>>321185
>Do tracks really differ that much between public servers? Not even a subset of them?
Yes, because there's a metric fuckload of track packs and/or individual tracks made by the SRB2Kommunity.
Now some tracks are definitely more popular than others, but then there's the fact that server owners are free to update their tracks/packs whenever and however they see fit, run older packs or just make individual adjustments on their own volition further increasing the autism and the difficulty of archiving all this shit for future generations.
>shortcuts
Those can be just as varied as the tracks themselves, useful speed boosts are the obvious type but on some tracks the shortcuts are >shortcuts, tranny flag easter eggs, or lead to separate areas entirely requiring rocket boosters or even invincibility to fully traverse (which may or may not change between updates in fact of course).
And then there's shortcuts you can Kratt through without any items by virtue of your superior Kratting skills the little ramp-booster in the Daytona track comes to mind which of course are totally unaffected by major gameplay mods like Acrobatics or whatever custom lua fuckery a given server is running :^)
>webm
For the love of dog please practice you're dorifts in time trials, they're absolutely essential to propper karting.
>>321398
Yes, the former to teach you item skills/situational awareness and the latter to teach you proper corner lines and dorifting.
Nothing beats actual in-the-wild karting of course, but a bit of isolated practice is better than bashing your head in against veteran karting autists out of frustration.
>>321455
I wouldn't consider myself a strategist but strategic boost use is definitely one of the most important item-related autisms to learn for SRB2K, the track layouts are incredibly varied and many shortcuts are (intentionally) hazardous to use without the right angle and timing on your boost.
Hell, half of my respawns are probably from falling off a corner with Invincibility or Growth fucking up my expected lines due to the speedup.