Career Mode: Hitting the Big Time

Congratulations! You’ve earned 50,000 fans, and have unlocked the National ranks in World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing Career Mode. By now, you should be pretty familiar with the mechanics of the game, both on track and off, and you don’t need much help with the basics—so it’s time to get your head down and try to take either a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Cars or Case Construction Late Models title, right?

Well, there are still a few tricks up our sleeve at the final level. For starters, remember that all the cars from the Local and Regional divisions have National championships, too. That might come in handy, because buying a 410 Sprint Car or Late Model costs $400,000. If you’ve been investing all your money in beefing up your previous cars, you may not be able to afford a National car just yet, but the good news is you’ll stand a good chance at impressing on the National level right away!

A full National season consists of 40 race weeks, and touches on most of the tracks in the game. Just like the Local and Regional levels, you can also run shortened or licensed-only seasons, but you can also go for the gusto with seasons consisting of every track in the game. It may sound daunting to hit 40 events in a season, but the real-world Outlaws are often competing at even more in any given year!

If that all sounds a little daunting, don’t sweat it too much. Remember, World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing Career Mode runs to your own timeline. Chances are, you’re going to unlock the National level in the middle of a Local or Regional season, so you might want to clear the decks on those schedules and save up as much cash as you can to throw on some upgrades before your first National race.

That said… don’t expect to come out winning right away, either. If you thought the National cars were expensive, know that some of the top-level car upgrades are even more costly than that. For example, buying the top-of-the-line 410 Sprint Car engine will set you back more than $1.1 million—and that’s before you throw any of its three upgrades on it. The good news? No races pay higher purses than the National ones, even when you’re running midpack and unsponsored at the beginning, so just stay the course and tick off the races so you can afford the parts you really want.

Tips and Tricks

• The 410 Sprint Car and Late Model each only have three levels worth of part upgrades. Maxing out your starter parts will get you up to 15 out of 50 performance points, compared to 12 for the cars you unlocked at the Regional level and 10 for the cars you started with as a Local.
• Need a quick infusion of cash for an upgrade to your 410 or Late Model? Want to put those Local and Regional level cars to good use? This is where hiring drivers can come in handy. Simulating a full 305 or Street Stock season might do some damage to your career winning percentage if you haven’t fully upgraded those cars, but it will give you some more money to play with for your premier cars.
• Just like taking your Local cars to the Regional level, a world-beating car at the Regional level might still have a little way to go before it can take you to victory on the National stage. There’s no substitute for a maxed out car!