There are many, many posts about the Tempest storyline, so I thought I’d try to amalgamate them and save some confusion. Here goes.

What is the Tempe5t? — Tempe5t (‘Tempest’ from here on out) is the continuation of the CSR2 storyline. There will be new foes and familiar faces, as well as more challenging races and opportunities to win some nice new cars.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Relatively deep pockets to pay the license fee

• One car from each tier that you want to make ‘elite’ for each chapter of Tempest

• A very fast (and preferably very fast-accelerating) car to run the story races with

• Familiarity with tuning for various performance targets (Tempest 2)

How do I get started? — Once you are finished the first 5 tiers in the story, you will be presented with the chance to purchase an ‘Elite’ license. This is the start of the Tempest story. The buy-in price varies according to how much money you have, but should be between 1 and 5 million. It’s not cheap, particularly if you’re new. The actual buy-price seems to be based off your cash balance, so if you spend most of your cash before finishing the last race against Shax, your license price should be low.

I bought the License. What now? — Now, you will need to complete a series of time trials. You will be presented with a target time that you must beat. If you beat it, the car that you used will obtain an ‘Elite’ badge. This badge has 4 known effects:

1. It is visible to everyone. Flaunt that bling, baby!

2. The elite car gains a permanent +10% RP boost. You will want to consider making your grinding cars elite, for this reason.

3. You can neither sell nor strip an elite car. It will be part of your garage forever.

4. You cannot use an elite car for any future Tempest story races, or for future time trials.

I finished the time trials. Now what? — Now, you will need to choose a car to do the story races with. You will not be able to use an elite car for this, but any other car in that tier will do – stars, no stars, boss… doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not elite. Consider your selection carefully, as changing cars later on will cost you a fee in gold. You want a fast car, preferably one of the fastest in the tier, to give yourself the best chance of winning the boss car.

I’m in the middle of the story, and I can’t beat race #X! WHAT DO I DO? — Don’t worry. There’s no time limit on completing the story. You can continue to run the daily cups, trials, live races, ladders, regulations. Go make some money. Buy parts-cars and strip them. Upgrade your vehicles as much as you can, and don’t stress about getting it done in a rush. Spend some time in the tuning screen and see if you can squeeze out some more performance.

If you do find that your first choice of car isn’t working for you, then you might want to bite the bullet and switch cars to something that will. Gold is a little harder to come by than cash, but if you save the gold you get from winning, then you should have enough to make changes if needed.

Note that Tempest 2 added the additional challenge of having PP-restricted races. You will need to downgrade your car to compete, but by the time you get to the end of the story you’ll be back to full power. Tempest 1 & 2 also have 0-60 and 0-100 ‘sprints.’ You will want a fast-accelerating car to make these as easy as possible. If your car accelerates slowly, then you may need to spend some time in the tuning screen to tweak your sprint times.

I’m almost through the tier, and I want to win the boss car! What time do I need to beat? — The boss car times can be found here. Note that the boss will vary a little according to your car, and that these are the fastest known times.

DO NOT start the last race against the Tempest antagonist until you can beat these times, as the boss race follows directly after. If you lose a boss race, you will not have another chance to get their car.

I finished Tempest 1. How do I start Tempest 2? — There should be another elite license offer pop up on your map, just like Tempest 1. The same fees, time trials and story race restrictions apply.

I finished Tempest 2. How do I start Tempest 3? — NM has announced that Tempest 3 should be released early 2018.

What car should I use for <insert time trial>? — For time trails, I would say: Use anything that can beat the time. If you have options, then pick one that you drive fairly frequently so that you get the most future benefit from the +10% RP boost.

What car should I use for <insert chapter/tier>? — For the races, you will want to keep your ‘best’ car in reserve. This may mean that you need to build a different car for the time trial. DO IT. Don’t lock your best car out of the races. If you have the luxury of having multiple cars that can beat the boss time, then pick the fastest accelerating one.

If you don’t have a car, are desperate for suggestions, or need to build something and don’t know what to focus on, some solid choices for cars are:

• Tier 1: VW Golf GTI or Ford Fiesta. Both are easy to upgrade and will be quick enough once you get fusions applied.

• Tier 2: Porsche Boxter (gold) or BMW M235i (cash). The Boxter will be harder to upgrade, but dominates the tier, hands-down.

• Tier 3: Ford Mustang (cash), BMW M4 (cash) or Amelia’s LB M4 (boss from Tempest 1). The Mustang and M4 are easy to get parts for, since you can purchase cars to strip. Amelia’s M4 is one of the fastest cars in T3, and uses standard M4’s for parts.

• Tier 4: Aston Martin Vanquish (cash) or Nissan GTR (cash). Either of these will do nicely. The Vanquish ends up being a little quicker, but the GTR accelerates like a bullet.

• Tier 5: Lamborghini Huracan (cash) or Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (cash). Both solid cars. They’ll cost a lot to max out, but unlike most T5’s, you won’t have to wait a year for the parts to drop. Keep buying parts-cars to strip and you’ll be back in business in no time. F12 is faster, Huracan accelerates better.

Just because your car doesn’t appear on this list, does not mean that you can’t use it. Almost any car can beat the Tempest races. The only real consideration is – how long do you want to scrounge for parts before you can win? If your car is near-maxed and/or you can beat the boss time, then go for it.

Can I use a car that I won in Tempest 1, for the Tempest 2 time trials or races? — Yes. Any car that is not already elite can be used – with the exception of the ‘original’ boss cars. Only the T5 Shax’s Agera R can be used for time trials (not the races themselves). All other boss cars from the original storyline are not usable.

If there are any other questions, I’ll try to answer them below.