Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Tommorow night would be awesome for me! Say.... around 9 EST or so.

Oy. That's the one time this weekend I think I'm *not* free. It's possible I'll be home by then, but I can't make any sort of commitment to that.

I'm free pretty much all *day* today and tomorrow. Sunday eve is very possible as well, but I'd need to wait on that time slot.

One question though: I noticed on one of these threads someone (I think you, Mirfee) posted the need to unlock the cars using a cheat/unlock. If I activate this unlock, does it unlock all the cars in singleplayer mode as well?

Yes.

I really want to play through this game and unlock the cars using the massive amount of fame and fortune I accrue along the way (all part of being an international man of driving mystery).

You still can play through all the SP challenges/championships. Each series and race displays the allowed cars, so if you limit yourself to one of the ones in that specific list (rather than grab something better from your fully stocked garage), you'll still be able to get most of the same experience. Each series and championship is linear, so you can't skip around different races. The unlocking feature will allow you to progress in the intended sequence.

I'll still use the unlock, even if it does, but was just wondering. Looking forward to some good last place finishes with you this weekend!!!

The point of the unlock in TGRL is so that you can participate in multiplayer with us, unrestricted. This is important as the unlock is necessary to run in our primary series. In the Sprint Series, each race runs a specific make/model which is announced prior to each event... every driver is limited to *just* that car, making the field identical in vehicles in order to balance the competition and make it solely skill vs. skill. If a driver hasn't unlocked all the content, they won't be able to select a given car, therefore barring them from participating.

If you really really really want to stick to the locked system, you'll be limited in terms of what you can participate in. In open track events (free practice) I don't restrict any cars, so people take whatever they like. If you stuck with the cars you'd unlocked in-game, you'd simply have fewer choices available to you. No problem at all. You're more than welcome to restrict your choices to what you've earned in SP. You just have far less flexibility in case you decided you wanted to try other stuff out. Our Grand Prix series allows all makes and models for an entire season, so you could certainly drive whatever you've unlocked. However, the GP series is only going to run once a month, so you'll be seeing much less action online (the Sprint series is weekly).

The other key reason is tracks. The in-game unlocking system makes new tracks available to you (for single player Quick Races and Practices) once you've raced it in a SP series/championship. This does *not* prevent you from driving that track online, though. All tracks are unlocked for online play. However, you need all tracks unlocked in SP in order to practice a specific track for an upcoming event (again, either Sprint or GP series has tracks announced beforehand... and believe me, you want to practice offline in order to be prepared to compete in the event).

Whew! didn't expect to write a book. Hopefully this exhaustive tome answers your question(s) without muddying things up with more-than-you-needed-to-know.

Looking forward to having you aboard, Fuzzy. And as for finishing last, that's a coveted spot among anybody not named Rocket or Turbo. So you're going to have to fight for it like the rest of us.