rec.autos.simulators

They physics are excellent. The cars handle exactly the way I'd expect
280-300bhp fw/4wd cars would in real life. I don't think this sim will need
to take a back seat to any other in the physics department. Roaring and
sliding through the British countryside over various terrain and through
all kinds of weather is an awesome experience.

There is force-feedback, handbrake, split axis, and dual controller support
as well as support for the Act Labs RS shifter. I don't have an Act Labs
wheel, but I may just have to get one so I can use the shifter with this
sim.

Full damage and comprehensive car setup.Trying to drive a very fast stage
time,
let alone win the full rally in sim mode is going to be a tremendous
challenge. While this is definitely a pure sim recreating the BRC, they also
smartly include many *** options with the ability to drive the A8 cars,
and also an arcade mode. Modem, serial, IPX, up to 4 player alternate, split
screen, and 8 player TCP/IP are the multiplayer options.

Graphics are simply the best ever. Photo-realistic. Believe it or not, they
look significantly better in this beta than they do in the demo. Weather and
time of day effects are incredible. Rain, snow, fog, overcast, dusk/dawn,
nighttime, bright sunshine. Flowing rivers. It's all done perfectly. The
interior view of each car is accurate and also photo-realistic. D3D means
support
for all cards. Even with such amazing effects, frame rates are smooth as
silk and scalability is there for people with slower systems. It's actually
kind of nice to just drive along slowly and look at the scenery. It's also
great fun to rip through a snow stage at night and watch/feel your car
create a snow drift as you blast through a turn. You even have to make sure
the flashbulbs from photographers don't blind you when you come around a
sharp bend. One time during a night stage I crashed near some spectators,
and while sitting in the cab upside down, I actually found myself
embarrassed as the flashbulbs kept going off all around me. :-)

It's hard to believe they actually recreated 430 miles of rally stages, but
they did. Extremely detailed. BTW, after driving these stages, I can only
think that the real life rally drivers must be equally crazy, and very
talented, to do what they do.

Sound is also amazing and extremely immersive. All of the car's engine
sounds were recorded individually and they sound fantastic, as do the other
mechanical, impact, surface, ambient, and misc. sounds. I love it when the
turbo kicks in. :-) There is DS3D, EAX, A3D2.0 and Dolby support. I'm a big
fan of the game music too.

Menus are slick, fast, and easy to navigate with every option you can think
of, and detailed descriptions of the cars and tracks are very well done.

I really could sit here and type all night long about how impressive this
sim is. It sets new, very high, standards. Like I said at the beginning of
this posting, I have never experienced such a fantastic, immersive, and
realistic car simulator.

David G Fisher

   The demo disappointed me. It felt like I was driving a box with no
wheels. The physics model seemed unrealistic in many areas, especially
off the track, over bumps and in the air. I would have to class this as
arcade material. As a game, though, I can see that it will be a lot of
fun. The graphics are superb, the tracks are awesome, the sound is
pretty good. The in-car view is wonderful. Most people who buy this game
will absolutely love it. But I just can't get used to (*) the simplistic
physics.

Bendito

(*) Not that I couldn't master it! My best time for the demo course was
9:38.77. :)

David, are you telling us that RC is the first ever *perfect* sim in all
aspects? There's *nothing* that could've been done better? I find that very
hard to believe. Or you work for Magnetic Fields ...

Hena

: [nice preview snipped]

:    The demo disappointed me. It felt like I was driving a box with no
: wheels. The physics model seemed unrealistic in many areas, especially

Well, it's been beaten to death, but you were playing the *alpha* version,
with a keyboard, and with bugs in the physics model.  Give it another look
when the full version is released and reviewed.

Stephen

: off the track, over bumps and in the air. I would have to class this as
: arcade material. As a game, though, I can see that it will be a lot of
: fun. The graphics are superb, the tracks are awesome, the sound is
: pretty good. The in-car view is wonderful. Most people who buy this game
: will absolutely love it. But I just can't get used to (*) the simplistic
: physics.

: Bendito

: (*) Not that I couldn't master it! My best time for the demo course was
: 9:38.77. :)

[snip]

This is great news, especially if it's this good in BETA.
How close is it to completion, in your estimation?
Sounds like it's done.

Tim

Bendito;

:>    Sod reviews! But I will definitely take your advice and give it
:> another look when the full version is released. That is, assuming the
:> demo is updated with this improved physics model and is thus
:> representative of the final game. Otherwise they're not getting my
:> money.

:      Sorry, I should have put a ":)" after "Sod reviews!" otherwise it
: would seem a bit rude.

No offense taken.  By the way, I meant "reviews" in the context of the
opinion of people in this newsgroup.  If you've been reading this group
for a while, you've sorted out whose opinion to listen to and whose to
ignore.  Of course, your choices might be different than mine.

Not long to wait now anyway.
Stephen

Your preview sounds good, then again I didn't need much more convincing since
I liked the "alpha" demo enough to know I want the full release, now I'm
just hoping I can actually get the release version in my grubby little hands
before the new year, based on how long the previous versions took to trickle
over to this side of the pond.

Seeyas on the track.

--John (Joao) Silva

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"I'm not an athlete, I'm a baseball player" - John Kruk

do we get the same ability to bounce
off the invisible walls like the old game ??

many report it is still there

| I've been testing the full version of Rally Championship. Simply put, this
| is the most amazing car simulator I've ever seen. I had very high
| expectations for this sim over the past months, and they've easily been
| exceeded. The promises made by the developer/publisher were definitely
kept.

Bendito;

Bendito;

Hence you can drive on top of the bank, cut corners etc all day long :-)

Regards,
David Mocnay