Final Lap (Famicom)/Gameplay

Controls

 * : Use the direction pad to steer your vehicle. Press left or right to initiate a turn in either direction.  Press and hold up to activate your store of nitrous oxide gas for increased speed.
 * : Press and hold the A button to step on the gas pedal of your vehicle. Also press the A button to assign a point to an attribute of your vehicle in the garage.
 * : Press and hold the B button to step on the brake pedal of your vehicle. This can be done while you are holding A down as well.  Also press the B button to remove a point from an attribute of your vehicle and return it to the store of points you have remaining.
 * : Press Select to cycle through the main menu options.
 * : Press Start to begin a new game, or to pause the action mid-race.

Vehicles
Throughout each race, two vehicles can be seen on the screen at all times. Player 1 controls the blue vehicle, seen through the view of the top half of the screen, while Player 2 controls the red vehicle, seen through the view of the bottom half of the screen. If you are playing a one player game, the computer controlled rival will be the driver of the red vehicle. Both vehicles have the same base stats, and only differ according to how garage points have been distributed to each vehicle. Note that it is possible for the computer to construct a vehicle with better stats than you are capable of as the player.

While you are driving around the track, you will encounter a number of the green vehicles shown to the right. These vehicle are also computer controlled, but they are much weaker vehicles than either the blue or red car. They really serve as obstacles that must be avoided and driven around. Unlike in many of Final Lap's predecessors, your car will not explode if you collide with another vehicle. You may spin out if you hit a vehicle too quickly. The same is true if you drive off the track and collide with a sign post. Green vehicles don't count as competitors in the race. The only competitors that matter in any given race is the blue and red vehicle.

Garage
Before each race, you are given the opportunity to custom tailor the specs of your vehicle to suit your tastes. You are given a certain number of points to distribute to four categories. You begin a single player Match Race game with 6 points, and you can have a maximum of 16. You get the opportunity to earn another point during every odd-numbered race, provided that at least one lap around the track beats the lap record specified before the race.

Each category can be given a maximum of 4 points. Be aware that you can redistribute these points however you see fit before each race. Just because you given one attribute four points does not mean you are stuck doing so for the remainder of the game. You are not even required to use every single point, although there are really no good reasons for not assigning all of your points to something. The four categories are as follows:

HUD
A set of information is always visible at the top of the screen throughout the race. The middle of the HUD shows the shape of the track, as well as the relative positions of the blue and red vehicles along the track. On either side of the map, stats about either player are shown. The first stat is labeled Time, and it displays how much time you have to cross the starting line in order to continue or finish your race. If you do not cross the starting line before time is up, you automatically retire from the race. The second stat indicates your current speed. "Last" indicates how many laps out of three you have remaining until you finish the race. Finally, the meter at the bottom of the HUD indicates how much Nitro each player has remaining. Note that this meter is the same length no matter how much Nitro you start with, it just shrinks faster or slower depending on how much Nitro is still available.