SRL Guide

See also: Sparrow Racing League

Basic Things You Should Know Going In

For starters, you should know that your sparrow behaves differently in SRL than it does in patrol. What do I mean by that though? Specifically, your sparrow is balanced differently. In patrol, you sparrow behaves like a hand cart. If you imagine a rectangle that outlines your sparrow, in patrol, the points of balance are spread evenly to the corners. This is why I'm patrol you can move another guardian and be moved uniformly in any direction- that is to say you would only be pushed and not turned. In SRL your sparrow is balanced differently, instead of the center being spread evenly it's sat underneath your guardian(as illustrated by this pen on my finger). This difference is what allows other guardians and objects to turn your sparrow while racing in the SRL. In the photo above, the front of your sparrow is the longer portion of the pen leading right from my finger and the back is the cap leading left.

What Does That Mean?

It means that in SRL your sparrow is harder for other guardians to turn the closer to center they make contact with it. Barring head on contact which I'll cover here in a sec, your sparrow is easiest to turn from the front, less so from the back, and hardest to turn from its center of balance. In the case of head on collisions, where you and the guardian you're racing are sharing the same line of track, the front is much harder to turn(you're more likely to go under or over the person in front of you), and the back even more so. So if you mean to turn another guardian you want to be pushing from flanks and edges rather than directly pushing the front or back. If you're defending a push you want to keep contact either in line with your path or on your sparrow's center of balance.

The other change in SRL is your sparrow's speed. Unlike in patrol, in SRL your sparrow will not be able to reach its top speed by holding down on the trigger or boosting; it comes from hitting the gates laid out along the track. Your "fuel" gage on the bottom left of your screen still indicates how many lateral boosts you're capable of, but now that energy can be refilled by passing trough gates and performing tricks. Assuming you have racing gear on, which you should, this difference will become more pronounced. In patrol this gauge is refilled by letting off the accelerator.

The last thing to remember is that in SRL your sparrow is much more likely to explode. Hit something going max speed? Boom. You'll also take damage more easily from whatever enemies are loose on the maps. You can kill these enemies too however if you hit them while racing without taking a penalty to your speed. Even if you don't explode, just getting out to a dead stop when you run into a wall or fan blade can be just as bad as dying depending on how long it takes you to right yourself so keep all this in mind while you're out in the lanes.

Tips and Tricks

Use Both Sticks

When racing you should be driving with both your left and right stick. One controls your camera and the other your guardian as in the rest of the game but when used in conjunction while racing you'll notice you have a lot more control taking turns and positioning your sparrow when you use both sticks as one.

Brake for No One

What I mean by this is that in SRL, speed is king. You want to be going as fast as possible for as long as possible. This might seem redundant and obvious but I can't stress it enough. If you're not moving you're losing. Braking isn't bad, and can allow you to readjust your direction if it gets sent way off course, but you're better off managing your lateral boosts and powering through your turns. Personally I have my triggers set to standard for SRL and my right middle ringer is holding the gas the whole race. If I'm doing this right I'll only need my index fingers to boost laterally and I won't even touch the brake. If I need more control on a particularly sharp turn I will let off the gas before I brake. You regain almost the same amount of turning control and lose far less speed.

Use Your Weight To Your Advantage

What I mean by this is when colliding with other guardians while out on the track, and you will believe me, you need to approach each interaction as is most advantageous for you. Is someone coming directly behind you? Make sure you stay in front of them. If they push you from behind they won't turn or pass you. If they push you from and angle you'll be spun out and have to readjust. Is someone coming at you from an angle? Line yourself up with them so they're pushing into your center of gravity and won't be able to turn you. This is actually one of the few situations I might brake and would recommend your doing so as well. Are you approaching someone from behind? I'd recommend staying on the same line as them. You won't turn them but you have a good chance to go either under or over them as the track turns and that can place you ahead without getting spun out. Nothing worse than trying to push someone at their flank only to have them brake and ruin your afternoon.

Know Your Track

This probably seems obvious but I wanted to stress how important knowing the track is. There were plenty of s-turns and tight corners in the last SRL(especially on Venus) where you won't be able to really see what's going on as you take the turns at top speed. You're going to need to know how the track turns in these moments, that's where muscle memory is really key. Once you know where the gates are going to be you'll be able to laterally boost and slide your way through these tight turns faster than you probably think you can. When you reach higher levels of play it's going to be how you handle the toughest parts of the map that determine who wins, so set yourself up for success.

Don't Worry About Being In First Place

Try to focus on your performance. Did you not finish first but beat your personal best time? That's a win in my book. Did you finish in the top three against a group of tough opponents? Take that as a W, buddy. Much of SRL is chaotic and honestly something that had nothing to do with how you're racing can get you the win or leave you in last place. Don't sweat it though. Think of it as more you against the track rather than you against the other five guardians. Sure, you're competing against them but for the most part I think you'll find you're competing against your self. Keep that in mind if you start to get down because you haven't won a race in a while. That doesn't mean you aren't improving.

Remember to Have Fun

It's cliche I know but don't forget how easy it is to get salty in Destiny. SRL is no different and for some can open the salt mines very easily. Things aren't always going to go your way but honestly, if you persevere, you're only going to get better. So keep that in mind and try to relax, racing is supposed to be fun!