92 Stars.
Fuck me though, pretty much all I have left is Hard Stars to unlock, bar a few pain in the ass "Fly-Through the Rings"/"Drift Time Attack" levels where I've yet to obtain Medium. I hate racing games where the characters are super-hard to unlock (Mario Kart Wii, ugggh)...make them easy to unlock and save the extra, bragging-rights features for the hard-mode unlockables.
Any recommendations as to which Character/Mod combo is the best for each World Tour Mission?
dude, i unlocked every character on my first go. I literally just played through on Hard skipping C and B missions. Made it easier.
I found going from Medium to Hard a world of difference. Sticking to Hard is much better, and when you get to S the jump from A to S is smaller than B to A.
Jut keep chipping away and you'll be fine, the game isn't that difficult when you choose the right character per event, learn the courses and powerslide correctly.
characters i use per specific event typically:
Ring: Tails
Race: Metal Sonic / Sonic
Traffic: MeeMee
and i mix it up for the other events, but i find those the best for those events.