I've got a party of four characters with 550-580 earned XP. There's a human pilot/heavy, human charmer/gunslinger/force exile, twi'lek slicer/outlaw tech and zeltron soresu defender/seer. The human pilot will definitely be racing and there's a possibility the zeltron may join in as well. The human will be rolling YYYYYG for piloting and has a great deal of the pilot talents, probably all that he wants to take. I'm trying to think of ways to make the race interesting without getting too heavy handed on the insanely good PC racer. There's not a great deal storywise on the line other than pride and credits so I want losing to be a real possibility while still walking that tightrope of not demoralizing the players by going overboard with opposition.

The players are on Corellia and I was originally going to adapt the race from Suns of Fortune but I think they're too advanced at this point to keep much beyond the setting. It'll still be in the crystal swamps but I'm going to have it as a more prominent underground race rather than just a pick up thing with some local swoop gangers. So, any suggestions on just how skilled to make the opposition, some talents that might be interesting, or ideas for the track would be welcome. I've got until Sunday the 27th to work it out.

Your character has legendary piloting capabilities. There should be very few individuals that can challenge him in this area. However, professional events tend to attract the best of the best of the best (sir!), so you can probably assume that he'll encounter opposition of roughly equivalent caliber.

In addition to skills and talents (Shortcut should be a big help in racing), look at options in cybernetics and or the Force for key opponents. Species likely makes very little difference, so go with whatever looks fun. A nasty opponent with Offensive Driving (see No Disintigrations) can be a lot of fun.

Whatever you do, make sure the vehicles have plenty of SST (and HTT if combat is going to occur) as otherwise it's too easy to knock anyone PC or NPC put with a single roll of the dice.

Right, especially with Corellia being known for it's daredevil pilots I figured it would be more than plausible that he face some serious competition here even with his skills. The party are the "alpha goons" (their description, not mine) of a hutt crime boss and have spent most of their career on the outer rim. A few years back the pilot and zeltron came in first and second in the Boonta Eve classic on Tattooine but prison and adventures have kept them out of the racing circuit since. Other than a brief stint on Coruscant this is only their second trip to the core. The boss has sent them on "vacation" after taking out one of his rivals and they wanted to find a race while they wait to see what the boss really wants so I figured I'd try to make it as interesting as I could since I have some time to prepare.

I figured I'd have to throw in some cybernetics and at least one force sensitive opponent to really make it interesting. Good call on the Offensive Driving, I overlooked that one. They have one pretty good swoop. There was a second that the outlaw tech just got finished fixing up but the pilot and tech got bored on vacation and decided to go tearing down the gold beach with it. Corsec caught up with them pretty quick. They managed to escape custody but that newly swanked up swoop was impounded. One of the reasons why I'm not sure if the zeltron will be joining in on that race or not.

There could be an opposing race team that is made up of more than just the driver. Perhaps the night before the race the PCs meet a group of fun loving people at a party. These people make sure the PCs stay out late having way toooo much fun. They are in fact associates of an opposing race team. If the PCs stay out late partying then maybe they start the next day with some strain (or have to beat a resilience check to half the strain penalty.) Heck if a dispair is rolled during the party maybe the PC is sick on race day.

Next the opposing team sends their tech head to sabotage the PCs speeder. Nothing overt at first, but there is a block die to every piloting check. When the player asks what that block is from you tell them your not sure, but that the controls seem sluggish. They will need to make a mechanics or computers check to fix it. Or make a pit stop. Costing them time.

Im also thinking that this opposing team could be hiding out on the course and causing trouble for the racers.

There could also be spotters linked up via comlink feeding the opposition up to the second course info. Giving the opposition a boost or two until some of the other PCs can Jam the signal or otherwise shut them down.

Also if you are running with Obligation maybe someones Favour gets called in. And they are told to throw the race. Or some such. So that the person they owe the favour to can win a bet.

I would take 500xp and build an Ace/Rigger/modder who specializes in tricking her racer out beyond the extreme. As you're on Corellia, she could be local and have a lot of pride on the line. Go nuts with the upgrades, and remember to include stuff from Jewel of Yavin to give her more STT and maneuverability.