Nero Angelo's Guide to Maintaining Speed - Part 2

The Theory of Speed: Revenge


Drifting 101: Basics

  • Drifting will help maintain speed. Any adjustments that you make with your car, you must tap your break and drift. Otherwise, you lose speed.
  • Proper drifting means not hitting walls, cars, or any checkable material.
  • Most bumps can be drifted over. There is no need to hold your brake to slow your car down when you’re drifting a bump. NO NEED!
  • Proper drifting means SLIGHTLY TAPPING the Brakes, only Boost Brake in very, very, very sharp turns.
  • Drift when speeds at 225+ MPH to maintain it. Don’t do unnecessary braking.
  • If you’re maintaining 245+MPH, there’s no need to go to certain ramps. If you’re going at 220 MPH into a ramp, you can Boost Jump at 250 MPH, it’s necessary to go to that ramp.

1. The Advanced Method of Drifting: TURNS

What most people don’t consider is this. If a turn can be Clean Drifted and you’re starting at 220MPH, Why do you decrease your Speed down to 190MPH just to get the same speed you started with? As I stated before most tracks can be clean drifted; so every turn aside from the really sharp ones should be clean drifted. The difference is this; the amount of time you bring your speed from 190 – Boost – 220, is equal to 150-500 ft for the person who maintained 220 the entire time.


The key is: knowing how to enter a turn properly. It’s because if you can enter that turn properly a 220+MPH without hitting any walls, any checked cars, or holding your brake, you will most certainly maintain your speed over the course of the turn, so you exit at higher or equal speeds. That’s probably one of the hardest thing to spot in game play and how you turn, as if your not used to turning this way, you will most certainly crash. It’s like a trade off; people tend to hold the brake to have control upon their turning when in reality you just tap it. You will lose a bit of control but you gain it in speed.

2. Advanced Method of Drifting… DOWN

Drifting... Down
Drifting the way most people do it
This is the proper drift down. If you can drift down the bump, why do you try to perform a boost jump to get 220MPH of a small bump when you can maintain speed or gain speed on the bump? If you see a bump on the road, particularly a small one or a drop down, especially in Eastern Bays, if your going to at a high speed already, there is no need to try to perform a boost jump or a harrier off the bump. The time you lose from going to 220 – Brake – 190 – Boost Jump – 220+ is equal to 150-500 ft for a person who maintained the speed. This is what so many people don’t see either, because they think that just about every bump going down needs a harrier or a boost jump.

3. Advanced Method of Drifting: UP

(Note that this is not a ramp, but just an incline or a slight bump on the road).

Remember a point stated about ramps, if you’re approaching a ramp at 245+MPH, its best not to go and perform a boost jump on it. If you’re going at 220 MPH, then it’s necessary to boost jump on it. The only thing to consider is this, if you’re already going at 240MPH onto a ramp, but you know that you can boost jump and get 275+ MPH out of it, then perform that boost jump. Otherwise it’s probably not necessary because unless you get higher speeds and can maintain it, you’ll just lose time and ground while in the air. Remember not all ramps should be jumped. Only jump it if you’re really handicapped or going at a lower speed.

Drifting UP
Drifting UP

The proper drift up. Consider this: If you can drift up a bump at 240+ MPH, why do you slow your car down, perform a boost jump to get the same exact speeds as you were drifting up? The problem with this is simple, you lose time and distance over someone who is maintaining their speeds. The difference between the Brake to Boost Jump to 240+MPH compared to someone who maintains their speed through the bump is 100-500 ft. I see so many people make mistakes from this, and rather because they boost jump to get the same speeds, they lose so much time and distance.

4. Advanced Method of Maintenance

This is where the techniques must be clarified. All of those methods above are methods when you are in the back. Because of the handicap in the game, this drastically changes how the techniques should be performed in the front. Follow this point:

  •  If you are up front (1st place) and everyone is close to you and you all are maintaining speeds at 220MPH+, the above methods are to be used. However;

If you are handicapped or if you see your speed go below 210 in the turns; perform a Boost Brake instead.
Boost breaking

It is important to consider that your main goal is to always get your car speed as fast as possible. So if you’re going into a turn at a slower speed, your goal should be to try to bring it out at a higher speed. The higher your speed is, the longer you will maintain your distance. But remember, not every turn should be boost braked because some turns require that you don’t boost brake at all. If you are in the front and you are going into a turn at very good speeds and you think you can maintain it till the end of the turn, then don’t boost brake at all.

CONSIDER: Down and Up

Down and Up

If you are going to bump/ drop down/ or incline at a slow speed, and you think that you can get higher speeds by boost jumping out of it, then do it. As stated before, your goal is to get higher speeds on the way out. Remember that this is if you are handicapped because you are in front or if you’re going at a slow speed. If you’re in front and entering a bump, incline, or drop down at good speeds and you can maintain it because everyone is close, then maintain it all the way through.

Putting this together:

What fast racers do:
What fast racers do


What most people do:
What most people do

See the difference now? It’s because people are holding their brake for the most part and not properly drifting, plus on top of that they created unnecessary boost jumps or harrier in places where you don’t need to. By maintaining that speed and just slightly tapping your brake, through the turns and the incline, you would have gained more ground than racers who hold their brakes too much. Even though they may get slightly higher speeds during the incline or bump, they still would have lost ground over the person who didn’t slow their car down. The only real difference here is, If you can get 240+ on the incline or bump, then it would be wise to boost jump or harrier off it, because more than likely fast racers would harrier off it to gain more ground. Other wise it’s not worth doing.

Remember this Point:

  • The game is built for everyone to be catchable. The problem that many racers have of not being able to catch up to the people in the front is either because of:
  1. Mistakes and Crashes
  2. Don’t know the correct track/ route
  3. Checked Cars
  4. Don’t know how to maintain speed
  5. Can't get good speeds on Boost Jumps/ Harriers

The game is built for everyone to be able to catch up. That’s why racers in the front get handicapped. Everyone is catchable till about 200-500 ft of the leader. That’s when you really have to work hard at getting to the front. So drifting is a way to maintain speed. So if you’re asking how do fast racers catch up so quickly? The answer is in one of the five problems you probably are doing above and not realizing it. What this topic is about is proper drifting to maintain speed so that it can help you keep that distance or gain it by not losing so much time and speed on unnecessary attempts to boost jump or harrier. Overall though, most people think that they got the drifting process figured out. The truth is, that’s probably where they make the most mistakes in and lose ground and time in. Next time look again when you’re racing and find out if your doing these unnecessary braking, boost jumping, and harriers. Learning to fix this may ultimately make you a faster racer.



gravy666's picture

 I just learned that I'm a really sloppy driver.  Thanks for the guide.

Segaswirl's picture

wow, who knew a glitch could have so much depth.

Jinno Angelo's picture

Im sorry that It had to be in depth, you can dumb it down if you like... I would much rather want to help people figure out where they need to be quicker at... So rather than being sarcastic about how indepth this thing is or whether this is a glitch or not, someone of your Calibur, Sega, and that goes for the rest of the other racers who are top 10 and want to add some one liners to the comments below, should add something to it rather than post sarcastic one liners. When I first started, there was no help. There was nothing out there that I could read or learn from to be a better racer, atleast one has been started here... Critique it, and add to it..  All it does it help racers out there who want to be fast, atleast then maybe, just maybe, the same pool of racers who we race on a constant basis will get a little bit bigger......


"Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust. We Are All From The Dust, And To the Dust We Shall Return. Amen!" "Hellsing Ultimate Series I", Alexander Anderson.


Segaswirl's picture

I read the words "boost" and "jumping" quite a few times in there actually...


Anyone that knows how to drift/boost jump should know that drifting holds your speed. Unless you don't look at the speedo or something and can't see how much your car slows down when you don't drift, it's not rocket science.


To sum up drifting... drift after boost jumping to hold speed, drift around corners, drift when and where you can. Burnout has been telling us to drift since the begining i'm sure.



Rofer's picture

Because yeah drift jumping is something that you are meant to figure out YOURSELF as an individual. Honestly i think the more help you need from other people the more lame of a gamer you are. If your going to play a game then try to be creative and come up with how to play it your own way. Thats how i learned and i feel much better about myself as a racer as the result.

Segaswirl's picture

Nah, I think people should be helped in some way I guess. I just don't think all this is necessary... especially seeing as one of the games main gameplay dynamics is drifting. I really can't see someone playing Revenge or any other Burnout for the first time and not seeing the benefits from drifing in their very first race.


Anyone that knows how to drift/boost jump really should already know how important drifting is to Burnout aswell as being competitive... not just on the basis of maintaining speed but in that it obviously gives you boost aswell.

Jinno Angelo's picture

Thats a much better response.... No doubt its a combination of all the stuff that is out there.... I dont doubt that and I dont doubt what your saying... However, take note that although it may not be necessary for you, some people will find it necessary, because some people will not notice it in the beginning or even during 100s of hours of gameplay. They may notice that drifting helps but they dont drift in the right places.........I do think however that this is necessary for some people........ IF THEY NOTICE IT... Otherwise it wont help at all.....




Jinno Angelo's picture

Rofer, Whether its something worth figuring out yourself, isnt the debate here... Obviously after hours of gameplay you will figure it out... Too bad you said that the more you need help from other gamers, the more lamer you are... I guess you can relate that to life too... Because people can say that the lower you are in high school or because your a freshman in college, the lamer you are compared to people who are out and making it in the real world aready right?... Obviously right? No...




Rofer's picture

Compare real life with a video game. These forums are for us to talk about burnout. And when did i say i feel lame?

Also what your saying isn't the same thing either your saying that i mean somebody is lame once they start trying to learn it on their own but i am not saying that at all because we all start from the same page anyways thats like saying somebody who is playing it for the first time is lame because they don't know what they are doing. Of course I am not saying that lol.

PsychedelicBabe's picture

nice guide nito im sure here are plenty of people who highly appreciate what you have contributed....i understand  where your coming from because im constantly getting asked how to best do this or how to best do that and it is good to be able to direct them here to your articles....i found them interesting but also quite complicated to understand. I think this could be due to the fact that im just stuck to my style of racing and after 3 years i cant seem to change enjoying revenge alot more lately as i havent been playing it as much, so who knows i might try your tecniques to see if i can improve what skills i possess.....Mortal Kombat is taking up much of my time at the moment and i have just got MC:LA so well see......

Jinno Angelo's picture

Psyche, I just hope it helps some people out...... I tired of racing Silky, Roonige, GT, Sega, Dogg, Dark, Waterball, ..... ect.... Theyre really good competition, great players, good guys, and awesome to play with. I just need a change of scenery and I want to race other new racers who might be just as fast or as fast as these guys.... I just hope this guide along with the previous guides by Frozen and Ivor will bring out the best in some new racers.....




Raginglyon's picture

all this hype about burnout again...make me want to pick up that game, dust it off, and (try to) be competitive again. lol

L.G. Fuad

FrozenVapor's picture

If you want to start playing Burnout again, please choose Burnout 3 over Revenge.

PsychedelicBabe's picture

i hear what your saying, ive been getting tired of racing the same people. Ive been racing alot of new people lately and its been interesting because they really want to excel in the game, it feels good when people are asking you for advice and tips, its also nice to have people message you when you come online, it reminds me of the days when i was learning the game, but i have noticed there are alot of really good fast racers out there and that burnout doesnt revolve around the usual faster racers.....i still dont fully understand your guide but i have lead people to it that have read it and learnt something.....nice work....:p

NIGHTMAR3xGTx's picture

I only play Revenge because its fun, I dont really care who I'm racing with. But I always thought if you wanted to be fast you had to learn everything on your own, or at least ask help from people your racing, or just seeing how they drive when your behind them. I understand everything in your post nero, but I think thats because I know it already. I like fast racers, but I'm not going to go out of my way and teach them how to drive. But I do think its nice of you to make a guide for people who want to get faster. If you been playing revenge for 3 years, and your still slow, then nothing in the world is going to help you, so hopefully your not one of the racers who wants to be fast.....


Jinno Angelo's picture

I learnt it that way like you said GT..... I definitely asked people.. but I think it was Hawkfancrazy that showed me how to do this stuff at first... Got me interested....and its usually the ones who are interested in getting faster that will notice this stuff...

You notice little things first.....definitely the little things that people are mostly doing wrong... thats why I said earlier that this guide will probably be only helpful if they notice it....otherwise it wont....




Smokin Igor's picture

 How much time have you spent on Revenge a day? I've been playing Revenge since it launched on 360, but i still drift, jump much worse than Sega, Frozen or Rofer. I have about 2-3 hours to play for a day and can't keep up with good racers

Jinno Angelo's picture

If you started playing before me when the game launched in the 360, chances are you probably have more hours played than me...I think, me, Roonige, and Silky started at just about the exact same time, thats about a year and a half after the game was released on the 360.. and we didnt play revenge on the ps2.

However, when I did get "into" Revenge, I probably played a good 3-4 hours a day on it, to get all the stuff right..Nowadays, you probably wont see me more than 2 hours on it.. but I dont play it everyday either.. The game just got too boring for me at some point.. I may go into it, but I will probably just be hanging in the lobby to see who is online rather than race nowadays.. Unless Dogg, Dark, Waterball, Tigbits, GT, Silky, and Roonige are online... those guys are mostly the racers I race now... and we usually play other games than Revenge nowadays..

Dont get me wrong, I still practice and try to maximize and get my boost jumping down....even now... I do wonder however, as me, Roonige, and Silky once pondered.. If we started out the same time as Vapor, Dogg, Sega, GT, and Waterball have... would we have mastered and tied everything together like they have?? So yeah, im still learning like you to get fast and I still see my times drop... But yeah, these guys are some of the quickest racers in Revenge... so naturally theyre always a good challenge..

Its definitely about two things tho in this game that will get you quicker.. Mastering boost jumping and mastering drifting.. Both are easy to do, but hard to completely master...




PsychedelicBabe's picture

ive been playing this since i got my 360 which was about 1 month after along time i suppose lmao i used to have my own xbox so i used to play it heaps more than what i do now.....but i know ive put loads of hours in on it.....i still do....:p ill play this until they close the server.....hopefully NEVER....:p