I submitted a hard difficulty run but I was actually able to beat it faster when I didn't finish first on the season scoreboard. So is it enough to qualify from each race including the last one?

Actually the rules state that the timing ends when the last race stops scrolling so do you even have to qualify in that last race? 'Cause I have a run like that as well.

It wasn't specifically stated as it was assumed you'd lose too much time if you didn't finish the Championship in 1st. This is more an issue in Medium and Hard. Yes, even if you have enough points you still have to finish the last race.

You could suicide the final race if you know you will win anyway, but I can't remember how that impacts the Game Over screen, or if you still get the Congratulations screen. If you get the end screens as normal, then a suicide will be acceptable, and would make for a new strat.

If you fancy trying again, please add a timer though, and gg on the Hard record !

Thanks! Yeah, I was just thinking that on hard with the 2nd to last and last level it might be faster to let the CPU win as they can take shortcuts but it's just probably me not being good enough to compete.

In other games like Metroid the rule is often that timing stops when you lose control but you still have to watch the ending until the score screen. So you cannot lose any race because then you would not get to the Congratulations screen. Otherwise the game would not be beaten. Getting first place would probably be a different category.

If you suicide would you get your current position if all the other cars are already destroyed or would the game place you in last place anyway? Because then it would not work, right?

I think for simplicity every race should be completed normally, we should enforce 1st for Championship overall, with the final table being shown on the video. With rng, the player usually wins in 1st anyway after all the races.

The suicide thing won't work as you get put to the Game Over screen, with no Congratulations, so technically you're not finishing the races. This does not mean every race needs to be finished 1st of course, as long as you finish 5th or above as normal.