Car theft, garage and street racing

You choose METHOD and PLACE, not the car brand. From a safe round in the car park to a far more daring evening trip at the golf club. The car you get is a random yield from a value-weighted pool: a safe method usually gives a cheap car, a bold method succeeds less often, but if you hit it can be a supercar. The value also varies with how damaged the car was. The price is deliberately not shown in advance, so choose the method that suits the risk you are ready for. MASTERY builds up with every attempt, a lot when you succeed and a little when you miss, so you always climb upwards through the season and never go back. A streak bonus for attempts in a row is reset on a miss, but never falls below the level you have built up. If you miss you usually get away empty-handed, but sometimes you end up in prison, more often the bolder the method. Car theft costs no adrenaline, but all methods share one cooldown. A POLICE CHASE can strike on the daring methods. If you carry bullets you can shoot your way free, either from the arrest, where you escape the cell but stand empty-handed, or during the getaway, where you keep the car if you make it. Without ammunition there is no way out, and a better weapon gives better odds. The two simplest methods are never exposed to a police chase. The prestige bonus is added to the car’s value at the moment it is stolen, so it follows the car all the way to sale. No method gives more than a 75% chance, whatever the mastery, stars and specialization.

The methods:

• Steal from the Kiwi supermarket parking lot
• Break into a random car
• Hot-wire a car at the garage lot
• Trick the keys out of the rich housewife you met
• Steal from the golf club parking lot

The car classes, from the simplest to the most expensive:

1. Rusty station wagon
2. Family sedan
3. Van
4. SUV
5. Sports car
6. Supercar

All the cars you steal end up in the Garage. There you can sell them on (on the Market or directly for cash), repair damage from the theft, ship them to a city that pays better, or tune them up with eight named parts — Engine & ECU, Turbo, Exhaust system, Brakes, Tires & wheels, Bodywork, Nitro and Sound system — each with its own level. Every upgrade lifts the resale value, and together they build a spec board (Power, Grip, Control, Boost, Style) that shows how well tuned the car is. The cars can also SMUGGLE hash by road to neighboring cities (under 700 km): the load depends on the car class, fuel is paid per kilometer, and the road check can strike — bullets give the driver a chance to shoot their way free, and if it goes wrong, the load is taken, the car is damaged and becomes HOT in the destination city (the police can tow it). This spec board is now used directly in Street racing, where tuned cars actually race each other for money (see the separate question below). So tuning is no longer only a value investment: how you build the car decides which races it wins. The cars themselves range from cheap and common (the Rusty estate, the Family sedan) via SUV and Sports car, all the way up to the rare and very valuable Supercar — each category has several made-up model names (no real car brands are used). In addition your car now gives an advantage outside the races: if you own a good car, you cut your prison time when a crime or a car theft fails (you get away faster) — the better the car, the bigger the cut (Family sedan −5%, SUV −10%, Sports car −18%, Supercar −25%).

Street racing is car-against-car racing — Streetfight’s car counterpart. Instead of combat attributes, a race is decided by the car you enter with. Each model has its own profile (Power, Grip, Control, Boost): the class gives the level, and the model the strengths — a Nissin GT-X is better in the corners than a Lambardi Avento, which is superior on the straight. Tuning in the Garage adds up to 40 to each attribute, and everything is weighted by track type. There are three track types that reward different tuning: Dragstrip (raw power and boost), Circuit (grip and control in the corners) and Touge — a winding mountain road (control and grip, little top speed). That is why it pays to build a car for one discipline instead of maxing everything — a power car wins on the straight, a grip car wins in the corners. A small driver skill (reflex from the Gym) and a limited dose of luck mean that even an underdog can surprise — the deliberate difference from Streetfight, which is completely without luck. You post a race with a car, track type and stake; another player enters with their own car and matches the stake, and the winner takes the whole pot. A win also gives RESPECT, by exactly the same rule as Streetfight: most for beating someone above you in rank, and only once per opponent per day — counted across both arenas. The loser’s car gets a few scratches (a little condition lost — repair at the Garage). Style never affects speed — it gives Style points instead, a pure status account. The season record is reset every Monday at 00:00 (Norwegian time); the lifetime record stands through the season change. Street racing has the same weekly ladder: 3, 10 and 20 counting races give 40,000, 80,000 and 150,000 kr and 20, 30 and 60 respect, paid into the bank, and up to three races per opponent per day count, when the stake is at least the minimum stake, and not against an account on the same network. Whoever has the most wins against at least three different opponents (one win per opponent per day) becomes Street king of the week: 800,000 kr in the bank, 25 Gold, 250 respect and a badge, and is shown on the Home page for the whole of next week. You can also post a race as a “pink slip” — then you race for the CARS instead of (or in addition to) kroner: the loser loses their car to the winner. All races end up in a public log. Races from players who cannot show up right now (in prison, in the hospital or taken out) are hidden from the list and reappear when they are back; if a race nevertheless drops out as you accept, you are told the concrete reason, and the stake goes back to whoever posted it. The car you have posted a race with cannot be sold or put on the Market until you have canceled the race.

Yes. A car you have just stolen is “hot” for as long as it stays in the city you stole it in. After a short pause the police start looking, and the longer the car stays, the greater the chance that it is seized (then it is lost). You get a notification in the bell when the police are getting close. To get rid of the risk: transport the car to another city — then it is “washed” and safe for good. The Garage shows where the car was stolen from and warns you when a car is hot.

You have two choices in the garage, and it shows what each gives you. MARKET: you set the price yourself and the car is listed until another player buys it — this gives clearly the most, but you have to wait for a buyer. QUICK SALE: the car is scrapped at once and disappears from the game. It happens in a second, but you only get 45% of what the car is worth, so it is the worse of the two — use it when you want to be rid of a car you do not want to wait for. However you sell, the used car dealer takes a small cut of the sale — it is the whole income of that business, and there is only ONE in all the Nordics. The car’s value depends on its condition, the parts you have fitted and which city it is in, and both ways calculate from exactly the same value — the number on the button is the number you get.