There are a number of techniques that pilots like you will have to master in order to compete with authority on the highest speed classes and most difficult circuits of BallisticNG. This guide provides a crash course in the fundamental concepts behind talented flying. If you want to do well, you will need to understand how to fly your craft to it's full potential.

The airbrakes on your craft are the two most important tools at your disposal.

Where steering is very directional and responsive, airbrakes will cause your craft to slide or drift as it turns in. When airbraking, the ships ability to turn it's body is increased, but it's ability to change direction is lessened (resulting in a sideways slide). When the brakes are released, the ship will straighten out.

Due to this, you can use the airbrakes either in very short bursts to sharpen your cornering angle, or in long slams that throw your ship into a big slide. On a hairpin like Marina's or Utah Project's, the airbrakes are used to face the ship towards the corner exit while the ship is still travelling through it. Utah Project is a perfect example of this due to the shape of the corner.

Airbrakes can also be used to rescue a cornering line that is too tight. If a player realises they are about to hit the corner apex, they can throw up an airbrake, and the ship will lose grip and slide past that apex.

When you release the airbrake, the ship will straighten up immediately, but it will shed speed in order to do so. The sharper the angle, the more speed lost. As a rule of thumb, clearing a corner with regular steering will always be faster if it is possible to do so - but the airbrakes remain an important tool for course correction and control.


Steering in the opposite direction to the applied air brake is called opposite braking. Opposite braking will negate most of the directional change from the steering, allowing you to maintain an angle on the ship that is different from it's forward direction.


This is most useful when the ship is not able to turn away from the wall fast enough to prevent a crash - if you're really commiting to a corner, you may find yourself in this position. The opposite brake will give the ship time to straighten out.
Touches of opposite brake are also useful to adjust the angle of attack as you enter a corner.

Your ship can be pitched up and down with the up and down arrow keys, or up and down on the control stick. Your ship will travel fastest when it is in line with the slope of the track; if its nose is dipping down into the track or up into the air, you will slow down.

This becomes important when dealing with sudden elevation changes. The tunnel section of Luna is a good example - the track starts to rise so abruptly that for a few moments the ship will be thrusting straight into the track surface. This is slow. Fast pilots will pitch the ship upwards, so that the ship is already in line with the surface when the rise begins. Pitch takes some time to adjust, so expert pilots will start the manouver early.

Pitch is also used to prevent the ship bottoming out. Carrying too much vertical speed will crash the ship into the deck - you will hear an audible donk and the ship will lose speed. Controlling your pitch to ease these descents can prevent this from occuring.

This is especially important on undulating track sections, such as Utah Project.

Hyperthrust is the final tool for pilots to push the boundaries with. Hyperthrust, or boost, will trade your shield energy for speed, to a limit of 25%. It can be used to push the ship beyond what it is usually capable of, and is best used in combination with other tricks, like jumps, or pitching. Expert players can use hyperthrust to shortcut sections of track.

Hyperthrust will push the ship in the direction that it is pointing. Pitching up will allow you to hyperthrust into the air a short distance. Combining this with the momentum you gain from rising sections of track and jumps can add to the distance. Aciknovae's s-curve is a good example of where this is useful, as the first rise into the chicanes provides enough momentum for a hyperthrusting ship to skip over the hairpins completely.

Because hyperthrust makes use of your shield energy, the pitlane has the effective role of recharging your boost. Expert players will empty their shield into boost and refill in the pitlane every single lap.

As a final note, the autopilot is a useful weapon to hold on to. While it is true that being able to navigate corners yourself is preferable to relying on the autopilot, it should be noted that the autopilot is often faster than a human player and capable of performing manouvers that a player would find impossible. In an arcade run, saving an autopilot for the trickiest passage of the circuit does not make you a weak player - it is actually categorically faster.