The timer is replacing the race timer. It's easy to confuse those two.
Especially in Story Mode challenges in which you must beat the challenge before the time runs out. I have seen quite a few Let's Plays in which newbies got confused by this Story Mode timer because they did not understand why they lost the challenge although they came 1st. Yes, even if the game tells you the time limit before hand, it's easy to overlook and forget.
A countdown timer appears in:
- Story Mode challenge in which you have to win before the time runs out
- Follow the Leader
- Soccer with time limit
I think the usability of said countdown timer could use some small improvements. So I have the following suggestions:
General suggestions:
- Make the countdown timer BIG and move it to the top center of the screen
- Restore the normal race timer (which the countdown timer replaced)
- (maybe) Simplify the countdown timer to only show full seconds when there's lot of time left so it's not too distracting.
These suggestions help to visually distinguish a countdown timer from the simple race timer. Now as a player, you instantly know when you see the big timer in the top, that there's a countdown.
The reason for making the countdown more prominent is because it's critical to gameplay and your eyes don't have to wander that much.
Suggestions specific to Story Mode time challenges and Soccer:
- When the timer is 1 minute or less, make it yellow
- When the timer is 10 seconds or less, make it red
- Play a countdown/warning sound for each second in the final 10 seconds
Suggestions specific to Follow the Leader:
- When the timer is 10 seconds or less, make it yellow
- When the timer is 3 seconds or less, make it red
- Play a countdown/warning sound for each second in the final 3 seconds
These suggestions help when the time is running out