Time attack

A time attack is another term for time trial. The term is commonly used in Japan for individual time trial events for motor vehicles that involves a vehicle running around the circuit in lieu of a qualifying lap and the term is widely adopted outside the country for tuner event and media.

Motorsport

Time Attack (alternatively known as Super Lap or Tuner Battles) originated in Japan when the tuning media organized the event on race circuits such as Tsukuba Circuit, where it commonly occurs, as a proving ground for street tuned cars built at a large budget by highly respected tuning companies. As a result of the quick rise in popularity, tuners developed cars especially to use to beat the competition, [http://www.timeattack.co.uk/faq.asp Time Attack FAQ's] ] including the purpose built HKS CT230R Lancer Evolution, with its body made entirely out of carbon fiber. The Lancer Evo is the OEM chassis Time Attack record holder at Tsukuba which it still holds to this day.

Unlike other timed motorsport disciplines such as sprinting and hillclimbing, the car is required to start off under full rolling start conditions following a warm up lap where they will have to accelerate out as fast as possible to determine how fast they enter their timed lap. Commonly, as cars consists of modified roadgoing cars, cars are required to wear tires authorized for road use and in all, drivers are allocated to three laps in a final event run; warm-up, timed and cool-down.

Largely as a result of the popularity of the tuning industry, the name appears as a category for modified production vehicles at the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb utilizing Time Attack regulations which allows aftermarket modifications to the car and is split into two categories (2WD and 4WD). [ [http://www.ppihc.com/content.aspx?tabid=2&contentid=165 PPIHC Content Page ] ] [ [http://www.artemisimages.com/big/2008RULEBOOK.pdf 2008 PPIHC Regulation] ]

National Auto Sport Association Time Trial Series is a National auto competition program, utilizing Regional series based on a time trial style format, with rules that establish car classifications to provide a contest of driver skill. NASA TT is designed to bridge the gap between NASA HPDE (High Performance Driving Events), and wheel-to-wheel racing.

NASA TT provides a venue for spirited on-track competition with a high degree of both safety and convenience. NASA TT competition will take place during NASA HPDE-4 sessions or in separate TT run groups, depending on the event schedule and number of participants. In addition to having a set of National NASA TT Rules, the rules, safety guidelines, and driving requirements of the HPDE-4 program apply to NASA TT. These rules can be found in the NASA CCR (Club Codes and Regs).

Videogame

Many computer and video games include a time attack (or time trial) mode, in which the main goal is to complete levels — or, in some cases, the entire game — as quickly as possible. This mode prioritizes completion time ahead of other measures of success such as high scores. In cases where a game does not have a dedicated time attack or trial mode, a fast completion is frequently known as a speedrun.

Usually the best results achieved in a time attack mode are stored in long-term memory by the game (on a hard disk or non-volatile memory), so they can be shared with friends or improved upon at a later date. Racing games often feature ghost cars which are saved when the player sets a record time. In subsequent races, the ghost car follows the path the player took when setting that record, allowing them to clearly gauge how they are performing against the previous achievement. Often saved ghost cars can be shared with other players.

The inclusion of a time attack mode can often be an effective way of adding replay value to a game. Racing games may also include ghost cars recorded by the development staff — attempting to beat their times can provide a final challenge to players who have mastered the rest of the game. Often the game provides other incentives to use the time attack feature; "GoldenEye 007", a first-person shooter on the Nintendo 64, encouraged players to revisit levels more than once by offering unlockable cheat options as a reward for completing them within target times.

Sometimes the settings of a time attack mode are "locked" in order to standardize competition between players. For example, "Soul Calibur" features a time attack mode automatically set to two rounds for a win, the normal difficulty setting and a default time limit; but it also features an alternative Arcade mode, which allows any option settings to be used and saves record times separately.

Both speedrunning and time attacking have extensive online communities dedicated to achieving the fastest times possible.

References

ee also

*Speedrun
*High score
*Time trial

External links

Many websites have been created so that players of video games can compete against each other for fast times and high scores. Some of these are listed below.

Time attack and high-score sites

* [http://www.cyberscore.net Cyberscore] - High score and time attack competition for many games.
* [http://www.twingalaxies.com/ Twin Galaxies] - The closest thing to an official video game world record authority.
* [http://bisqwit.iki.fi/nesvideos/ Tool-assisted speedruns] - Speedruns that are Tool-assisted and created to be as perfect as possible.
* [http://www.recordedamigagames.org/ Recorded Amiga Games] - Speedrun, Timeattack, Highscore videos of Amiga games.

Game-specific sites

* [http://www.mrfixitonline.com/fzeroHome.asp "F-Zero" series]
* [http://www.the-elite.net/ The Elite] - "GoldenEye 007" and "Perfect Dark"
* "Mario Kart" series
** [http://mariokart64.com/ "Mario Kart 64"]
** [http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/aa/english/mariokart/ranking/ "Mario Kart DS Arcade Ranking"]
* [http://www.soniccenter.org/ The Sonic Center] - "Sonic the Hedgehog" series
* [http://megaman.soniccenter.org/ The MegaMan Center] - "Mega Man" series

Auto racing-specific sites

* [http://www.nasa-tt.com/Home NASA Time Trial Series official site]
* [http://www.redlinetimeattack.com/index.html Redline: Time Attack official site]
* [http://www.timeattack.co.uk/home.asp Time Attack (UK) - Official Website]