Planet of Death

2020/06/30

Guess I haven't updated this in a while. I was planning to move this content elsewhere but it hasn't moved forward yet. I'm still uploading videos though. You can find all POD playlists at https://www.youtube.com/c/NelsonMimuraGonzalez/playlists?view=50&flow=grid&shelf_id=4.

2014/08/15

This page presents Planet of Death, POD, a racing game from 1997.

If you're looking for my videos, check out the page Videos.

The Youtube playlist is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf2yslxcPQHnQsZ4Ia70_JtE5y0RdHthG

Overview

Planet of Death (or just POD) is a racing game released by Ubisoft in 1997. I started playing when I was 7, I guess, and since then it has been an addiction. At that time it was one of the first racing games I had played, and I found it quite difficult, even on easy.

More information about the game can be found at [1].

Cars

I only use the default cars. Of course I've tried the other ones, but I decide to stick to the default ones -- I don't like my opponents to use crappy cars.

Gamma: I like Gamma. Despite being annoying sometimes to control, it's quite a nice car, it copes well with low grip (allowing you to rise Acc/Spd), so it's an ok choice. I also like the fact that it is the car "envisioned" for the human player. You'll see that whenever you get another car, the opponent who used to drive that car will get Gamma. So, if you take AV1, Nitro will use Gamma -- and will suck with it. So, I like Gamma for the challenge. And the fact that 45 grip still is very drivable is definitely a pro.

Saber: I don't like this car. I don't believe it's faster than the others, despite what is said around. It's not stable, if you get hit from behind (and you will, mainly on hard difficulty), it's easy to lose control. Losing your handling at 200 mph is not funny and might cost a race (it has). So, I just don't like this car.

Scorp: Scorp looks cool and different, but it mixes features I dislike. It's not stable, so again, if you're hit from behinds, chances to lose handling are considerable. It's shaky, on curves and maneuvers. It's sticky but not like Gamma, so you can't lower grip too much, but high grip isn't that good either. I just think there are better options than Scorp out there.

Shivan: Great car, with good handling, considerably easy to control, despite a not so great stability. It feels a little bit heavier than AV1 on turns and such, and that's why I prefer AV1 over Shivan. However, it's a nice substitute, specially if you configure it correctly. I think you can lower grip to 55-65, a leave handling around 60-65. That leaves you lots of room for Acc/Spd.

AV1: One the best, in my opinion. Good stability and the grip behavior is just perfect, allowing fast turns without losing speed, and also allowing lower values for grip and handling. 90-60-60-90 is a good configuration. 85-65-60-90 also, and similar variations are great options too. On hard difficulty this is the car from the best/hardest opponent, Nitro, so if you get this car, Nitro will use Gamma -- and the game will be much easier.

Dopple: I think this is the second best car, only below AV1. Its handling and grip features are great, maybe even better than AV1. With relatively low values for these parameters it is easy to get a great car with high speed and acceleration, able to easily compete with AV1 and Shivan.

Bakar: Another great car, very similar to Dopple. It feels a little bit heavier than Dopple, and that's why I think Dopple is better. I like how it looks too, so even knowing that Dopple might be better, I end up choosing Bakar.

Arc: I can't say much about this car, I haven't raced with it so many times as I had with others. From my observations I think it's an ok car, quite stable, good at turning, but it feels VERY heavy. Even with high speed (180+ mph) on Beltane you might miss the pit stop platform. On Alderon, even with enough speed you might hit the wall in the first shorcut of the last section. This inability to perform certain moves made me avoid this car.

Characteristics

Purely based on observations while playing the game, I would describe the cars as follows:

Stability: If hit, what happens to the car? Cars with higher stability will suffer less effects than ones with lower stability. For example, if Gamma or Bakar get hit from behind their directions almost won't change. If you hit AV1 the same way, it might lose a little of control. And if you hit Shivan or Saber, they might completely lose handling.
Grip type: A more esthetic characteristic, it indicates the sound the car produces when sliding in curves or when hit.
- Grip behavior: This is an interesting characteristic. Sticky indicates how the car behaves in curves. Gamma for example, with 100 grip, is quite annoying to control -- sometimes it just gets stuck to the track and you can't turn it appropriately. In the end it's better to use it with lower grip. On the other hand, Saber and Shivan are "very slippery", so lower grip values can be disasterous.
- Aerodynamics: There are some cars in POD which behave differently from the default ones. Between the default cars, the only one that calls attention is Arc -- it's very difficult to get it to "fly" enough to reach certain platforms or shortcuts. In Beltane, for example, it's difficult to get Arc to go up the pit stop platform, even with high speed. In Alderon too, when performing the shortcut ramp in the last sector of the track.

Settings

About car settings, there are five parameters that can be adjusted:

Accelerate: How fast can you reach final speed.
Brakes: How fast can you stop your car.
Grip: How sticky/slippery your car is.
Handling: How easy you can turn your car.
Speed: How high is your final speed.

Each parameter can be configured from 0 to 100. Notice that if you put 0 for Brakes, for example, it doesn't mean that you won't be able to brake -- just that your breaking capabilities will be minimal. The same happens to the other parameters.

You have 300 points to distribute to these parameters. There are 5, so you can't maximize them. If you divide the points equally, it's 60 for each of them. 60 is very low, specially for acceleration and speed, and it won't be a success on hard difficulty.

The first thing to do is to zero the brakes. The minimal breaking capability is enough, and it leaves you with 300 points for 4 parameters, 75 per each in an equal distribution. However, I believe accelerate and speed must be at least 80, and ideally around 90. If you're going to compete on a fast track, such as Beltane or Road70, I'd say you need 95+ speed. On the other hand, if you're going to race a track with more curves you'll need more acceleration, around 90/80 (acceleration/speed).

A good all-around configuration is 80-70-70-80 (Acc-Grip-Handling-Speed). This is a good start, you'll be able to cope with curves quite easily while not losing control, as the grip is quite high. 80/80 for acc/spd is not perfect, but enough to get you to learn skills to later decrease grp/hand and increase acc/spd.

For cars with natural stability and good grip behavior, you can put more on handling than grip. AV1, for example, can be configured to 90-55-65-90 as an "optimal" configuration and

95-50-55-100 for high speed tracks. Dopple and Bakar also are great for configurations with lower grip. Gamma also, as high grip values actually are worse. 45 grip for Gamma is enough, up to 55 or 60 if you need a little bit more of control.

Presets

Based on that I have defined some presets or just "names" for specific configurations.

Default: The default configuration from the car (see below the values).
NoBrakes: Only redistribute brake points to the other parameters.
Optimal: An optimal configuration using the 300 points available.
Rocket: 100-100-100-100 configuration using the Rocket cheat.
Dural: Dural cheat configuration which is 150-100-100-200.

The NoBrakes preset is just for fun and for the challenge. Rocket and Dural use cheat codes with the same name -- Rocket gives you 400 points instead of 300 to configure the car, allowing to put 100 on each parameter (if you zero Brakes, of course), while Dural gives you a chrome supercar with higher values of Acc/Spd.

Defaults

These are the default parameters for each car:

If you're planning to race with default config, I'd choose Shivan or Bakar. Gamma is terrible on both Acc/Spd, Saber has low Acc, Scorp too, AV1 is quite low on both, Dopple is too slow, and Arc isn't good enough.

Tracks

I currently have installed the default tracks plus the official extra ones, plus the ones from "Back to Hell/Extended Time", and an additional track named Fallen. I have tried others but they weree buggy or didn't work at all, although they might work in your system.

Beltane

First track and probably one of the fastest. Well, maybe not fastest in terms of total race time, but in speed. It's easy to get over 200 mph, maybe reach 250 mph and even 270 mph with a dural car. Speed is vital, if you have to choose between Acc and Spd, go for Spd. On Hard difficulty I believe you'll need 90+, if you don't wanna be constantly defending your position against much faster opponents.

There are no shortcuts, but there are some sweet spots. I will use video #11 as main example.

First of all, right in the start, avoid the mess the opponents make in the right lane -- use the left lane. See 0:10.
There is an abyss in the track -- see 0:23. You can try to eliminate some opponents there. I did it on video #39, at 0:32, with Rage. See him falling and immediately losing a lot of positions. He's a vicious opponent, so eliminating him was at least a good move.
This jump at 0:32 -- it's possible to actually eliminate an opponent from the race. I'll look for a video (or record one) showing how to do this.
This wall at 0:44 and this other at 0:56 -- both are great opportunities to lead opponents into a painful hit. I managed to do it on another video, #9, at 1:17. See that Nitro is tailing me in the right side and I slowly lead him into the wall? Check the sound of the car hit.
This part of the race at 1:05, when you get off the tunnel. It might happen what happened in the video #10, at 2:26.
The ramps. Avoid them. See 1:10. Be careful when avoiding the first ramp, because Slider goes very close to it in the opposite direction. I hit him in other videos, such as #9 at 2:45. After hitting him I got hit by another car, and due to I'd say a bug of the game, it lost track that I had already gone through that sector, and I had to rerun it, losing a lot of positions. I also hit Slider on video #8 at 4:15.
The second ramp, 1:18, allows access to the pits. Avoid it unless you really need to go the pits. And be aware that you'll need some speed to reach it. And luck. In video #9, for example, at 3:25, I'm like 190 mph and still can't reach the platform. After that I took the ground access to the pits, because my car was completely wrecked. You'll see the computer opponents hitting the platform many times, even if they don't need to go to the pits.

This track reversed is basically the same thing. The only difference is the starting point -- it's in the same place, but.. well.. reversed.

Roc

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Nuke

Nuke is a quite simple track, without difficulties of any sort. There are no jumps, no obstacles, just pure driving and some relatively easy curves.

I'll use video #81 as example.

At 0:23 the first tricky curve due to the slop at the beginning of it. You'll come in high speed, the curve is sharp and the slope will make you lose a bit of control, but nothing serious here.

At 0:36, pits are on the right.
At 0:44 stick to the right of the track to save some time.

For the reversed track I'll use video #49.

Right in the beginning of the race, at 0:20, stick to the left and turn the wheel to the left too, because there is a jump there and if you go straight you'll hit the wall.

Pay attention here at 0:30 -- turn to the right!

Bank

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Pompeii

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Canyon

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DownTown

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Veitland

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Plant 21

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City

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Galleria

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Burrow

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Alderon

One of my preferred tracks. Alderon was one of the tracks available in the demo version of the game (together with Beltane), but it was the only one with shortcuts and interesting sweet spots, so in overall it was a very attractive track. It's much more based on skill than speed, although speed is important in some parts of it.

There is one shortcut and some sweet spots. I'll use video #5 as main example.

Right in the start, go to your right -- see 0:10. The mess will happen on the left, allowing you to gain some positions. Depending on car settings you can get to the first 3 or 4 positions.
The wall on the right at 0:18 -- use it to wreck some opponents. I managed to do so on video #19, at 0:25 (listen to Rage hitting the wall).
This part at 0:35. First of all, go through the left path. Try to align your car so that the curve in the end becomes very easy to make. Second, you can use it to eliminate opponents. I did that to Nitro on race #42, see 1:25. A simple hit and Nitro loses a lot of positions. He probably got stuck in that metalic ramp in the middle of the track. I think he lost like 5 positions.
The jump at 0:45 is a key point of this track. If you can't make it and hit the wall, you'll lose like 5-7 seconds to other opponents. If you avoid it and go to the path on the right (which is what Jos always does), you'll still lose 2-3 seconds. I'd say when you're about to jump you need at least 165 mph to make it, 170 mph to be safe (go to the left of the ramp), or 180 mph (jump from any part of the ramp).
The only shortcut of the track is at 0:50. When you're about to exit it, turn to the right so that you land your car facing the right direction, avoiding to hit the wall in the front or sliding too much your car. Oh, and the pits are on the right.

When reversed the old shorcut doesn't work anymore, but there's a new shorcut-like. For the reversed track I'll use video #64.

This jump at 2:17 can earn you around 1-2 seconds if you do it right.
This "almost shortcut" at 2:35 can earn you 3-4 seconds also if done right.

Sewer

Sewer is a nice track, used to be one of my favorites before I downloaded the extra tracks. It has some high speed sectors and others which require some skill.

For this track I'll use video #92 as base.

Pits are on the left and right ramps, at 0:11.

Be careful at this part at 0:30. Just before the slope, turn to the right to avoid hitting the wall.
This part at 1:00, there is a shortcut if you go straight ahead, but be careful with the obstacles (some orange blocks) which will drastically reduce your speed -- and you might end falling and losing a lot of time. Don't do what I did there, go for the middle of the lower platform.
That part at 1:10, if you manage to slow down an opponent he won't be able to perform the jump to get to the main track. Sometimes they get stuck for the entire race.
Here at 1:18 the usual thing to do is to make the U turn to the right, than go through the narrow passage on the left, and continue. It's also possible to go ahead and go around the blue structure, but I believe that going through the usual path is faster.

For the reversed track I'll use video #70.

At 0:54 you'll see some opponents getting the shorcut on the left (orange path). In the normal track I do believe it's faster to get this shortcut, but on the reversed track I think it's slower. Go through the main path instead.

Just for curiosity, at 1:20 it's possible to go under that orange ramp and enter the tunnel with blue walls. But it's easier and even faster to use the main path.

Cocoon

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Azthec

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Babelweb

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Factory

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Iceberg

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Lake

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Loon

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Magnetic

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Megapol

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Mine

I don't like this track that much. Most of it is inside, well, a mine (thus the name of the track). The, let's say "ceiling" of the track is very low, so the vision of the car gets a little compromised. In terms of driving there are many "traps", and if you're not careful you're going to hit a lot of walls.

I'll use video #63 as example.

First "trap" at 0:33. Go to fast on a straight line here and you'll hit your first wall. Turn right just before the jump and you'll be fine.
Second "trap" at 0:38. If you miss the curve you'll get stuck in that orange metalic structure.

Third "trap" at 1:10. Again you can get stuck. Notice that so far I'm only mentioning the major traps, because there are more -- many more.
Last major "trap" at 1:16. It's possible to be tangent to the curves, but I rarely get it right, either because I'm going too fast or because I just got it wrong.
Pit stop is here at 2:28. It's not the best pit stop around, so only go if you really need (like I did in the race, my car was completely wrecked).

The reverse track is not that different -- the traps just change a bit. Besides the usual ones, some worth mentioning are:

The trap at 0:35 -- and you're stuck.
The trap at 0:51 -- same type, same deal.
Finally, the one at 1:15.

Parking

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Pipeline

In my opinion this is a very difficult track. Not difficult per se, but the AI is pretty good at it. And there are some key points which depend a lot on how well you start the race. Try to overtake as many opponents as possible, otherwise you'll get stuck behind a lot of slow bad drivers.

I'll use video #67 as example.

At 0:48, to do the "loop" correctly you just have to go in a straight line. Do not try to change directions, you'll end messing everything up.
The walls starting at 0:50 are great to slow down some opponents. And usually if one gets stuck, the others will hit and get stuck too.
At 1:08, if you go in the middle of the track, there is a sweet spot (in terms of speed) to reach those red platforms. If you manage to get to them, you can save 1-2 seconds, avoiding two sharp curves.
At 1:15, pits are on the left. This pit stop is very slow, so be careful.

The reversed track has some interesting parts. I'll use #52 as base.

At 0:35, either go left or right. If you take the lane in the middle you'll jump two or three times, thus losing some speed (and time).
This part at 1:07 -- if you take the middle lane you'll go through the same tunnel-like structure you'd go in the normal (non-reversed) track. But if you take the left or the right, you'll perform a jump as I did in the video. After that, first take a right, then a left, and you'll save a lot of time.

Road70

I really like this track. It's like Beltane, but with some skill-based parts, so you can reach high speeds in the long straights, and test your abilities in the curves.

I'll use video #17 as example.

The jump at 0:30. Don't do what I did. Notice that I'm using a Dural Bakar, so I'm way faster than I should be. In fact, if you're really fast (I don't know how fast, though), you can do what I did at 2:57. This is a super-shortcut, it really saves a lot of time. But, if you're using a normal car, do what I did in video #16 at 3:00.
The jump at 5:14. Mess it up and you'll end up doing what I did at 0:45. I don't have tips here, really, there is one or two ways of doing it right.
This part at 1:11. You can either go left or right. I usually go right, I think it's easier to make the final part of it at 1:14, but I really believe it's a matter of taste.
Pits are at 1:23 and you won't lose too much time by going there.
This part at 2:20. Three options here: left ramp, middle, right ramp. I either choose left ramp or middle path, they'll end in the same place at 2:25. After that part there are a lot of options to go through the volcano-like scenario. I usually take the ramp at 2:30 and then the next ramp at 2:34, I think it's the best option and it's quite easy to drive through. That second ramp you have to be at least 160mph I think, otherwise you'll fall and lose some time.

The reversed track, in my opinion, is almost a completely new track. Check video #41.

The jump at 0:32. Computer opponents usually take the turn to the left, but I believe going through this ramp and then the one at 0:38 is faster.
Don't forget the turn at 1:10. Just saying.
There is some "special" ways you can perform the jump at 2:30 that will allow you to go real smooth, almost in a straight line.
Finally, this part at 2:47. Try to get some speed (100+ mph) and go straight, instead of falling as the computer does. This will save you A LOT of time.

Skyrace

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Special

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Spin

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West

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ZED

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Beach

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Fallen

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Hellway

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Difficulties

There are three difficulties in POD: Easy, Medium, and Hard.

Easy: Well.. it couldn't be different -- game is really easy. You'll always be faster than your opponents, even with a misconfigured car. I remember playing the demo version of the game back in 1997 or 1998, and we could only choose between Gamma or AV1 -- and the settings option wasn't available, so you had to race with the default configuration of the car. And I remember that even in these conditions, it was easy to win with Gamma on Beltane (we could only play Beltane and Alderon) on Easy -- and Gamma is 49/49.
Medium: I'd say this is an almost fair game. With a reasonable configuration you'll be faster than the cars and will remain in front quite easily. This is as boring as it sounds, honestly.
Hard: The only difficulty level you should be playing on. Opponents are fast and vicious, which makes it hard to overtake them and even harder to keep positions. You'll notice that when you're behind them the real speed is equal to the speed shown in the speedometer. But if the opponent is behind you, he'll be around 20-30 mph faster that what is being shown. This means that if you're at 200 mph and your opponent is behind you at 190 mph, in terms of game he'll be faster than you. I got to this 20-30 range by observation (Beltane is good for that), I noticed that if I'm 20-30 mph faster than an opponent which is behind me, our actual speeds are leveled. Oh, and you can only compete using the Sector damage system (unless you use cheats).

The opponent names (according to the first track, Beltane) and their colors for each car and difficulty level are:

For hard difficulty I'll analyze how each opponent behaves in general:

Nitro: Nitro is the boss. With AV1 it's a very hard opponent to beat, and even with Gamma (in case you get AV1 yourself) it's quite challenging. Nitro usually will beat the other opponents in terms of skill, which in the end is much more important than raw car parameters (speed, acceleration, grip). There are some tracks this hegemony becomes clear. In Alderon for example, Nitro is much better than the others, and if you let him lead the race he can go up to 10 seconds in front of the second. The AV1 Nitro is the hardest opponent in POD.
Toshio: Toshio is a very aggressive opponent. It would be tougher if he used a better car, but as he uses Saber, it's easy to get him off track. Anyways, Toshio usually will try to overtake you by flanking, but he won't go as far as Rage in this process. On the other hand, Toshio is quite good at holding his position, although again the car doesn't help a lot. There are many tracks that Toshio uses Bakar instead of Saber, which in my opinion makes him a little bit harder to beat.
Val: Val is very skilled (I'd say almost like Nitro), but not so aggressive. He'll alternate between Shivan and Bakar most of the times, but I think that with Shivan he's a tougher opponent. In some tracks he might be even better than Nitro, such as Pompeii.
Jos: Jos is ridiculous. He'll usually get Arc, he's not even a little bit aggressive (meaning that it's very simple to hold your position if he's behind you), and not very skilled (meaning that he won't use all shortcuts, his turns are not so precise, and so on). A easily beatable opponent.
Antonio: Antonio is a well-balanced opponent. It's quite skilled (although not like Nitro or Val), sufficiently aggressive, and can be quite surprising too (like in Beltane, in the starting line). His car is good too (usually Dopple), and that helps a lot.
Rage: Rage is the most aggressive opponent. He'll try anything to overtake you, as you might observe in some of my videos. In Beltane it's easy to observe that -- he'll totally get off this waypoints just to overtake you, and you can use that to your advantage, like throwing him into an abyss or making him hit a wall. This aggressiveness combined with the higher speeds the computer opponents can achieve makes quite a combination.
Slider: Slider is your teammate, if that makes any difference. He's not so aggressive nor skilled, so he's an easy opponent to beat. He'll usually drive Bakar or Shivan, sometimes Saber too.

Damage

There are three damage systems:

Off: No damage at all. This is available only on Easy difficulty.

Global: Damage will be global to the car -- you can't hurt specific parts of the car, unlike Sector system.
- Sector: Damage can be specific to a part of the vehicle. For example, if you hit your front 3-4 times, you'll get a orange block, meaning that that part of the car has moderate damage. Hit it more times and it'll get red, with severe damage. Orange and red blocks mainly compromise acceleration and speed.

Strategies

Not exactly strategies, but tips and tricks. These are mostly focused on Hard difficulty, although they can be applied to other difficulties (don't know why, though, as they are too easy anyway).

Configure your car. Properly. If you are just fooling around, it's ok to try the default parameters and so on. But if you're competing on a championship and it's looking forward to winning, then at least try something robust that should work, such as a
80-70-70-80 or a 90-60-60-90. The first option is safer, easier to drive, but not as fast as the second. The first is more suitable to skill-based tracks, such as Alderon, Veitland, Sewer, while the second is better for speed-based tracks, such as Beltane, Road70, maybe Spin.
Yes, there might be one configuration for each car-track combination. But 1) you can't save 16 (or 32, or more) configurations per car -- there are only 5 or 6 slots, I don't remember now. I usually save just one and then adjust it depending on the track. Don't worry about finding perfect car-track combinations -- stick to basics, then adjust when you feel it's the right thing to do. For example, if you save a basic 80-70-70-80 and your next race is a fast track, reduce Grip/Hand a bit and put the points on Acc/Spd.
Be aggressive. Close your doors, cut the opponents off, because they'll usually be faster than you (on Hard difficulty at least). If possible, try to lead them into an abyss or some wall. When you're behind, see if you can destabilize them by hitting from behind.
But look out for your own car. Yes, sure, be aggressive, but don't destroy your own car in the process. Especially if you're leveled, one beside the other, if you start hitting each other it's easy to get the four front damage blocks orange and even red. Four orange blocks already are very annoying, your car will be very slow. Four reds and you're out of race, look for the pit stop immediately. So, yes, try to eliminate opponents and overtake them, but do not destroy your car while doing so.
Master the curves. This means making the most of every millisecond possible, especially on curves. The closer you are from the wall when in a curve, the faster you'll be. Of course, do not hit the wall, otherwise you'll lose speed. Better adjusted cars (Grip/Hand basically) will allow you to be more aggressive on curves. Breaking will help too, but don't worry about putting any points on Brakes.
Manage pit stops. Two front oranges it's not enough motive to go to the pit stop. Unless it is a fast pit stop, such as Roc (which is actually faster to go through the pit stop, bot normal and reversed track). But you usually will lose like 3-6 seconds when going to the pit, so only go if you really need it. Another point is related to championships. When your car is damaged, the damage will be "passed" to the next race, and accumulated damage is a pain. If you know the tracks, see if it's better to go to the pits in the current race or if it's better to wait for the next track. For example, if you're in first place in Beltane and your car is damaged, maybe you should wait for the next race, Roc, whose pit is great, to repair your car.

Installation

This section will cover the installation of POD in modern systems. This guide is based on [2] and on what worked for me.

Customization

This section will cover POD customization -- adding tracks and cars.

Misc

Some screenshots and text about other parts of the game, such as interfaces and commands.

Interfaces

Commands

Cheats

Bugs

History

References

[1]

[2]

[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_Death

http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/POD/POD-English/pod-english.html

http://www.thebasingers.com/0706milbs/pod/