User blog:JustToothpick/Asphalt 8 Strategies for Beginners

I've been on this forum for quite a while, and often would I see people asking which car should bought and with to avoid. Here's a tutorial of how you can maximize the effectiveness of your limited credit and resources. If you also have an idea, feel free to comment below and give me your feedback!

This blog is aimed for new players who have less than 10 cars, but some informations about car value below is suitable for any player.

Getting Started
As you first entered the game, the game will give you a Dodge Dart GT, as well as 5000 credits. At this point, most player will notice that the second car in D class, the Audi R8 e-tron, also costs 5000 credits, and most of them will be tempted to purchase it. (I was that player.) However, I don't suggest buying this car too soon, as that 5000 credits will have a lot more use as you proceed further. In addition, when comparing the two cars, the Dart GT actually has higher pure top speed. As both cars are slow and have very short nitro duration, neither of which can sustain top speed with nitro constantly on, and hence the nitro isn't that important in the beginning.

After several races (make sure you obtain all 5 stars in a race), you'll have enough money to buy your first C class car. I suggest buying the Audi TT-S Coupe, and as what every player does to every car, purchase the first row of its upgrades.

Upgrading Your Ride
After dozens of races completed, you may notice that it's getting harder and harder to keep up with AI cars. That's when it's time to buy another car in the same class of your original cars. I suggest purchasing the Mini Cooper S Roadster for your second D class car, since it's the strongest car in lower-mid D class, with very efficient nitro of its rank. As for C class further on, the Lotus Exige S Roadster serves as a great follow-up car. Both Mini Cooper and Exige can complete all the D and C class only races with a bit of upgrading. Also, you'll be purchasing your first B class car at this point. Go for the DS Survolt, it's the best B class starter car.

As you proceed even further, here are the cars you may consider buying. One starter car for each class, and another being follow-up car for harder races.


 * D class: Dodge Dart GT (Free), Mini Cooper S Roadster (10000 credits)


 * C class: Audi TTS Coupé (9000 credits), Lotus Exige S Roadster (38500 credits)


 * B class: DS Survolt (8500 credits), Aston Martin V12 Vantage (53000 credits) or Nissan GT-R (R35) (62500 credits)


 * A class: Cadillac CTS-V Coupe Race Car (45000 credits), McLaren 12C Spider (90000 credits) or Pagani Zonda R (110000 credits)


 * S class: Lamborghini Veneno (140000 credits) (This car is enough for nearly all S class races.)


 * Note that players may purchase Ford 2006 GT instead of CTS-V, but that should be avoided, as the upgrade cost of the GT is substantially higher than regular A class cars.

Broaden your Playing Field
At this point, you probably already have a car or more for each class, and that's when you can consider moving outside the Career mode and start participating in Time-Limited Events (or TLEs for short), Multiplayer Races (or MP), and Mastery Mode.

In TLEs, players are given a certain amount of time to complete a race. The players will compete against each other with its lap times. For newer players, it's nearly impossible to get leaderboard prize (except for special cups where you can drive a car for "free tries"), but that's not one should focus on right now. There's also "participation rewards" for most cups like the Heat Cups. You can win them everyday for some extra credits, tokens, and Pro Kits Boxes. Details about Pro Kits will be mentioned later on.

Previously in MP, you can win free upgrades for winning streaks, but sadly, it was eventually removed as the new Multiplayer League system replaced it. Even so, you can still win some bucks with cars like DS Survolt.

As for Mastery mode, it is one of the most important race series for more experienced player. Like Car Collections, it offers a great number of free upgrades for every class. Now, one must be VERY careful with these limited upgrades. They are very important when it comes to upgrading many expensive cars (especially class kings), many of which will require OVER 300000 credits for even a single upgrade. If you completed a challenge which rewards free upgrades, consider avoiding claiming the prizes first. More details about Mastery Mode will be mentioned below.

Grinding Time (sigh)
Since Asphalt 8 is a free-to-play game, many elements in this game require A LOT OF credits and sometimes tokens. As a result, when playing to a certain level, a player will have to "grind (or farm)" for credits to further proceed in the game. This page provides very comprehensive informations about how to grind effectively. But here I'll as well mention some popular farming strategies.

To maximize the efficiency of grinding, player will need to purchase Double Credits. This doubles the credits you earn (obviously) from a race.

There's three efficient ways to grind credits: Season 9 Races, Mastery Mode, and Heat Cup TLEs. For a newer player (even though one will probably have over 30 cars at this point), the season 9 races are the most accessible among all three methods. To access a race in season 9 in career mode, one must have a MAX-upgraded car. In these races, the shorter the track is, the better the efficiency usually is. As such, races taking place in short tracks like London, Barcelona , China , Alps , Dubai , San Diego Harbor , Sector 8 , and Rio de Janeiro are more favorable. Also the lower the pages of the season goes, the higher the base credit rewards will usually be; hence, when choosing your car to MAX for grinding, one you usually prioritize A or S class cars.

Mastery Mode provides the most effective grinding method in game -- as long as the player have cars that are not only MAXed, but also PROed. To PRO upgrade a car, Pro Kits Cards are required. Players can obtain cards from TLEs, or purchase it directly. Since it requires a lot of resources to MAX/PRO a car, it's important that play chose the right car for grinding. Here are some popular cars for grinding in Mastery Mode:


 * Lamborghini Veneno (Alps) --> This one is the most popular grinding car in the community, as it is the also the most accessible.


 * McLaren P1 (Temple Drive) --> This car is only a bit harder to PRO than the Veneno, so it's also a choice.


 * McLaren 675LT (Dubai Rev.) --> This car is the ultimate grinding machine. It's one of the fastest A class car, and its Mastery race also provides an awesome amount of credits; however, what's nice comes with a price. This car is expensive to both purchase and upgrade. If you have save up some free upgrades, it's time to use it. It may require a player couple weeks or even months to fully upgrade this car.


 * W Motors Lykan HyperSport (Dubai) --> Just like 675LT, it's good for grinding, but also hard to PRO.

Finally, the Heat Cups. For very experienced players, it's the best steady income source. One can win almost or over 30000 credits, couple Pro boxes, and a few dozens of tokens every day, as long as one have at least one top-end car for each class.

Into the Realm of Special Events
After months of sweat, tears, and blood (probably not), you most likely already have over 50 cars in your garage, couple of which are probably MAXed. You probably have completed most career races. Now it's time for you to dive into the competitive world of Time-Limited Events, and the high-risk high-reward R&D and EDD. Here I'll only be covering the details of TLE.For full details, this page should further help you with the TLE, but I'll summarize the bulk of it.

Most TLE cup requires players to take part in with a specific collection of cars. There are usually one dominant car among it. Here's the list of some common TLE collections (Cars in bold are the dominant cars in its bracket):
 * Lower-end D class cars:
 * Dodge Dart GT to Volkswagon Beetle Turbo and etc...


 * ​Mid D class cars:
 * DS 3 Racing / Audi S4 / Nissan 370Z / 2015 Ford Mustang / etc...


 * Full D class cars:
 * Mazda RX-8


 * ​Lower-end C class cars:
 * Audi RS 3 Sportback to Range Rover Evoque Coupe HSE Dynamic to Audi RS 4 Avant and etc...


 * Mid C class cars:
 * Lotus Exige S Roadster to Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG and etc...


 * Full C class cars:
 * Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG Racing Series


 * Lower-mid B class cars:
 * DS Survolt to Mazda Furai and Ferrari 458 Italia and etc...


 * Mid-top B class cars
 * Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 2013 to Rinspeed zaZen to Ferrari 599XX and etc...


 * Full B class cars:
 * Mercedes-AMG GT3


 * Lower-mid A class cars:
 * Ford 2006 GT to McLaren 12C Spider or Pagani Zonda R and etc...


 * Mid A class cars:
 * Pagani Zonda R to Lamborghini Asterion and McLaren P1 to Savage Rivale GTR (The latter two are only dominant when Asterion isn't available.)


 * Mid-higher A class cars:
 * RUF RS 12 S to Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 and etc...


 * Full A class cars:
 * BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage (R&D and time-limited car)


 * Lower-mid S class cars:
 * Lamborghini Veneno to Mercedes-Benz Silver Lightning to W Motors Lykan HyperSport (Silver Lightning is only dominant when Lykan isn't available.)


 * Mid-higher S class cars:
 * W Motors Lykan HyperSport to Peugeot Onyx to Hennessey Venom GT


 * Sub-top S class cars:
 * SSC Tautara to HTT Pléthore LC 750 (This bracket usually varies.)


 * Full S class cars:
 * Devel Sixteen Prototype


 * Retro cars:
 * Ferrari 308 GTS / Lamborghini Countach 25th anniversary / Ferrari Testarossa / BMW M1 / etc...

Chart for the Value of Cars (work in progress)


