[stormcrow]

Finally a racing sim alternative to the dross that Codemasters continue to churn out in the form of Colin McRae.

Warthog have made a superb effort in trying to bring as much realism to rallying as is currently possible.

One word of warning, RBR is tough. Its been designed as a sim not an aracde game and as a result takes a lot of perseverence, a good pc and a steering wheel to get anything out of it. If you just want a quick blast or enjoy arcade style games then you will probably end up disappointed.

After installing the game its straight into the rally school to learn some of the basics. It will teach you how to make the best of your gears and the best approach lines to take, it then moves on to handbrake turns, scandanavian flicks and other techniques that are vital if you are to succeed in a rally season.

As soon as you move on to a real stage it becomes very apparent how much really is going on underneath the surface and how vital going through rally school is.
The cars have correctly modelled 4-point physics instead of the ridiculous centre point affair that plagues many titles including the McRae franchise.
Brake temp (including brake fade), oil and water pressure and temps and an excellent damage model are just a couple of noteable inclusions. There are also bird and animal strikes. Damn sparrow broke my windshield and coming out of a corner in Japan I ended up in a tree after swerving to avoid a deer.

Handling feels so right, with a decent force feedback wheel the weight of the car soon becomes apparent, it lightens up going over brows, becomes heavy going into dips and generally makes for a very immersive experience. Learning how to unbalance the car and then holding it with the throttle and/or brake takes practice but is so much more rewarding than just a foot to the floor approach.

The tracks are superbly detailed with rocks, potholes and other nasties that will guarantee you end up in a tree or on your roof at the slightest loss of concentration.
Pulling off a perfect power slide brings a gush of pride as its no mean feat to get the technique right. Once you begin to get accustomed to it there really are some white nuckle experiences and you will be grinning with glee after finishing your first stage without creating a mangled mess.
Locations include, England (Gateshead), France, Japan, Finland, USA and Australia. All are very different and require different driving styles to match.
Tracks are also dynamic, so for instance if you are racing first then you are going to end up as gravel sweeper. By the same token if its raining the track can become progressively harder to drive the more cars that have travelled over it. I ended up racing in a snowstorm in Finland and as the snow settled the track got harder to see and it became more difficult to control the car.

Sound is great, a couple of unsual effects for the backfire popping, but the sound of the engine, exhaust and tranny and gravel kicking up around the car coupled with ambient sounds of the virtual world around you again make for a very immersive feeling.

It does have a couple of downsides, their aren't that many stages (36) or cars (8) plus there are no night stages. Fortunately the racesim community is already hard at work to adress these shortfalls. As mentioned before its also very resource hungry. It certainly needs at least 512Mb and preferable 1Gb to run well. Also although the sounds are very well done the cars all appear to use the same soundset which is a shame. I'm sure a Pug doesn't sound that much like a scooby in real life.

That said there really is no better rally sim available and its definitely one to add to the collection if you like your racers real.

[deej]

I have just recently purchased this top game...Stormcrow you have summed this great Sim up very well.

Actually Im stuck on the last test at the rally school Target pass time is 84sec and i can only do it in around 1: 20 any tips?