CHAPTER 5 - THE TUTORIAL RACES - PART 2
The next tutorial race focused on how to work with steering control and handling. The setting was a normal point-to-point race. The terrain was mixed with hard surfaces and earth. The race would go for twenty miles. It was broken up into two segments. The first half went up layout winded up and down a mountainside. The second half was a path spread out with obstacles. Such as ramps, chicanery, dips, moving objects, etc. The difficulty was easy this time.
Juluis waited at the starting line after being transported into the next tutorial. Like before there were seven opponents with him starting in last. The starting grid was set up the same as the last. A platform of red lights glowed brightly above the other racers to start tge event.
Juluis looked over at the lanscape. The environment this time was much duller. The landscape was just barren desert as far as the eye could see. Except for a big mountain in front. The track wound its way up the mountain before disappearing on the other side. Juluis could glimpse at the road going up the mountain. The terrain changed multiple times.
The track itself wasn't much to look at either. Both side of the track had a steel wall that was three feet in height. Where ever a turn was the wall was much taller at eight feet.
Juluis was disrupted from looking at the track with a warning message letting him know the race would start in a minute. He was also given a notification of his random bonus stat. This time the handling had been increased a level.
He was happy to see that he was awarded the handling bonus. He would need it for trying to make harder turns in the clown car.
Juluis did a few last minute checks before the timer finally hit zero. The starting lights went from red to green in an instant. Juluis floored it out of the gate with the others. He kept his pace at a minimum to not spin out.
He was quick to overtake sixth and seventh before reaching the uphill climb on the mountain. Remembering his car had very poor handling, even with the added stat boost. He had to go much slower when entering a turn.
Juluis approached tte first turn gojng veru slow. He had to yank the wheel to a hard left. He was passed by sixth in doing so. He cursed for not having something with better handling.
Sometime later he finally reached the top of the mountain. It had been a difficult climb for Juluis. He was currently running in fourth. The terrain had changed multiple times in doing so. He at least was able to make up ground on the straight aways going up, with every corner being a hairpin bend. It annoyed him. He had overestimated the clown car a few times, grinding into the wall several times. The damage hadn't been too severe at least.
Juluis now had to drive down the mountain. As soon as he created the peak. He was able to get a good look at the final section of the track below. The road coming off the mountain was a mess of obstacles. He sighed not looking forward to whatever mishap would occur in that section. For now, he focused on driving down the mountain.
Juluis took off much slower this time. About an hour had passed before he was at the bottom of the mountain. He was halfway there running in fifth now. He lost a position froml being a little over confident. He had ended up causing more damage to his car than going up. A few times he was going a bit faster into a corner than he meant. Even at a slow speed. He still managed to pile into the steel wall a few times.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Juliis had been given a damage update telling him that the left front wheel was slightly bent from too many collisions. The result dropped the handling from poor to very poor. The acceleration dropped from average to slow. The top speed was also affected. It had been dropped to 105 mph.
Juliuis was getting very frustrated heading into the second half. The track at this point broke off into three different directions. Each path had a variety of obstacles to overcome. He had to pick fast while driving up to the divisions.
One path had jumps and hills a driver had to navigate. He wasn't sure how the car would handle jumping over every bump. The second path was covered with inversions. Juluis wasn't sure his stomach could handle all the barrel rolls, loops, and corkscrews. It made him sick thinking about it. The third and final path led into a ravine that was shaped like a u shape. It was dotted with obstacles drivers had to dodge.
Juluis decided to choose this path as he made his descent into the ravine. He looked into the rearview mirror to see two other competitors chose the same path as him.
The path started pretty tame with few obstacles, getting more rougher as the race led on. He drove cautiously the best he could. He would only had his foot halfway on the accelerator, sometimes completely lifting to aviod obstacles.
At the five mile point, Juluis had to face obstacles that moved up and down to avoid. He ended up smacking a few in the process causing more damage to the clown car. The top speed had now dropped to 95 mph with the durability at 75%.
Things got more difficult at the ten mile mark and obstacles got more challenging. This time there were obstacles that moved from left to right in the halfpipe ravine. Again, Juluis smacked a few of them along with the ones moving up and down.
The clown car now had both front wheels bent. Resulting in his speed and acceleration dropping. The acceleration dropped from slow to very slow with hid top speed knocked down to 80 mph. The durability had been cut to 65%.
Juluis was getting frustrated. He had managed to pull into first with a six second lead even with all the damage.
The last five miles would be the most challenging as he entered the home stretch. The halfpipe ravine dipped at an angle going downhill. This made Juluis ponder what the drop in incline was for.
He soon got his answer looking into the rearview mirror. Along the sides of the ravine were rocky outcrops with a giant hole in them. One of them spat out a giant rock that began to bounce off the obstacles like a pinball.
Juluis panicked as more boulders started being fired out of the outcrops as he went. He had to drive like a madman, dodging rocks as they hit any and everything. More boulders were added in with each passing mile. A few managed to hit Julius, making him slide a few times as he closed in on the last few hundred yards.
By this point the clown car had dropped to a top speed of 75 mph with 55% durability. Juluis was struggling to keep the car going. His arms were sore from having to yank the wheel so much.
His lead now had been expanded to ten seconds as he could see the finish line. That was cut short when a boulder managed to hit the car, sending it into an obstacle causing the left front to fall off. The car was severely hampered as he limped along. The top speed had been dropped to 50 mph with 50% durability.
A warning light came on to notify him he was at half durability. He just ignored it all trying to get to the finish line first.
His speed was so rendered he didn't want to look in his rearview mirror. He did anyways as he saw second place gaining on him fast. In a panic he floored the accelerator causing him to almost spin out from the loss of grip.
The car couldn't handle it as Juluis was now reclining the rpms at 6000 revolutions per minute. A ton of warning lights and notifications popped up as he pressed the car to its limit. The engine finally blow from the recline as a cylinder blew with a bang. Smoke poured out of the engine as a result.
Juluis was only one hundred feet from the finish line when the engine blew. He watched as second place passed him. Juluis could only sigh in defeat, when the unexpected happened. A boulder slammed into both of them from behind, splitting them up in the middle.
His competitor was thrown into a nearby obstacle with such force the car ended up being totalled. Juluis was likewise sent spinning into an obstacle. The rear end housing was ripped off his car as he came to stop.
Juluis could only groan thinking of how he was so close only to end up crashing out. He waited for the countdown signal for his failure. It never came only to be congratulated for winning. He was puzzled why, only to look at the finish line to see the rear axle had rolled across and stopped.
He could only stare in disbelief how he just won a race with a totaled car only for the rear axle to give him credit for his win. He waited on the signal next as it counted down from three seconds. He was teleported back to the nexus after.