rec.autos.simulators

  I don't have years experience with driving sims, I've only been playing
rally games off and on for a year or so (I'll set up my wheel for a few
months, then put it away).  I played Rally Trophy before, but mostly arcade
and multiplayer.

  It seems like in Rally Trophy you have to drive "dangerously" fast in
order to even place higher than 20th place, so invariably you will get in a
big crash somewhere and your times will be screwed.  I remember in CMR 2,
you only had to drive "moderately" fast, at least on the novice level, and
most of the strategy just came down to avoiding accidents.  In RT, you can't
help but crash.

   So, anybody beat RT?  Is it an easy game, or something I should put off
until I have more experience?

There's places where you can really drive flat out on the edge, but in my
opinion, I was fastest when I'd keep a little in reserve. I would have to
push it every now and then if I was losing for some reason, but that would
be the really fun part of the game. I remember letting it all hang out with
Lancia Fulvia (one of the easier cars to drive BTW and plenty fast).

I had nothing to do for a few weeks and decided to unlock every car and I
started with the Mini. By the time I got to the Lancia Stratos I remember
never really having to push it and my times (especially Finland 1) were
KILLING the AI even on their toughest level. Now that I think about it, I
only really pushed on the first stage or two (because I really knew them the
best) and then the rest was just consistency. I also watched almost every
replay, and took about 600MB worth of screenshots while watching them. I put
my name on the side of every car, and replaced the driver's face with mine
and the co-driver's face with my girlfriends (and the pacenotes with a Jane
Magazine). Yes, I love this game!!

So my only advice is to learn the limits of each car, and only really push
it when you have to. Try to get the car across the line without a single
incident. Some cars obviously excel more than others. The Fiat can't jump at
all... and the Stratos is rock solid on jumps. Maybe start with the FWD cars
(Fulvia, etc) and then learn the rear wheel drive cars.

GREAT game.

Mike
http://mikebeauchamp.com

  Oh yeah, and I dislike the consolish unlocking of cars.  What's with
European  games all having this "feature"?

  2 things I notice with many Europen-developed games:

  1. They are typicly very hard, much harder than Americans games (Japanese
games, on the other hand, if they are hard- which is rarer-, are hard in a
tedious way- stop the train within 10cm of this line, drive a perfect racing
line, whatever).  Not just talking about racing sims here, but all games.
Mafia or Hidden and Dangerous, for instance?  Both games were impossible for
me to finish.
  2.  75% of the content is locked away.  Not just a few easter eggs or
bonuses, but most of the game.

Mike
http://mikebeauchamp.com

Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy
"goyl at nettx dot no"

http://www.theuspits.com

"A man is only as old as the woman he feels........"
--Groucho Marx--

Going from Mafia to GTA:VC is a huge disappointment, as much as I
liked all the earlier GTA games.

Jason

As a huge GTA3 fan, I didn't like GTA:VC much at first, but it has
grown on me in the mean time and I really enjoy it now.

Andrew.

I agree, it's tough. (And therefore very good. I've never actually rallied
across Russia but it feels 'realistic' to me).
I didn't get anywhere until I realised that front wheel drive was the way to
go (for me, probably because I've always driven FWD cars) and settled on the
Saab and the minivan (from http://www.no-grip.org/filedisplay.php?id=46),
and really got to know them.
There's always someone who says "Nah - it's easy!".
If it were that easy, there would be less fun in getting the hang of it.

Laurence