Crackdown Driving Skill
Some will argue that getting around in Crackdown can be done quicker in a vehicle, I disagree. Because of the agents ability to leap and run really fast at level 4 agility I actually prefer getting to most places within the game on foot. However, driving does have it's benefits, and there is nothing like mowing down a group of Shai-Gen enemies in the SUV.
Driving in Crackdown can be a lot of fun, but most of the fun comes later in the game once your driving skill rating reaches level 4. As your driving skills increase you can control vehicles more effectively, you can go faster, and in the case of Agency vehicles you will have advanced controls on each of them. At driving level 4 here is what you can expect from the Agency vehicles.
Agency Supercar
The Agency Supercar is cool from the beginning because it is so fast, but in the beginning it handles really poorly — you can expect this to get much better as you increase you driving skills. Once you ultimately hit level 4 driving, the Agency Supercar will have 2 turret guns which can be used by pressing the B button while driving it. It becomes quite satisfying to blow up enemy vehicles without ever leaving the comfort of your own vehicle.
Agency SUV
The Agency SUV is by far my favorite vehicle in the game. Even at the lowest driving skill levels it is the easiest vehicle to run over enemy gang members with, it looks really cool (especially at level 4), and once you do reach level 4 driving you get a special ability while in the SUV. The ability the SUV gains at level 4 is a jumping ability, by pressing the B button the SUV will jump slightly, pressing and holding it, then releasing it will make it jump even higher. This can be particularly useful when you are performing stunts, since you can prime the shocks just before a jump to achieve the maximum effect.
Agency Truck Cab
Alright, I have to admit this one. Even at level 4 driving I have found absolutely no good use for the Agency Truck Cab. Sure, at level 4 you get NOS (nitrous boost) by pressing the B button, but the Truck cab is simply too big and clunky to really do anything effective in the game. I considered mowing down enemies with it, but there really are only a few places you can do this without the threat of causing a ton of pedestrian fatalities, which will just hinder your driving progress. Plus, you are just a sitting target for enemy explosives. I rarely use this vehicle because of these issues.
Leveling Up Your Driving Skills in Crackdown
Run People Over
Alright, so now you know the benefits of leveling up your driving skills to level 4, but how exactly do you do this quickly? The answer is simple — run people over. Well, there are other ways (like races, stunts and trick markers), and once you reach level 4 stunts are the quickest way to max out your driving. The short and long of it however, is to run over gang members, since this will increase the driving rating the most.
What I did was to take the Agency SUV to the mini boss area in Los Muertos (the boss in the caged ramp area for vehicles). I did this before I killed the boss, this way there are a ton of enemies to run down without there being a threat of killing civilians. If you have a co-op player with you, they can even bring another SUV so when you destroy this one there is another on stand-by. There are a couple of enemies with launchers in this area on the ledges of the arena, so you'll want to take them out first, then mow the rest of the enemies down with the SUV.
Perform Stunts and Tricks
Once you do kill the boss in this area, you can still use it to perform stunts off the ramps. While you won't get as much driving experience for stunts early on, later in the game they give you more than killing enemies would, as long as they are good stunts, such as double barrel rolls, double flips, etc. There are also a few other areas within the game that have good areas for performing stunts. The best spots seem to all be in Los Muertos; one is the beach, and another is a rocky area where the rocks are formed like a half-pike.
Get Through the Stunt Markers
There are a bit more than a dozen stunt markers in Crackdown, when you complete them you'll earn driving experience. Early on, if you have a co-op partner, you can simply have them throw you (while you are in a vehicle) through the markers. Later in the game however, there are a few that simply cannot be done this way. In most cases you'll need to position a truck ramp in the right location to get through the trick marker. Some of them are really tough to get right, its a bit of trial and error.
Complete the Road Races
Finishing the road races, indicated by purple on the map, can be one of the best ways to increase your driving rating. One way to kind of beat the system however, is to intentionally get a really poor time on a particular race. The next time you do the race, as long as you beat your previous time, you'll earn some driving skills. This is best done on the first race marker in Los Muertos, since it is the shortest race. I think you have around 1:30 to complete it in target time, do it in around 4:00 the first time around, and then do it again continuously beating the previous time.
When you really want to complete these races within the target time, just watch the map as you are racing to see where the next marker is, especially near the corners, as they tend to just pop up at the last minute. If you aren't careful, you could end up heading in the wrong direction and wasting a lot of time. If this happens, it is often best just to start over. If you are near the end of the race and screw up badly, it is sometimes quicker to finish the last couple of markers on foot.
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