rec.autos.simulators

Has anyone bought the new Rally Championship Simulation /Game by ***.
Would be interested in knowing what you think of it.  How does it look,
 & handle.  Is it closer to a simulation or a game?  What kind of
machine are you running it on ?  Do you recommend purchasing it?  Thanks
for any responses.

It's hard to speak for everyone, but I know I don't play it any more.
Not that it's a bad game, but I think it's main downfall is lack of
variety on the courses. Ok, so there are 30+ (I think) courses to drive
on, but they are all exactly the same, with the exception of the snow
courses, and perhaps the night courses.
The graphics are good, expecially when you are watching the replay of a
special stage (course), and the blazing headlights at night look
fantastic. The sound seems pretty realistic, but it can be annoying at
times.
The worst part of the sim is the invisible walls... they prevent you
from straying from the track, so basically you just have to keep your
foot down for most of the stage. You will get damaged, but in most cases
it's all you can do to keep up with your opponents.
You CAN roll the car which is cool, but I think the car physics are too
stiff and clinical. You don't have a loose feeling you would like in a
rally sim, and the slides do not feel realistic. I know Europress
Software are working on a sequel now, but I think it will suffer the
same problem, as the only difference is that you get to drive around
Europe's tracks.
Of course, the above is only in realistic rally mode, and you can play
in an arcade style mode with plenty of other cars at the same time.
It's not a bad game by a long chalk, but I got bored quickly with it...
--
Dave Bowers

Clee

I think Rally Championship is a darn good product.  It's less of a
simulation than Nascar 2 or ICR2 with fewer car set-up options, but the
courses are great and the feel for speed is excellent.  Also it is
difficult to damage the car.  But this is no arcade game either.  I run
mine on a 200 mhz MMX machine so I think it should perform well and I
can't tell how it would work on a slower platform.  I had bought the first
version of this thing when it came out about two years ago and that
version had serious joystick calibration problems that the patch would not
fix. Maybe I'm an idiot for trying to buy it again, but I'm happy with how
the latest version works.  It's a nice break from NCR2 and ICR2.
Interestingly, the packaging on this new version states the games "works
with any joystick."  Gee, why would they have to say that?