LEGO 2K Drive: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Looking for some beginner tips and tricks for LEGO 2K Drive? This kart racer, available on PS5 and PS4, is a great game for all ages and skill levels, but it still has some features that will benefit from an explanation. As part of our LEGO 2K Drive guide, we aim to provide some beginner tips and tricks for the game, hopefully answering most of your questions.

LEGO 2K Drive: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Below, we'll be going through all the basics of LEGO 2K Drive, which should get you off to a good start.

Controls

Here are the default controls for LEGO 2K Drive:

• Left stick: Steer
• Right stick: Move camera
• L3: Horn
• R3: Rear view
• Cross/X: Boost
• Square: Quick turn
• Circle: Use power-up
• Triangle: Jump
• Touch Pad: View map
• L1: Transform
• R1: Change camera view
• L2: Brake, reverse, drift
• R2: Accelerate

In the pause menu, go to Settings and you can change the controls between four different configurations at any time.

Drifting

Drifting is an important part of LEGO 2K Drive's, er, driving. By default, you hold down L2 to initiate a drift. This helps you navigate turns in the road, but it does a little more than that. When you drift, you will slowly build up boost — when you stop drifting, this boost is added to your boost meter. Put simply, drifting lets you use boost more often, and boost is obviously the key to going faster.

Gaining and Using Boost

As mentioned above, you can earn yourself more boost by drifting, but that's not the only way. For starters, your boost meter will slowly fill up on its own, but there's another way to get more boost more quickly: smashing stuff! Each map is packed with LEGO objects and vehicles you can drive straight through, and doing so will help fill your boost bar.

Smashing LEGO

Smashing up LEGO objects as you drive around actually has two major benefits. Again, it builds up your boost meter, but it also replenishes your vehicle's health. Particularly during races, your vehicle will take some damage, and smashing through LEGO will help revive your ride. Don't be shy about driving into stuff, then — but beware, as not everything can be broken apart. Buildings and other larger structures will stop you in your tracks, but most things smaller than that are ready for demolishing.

Races and Power-Ups

Races in LEGO 2K Drive are similar to the likes of Mario Kart; as well as drifting and boosting around each circuit, you also have a range of power-ups dotted around. These are vital for success, so it's worth getting to know them and what they do.

EMP

The EMP sends out a blast with a large radius. Anyone caught within its range will be slowed down for a brief period. It also gives you a shield for a short time.

Fruit Blaster

The Fruit Blaster is a bit like a machine gun, only juicier. It auto-locks onto opponents ahead of you, and can deal a lot of damage pretty quickly. One of the better offensive weapons.

Ghost

The Ghost power-up makes you invulnerable for a brief while, and allows you to pass through rival drivers and hazards. While in this state, you can deactivate it early. If you do this while you're "inside" another vehicle, it'll be knocked out.

Mines

The Mines power-up sends out two round mines ahead of you, which explode on contact with an opponent. You can also send them backwards by holding down on the left stick before you activate the power-up.

Missiles

Missiles is fairly self-explanatory. It sends out a large homing rocket on the nearest opponent ahead of you, sending them spiralling for a moment and letting you overtake. A tip for when you're on the receiving end of a Missile: if you have one on your tail, jump at the right time and you'll avoid it!

Square Wheels

The Square Wheels power-up does what it says on the tin. When you hit a rival with this, it'll turn their wheels into squares instead of circles, slowing them down for a brief period (and making them judder and shake, which is pretty funny to watch).

Teleport

The Teleport power-up sends you forwards up the pack, often making a dramatic difference to your position in the race. It's usually given out to those in the lower half of the field, allowing stragglers a chance to get back into the action.

Web Crasher

The Web Crasher power-up sends out a spider web that latches onto an opponent's view, blocking their sight and slowing them down. It auto-targets a nearby opponent, or you can drop it onto the track as a hazard.

Boost Start

Like all good kart racers, LEGO 2K Drive has a Boost Start mechanic. Before each race is the usual 3-2-1-Go countdown. During this phase, you want to hold down accelerate (R2 by default) just after the 2 appears. If done successfully, you'll get a little boost off the line.

Loadouts

In the pause menu, you will notice an option called Loadout. Go here and you will see that you can choose which Street, Off-Road, and Water vehicles you have equipped. You can mix and match whichever ones you like.

In the Loadout screen, you can create a maximum of three loadouts of vehicles. This lets you swap between sets of your favourite vehicles rather than going in and changing them individually each time.

Stats

Each vehicle has a set of Stats you should keep in mind when choosing which ones to use. When choosing a vehicle, these Stats are viewable in the top right corner of the screen. They are:

Top Speed

Affects how fast the vehicle can go.

Acceleration

Affects how quickly the vehicle reaches its Top Speed.

Handling

Affects how easy the vehicle is to steer.

Health

Affects how much punishment the vehicle can take before wrecking.

Weight

Affects things like air time, momentum, and the vehicle's impact power when hitting opponents.

Perks

As you progress through Story mode, you will unlock numerous Perks. These are special items you can equip that give vehicle Stats a boost, as well as other bonuses and effects. You can find and equip your Perks from the Loadout menu.

Perks come in all kinds of forms. As well as giving your vehicles a boost to their basic Stats, you can find Perks that have other benefits. For example, making it so that picking up a Power-Up restores some boost, or when your car is wrecked, it emits an EMP blast. As you make your way through the Story, don't forget to take a look at the Perks you've unlocked and equip your favourites. As you level up, you will eventually be able to equip multiple Perks at once.

Modes

There are several modes you can play in LEGO 2K Drive. All of them can be played solo or in local split-screen co-op. Let's go through them all:

Story

This is the main mode of the game. It allows you to explore several large, open world maps and takes you through a lighthearted story as you work your way towards the Sky Cup Grand Prix. You'll meet several silly characters, both in races and in the world itself.

You need to compete in races to progress the story, but most of your time will be spent outside of races. You can explore the environments to your heart's content, and there's plenty to keep you busy. There are collectibles to find, as well as quests to complete and other minor events to partake in.

Cup Series

As the name suggests, this mode is all about competing in sets of races, like a grand prix. Your position upon finishing a race dictates how many points you earn, and the overall winner is the racer with the most points after all races are complete.

There are four cup series to choose from at launch.

Race

This is the single race mode. Here, you can select an individual track you want to play and, well, that's about it.

Minigame

This mode allows you to choose a minigame and play it. At launch, there are six minigames split across two types. The first has you defending towers from waves of encroaching robots, and the second is about rescuing people from attacking monsters and taking them to safe zones.

Online Play

You can play LEGO 2K Drive online and compete in race events. Play with Friends allows you to invite people on your Friends list and play a private game, while Play with Everyone will put you into public matchmaking.

The Garage

The Garage can be accessed from the main menu or within Story mode. This is where you can build and customise your very own vehicles using hundreds of different, true-to-life LEGO pieces. It's a robust set of tools that allows you to create pretty much whatever crazy cars you want. The game features some built-in tutorials to help you get started.

For more on Garages, follow the link.

Unkie's Emporium

Unkie's Emporium is an in-game shop. Here, you will see dozens of items for sale, all of which cost Brickbux to purchase. Brickbux is an in-game currency that you will earn during your time in Story mode. When you have enough, go to Unkie's Emporium — either on the main menu or within Story mode — to purchase new vehicles, drivers, LEGO customisation pieces, and more.

It's important to note you can also spend real-world money here. For more on Unkie's Emporium, follow the link.

That about does it for our beginner tips and tricks for LEGO 2K Drive. How are you getting on with the game? Let us know in the comments below, and check out our LEGO 2K Drive guide for more.