Through DKR, you'll race in three different vehicles: Car,
plane, and hovercraft. Each is used for different courses, and
you eventually, you'll be able to race in each vehicle on the
same course.
But first, you have to master each one on your own.
The car is, by far, the easiest
vehicle to master. It's the first one you use and is used the
most throughout the game.
Use a character with good handling and a light weight for this.
If the handling is bad, you'll overshoot curves in the track and
end up turning much longer than you need to, or even facing the
wrong way,
while everyone else goes zooming by.
Hitting the "R" or "L" buttons while in a turn makes a sharper
turn, but as you get better, you won't need to use them.
The car can travel through water, but it's EXTREMELY slow and
not worth finishing the race if you fall into water.
I recommened using Tip-Tup or Pipsy for all the car races,
though Diddy is a good choice, too. You use the car to beat the
Dino Domain boss, and Wizpig, the first time.
Plane
Hovercraft
The plane
is the next vehicle you'll use. It's a little trickier than the
car, because now you've got to deal with an extra dimension.
(y'know, up, down, left, right, forward, back. Three of 'em.
Anyway.) The plane, obviously, can go over water. It can go
through water, too. The zippers for
the plane are floating, yellow and red. The plane can also hit
the car zippers, but it's harder and rarely worth it. Again,
you'll want to use a light weight, well-handling character.
However, it's harder for the lighter characters to go down in
the plane, but you'll hardly ever need to. You'll use the plane
to beat the Merry Old England boss, and Wizpig the second
time.
The hovercraft. Ah, the
hovercraft. Bane of my existence. I HATE the hovercraft. It's
the hardest vehicle to drive, because you have to change your
whole style.
The hovercraft exaggerates everything except speed. You NEED to
use a heavy character with moderate handling to use it, or
you'll go flying all over the place. The zippers are
triangle-shaped, and usually sitting on water.
The hovercraft can travel over water OR land, so there's no
trouble if you fall off the track into water.However, you DO
need practice, so you don't end up facing the wall every time
you try to turn a corner.
You'll use the craft to beat the Snow World and Sherbet Island
Boss.