How to Train for Sprint Vector Before The VR League Competition

ESL and Oculus just announced their VR League Season 2 gaming lineup last week, with Sprint Vector named as the third and newest game on the roster this season. Sprint Vector (Survios) will be hosting an intergalactic esports tournament where 8 players per match will race around twisting and turning maps by swinging their arms to move and use boosts against other players in virtual reality to get ahead. The tournament will begin June 4th and will be hosted weekly at specific dates and times found on ESL Play (Check site on June 1st for rules and cup info).

If you’ve been racing through toxic sludge, leaping over pyramids, or using your special boosts to slow down or knock back other racers during Survios’ Alienware VR Cup or their Championship Intergalactica, that means you’ve dabbled in high stakes Sprint Vector competition. But are you ready for high octane esport competition?

If your answer is yes, here are some tips to help you go from a bronze player to a competitive Sprint Vector player before races begin June 4th!

1. 

   Stretch and warm up. Going straight into Sprint Vector with cold muscles is going to make your muscles feel worse later. Doing arm and shoulder stretches, neck stretches, and even quad and calf stretches before stepping into a race will help prevent muscles you didn’t think could be strained from being so active in a game. Doing jumping jacks or jogging in place to get the blood flowing will jumpstart a warmup. Stay hydrated, this is obvious and will also help your gameplay.

2. Practice in multiplayer. Sprint Vector competitions can have up to 8 racers at a time. If you’re shy, start spending all of your practice time in multiplayer. If you’re a seasoned multiplayer racer, you’ll want to increase the time you’re spending playing as a whole. Play with a friend or online buddy, this may give you the extra fire under your butt to push yourself harder. Playing in multiplayer is as close as you can get to prepare for real competition, so don’t hold back.
3. Focus on your arm mechanics. Practice running movements, jumping motions, climbing, falling, and drifting. Honing these skills will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your movements and get you better and faster times. Going into a game and having poorly timed jumps will work against you especially when there are sludge barrels lying around or uneven platforms to jump onto. Your competitor is nailing those jumps, but are you? Watch and re-watch the game’s tutorials. However, we hope you’re past that since you’re competing in an esports competition.

4. 

   Practice drifting around corners. This was mentioned in #3, but we want to make this loud and clear. Get your left and right drifting motions under control so you can slide on sludge and race around curves and corners without falling off the edge. Falling off edges instead of elegantly drifting like a badass will add time to your race and will make you look a fool in competition. All top players know how to drift, and you should too. If you want to be the good kind of extra, save up a missile and make sure anyone approaching a curve ahead of you gets blasted off. Just a tip but also a warning.

5. Aim to beat the fastest score on the leaderboard. We know that you’re your own best competition, and that would have been true if there weren’t people clocking in times like they were made out of speed boosts. However, mind those times and then try to beat them! Play each map, record your times, and see which maps you need improvement on. Write down what’s a struggle and what you’ve perfected. Then see how you stack up against the global leaderboard. You’ll get a good estimate on where your times fall that way and what you need to work on.
6. Wear a weighted vest. Do not do this unless you’ve already incorporated this into your fitness regimen. If you’ve played Sprint Vector this far without one, don’t add one now it will work against you. It’ll only make your whole body sore and your arms won’t like you on race day. If you’ve already been working out in VR with a weighted vest, you’re probably going to do great on race day because of the resistance or additional drag that’s been adding temporary excess weight to the body. Removing it for race day will make your movements and reaction times quicker, and will have built up your stamina!  

7. 

   Learn where all the shortcuts are. Read our article Sprint Vector Map Shortcuts Every Vectorhead Needs To Win for a quick tutorial on the top shortcuts for 9 maps. Play and replay these maps after going through their tutorials. Knowing where to race to at the beginning of a race, or which areas to avoid will take precious seconds off your time.

8. Look ahead, look behind. Pumping your arms and racing around passages can make you get tunnel vision, where you only see the course or obstacle ahead instead of seeing the action going on around you. Not checking your blind spots or what’s going on in front of or behind you can add time to your run if you get hit by power boosts like a lag mine, prox mine or missiles. In esports, one run might be all that you get, so make it worth it and remember racers you’ve just passed or who have passed you, and the ones that you have slowed down and are out for revenge.
9. Watch where you’re shooting. Shooting missiles too closely to yourself can actually knock you back because of impact force, while closely placed lag or compressor mines can slow you down. Don’t slow yourself down and add time to your run. Plan for the placement of these traps and execution of projectiles by running past and then placing or shooting them, or by shooting at players or placing barriers ahead of you and then running past. If a racer speeds by sometimes it’s worth it to hit them even if you get some bounce back, just make sure you’re not unintentionally pushing them ahead of you.
10. Momentum. Motion, energy, and movement are what fuels competition in Sprint Vector. Make sure you’re using your speed gauge to get the most out of your jumps from platform to platform and your air brakes when you go from flying to falling. Warning, if you’re not accelerating fast enough and use a power-up like Overdrive, Chronoshift, or Nitro, you won’t go anywhere fast and it will add time to your run. Make sure you’re in the orange before you trigger your power up boost.

Remember, one run is all you might have to advance on to the next leg of the tournament, so be prepared! Have fun and good luck if you’re competing in Sprint Vector’s VR League tournament! Check ESL Play on June 1st for more information!