CSR Classics

Plot

The player starts off by being found by an agent, who recruits the player. The player then goes through a tutorial of the game, the player receives a sum of money sufficient for them to purchase their first vehicle, afterwards meeting the Race Official of the CSR Classics universe. The player is guided through the various events throughout the game, and starts challenging their first crew, the Authentics, led by Marco.

As the player starts to challenge Marco personally after defeating his crew members, the Agent approaches the player and explains to them her suspicion of Mr. Baledin, who recently became the top Crew Leader and purchased The Valentine, a massive casino. The agent's suspicion is that Mr. Baledin is corrupt, and that the crew leaders have some involvement with his reign of power. The agent reveals Marco to be a tearaway child and thief, being romantically involved with another crew leader, Kandy. However, how that ties to Mr. Baledin is yet to be known. The player proceeds to defeat Marco and the Authentics, progressing to Tier 2.

In Tier 2, the player proceeds to challenge the Thrillers, commandeered by Olivia. As the player continues to challenge Olivia, the agent tells the player about Olivia's background: Olivia runs a car show under the same name, which, after having experienced severe financial troubles, came to Mr. Baledin for a loan. However, the loan did little to help their financial situation, and Olivia's car show became in debt to Mr. Baledin. Olivia and her associates agreed to race for Mr. Baledin to make up for the loss. The player defeats Olivia and the Thrillers, moving onto Tier 3.

The player starts challenging Lord Aziz and the High Rollers, the Tier 3 crew. After having beaten Lord Aziz's crew and starting to challenge Lord Aziz himself, the agent informs the player of Lord Aziz: Lord Aziz inherited the wealth of his father, who recently passed. Being a large gambler, Lord Aziz lost all of his father's wealth playing Baccarat, and blamed Mr. Baledin for having rigged his Baccarat games. Despite now working under Mr. Baledin's rule, Lord Aziz highly despises Mr. Baledin. The player defeats Lord Aziz and the High Rollers, now having made it into Tier 4.

The player's next crew to defeat is the Tier 4 crew, the Lucky 7's, with Kandy being its ringleader. The player defeats Kandy's crew members and proceeds to challenge her. The agent shines light upon Kandy: despite her romantic relationship with Marco, Kandy has been seen multiple times flirting with Mr. Baledin. It is later revealed that Marco and Kandy performed a heist on The Valentine itself, with Mr. Baledin having caught the duo. Instead of alerting them to authorities, Mr. Baledin blackmailed Kandy and Marco into working for him. The player defeats Kandy for the last time and proceeds into Tier 5.

In Tier 5, the player starts challenging The House, which is under Mr. Baledin's rule. The player defeats Mr. Baledin's crew and starts to challenge the leader of the CSR Classics universe by themselves. The agent informs the player of a plan to arrest Mr. Baledin: the player would distract Baledin by continuously racing him, allowing authorities to prepare a trap at The Valentine for Mr. Baledin, allowing for an easy arrest. After defeating Mr. Baledin for the third and final time, Mr. Baledin is shown in custody. The agent then talks with the player, informing them that the CSR Classics league unanimously elected Marco to become the new leader of the league, vowing to ameliorate it. The player is also congratulated by the former crew leaders for their victory against the secretly despised Mr. Baledin. However, the player is shown a discussion between a now jailed Mr. Baledin, and a formerly unknown client. They discuss how their plan was executed perfectly, and it is revealed that Marco is on the other end of the line, is the true leader of The House, having adorned clothing to match the part, and, in place of Mr. Baledin, challenges the player one last time, with Mr. Baledin's prized AC Cobra MkIII on the line.

Gameplay

CSR Classics's single-player component is split into five tiers, with each tier introducing progressively faster opposition and vehicles. Before the player gets to challenge the boss for that level, the player must first beat the boss' crew. To move on to a new tier, the player must race and beat the crew boss for the level. After beating the boss of each level three times, the player will be challenged to a high-stakes rematch. If the player wins the race, they are awarded the boss's car; however, if the player loses, they must give back the prize gold won from the previous boss race. Unlike a traditional racing game, CSR Classics does not feature steering, braking or acceleration controls. Instead, the game focuses on timing gear changes and use of the nitrous upgrade by tapping the screen, in a similar fashion to a rhythm game.

When a player comes to buy a car, they can choose between unloved and loved cars. Unloved cars have no upgrades and are usually able to be purchased via the main form of in-game currency, whereas Loved cars come equipped with several upgrades, but always mandate the usage of more valuable in-game currency. Loved cars can also be won from Multiplayer via prize cars or by building them from car pieces, then purchasing the Loved version of it for a reduced price.

Races take place across a track extending a quarter of a mile. These events are split into several categories:

1. Regulation races. These races always have a set reward, but can be repeated as many times as the player wishes to. Regulation races are divided into three categories: Rookie, Amateur, and Pro, with the latter two categories being locked until the player progresses through the story a sufficient amount. Unlike other events, players can use vehicles from any tier for a Regulation Race of any tier. For example, a Tier 5 car can compete in a Tier 2 regulation race.
2. Ladder Races. Ladder races are a series of races formed akin to a league: the player must gradually rise to the top of the ladder, by beating computerized opponents that become progressively more difficult to defeat, with gradually increasing payouts. A player that can reach the top of the ladder is theoretically capable of defeating the leader of a rival crew.
3. Daily Battles. Daily Battles are races with a loaned car, with the player racing against a computerized opponent utilizing the same car. Daily battles can only be performed a maximum of three times per day, but the payout increases with the amount of consecutive days the player participates.
4. Restriction Races. Restriction races give restrictions of which the player must abide by, such as not being able to use nitrogen oxide, requiring to race with their car weighing a certain amount, etc.. There are a limited amount of restriction races per tier, but all give a good payout for the tier in question.
5. Manufacturer-specific and Car-specific races. These races are strictly prohibited to cars from a certain manufacturer, or restricted to just one car in question. Only a few of these races can be performed for a certain car/manufacturer in a tier, but they all give a very healthy payout.
6. Crew Battle. These races revolve around the crew associated with the current tier the player is contending in. With each race, the player is permitted to challenge a crew member, or the crew leader itself. If the player defeats all four crew members, the player will have access to challenge the crew leader personally. If the player defeats the crew leader three times, the player is declared as having officially beaten the crew, and can progress to the next tier, if available, in conjunction with an exceptionally large payout. As well, an interaction between crew leaders is showcased, with the former crew leader challenging the player to a High Stakes Challenge.
7. High Stakes Challenges. High Stakes Challenges are races which can only be performed once per tier, with each High Stakes Challenge becoming available only once after the player defeats the Crew leader of that tier. The former crew leader in question will offer the player the High Stakes Challenge. The High Stakes Challenge is the only race which rewards absolutely no cash payout whatsoever, win or lose. Instead, the reward for winning is the crew leader's car. However, there are two major catches to the High Stakes Challenge: the crew leader's car is at its maximum performance, increasing the difficulty. As well, the player must give up a portion of their payout from the previous race should they lose. It should also be noted that the crew leader's car will be classified as a tier higher than what the car normally is tiered, with the exception of Mr. Baledin's AC Cobra MkIII. This makes the vehicle incapable of being used for events in the tiers that it'd normally be allowed in, and in the tier it is allowed in, it would only serve the player for a short amount of time before having its skill eclipsed by its peers.
8. Multiplayer Races. Since September 2014, CSR Classics also features a Multiplayer Mode. This has the player being pitted against other racers, picked in accordance to skill similarity by the computer. The player is placed in a series, where they can race up to six races in said series. With each consecutive win, the reward increases, with Multiplayer Prize Cards available for players that stop after having completed the fourth or fifth races, or if the player completed an entire six race series. Should the player complete the latter, the player is offered to advance a league, giving up two of the player's three Multiplayer Prize Cards in order to do so. With each league, the difficulty of the players the computer chooses increases, with the prizes correspondingly increasing. The Multiplayer Prize Cards players obtain will possess various effects, varying from cash rewards, to car pieces, to free upgrades. Car pieces can be combined with up to 9 other corresponding car pieces in order to build an unloved car for free. Players also gain XP with the races they win (however, a loss can ensue in potentially earned XP being lost), and at the end of a time frame (labeled as a season), players are rewarded for the amount of XP they have in relation to other players. The prizes can vary from a small amount of cash to a new, Loved car that would be difficult to obtain otherwise.