Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – Time Trial and S-Rank Guide
Master the Time Trials in Sonic Racing CrossWorlds with our guide. We break down advanced driving techniques like Snaking and Soft Drifting, detail the best gadget builds, and provide a full list of all S-Rank time requirements.
A Complete Guide to Time Trials, Advanced Techniques, and Getting All S-Ranks.
Mastering the Time Trials
Time Trials are the ultimate test of your racing skill in Sonic Racing CrossWorlds. It’s just you, the track, and the clock. If you’re looking to climb the leaderboards and snag every S-Rank, you’ll need to master the game’s deepest mechanics.
This guide covers the advanced driving techniques, the best gadget loadouts (both the easy meta and the fun ones), and all the times you’ll need to beat for those sweet, sweet S-Ranks. Let’s get into it.
Advanced Driving Techniques
To truly cut down your times, you need to go beyond basic drifting. These are the core techniques the pros use.
Snaking: This is a classic technique where you drift in a continuous S-shape down straight sections of the track. By constantly chaining small drifts, you can charge your boost gauge even when there are no turns, giving you a massive speed advantage.
Soft Drifting: If you feel like your drift gauge is charging too slowly, you’re probably not Soft Drifting. Instead of holding a direction while you drift, try releasing all directional input. Your gauge will fill much faster, and you’ll still be able to steer through gentle turns.
Jump Drifting: Facing a sharp turn immediately after a jump? The big brain move is to start your drift before you even leave the ramp. This lets you land with a pre-charged boost, allowing you to take the corner at a much higher speed. Just be aware this doesn’t work on “autoscroller” jumps.
Gadget Builds: The Easy Way vs. The Fun Way
Gadgets are the single most important part of your Time Trial build. Your choice here is a big one: do you want to use the ridiculously overpowered meta build, or a more engaging, skill-based loadout?
The Meta Build (The Easy, ‘Broken’ Way)
Let’s be real, there’s a build that completely breaks the game’s balance. The Ring Gain Boost gadgets are so OP that they make most other strategies obsolete.
This build is simple: equip Ring Gain Boost and Ring Gain Mini Boost. For your third slot, add any other gadget that gives you rings (like Air Trick Bounty or Dash Panel Bounty). The more rings you get, the faster you go, to the point where you barely need to drift on some tracks to get an S-Rank.
Skill-Based Builds (The Fun Way)
If you actually want to engage with the game’s mechanics and earn your S-Ranks through skill, these are the gadgets you should be looking at.
| Gadget Name | Best For |
| Drift Charge Kit | The best all-in-one gadget for improving your drift game. |
| Counter Quick Charge | A high-skill gadget that massively rewards players who can drift switch. |
| Air Trick Expert + Bounty | A perfect combo for tracks with long jumps and lots of airtime. |
| Perfect Charge Boost | Gives you a speed boost for perfectly timed drift releases. |
All S-Rank Time Requirements
Here are the times you need to beat to earn S-Ranks on every track for both the “Sonic Speed” and “Super Sonic Speed” difficulties.
Main Tracks S-Rank Times
| Track | S Rank (Sonic Speed) | S Rank (Super Sonic Speed) |
| E-Stadium | 2:16.000 | 2:00.500 |
| Rainbow Garden | 2:26.000 | 2:00.500 |
| Water Palace | 2:41.000 | 2:19.000 |
| Metal Harbor | 2:37.000 | 2:18.000 |
| Sand Road | 2:27.000 | 2:07.500 |
| Colorful Mall | 2:15.000 | 2:00.000 |
| Mystic Jungle | 2:01.000 | 1:44.000 |
| Apotos | 2:19.000 | 2:00.000 |
| Wonder Museum | 2:42.000 | 2:23.000 |
| Crystal Mine | 2:26.000 | 2:05.000 |
| Ocean View | 2:26.000 | 2:02.000 |
| Pumpkin Mansion | 2:43.000 | 2:18.500 |
| Urban Canyon | 2:36.000 | 2:18.000 |
| Market Street | 2:11.000 | 1:51.500 |
| Coral Town | 2:02.000 | 1:47.000 |
| Blizzard Valley | 2:45.000 | 2:22.500 |
| Radical Highway | 3:01.000 | 2:42.000 |
| Chao Park | 2:22.500 | 2:06.000 |
| Donpa Factory | 2:21.000 | 2:02.500 |
| Aqua Forest | 2:37.500 | 2:16.500 |
| Eggman Expo | 2:49.000 | 2:27.000 |
| Kronos Island | 2:55.000 | 2:30.000 |
| Northstar Islands | 2:31.000 | 2:12.500 |
| White Space | 2:25.000 | 2:05.000 |
CrossWorlds Tracks S-Rank Times
| Track | S Rank (Sonic Speed) | S Rank (Super Sonic Speed) |
| Sky Road | 2:11.000 | 1:54.000 |
| Roulette Road | 2:06.000 | 1:50.000 |
| Kraken Bay | 2:29.000 | 2:09.500 |
| Golden Temple | 2:31.000 | 2:12.000 |
| Magma Planet | 2:26.000 | 2:04.000 |
| Hidden World | 2:23.000 | 2:02.500 |
| Steampunk City | 2:25.000 | 2:04.000 |
| Dragon Road | 2:44.000 | 2:25.000 |
| Holoska | 2:28.000 | 2:10.000 |
| Galactic Parade | 2:34.500 | 2:17.000 |
| Dinosaur Jungle | 2:21.000 | 2:04.000 |
| Sweet Mountain | 2:04.500 | 1:49.000 |
| White Cave | 2:15.000 | 2:00.000 |
| Cyber Space | 2:35.000 | 2:16.000 |
| Digital Circuit | 2:25.500 | 2:07.000 |
[Easy] Universal Build for ALL S-Ranks
Here’s the best plate you can use for any track. Good on all main tracks, extremely good on all CrossWorlds.
Just adapt it a little bit. If you don’t trick much, slap something else that gains rings.
The bottom row always stays.
That build bores me to death and killed my interest in Time Trial. For example, the S-rank for White Cave can be obtained without drifting or using any item. The World Record line doesn’t drift a single time.
Gadgets:
- – Ring Gain Boost
- – RIng Gain Mini Boost
- – Anything else that gives rings.
Vehicle:
- Don’t care. Speed vehicle if you don’t drift much, Boost vehicle if you do.
Character:
- Doesn’t matter. Just max out your speed, or boost if you’re drifting. That’s it.
[Fun] Universal Build for ALL S-Ranks
So, I know why you’re here.
I know what you want. You want the best build ever.
I’ll keep telling you to adapt your gadgets/vehicles for Time Trials during this entire guide, but… truth is, you can clear all S-Ranks with the exact same build.
Gadgets
- – Air Trick Expert (Technique Upgrade)
- – Air Trick Bounty (Ring Gain)
- – Drift Charge Kit (Standard)
Vehicle
- Front: Dark Reaper
- Back: Speedster Lightning
- Wheels: Dark Reaper