One of the longest, and most requested game types has finally come to Destiny. The Sparrow Racing League pits Guardians against each other in a special event that allows players to race their sparrows to victory and collect new items along the way. This three week event will give players a new Crucible mode, and offers players of all Rank and light level the opportunity to level up. The Sparrow Racing League (SRL) event lasts through the end of December and is available to all anyone who owns The Taken King expansion.

Debuting at the PlayStation Experience on December 5th, the Sparrow Racing League is the second major event in Destiny to occur this year, the first being the Festival of the Lost, a Halloween-themed event that was generally well received by players. It’s been made clear that Bungie is taking the wait and see approach to whether we’ll see if the SRL will survive longer than the announced three weeks. If players are responsive you can be sure Bungie will bring the event back on later dates, or they may even introduce it into the Crucible playlist. Anything is possible.

How to Begin Sparrow Racing

When logging into your Guardian, players will see a quest icon for Amanda Holliday, simply visit Amanda, who is found within the Tower hangar, and speak to her to activate your new Sparrow racing quests and bounties. This quest, the SRL License Quest, will reward players with new licenses, offering better rewards. The rewards are purely cosmetic and will not affect the race itself. If you’re a Playstation owner, you will have an exclusive SRL quest available, titled “With Finesse and Speed”. Completing each step of this quest and will grant players various armor as well as the EV-42 Nightsteed Sparrow. Complete the quest with the highest license and players are rewarded with speedy EV-40 Snowscream Sparrow, which boasts a swift 160 Speed level and sleek design. Players can also collect daily bounties for SRL. These bounties offer rewards, including reputation rank for SRL as well as your Faction.

Once players have successfully claimed their quest and taken the bounties they simply need to go to orbit and there they will see the SRL option in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, next to the other weekly strikes. There are currently only two SRL tracks available: Campus Martius on Mars and Infinite Descent on Venus. Each race consists of six players who must make three laps around a track littered with enemies, obstacles, and speed gates. Pass through the glowing gates to gain speed boosts and pass your opponents. The more races you complete, the higher your SRL ranking will be. The higher your rank, the better the rewards.

The More You Win, The Better the Rewards

SRL offers players the chance to earn unique racing suits, Legendary gear, emblems, shaders, Strange Coin, Motes of Light, and other class-specific items. One thing to keep in mind, not all of the gear that is awarded contains a light level. The gear was designed specifically for use on the track, while they’re fun to collect, it’s worth noting that wearing them in a Raid will not help you. The Legendary gear that drops does have light levels, and the light level is determined by your Guardians SRL License. The better the license, the better the light level. Bungie has announced, and it has been confirmed in races, that players will be able to earn 320 gear. This is a great way for player to level up their Guardian.

There are even horns for the Sparrows to help make your presence known on the racetrack as you honk past your opponents. While the horns might not sound like they’re a big deal, and in reality they’re not, it’s important to note that the horns are a little bit different from all the other rewards. These are effectively like the masks from Festival of the Lost. Rare horns will disappear after the first SRL event ends on December 29th, while Legendary Horns will remain in everyones inventory. All players receive the “Happy Horn” by default. Like the masks during the Festival of the Lost, Rare Horns can be upgraded to Legendary by dismantling a Legendary Horn and receiving a Horn Relay. Attaching the Horn Relay to another Rare Horn will then upgrade it to Legendary.

All players who participate in SRL races will earn a particular SRL Event Standing on the race leaderboards depending on their race performance. Players can increase their SRL Rank and reputation by completing bounties, as well as Class B, A, and S racing quests. A higher SRL Standing and reputation will increase the chance for a player to earn better loot drops at the end of each race. Players who complete all of the available racing quests will have the ability to purchase Legendary SRL gear from Amanda Holliday, including armor, helmets, and class-specific items.

As previously stated, the light level of drops at the end of the race depend on a players license. The following is a breakdown of what to expect based on your class license.

 

  • C-class License < 290
  • B-class License 290-300
  • A-class License 300-310
  • S-class License ≤ 320

Bounties

In addition to the reputation from winning races, Amanda Holliday also offers 3 Daily Bounties for additional reputation. Daily Bounties will reward 100 reputation points. The following are the Sparrow Racing League Bounties that are available, remember to grab the Daily Bounties, since 3 are offered every day:

Daily Bounties

  • Bugs on the Windshield – Kill enemies on the track during any SRL race.
  • Go Big or Go Home – Complete 10 other SRL bounties.
  • Mars Pacesetter – Complete an SRL lap on Mars in fewer than 2 minutes.
  • Martian Monopoly – Place in the Top 3 on Mars.
  • Pacesetter – Finish SRL races in the Top 3 places.
  • Speed Bumps – Kill enemies on the track during any SRL race.
  • Threading the Needle – Hit 15 consecutive gates.
  • Through the Gates – Hit gates in a single race during any SRL race.
  • Trick Rider – Complete tricks in SRL races. Emotes, rolls and flips.
  • Venus Pacesetter – Complete an SRL lap on Venus in fewer than 2 minutes.
  • Venusian Victory Lane – Place in the Top 3 on Venus.
  • Wear the Shiny Off – Complete a race without your Sparrow being destroyed.

Micro-transactions

It’s worth noting that Bungie introduced micro-transactions into SRL as well. They claim that it’s purely cosmetic and it won’t affect game play, but in reality purchasing emotes, sparrows and more can allow players to perform tricks, which help complete Bounties, which in turn help players gain items. Bungie claims that players who do not purchase items from Tess Everis in the Tower can still earn the Trick and Overboost Sparrows, but they will have to do a lot of racing.

If you’re willing to spend some real world money in the Sparrow Racing League, head on over to Tess in the Tower where you can purchase the following items.

  • SRL Record Book, Vol 1 for 1,000 Silver ($10)
  • Sparrow Toolkit for 500 Silver ($5) for a guaranteed random Legendary SRL Sparrow.
  • Custom Horn Kit for 100 Silver ($1) for a guaranteed random Legendary horn and possible Legendary SRL Sparrow.
  • Victory Wave emote for 500 Silver ($5)

silver

 

SRL Record Book, Vol. 1

The SRL Record Book tracks how many races you finished, races won, gates hit, tricks landed, best laps, race times, most gates in a single race and event standing. It will track the stats for each course and it will offer rewards for completing certain objectives. These rewards include exclusive Sparrows, SRL Armor, emblems, and shaders. The items acquired from the SRL Record Book do not provide any competitive advantage, but offer a cosmetic enhancements.

SRL Emblems & Shader Rewards

Players can earn emblem rewards by completing certain requirements, to learn about each requirement please see below. Players can also obtain shaders for their Guardians. These can be rewarded through completion of tasks or through rewards at the end of a race.

 

Winner’s Circle

This emblem is rewarded upon completion of the Sparrow Racing Quest, and obtaining your S Class License.

Sign of Momentum

This emblem is rewarded upon 100% completion of the SRL Record Book, Vol. 1. You must purchase the Record Book in order to obtain this emblem.

Momentum’s Pride

Momentum's Pride

Krokos

Momentum's Pride

The Sparrows of the SRL

Click on a Sparrow to see a larger version.

  • Exclusive to the SRL Record Book

Playstation Exclusive Sparrow

Playstation users receive an exclusive Quest, “With Finesse and Speed”. Completing this quest will earn them this exclusive 160-rated Trick Sparrow featuring neon blue highlights.

Armor & Gear

SRL armor has perks that will benefit your stability and speed on the track:

  • Helmets – Increased control while airborne on a Sparrow by pitching forward or backwards on the Sparrow for decreased or increased time in the air. It can be used to optimize air time for tricks. Helmets can also reduce time needed spent holding the “summon” button to hop on to your sparrow.
  • Gauntlets – Reduce fuel consumption during side-boost maneuvers allowing players to strafe more before needing to regain fuel.
  • Chest – Armor reduces the summoning cooldown after a player’s Sparrow is destroyed.
  • Boots – Increase the amount of fuel players get from successfully performing tricks.
  • Class – Items increase SRL reputation gains.

Only Helms and Class items will contain light levels and are class specific. The rest of the racing suits are class-neutral and usable by any class. If your Guardian is wearing a complete set of Momentum Armor you will see the armor light up, as seen on the image to the right!

Let’s take a look at some of the armor players can receive through drops and rewards.

Tips & Tricks

Now that you’re ready to race there are a few tips and tricks you should keep in mind. Let’s take a look at some:

Keep Racing

This might seem obvious, but to many people it’s not. It’s like the old adage says, the more you practice the better you’ll get. There may be only two tracks in SRL, and it may get repetitive, but keep going. The more you race the more short-cuts you’ll find, the better lanes you’ll find, and most importantly you’ll become more familiar and comfortable with the track. The more times you race, the higher your SRL reputation will become, especially if you are finishing in the top 3. Completing SRL bounties will also raise your reputation..

Hit All the Gates

Well, as many as you can. The SRL tracks you’ll find a series of glowing blue gates that provide speed boosts, as well as increase fuel, that can be maintained by hitting consecutive gates. The more gates you pass through, the more boost you’ll have to pass opponents on the track. Passing through a gate will also refuel your “dodging” capabilities. These can be found by using the left or right bumper on your controller, press that and your sparrow will shift to the left or right. This is helpful if you’re cutting it close to a gate and need a little boost to make it through the gate. Keep in mind that if you miss a gate your speed will reduce, and the more you miss, the more your speed reduces. Since everyone has equal Sparrow speed at the start of each race, these boost gates are the best way to gain a decent speed advantage over your opponents.

You’ll notice that the gates also change sizes during the race. This is due to your placement during the race. A player leading in first place will have a more narrow boost gate than a player in last place. This gives players who are lagging behind a chance to catch up and overtake opponents more easily. Just because you’re following the pack doesn’t mean you can’t catch up, hit the gates. You can also claim bounties for hitting enough gates in a race.

Complete the SRL Class License Quest

Before you run your first race you need to make sure you accept Amanda Holliday’s SRL quest. This will consist of you meeting certain criteria in order to attain a higher SRL Class License. You’ll need to make it through 60 gates in one race, finish 3 races without crashing, winning 3 races, and more. The higher your license, the better your reputation and the better your rewards. A higher reputation and SRL License Class allows 320 level items to drop as rewards. Class items, helmets, and gear that drop with a 320 Light level are capable of being infused, and are a great way to help your character reach max rank.

We hope you’ve found this guide to be useful. Keep an eye out for updates when, or if, Bungie ever adds more to the Sparrow Racing League. We’ll also be updating this as we get more quality images of SRL gear!