Pocket Circuit Racing
During the events of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name's second chapter, Kiryu will stop in at a cafe in East Shofukucho called CourStar. The cafe will specialise in Pocket Circuit Racing; a remote-controlled racing mini-game where players compete using miniature cars.
From this moment onwards, Kiryu can visit the Pocket Circuit track at any time and take on races, competing to unlock the Master Circuit. Below, we'll run through the basics of Pocket Racing, giving you the rundown on how to become the best circuit racer in Sotenbori.
Pocket Circuit Racing
While heading back to Akame’s hideout during Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name’s second chapter, you’ll be enticed into the CourStar Bar in East Shofukucho and introduced to a returning mini-game: Pocket Racing.
Pocket Racing consists of Kiryu building and customizing a car and using it to race opponents around the large track in the centre of CourStar. The races will get progressively harder requiring Kiryu to seek out new racing materials to improve his car and continue winning.
The Basics
Let's quickly run through the basics of Pocket Circuit Racing. To pick up a race, head to the CourStar cafe and speak to Ran at the counter. From here, you'll be given a number of options. We'll dive into the other important ones in just a second, but for racing, select Enter Race.
From here, you can pick which track you'd like to race on and get started. The main thing to note about Pocket Racing is that the actual racing is mostly done in the Customization Screen. On the track, the car will essentially race itself, with Kiryu's input coming down to charging and deploying a boost and mashing CIRCLE / B when the car is about to veer off the track.
To complete a boost, you'll have to hit TRIANGLE / Y when you see a prompt in the top-left-hand corner of the screen. You'll know if the car is about to veer off track as an on-screen prompt will remind you to mash CIRCLE / B.
If your car is the best equipped for the track and you used your boost to keep the car in the game, you'll win, earning points which can be exchanged for items in the CourStar store.
Car Customization
As mentioned above, the actual race is won in the Customization Screen, and you'll need to keep on top of your vehicle's stats to ensure you can secure victory.
So how does customization work? When you enter the CourStar Bar, you can speak to Ran and select Customization to enter the customization tab. From here, you can pick your car and get to work optimizing it.
While customizing your vehicle, you can switch out various different parts to optimize its stats. To be specific, you can change its Tires, Frame, Motor, Gears, Battery, Side Stabilizer, Suspension, Decal and Colour. To do that though, you need parts, and parts can be found all around Sotenbori.
Of course, a lot of parts can be found at the actual CourStar cafe, with the vendor standing next to Ran offering a frequently updated list of new pieces for your racer. However, other parts can be found at The Castle, in Akame's Network Store, in the Pawn Shop and several other locations.
In general, when customizing a car, you'll want to switch out parts often to accommodate the track and your opponents. You can see exactly how proficient in each stat your car is while customizing it using the stat screen in the top-right-hand corner of the Customization tab.
So what do all these stats do? Well, let's quickly run through them:
Cost: While adding parts to your car, you'll notice that the cost number increases. This will affect which races you can enter, as some will have a limit on the cost of the parts included in each vehicle.
Speed: Affects the top speed of your car. High-speed cars will go quicker, but are also more liable to fall off the track.
Balance: Affects the stability of your car. This determines how likely it is that your car stays locked on the track, preventing it from falling off.
Acceleration: Affects how fast your cart reaches max speed. Although Speed will increase how fast you can go, acceleration will mean you reach that top speed quicker.
Grip: Affects the grip your car has on the track. Grip will lower your overall speed, but offer a much more stable racing experience.
Cornering: Affects how quickly and efficiently your car moves around corners. Higher cornering keeps your car more stable around corners.
Down Force: Prevents your car from lifting off the track. As races will have sections where your car can leap off the course, Down Force means they'll stay firmly in their lane.
Weight: Affects the weight of your car. Lighter cars are faster but more likely to careen off the course, while heavier cars are slower but less likely to launch off the track.
You'll need to manage your stats throughout your entire time at the CourStar bar to ensure you're getting the most out of each race.
Rival Matches
Throughout Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, you'll also find individuals who will challenge Kiryu to a 1v1 race.
These are known as Rivals. Most of them can be found hanging around Sotenbori, highlighted by exclamation marks on the map. After accepting a race from a Rival, you can challenge them by heading to CourStar and picking the Rival Race option from the menu.
Beating Rivals offers you a higher reward than a standard race and allows you to practice on some harder tracks. Give them a go if you need a little extra money.
Time Attack
Another race type that will open during your stint on the Pocket Racing scene, Time Attack is a time trial mode that awards currency for beating a set time.
Much like in a standard race, you'll earn a certain amount of currency based on whether you earn a gold, silver or bronze medal based on your time. Time Attacks are a great way to earn a little more cash for purchasing parts or mastering the ins and outs of a track.
Time to Get Racing
Now you know the basics of racing your Pocket Racer, let's get into some races! You can get started by speaking to Ran and picking the Introductory Race.
If you need any help with Like a Dragon Gaiden's Pocket Circuit Races, check out our Pocket Circuit Races Guide for additional help.