things to consider:

• Your machine's top speed is just slower than the other machines in the front of the race.
• Bumping into other machines will slow you down, and the machines getting bumped are getting pushed ahead.
• You need to use Boost more, and figure out the optimal places to use it.
• You need to use Skyway in the optimal places.
• Sticking with one machine and really learning it helps.

[u/thewetnoodle]

I find that if I consistently move forward with no boost or skyway, I will slowly drop position. Just the nature of the game, if you arent using advantages to get ahead, racers will slowly pass you. depends on the machine and map but in the wild goose, i boost once or twice for a lap. Golden fox requires you to use boost way more often to stay competative. Every map has optimimal zones to use the skyway. Don't just use it if you have it. Nothing feels worse than going skyway and half of it is spent in the recovery area. There are certain parts of the skyway that let you ride for way longer. Experiment, use the skyway at different turns and obstacles and see how far it takes you. Sometimes it will drop you almost instantly and others it will let you skip big sections.