Hint: Wining an outrun:

Once you have found an opponent to outrun with, get in front of the opponent and get in the lead. Get as far as possible until the distance meter has reached its limit. If the distance meter starts to drop, it indicates that the opponent is catching up. When this happens, do a handbrake skid and turn the car around. Go back the way that you came from. The opponent will follow you as you are the one in lead, but he will take time to catch up, giving you an advantage to win the outrun.

If you are in front of an opponent but cannot seem to lose him, head toward the center of the city ( the area that has the five fountains ). Once there, weave through the fountains. Your opponent will most likely crash into one of the fountains, giving you an easy win. Note: Practice going through the fountains first before you attempt an outrun so you do not lose your money. It is easier to do this in an SUV because it will not reach a high speed before you reach the fountains.

This trick requires that most of the city is unlocked. Get your car and get on the highway that leads around in a oval-like way. Challenge people on the highway for a much better chance of winning, since top speeds are better and there are less turns than the normal roads (so you do not slow down as much).

This trick requires a fast accelerating car. Drive to the airport where you first start the game, Next, find an opponent to race. While racing the opponent, make sure you get into the lead then go onto a little ramp the leads to a road just alongside the airport. After going down that road, you should be at an intersection where you can go left or straight. Take a left turn, then go straight down that road, which should be a parking lot. Once your opponent tries to catch up to you and gets close to the intersection, he will go straight instead of turning. This will give you a large lead and an easy win.

Start race with a full bar of nitrous. Come up from behind your opponent and draft until the nitrous is full, then do a tailspin maneuver. Do this by clipping the back bumper of your opponent, which sends them into the wall or in reverse. They will end up facing the wrong direction, giving you the advantage.

Find an opponent and draft behind them until you have full NOS (for backup, if you have at least a dryshot installed). When it is full, pull up next to them. Wait until you can challenge them, then start it. Then, ram your opponent at the rear tire. Keep pushing and to cause them to wipe out and stop, or crash into a wall. Then just drive off on a long straight road and use your saved up NOS. If you do not win it, you will at least have a very nice lead.

Drive up behind a car that is better than yours and hit it from the back . Then, challenge it and start to drive away. If the car is better than yours, it has better handling and will not take as long to get turned around and chase after you. This will encourage you to go at higher speeds and use more of your nitrous. Do not panic if you are going fast and are not very skilled. Just trust yourself and the car.

Use the following trick if you need to win the outrun modes for the unique parts. There is an easier way than doing it in the streets of the city. Get onto the highway of the main city (in whichever direction desired). Fill up your NOS gauge by doing near misses and avoiding accidents. When it is full and the backup is full (dark blue and light blue), find an opponent on the highway. Do not challenge any opponents if they are behind the concrete barrier that divides the road; only the ones on the side of the highway that you are driving on. Pull up behind them and position yourself for the tailspin maneuver by leaning your front against the opponent's side and back bumper area. Make sure you do not have a lot of your front and side on his back bumper, as you cannot spin him out if your too much on him. Look behind you from the outside view to make sure you are not too much on him (just a little). Then, accept the challenge and immediately spin him out, if you are successful, then hit the NOS. If you are not, pound the NOS anyway. You are still likely to win in about 5 to 15 seconds unless you crash. Do not go off of the highway. Repeat this process until you collect enough money and get the star for the unique item you need.

When doing an outrun, just before you start get on your opponent's right side with your front wheels in line with his back wheels. Then, start the outrun. When "Go" appears on the screen, turn left as sharp as possible, then bring your car under control and floor the gas to speed off.