Crash Team Racing shortcuts: All the hidden paths in Nitro-Fueled to get you across the finish line quicker

If you played the original, you'll know there are plenty of Crash Team Racing shortcuts to be found throughout all of the tracks in Nitro-Fueled. From the original Crash Team Racing tracks like Crash Cove to the arcade-only Nitro Kart tracks like Inferno Island, we've got all of the Crash Team Racing shortcuts in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled right here.

Crash Cove shortcuts

On the very first track in the game - Crash Cove - there's a cheeky shortcut right after the first corner that will earn you the Puddle Hopper trophy/achievement. Power slide round and get some airtime off the ramp for the speed boost, then go into the water and drive toward the ledge on your left. The sand at the edge of the water creates a small ramp you can boost up and drive straight over the hill, rather than under the wooden bridge. This is also required to get one of the letter in the CTR Challenge for this track, so make sure you perfect it!

Sewer Speedway shortcuts 

One of the harder shortcuts to execute in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is the Sewer Speedway shortcut, required for the "Half-Pipe Karting" trophy/achievement. From the start, follow the bend then take the right path through the sewer tunnel and jump straight across the gap. When you exit, hop left on to the raised edge, then halfway along the straight before the next turn right, cross the bottom of the sewer and jump off the other side, as if you're doing a skateboard trick off a half-pipe. If done correctly, you'll soar into the sky, high enough to land in a hidden passage above the course.

Tiger Temple shortcuts 

For the "Let Me In!" trophy/achievement, you need to do the Crash Team Racing Tiger Temple shortcut. When you know how to do this shortcut, it's super easy, but there's one pre-requisite: You need to have a weapon like a bomb or beaker to throw forward.

From the start of the race, drive normally until you reach the tunnel with two flame gargoyles. As long as you have an offensive weapon - everything should work except for speed boost and TNT/Nitro crates - you can open the shortcut. Drive directly at the bright gold panel in the wall on the left after you leave the tunnel, and fire your weapon at it (or drive into it if you have Aku Aku/Uka Uka) and the wall will open for a split second, giving you access to three Wumpa fruit boxes and more importantly, a method of shaving crucial seconds off your time.

Papu's Pyramid shortcuts

Papu's Pyramid has two shortcuts in Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, and you need to do both of them in the same race to unlock the "Pyramid Parkour" trophy. 

The first is after you go up the tower and round the bend with the multiple piranha plants. As you exit that section and before the next U-turn that takes you back downhill, there's  a hole in the wall you can hop through if you have enough of a speed boost on the go. If you don't have enough speed you'll fall to your doom and be reset though, so don't attempt it unless you're sure!

The second Papu's Pyramid shortcut is right after that. Before the three ledges that lead under the bridge, you can hop to the left-hand side and take a path that goes over the bridge instead. It's much easier to pull off than the other shortcut but has a much smaller reward, so you should be able to do this one every lap.

Polar Pass shortcuts

On Polar Pass, there's just one shortcut to hit and it's fairly obvious, but it awards the "Arctic Hurdler" trophy/achievement. You need to be going fast enough though; race about halfway round the track until you reach the cavern with two seals in, sliding back and forth at the end. Make sure you dodge them both and, with some turbo, jump off the ramp at the end and you can leap over the wall, grabbing a crate along the way, cutting out an entire U-turn. There's even a handy speed boost to land on if you take the jump sharply enough.

Dragon Mines shortcuts

Probably the hardest shortcut to correctly pull off in Crash Team Racing is the one for the "Minekarting" trophy/achievement, which requires you to take the shortcut without being crushed. If this sounds confusing, let me explain: Right before the wooden platforms that go up in a spiral is a mine cart track. You can make a sharp right turn and go up the track, then hop off at the top to completely skip the spiral wooden section.

There's two caveats to this though. The first is that this is where the mine cart enters the course, so you can be run over and squashed, which makes it almost impossible to hop over the fence at the top. The surface is also sand, so you drive much slower up it, making it almost inevitable that you will get caught.

I'd only recommend even attempting this shortcut if you have an Aku Aku/Uka Uka mask power-up waiting and ready to go, because it will negate both the slow surface and the mine cart. That way, you can drive up it normally and hop over the fence, just make sure you don't jump straight into the middle of the spiral section because you'll land in hot lava!

Blizzard Bluff shortcuts

Blizzard Bluff is the second winter map in the game, and there seems to be some inconsistencies with unlocking the "Winter Time Off-Roading" trophy/achievement. You need to hit all the shortcuts in Blizzard Bluff, of which there are technically three, but after hitting all three, the trophy still hasn't unlocked for me. Nevertheless, here's the three Blizzard Bluff shortcuts.

The first one is after you go past the rolling boulder. Pick up speed on the three jumps then look to the left side of the ice lake. There's a gap in the terrain; either power slide through the ice lake or use a turbo boost and if you get the right angle, with enough speed you can make the jump across the river, completely cutting out the bridge.

Right after that, you want to keep power sliding toward the left hand side of the track, because there's two very low fences that are both short cuts, although you'll need to tackle them separately on different laps. Both are are much easier to pull off if you have an Aku Aku/Uka Uka mask, but if you don't, you can still hop over either of these two fences at the right angle. 

Hot Air Skyway shortcuts

There's just the one shortcut in Hot Air Skyway, and it's a doozy. Race until the long spiral section, then right at the end, come off the ramp on the right-hand side. There's a shorter ledge to land on that completely skips a corner and allows you to maintain more speed heading into the next section.

Cortex Castle shortcuts

Cortex Castle just has the one shortcut again, and this is for the "Dungeon Vaulter" trophy/achievement. It's very close to the end of the track, so keep driving until you get to the section outside that leads into the small staircase. Head down here and round the next bend, then right before you go inside the castle again, pick up some speed and leap off the ramp to the left-hand side. There's a cheeky hidden path here that you can land on as long as you make the jump.

Inferno Island shortcuts

The first of the courses from Crash Nitro Kart has a shortcut very similar to Crash Cove. Unfortunately there's no trophies or achievements for any of these shortcuts from Crash Nitro Kart, but they'll still help you win the race! Right at the start, as you get to the end of the wooden bridge, look to the left and you'll see a small dip. Jump off the end of it like a ramp and you can land on the small grassy ledge above, to cut out an entire corner of the track.

Jungle Boogie shortcuts

At the very beginning of Jungle Boogie, stick to the right-hand side of the track and after you go down the first ledge, you can leap on to a ledge that hugs the wall around the U-turn. Power slide through this to keep ahead of the competition, then keep racing until you reach the turbo pad at the start of the wooden flooring. Go round the first bend and off the lip, then stick to the left-hand side because right after the four weapon crates, there's an alternate path you can land on if you jump high enough to the left. Power slide round here and you should have a considerable lead!

Clockwork Wumpa shortcuts

For the Clockwork Wumpa shortcut in Crash Team Racing, race until you pass the enormous gear that can crush you, then right after that you'll see a series of three gears angled upwards. You can jump across all of these for one shortcut, then shortly after, there's a ramp on the right-hand side of the track. Drive up it and leap on to the hanging path above the main course for another shortcut for some serious seconds shaved off your time.

Android Alley shortcuts

Android Alley is one of the longer tracks in the game, and it's got one major shortcut towards the end. Race until you enter the section inside a building that heads downhill, then as you come to the end of that part, there's a window for another building in front of you. With enough speed, you can ignore the sign pointing left and jump through the window, smashing the glass in the process. Make sure you maintain the speed and you can leap back onto the track on the other side.

Deep Sea Driving shortcuts

This track has one very simple shortcut, much like Hot Air Skyway. Drive until you enter the cavern with the series of turbo pad ramps, then on the very last one with the weapon crates, drive off the right-hand side to land on a ledge that cuts out the corner and allows you to keep flying round at top speed.

Tiny Temple shortcuts

In Tiny Temple, you want to keep racing until you reach the part with the exposed wires that are electrifying the puddles on either side of the track. Go up the ramp and past the weapon crates at the end of this part then look to the left and you'll see a narrower, alternate bridge to hop to. If you have enough speed, jump across there and you can save a few seconds with the turbo pad at the end.

Meteor Gorge shortcuts

There's some serious time to be saved with these two Meteor Gorge shortcuts in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. At the start, after the U-turn bend, there's a turbo pad ramp; stick to the left-hand side and you can land on a ledge on the side of the cliff which has a weapon crate and another turbo pad on, allowing you to skip some of the puddles on the ground that will slow you down.

Keep racing after this until you pass the trigger crate that provides a turbo ramp, go through the next set of weapon crates, then take the turbo pad horizontally and jump into the middle of the lava lake. It sounds crazy, I know. If done correctly though, you'll land on a raised platform which will allow you to shoot off the other side in record time.

Barin Ruins shortcuts

Barin Ruins just has one small shortcut, and you need to be going at top speed to make it. Race all the way through the track until you go through the underwater tunnel, then make sure you're power sliding and gaining speed as you come out of it. Dead ahead is a box blocking an alley way, but if you leap off the small ramp with enough speed, you'll just about be able to clear the box and there's a turbo pad on the other side to take you over the finish line.

Out Of Time shortcuts

There's two shortcuts in Out Of Time, and they're both right at the start. For the first, you need to make sure you hit the trigger crate dead ahead to switch the turbo ramp to the right-hand side, then you can get enough airtime and speed boost to cross the sand, skipping the U-turn. If you don't hit the ramp, you'll slow down enormously over the sand.

The second shortcut is right after; hit the ground power sliding after the jump then on the next turn, there's a fence with some vines going across. With enough speed, approach from the top of the road where there's a slight incline, then jump across the fence to skip the next U-turn. This is tricky to pull off if you don't have enough speed so watch out!

Assembly Lane shortcuts

Assembly Lane has three quite different shortcuts. For the first, drift round all of the muddy corners at the start until you approach another corner with three weapon crates on the bump in the road. If you've got max speed, stick to the left-hand side and if you time your jump well enough, you can soar through the gap in the machinery. You've got to be going pretty fast though!

The next one is slightly more dangerous; right as you enter the factory you can jump onto the huge conveyor belt in the middle. Watch out for the machines stamping down though, because you can easily become a squashed kart racer if you're not careful. Jump off at the end and you should have saved some vital seconds.

Finally, as you make your way onto the thinner section which leads into a big jump back onto the dirt track, there's an alternate path you can leap to on the left hand side which cuts out an entire corner and has a bonus weapon crate.

Hyper Spaceway shortcuts

Hyper Spaceway has been changed considerably compared to the original version in Crash Nitro Kart, but the main shortcut is still there. From the start, drive straight off the huge ramp and into the first warp portal, then immediately jump off the cliff to your left. You should land on another road which skips a few seconds of this section of track and it's very easy to pull off, so it's definitely worth doing.

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