How to win all the pink slips in CSR Classics - hints, tips, and tricks

CSR Classics is another top quality dose of drag racing fun, and I've been playing it for a while now for our review.

What I wish I had brought with me for my car journey, was a co-pilot in the form of an indispensable guide to the seedy underworld of street racing.

Without a halfway decent one to turn to, I've taken it upon myself to create one for you, the petrol head readers of Pocket Gamer. Aren't I thoughtful?

In it you'll find a guide on how to buy a car and upgrade it to perfection, the best racing techniques, and super secrets found only after days of play.

The first thing you'll need for a new Tier of competition is a set of wheels, so head on over to the Car Dealer and pick a ride. Your options are constrained by your budget, but there's always something that's affordable.

If you're planning on (or are comfortable with) spending some real world money, it may be worth doing so at this point. Purchase some Coins and splash out on a Loved - rather than Unloved - vehicle. Loved cars come with upgrades already installed, so you'll progress through the main campaign at a much faster rate.

If you're in a frugal mood, grab yourself the best Unloved ride you can afford - its statistics are displayed on the left of the screen.

Now you're going to want to upgrade the vehicle. I found that focusing on improving the bodywork of the car first worked best, as doing so maximised the assets already under the hood. Pumping cash into the engine immediately increased the power, but since my car was heavy and prone to wheel spin, that power wasn't used effectively.

If you're a talented racer, you can hold off on improving the gearbox and nitrous for a while too, as you should be able to cope without them for a good portion of each Tier.

Other than this, there's no strict path you need to take for upgrades. The only thing you should almost always do, is to purchase new parts whenever you can afford it. Boosting the performance of your car is the single largest determining factor on whether you'll win a race or not, and all the money in the bank won't count for squat once you're on the road.

The only time you shouldn't do this is if you're comfortably winning each and every race. There will come a point in each Tier that upgrading the car isn't worth doing, as you'll easily beat any opponent that lies in wait for you there.

CSR Classics isn't the hardest game in the world, but there are a couple of techniques you'll need to perfect if you want to beat the opposition.

A good start is crucial to any race, so feather the gas on your vehicle so that the speedometer hovers around the area that makes the green light blink into life. The needle can be rising or falling, the only thing that matters is ensuring you get that Perfect Start prompt.

The first couple of gear changes will come in rapid succession, but each car will bring them at a different pace. Learn when the changes are coming so that you could do them blindfolded, and you'll be laughing all the way to the finish line.

The other gameplay element is Nitrous, and this one needs a bit of practice to use effectively. I found that activating my boost just as I came out of my penultimate gear change made for the fastest times, as it got me to the highest gear quickly without inducing any wheel spin. How you use Nitrous is up to you, and some cars will require its use at different times.

Now onto the really good stuff: the techniques I learned through sheer hard graft.

The first of which is the advice that you should save your Coins as much as possible and spend them not on vehicles or cancelling delivery times, but on Decals.

Unlike a lot of free-to-play games, improving your look actually has an effect on how you'll fare in the game. Sporting a Decal will give you extra cash at the end of each race, and that reward can be as much as (if not far more than) the prize money. Therefore buying a premium decal with Coins, and doing so early on in the Tier, will see you knee-deep in dough.

Whatever you spend your Coins on, don't waste them on the races to win boss cars unless you plan on purchasing the Super Nitrous, as you won't win them without this IAP.

You should take advantage of the free fuel offers whenever you're running on fumes. You get a full tank for following the game on Facebook, and the same for doing so on Twitter, plus one point of fuel for watching a short ad. After all, the more you race, the more you earn, and the more you progress.

The same is true of the Daily Events - use these three races to your advantage and focus on playing them each day of every week you play. Completion of all three increases the prize stakes the following day, so being a regular racer has its rewards.

And if you're stuck for something to do, and not sure how to proceed, just grind grind grind. Take the best car you have into the Regulation races and chip away at your fuel meter until you run out. By the end of a play session you should have a big chunk of change to upgrade your car and get you past whatever obstacles are stood in your way.

Got any tips to share? Let us and the rest of the PG community know by leaving them in a comment below.