The ten regions, the 81 stars and the game's rarest trophy

Three trophies you cannot attempt yet

Before wasting time searching, three things that depend on progress:

Plenty of Miles Behind You — 39.87%. Discover the 10 regions: Nangan, Tokyo City, Shimanoyama, Ohtani, Minamino, Ito, Hokubu, Takashiro, Sotoyama and Legend Island. Entering each is enough, nothing to complete.

And the reason it is not much higher is the tenth: Legend Island only opens during the gold-wristband race, at the end of the game. So this trophy cannot be finished early no matter how much you drive. The first nine can: pick them up while uncovering the map.

To the Moon — 34.62%. Get at least 1 star on the Irokawa takeoff danger sign, which requires a 243.8 metre jump.

Two warnings. One: the sign is not available until the purple wristband, so do not go looking earlier. Two: it is the most skill-dependent trophy on the list, and you need a fast, well-tuned car for the entry speed. One star is the minimum: you do not need gold.

Mass Appeal — 14.14%. Earn 36 stars from PR stunts in the Ohtani region. Here the prerequisite is indirect: PR stunts unlock progressively with each wristband, so if you are behind on wristbands you will run out of stunts to open in Ohtani. Raise your wristband first.

Tokyo, the treasures and the 81 stars

Tokyo Resident — 57.91%. Complete 33 activities in the Tokyo City region. Any combination counts: races, collectibles, points of interest, gigs, stunts.

Tokyo is the densest region on the map, so 33 activities fall in two or three hours if you focus there instead of hopping between regions. And Tokyo's food delivery counts, so you can stack activities and job level at the same time.

A Great Addition to My Collection — 64.54%. Discover and claim a forgotten treasure. You only need one, but there are 9 treasure cars in total and they are free: collect them all if you are going for Collector.

Mascot Masher — 87.57%. Smash your first regional mascot. It comes on its own. What matters is not the trophy: it is that the 200 regional mascots are the largest untouched reserve of exploration points, and they sit along the main roads.

Tourist With Delivery — 54.08% and What a Story! — 13.19%. Here is the game's second-rarest trophy.

The 81 stars come from 27 story races at 3 stars each, split across four series: Excursions, Drift Club, Yuji's Auto and Moto Auto Zine. And the nuance that explains everything: stars are not awarded for finishing. Each chapter has optional objectives — time limit, speed zone, skill score — and you have to meet all of them.

The good news is they replay without penalty, so there is nothing to lose. The bad news is that it is 15 to 20 hours of story done properly, and that is where people fall away. Do them right from the start: replaying 27 chapters at the end is worse.

The gigs and the game's third-rarest trophy

9-to-5 — 60.85%. Complete your first gig. The starting gig is the Tokyo City food delivery, marked with a blue icon in central Tokyo. Each shift is three back-to-back deliveries against the clock, and finishing one pops the trophy.

You're the Boss — 5.80%. Earn the highest promotion in a gig. It is the game's third-rarest trophy.

And it stands out precisely because Gigs look like side content: nothing in the game signals that a long progression sits behind them. The top promotion asks you to repeat shifts many times over, and that is the entire obstacle. No skill involved.

The way to make it painless is not to give it a session of its own: do deliveries while crossing Tokyo for other things. Every shift adds job level, adds activities towards Tokyo Resident — which asks for 33 — and adds exploration points towards the diary stamps.

Three trophies advancing at once while you are driving anyway. Leaving it to the end means running dozens of shifts back to back with nothing else in between.