History Main / OverDrive

->"The pod race in the film suffers from a common trope, in which characters needing to go somewhere really fast head off in their vehicle. At some point they realise they're not going to make it in time, so they open the throttle all the way and go even faster. The question of course being why weren't they going as fast as they possibly could already?"

** Podracing also requires [[PunyEarthlings inhuman]] reflexes. Though Anakin had [[AppliedPhlebotinum the force]] going for him along with being a [[PlotArmor central character]], it's understandable he'd rather not go the full 560 mph (that's more than the length of the Empire State building every second) unless he really has to.

* ''RomancingSaGa: Minstrel Song'' has Hasten Time and Overdrive, the ultimate [[MakingASplash Hydrology]] spells. Casting one of these babies lets the user instantly end the enemy's turn and either give themselves and all their allies a free turn to act -- or act ''five times in a row'' themselves, without any fear of interruption. However, the spell's big drawback is that it's a ''major'' drain on your MP, especially in Overdrive... is it worth having your caster attack five times uninterrupted when it will then take them several turns to recover?

** Considering it was built from scrap parts, it [[WhatAPieceOfJunk wasn't exactly the most stable podracer around]], although it was capable of reaching very high speeds (one of the fastest in the film). Once Anakin got ahead of most of the other racers, it is likely that he did not want to strain the engines more than necessary. And considering he didn't even ''finish'' the race [[NoodleIncident the last time he tried]], he had good reason not to push it. This explanation is somewhat confirmed in ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisode1Racer'', where it's used as a gameplay mechanic (see Video Games).

** Considering it was built from scrap parts, it wasn't exactly the most streamlined podracer around, although it was capable of reaching very high speeds (one of the fastest in the film). Once Anakin got ahead of most of the other racers, it is likely that he did not want to strain the engines more than necessary. (This is confirmed in the game.)

* Boost in the ''{{Motorstorm}}'' series works this way. You have an unlimited supply of Boost, but using it heats up your engine. if you don't lay off the boost, or drive through water to cool your engine down, it will blow out your engine, respawning you near last place.

* The podrace from ''StarWars: Episode I - Film/ThePhantomMenace'' is all over this trope. Sometimes Anakin passes other racers with ease, and other times he keeps pace with Sebulba over long straightaways. It also genuinely makes zero sense that he wasn't going as fast as he could to begin with, considering how he started the race in last place due to engine failure and his freedom was on the line.

*** But, when a heat-seeking missile goes too fast, air-friction heats its own nosecone so much that the sensor is blinded anyway. That's why the SR-71, long reputed for being radar-stealthy, wasn't vulnerable to heat-seeking missiles. When fired on, the plane would just accelerate, and the heat-seeker would go fast enough to blind itself.

Odd as it may seem, this unexplained increase in speed can have some basis in reality. It can be simplified as a cost vs. benefit decision. If somebody has 'nothing to lose' and ''must'' be somewhere at a certain time then they have to speed up - BUT - if they push their machine too hard it will fail before they get there. If they had backed off slightly, then it could have broken down ''after'' they had arrived. In a race a driver will hold back simply because there's a notable difference between "the fastest they can drive" and "the fastest they can continuously drive without wear and tear [[PhlebotinumBreakdown completely destroying the engine halfway through the race]]". Smart drivers limit themselves to the latter, and use the engine-wrecking speeds in short bursts--or for those desperate final laps. Fuel consumption is also a potential problem. Having to find out where to refuel in the middle of some prairie or ocean is ''not'' a way to get to destination ASAP. Running out of propellant halfway to the next planet and thus unable to decelerate is not a good idea either. The cost of fuel, oil (or Helium-3, or whatever) and repairs is also a factor. In most cases engines are supposed to work much longer than one or two rides and generally engines aren't so cheap that the cost of damaging one could be disregarded without a really good reason.

* Many World War II-era fighter aircraft featured an engine setting called "War Emergency Power"[[note]][[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_emergency_power also in Wikipedia]][[/note]] which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It was intended for emergency use in combat and normally had a time limit imposed on its use, as it would wear out the engine in a very short time. WEP appeared in many forms; some aircraft engines simply had the capacity to run at power levels that would overstress their own components. In these cases, a piece of tape was inserted to stop the throttle at the maximum safe setting; if the tape was broken, the engine would need to be inspected after the flight. Other aircraft implemented WEP through the use of consumable additives. Nitrous oxide injection would cool the fuel/air charge (allowing more fuel and air to enter the cylinder on each cycle) as well as providing additional oxygen at high altitude. A few aircraft were designed for the stress of nitro injection, and were limited only by the onboard supply of nitrous. Water or water/methanol injection provided a lesser version of the same effect, but also cooled the engine and allowed it to operate beyond its radiator's normal capacity.

* In ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'', when Van, Allen and Hitomi are escaping Zaibach's capital on Escaflowne (which transforms into a dragon for flying,) they are pursued by Zaibach's mechas which are much faster. As they're closing in and a panicked Van is urging Escaflowne to fly faster, it suddenly transforms to reveal a jet engine and shoots forward at LudicrousSpeed.

-->-- ''DarthsAndDroids'' Episode 105, ''Burning Bridges''

* ''DarthsAndDroids'' attempts to make sense of the ''Star Wars'' podrace by [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0105.html completely reinterpreting what happened at the end of the race.]] TheRant below that strip discusses this trope (and directly inspired this very article).

** Afterburners also come with a side effect of a massive thermal signature. This negates a stealth aircraft's stealth by making it visible to thermal sensors, and in general makes it much easier for heat seeking munitions to find their mark even with countermeasures. Modern stealth planes, such as the F/A-22, have engines that are completely incapable of using afterburners due to their design; they instead have a speed known as "supercruise".

* ''[[BattleTech [=BattleTech=]]]'''s [=BattleMechs=] can be equipped with myomer acceleration signal circuitry (MASC for short), which when active provides about a 33% boost to maximum speed by making the 'Mech's artificial leg muscles contract that much faster. There is, however, always a chance that the added strain will result in internal leg damage, and this chance increases rapidly if the system is used over multiple turns in a row, wherefore it's useful primarily to provide short emergency bursts of speed. An alternative -- and incompatible -- approach involves using special extra-strong myomer fibers in the first place; unfortunately, those require the 'Mech to run hot enough for its weapons to start to incur to-hit penalties before their performance exceeds that of the normal version. (To make the most of these 'triple-strength myomers', a 'Mech's heat level should ideally stay at ''exactly'' 9 -- no lower, no higher, on a scale from 0 to 30 -- for extended periods.)

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIRacer'' makes the engines overheat and burst into flames if Boost Mode is not turned off before too long, which can result in your engines deteriorating [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration(which nicely explains why Anakin wasn't boosting the whole time in the film)]]. And unless you pay for the rather expensive repairs, you'll start the next race with a half-broken engine. In the sequel, ''Revenge'', your engines won't catch fire anymore, but boosting while overheated will constantly damage your engines, leaving you vulnerable to being knocked out if you hit a wall or get attacked by another racer until you take time to repair the damage.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIRacer'' makes the engines overheat and burst into flames if Boost Mode is not turned off before too long, which can result in your engines deteriorating. And unless you pay for the rather expensive repairs, you'll start the next race with a half-broken engine. In the sequel, ''Revenge'', your engines won't catch fire anymore, but boosting while overheated will constantly damage your engines, leaving you vulnerable to hitting a wall or being attacked by another racer until you take time to repair the damage.

** In the end the situation is like the Space Shuttle, the actual safespeed is higher than listed. Overtime Manticore finds they can push their compensators much higher than listed, and that 80% of that is hopelessly cautious. A Solly Admiral is thought to be bold by Solly Standards to seek 85% in a battle.

* Military warships in ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series has a version, though with acceleration rather than top speed. The inertial compensator that allows the crew to survive the hundreds of gravities their drives are capable off is normally only run to 80% of its theoretical maximum capacity to reduce wear and reduce the risk of failure. It ''can'' be run higher in emergency situations but is not recommended because if it fails you only have seconds of warning and then the entire crew is reduced to a red smear.

->'''Medical Officer:''' These medical supplies are needed on the [[PlanetOfHats plague planet]], urgently!\\
'''Captain:''' Warp 4!\\
''[later...]''\\
'''Science Officer:''' Because of various complications, we might be Too Late.\\
'''Captain:''' Warp 9!
-->-- '''[[@/{{DMMaus}} David Morgan-Mar]]''' (paraphrasing ''Franchise/StarTrek''), ''DarthsAndDroids''

A character needs to drive somewhere quickly. Maybe they're in a car race, or maybe they're just racing against time. At one point, they realize they're not going to make it in time. So they... go faster.

[[FridgeLogic Huh?]] Why didn't they just drive that fast to begin with?

* Used in ''TheHuntForRedOctober'' when Captain Tupolev runs his reactor at a hundred and ten percent of the normal safety limit to catch up to Ramius. In the original novel [[ExplosiveOverclocking this caused his reactor to melt its way out of his submarine and kill everyone on board]].

* Similarly, in ''VideoGame/FZero'' (from X onwards), you can boost whenever you want after the first lap, but doing do drains your health. Boosting in a pit area is essentially free, but cuts down on the amount of time you can spend there to repair any other damage.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIRacer'' makes the engines overheat and burst into flames if Boost Mode is not turned off before too long, which can result in your engines deteriorating. And unless you pay for the rather expensive repairs, you'll start the next race with a half-broken engine.

* Deconstruction in the SwordOfTruth, where it turns out that your horses do have a maximum output. You can push them past that... and you'll run them into the ground. Later in the series they've become genre savvy about this, and start taking extra horses so that they can switch them out and avoid the negative aspects of this trope.

Close to, but not to be confused with, the FinalFantasyX move called Overdrive (which is listed under LimitBreak).

* In the ''FinalFantasy'' fan fic [[http://www.lakupo.com/qu/fanfics/cid_wars.html "Cid Wars"]], the characters are at one point trying to get somewhere by van, and each time someone said they needed to go faster, the driver upshifted. This happened a total of ''eight'' times, complete with one of the characters asking [[LampshadeHanging "Just how many gears does this van have?"]]