Energy vs Plasma / Boost vs Fusion – What's the Difference?

Learning how to manage your energy resources is a crucial element of your racing strategy and is essential for victory.

In this interview, studio director Garth Midgley explains the differences between the two main resources (Energy and Plasma) and the two speed upgrades available (Boost and Fusion) and gives some tips on how and when to activate them for maximum speed.

Energy is what you’ll need to trigger Boost, a kick of horsepower which you can activate at any time
Plasma is used to ignite nuclear Fusion, the ultimate acceleration which is 60% more powerful than fully upgraded Boost, but you need a full Plasma meter before you can activate Fusion
Starting and finishing a race with Fusion is the only way to achieve the fastest possible lap times.

Watch the PAX 2020 AMA interview for the full discussion

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNjCVdQ2oTM

Resources: Energy vs Plasma

1. Energy

Energy is a resource that you collect within a race and can be used in three different ways:

To activate Boost
To upgrade your vehicle
To activate abilities

Every player has 75-100 units of energy (This can be different per track) at the start of every race. If you use up all your energy (i.e. zero on your energy meter) you can still drive, but you won’t be able to activate any Boost, upgrades or abilities until you accrue more.

Energy can only be collected and used WITHIN the active race and disappears at its completion (i.e. it can’t be accrued, used or traded once the race finishes)

How to get it

There are 3 ways to collect Energy during a race:

Going through checkpoints
Capturing Sectors (by achieving fastest sector times)
Kinetic Energy Recovery (via skidding and braking)

2. Plasma

Plasma is a whole different resource which can ONLY be used for Fusion, so you can’t directly transfer or exchange it for upgrades and abilities.

How to get it

The only way to collect Plasma is by winning and owning Sectors (there are 4 sectors per track).

You’re awarded an amount of Plasma based on how many sectors you own, and how many laps you can hold onto them.

If you capture all sectors for one lap, you’ll receive;

If you own 1 Sector, you earn 1 unit every 3 secs
If you own 2 Sectors, you earn 1 unit every 1.5 secs
If you own 3 Sectors, you earn 1 unit every 1 sec
If you own 4 Sectors, you earn 1 unit every .75 secs

You’re also awarded additional plasma per sector if you retain your sector ownership for more than one lap. The increase in the plasma collection rate caps at three laps.

So the more Sectors you own and the longer you can hold onto them, the faster you earn Plasma, and the more you have to burn.

Speed Upgrades: Boost vs Fusion

1. Boost

The Boosters are turbines attached to your vehicle. Energy is consumed when your boosters are activated, and you can use them at any time if you have energy, giving you a kick of acceleration while Boost is activated and for as long as it’s available.

Keep an eye on your energy meter to confirm when you can activate boost.

Upgrading your boosters

Your boosters can be upgraded mid-race. Upgraded boosters give you more brute force but they also consume energy at a faster rate.

Each vehicle component starts at ‘Stage 0’ and has three upgrade stages, Stage 1 through Stage 3. Each upgrade stage is more expensive than the previous, and gives you additional power to match.

How and when to use it

As with all resources, there’s a trade-off when using Energy. Are you better off using it to boost, to get a quick hit of speed to help capture sectors, or are you better off saving up and buying a vehicle upgrade, which will give you a benefit that you’ll have until the end of the race.

Using boost is great if you want to capture, or defend, a sector time, as it’ll mean that you’ll get energy back whenever you’re in the sector that you’ve captured. But because boost increases your speed, which increases your downforce, it can also be used to increase traction and (if used correctly) stabilise your vehicle and get you out of trouble.

But if you use too much boost, then you can fall behind on your vehicle upgrades, which could see your opponents blasting past you without even needing to boost at all.

So you’ll want to use a mix of both, and keep an eye on your energy and your opponents at all times.

*More on vehicle upgrades in a separate article coming soon.

2. Fusion

Put simply, Fusion is like Boost, but on steroids.

Every vehicle has a small fusion reactor installed on-board, which burns plasma when ignited and creates nuclear fusion.

Fusion is the most powerful energy source, giving you approximately 60% more kick than a fully upgraded Stage 3 Boost, but plasma burns up quickly, so Fusion only lasts for a short while.

Fusion can only be ignited with a full Plasma meter (100 Units), and 10 units of plasma are consumed on ignition, leaving you with 90 units of plasma for fusion power output. So ignite and use your plasma wisely.

How and when to use it

You can make the most of fusion by following a few general rules:

Keep an eye on your Plasma meter to confirm when your Plasma is at 100% capacity so you know exactly when to ignite
Since you can’t use Plasma for anything else except Fusion, try and use it whenever your Plasma meter is full. Every drop of Plasma not collected is Plasma wasted.
There’s a cost of ignition (10 units), so if you’re going to ignite, it’s the most efficient to keep it on until your Plasma meter is completely exhausted
You’ll get the most out of Fusion when you’re on a nice big straightaway
We don’t recommend using it on tight twisty parts of the track
We also don’t recommend using it over jumps

Achieving Top Speed

To achieve the fastest possible speeds, using alternating Boost and Fusion is essential to keep on building on your momentum.

Firstly, you’ll want to upgrade your boosters to stage 3 for the highest power output along with capacitor storage and ERS (energy recovery) so that you can keep on feeding your boosters energy. Then you can accelerate and boost (while keeping clean racing lines) to get as much momentum as you can, and then ignite fusion for the ultimate kick! Then, once your plasma runs out, you’ll want to jump straight back onto the boosters again so that you can maintain that rocket ship momentum.

Achieving Fast Lap Times

To set the fastest possible lap times, you’ll want to be using Fusion before you start your flying lap (to get your momentum up, and then use it again towards the end of the lap to blast yourself over the line.

Depending on the track, this might look something like;

Ignite Fusion around 4-5 seconds before the start/finish line, so that you have heaps of momentum before you start your flying lap.
Use boost in the middle of your lap
Ignite Fusion again as soon as your Plasma is full (around 10-15 seconds before the finish line), to get your speed back up again.

Keep in mind that when you’re travelling at above Mach 1, your lines are going to change because of how much speed you’ll be carrying, so you’re going to want to adapt to that and use different lines.

Try to keep off the brakes and steering so that you can avoid wiping off any speed.