Racing Modes in Crash Team Racing

Adventure Mode

• Adventure Mode is the single player portion of the game. First, players must choose one of the eight starting racers including: Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex, Tiny Tiger, Coco Bandicoot, Doctor N. Gin, Dingodile, Polar, and Pura. Depending what racer is chosen either Aku Aku or Uka Uka tutors the player. The player is then dropped in the starting area N. Sanity Beach. Players must race through all events and win to unlock the final event against Nitros Oxide. Players can earn a variety of awards to unlock new content for racing and show off their times to friends.

The different awards are:

• Trophies
  • Trophies are obtained by finishing in 1st place in a trophy race. Collect all four trophies in each area to open up the boss for that area. After gaining a trophy from one race, another one will open (with exception of starting with 2 open when you first enter an area).

• Boss Keys
  • Boss races are unlocked after obtaining all four trophies in one area. Boss Keys are obtained by beating the racing the Boss of each area. The player must beat the four bosses (Ripper Roo, Papu Papu, Komodo Joe and Pinstripe Potoroo) and collect their keys in order to race Nitros Oxide.

• Relics
  • Relic races are unlocked after beating the area boss. Relics are obtained by scoring the lowest elapsed time in a solo relic race by smashing Time Crates. These Time Crates freeze the clock for the amount of seconds shown on the box (1, 2 or 3 seconds). If the player manages to break all the Time Crates, a "Perfect" bonus is awarded, which decreases the final time by 10 seconds.
  • There are three types of relics: Sapphire, Gold and Platinum. Sapphire is the easiest to obtain; Platinum which is the hardest, requires the fastest and lowest time.
  • After earning all 18 relics, the player can then face Nitros Oxide again for an alternate ending. For a list of times to beat for each relic, scroll down to the World Map and Race Tracks section.

• CTR Tokens
  • Token races are unlocked after beating the area boss. Tokens are obtained by finishing in 1st place in a token race, much like a trophy race. However, this time the player must also collect the 3 letters 'C', 'T' and 'R' in addition. The letters are often hidden away or in hard to get to places or in places unfavorable for winning the race (or a combination of all three). There are a total of 20 Tokens to collect (four Red, four Green, four Blue, four Yellow, four Purple). The Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow Tokens are obtained by Token races; the Purple Tokens are awarded for beating the Crystal Bonus Rounds by collecting 20 Crystals within a certain time. NOTE: For the Token races; If the player does not collect all 3 letters, but comes in 1st place or if the player collects all three letters but does not come in 1st place, the token is not awarded.

• Gems
  • Gem Cups are unlocked after winning four CTR Tokens of the same color. Their warp vortexes can be found in Gem Stone Valley. A Gem Cup, played in an arcade-style tournament of the four races the CTR Tokens were played on and race against Crash's friends except for the Purple Gem Cup the player races against the four bosses on their home tracks in the respective order. Winning a Gemunlocks a character, corresponding to the Gem Color:
    • Red unlocks Ripper Roo,
    • Green unlocks Papu Papu,
    • Blue unlocks Komodo Joe,
    • Yellow unlocks Pinstripe Potoroo,
    • Purple unlocks Fake Crash.
    • NOTE: Penta Penguin is only unlockable via code input.

Time Trial

Time trial is a single player mode where the player races against the clock to get the best time. If the player gets a fast enough time, he/she can challenge N. Tropy's ghosts. The player has unlocked the right to race him when he says, "You think you're fast, eh? Well, let's see if you can beat my fastest time on this track!" Upon defeating all of his ghosts, N. Tropy is unlocked as a playable character in modes other than adventure mode. After beating N. Tropy, the player can challenge N. Oxide by beating a new set of times. When the player beats all of Oxide's ghosts, the player will unlock the Naughty Dog scrapbook in the main menu.

Arcade

Allows the player to quickly race on a selection of tracks against a selection of opponents with up to two players. Players can race on a single track or a racing cup in which players race over four tracks for the highest total score (which is 36). The four available cups in this mode are: Wumpa Cup, that is composed by: Crash Cove, Tiger Temple, Blizzard Bluff and Coco Park. Crystal Cup, that is composed by: Roo's Tubes, Dingo Canyon, Dragon Mines and Sewer Speedway. Nitro Cup, that is composed by: Mystery Caves, Papu's Pyramid, Cortex Castle and Tiny Arena. and Crash Cup, that is composed by: Polar Pass, N. Gin Labs, Hot Air Skyway and Slide Coliseum.

Arcade can be played on difficulties Easy, Medium, and Hard with only Easy being available initially. Unlocking the other difficulties requires players to beat every Cup on the previous difficulty, doing so also unlocks new maps for Battle Mode.

Vs.

Up to four players compete on a chosen track or across 4 tracks for points. There are no computer-controlled racers on Vs.

Some graphic details and textures are missing in Vs. mode, such as the mushrooms near the end in Roo's Tubes, making it easier to take some shortcuts.

Battle

Up to four players compete in a "Battle Arena" against each other using weapons (which can be toggled on and off) scattered around the area. Players can compete in teams or have a "free-for-all," to either deplete all of the other players' lives to zero, reach a certain score first, or gain the most points before the match is over. There are no computer-controlled racers in Battle. Parking Lot, Lab Basement, and The North Bowl are exclusive to this mode and must be unlocked in Arcade mode.