Firstly, I'm from a rallying background, so I'm biased towards the "sim"
i.e. physics, realism side of things. I was a regular Rally Trophy online
racer for a couple of years. I also drove an escort and Golf at the club
rally level for 10 years.
As others have mentioned, the graphics are outstanding! For the first time
ever on a computer, when I was driving on a gravel section and got some
splotches of dust/mud on the windscreen (before Colin kindly flicked his
wipers to get rid of them within the arc of the wiper blades), I actually
shook my head for a moment and did a double take to check that I wasn't
watching a video of a real scene. Other attention to detail includes the
damage model, and small things like the tyre marks left on the road, and
especially on the muddy sections. I think Richard Burns Rally will have a
hard time beating this aspect of CMR 3. 9/10 for the graphics.
Now, onto the important (for me) stuff.
The physics are one hell of an improvement over the rotating on axis stuff
that we were given in the previous CMR series. The car obviously has
independent suspension, and each wheel is modeled independently in real
time. However, the physics model has been "dampered" for lack of a better
word, for all the gamers out there who would otherwise give up after 30
minutes of trying and take the game back for a refund.
I understand the business model for CMR 4, and that hard core sim racers
form a very small (and unprofitable) minority of the players. There is also
the issue of having a common code base across platforms, where most console
(xbox - Ps/2) users wouldn't have the controls necessary for a sharp and
accurate driving model. Having said that, it would be nice if the full
release for PC has some type of advanced driving mode. As such, I'll still
be waiting for Richard Burns Rally to meet the sim racers' needs.
Onto some specifics.
The single demo car (4WD Citroen) does hanndle something like a 4WD rally
car - that is heaps of understeer unless you put the boot in or scando it
into corners (flick the wrong way then over correct into the corner). The
throttle off oversteer is also there, but is just too predictable and easy.
Basically, alsmost any curve greater than a "2" can be taken by not even
touching the brakes but simply turning in early and at the same time backing
off the throttle to push the weight forward and induce oversteer.
Controlling the car then is a simply 10-20 degrees of opposite lock through
the corner, or a 4 wheel drift through the tighter corners. IMHO this is
just way too easy to do and is not challenging nor realistic.
The tight corners and hairpins can either be taken easily with full
understeer (the slow way), or by braking earlier, changing down to 1st or
2nd and putting on full throttle before the apex to do a nice slide around
the corner. Again, this technique has been "dumded" down for the game. In
real life, full throttle all the way around the corner would produce an
instant spin - judicious application of the throttle is required to balance
the car.
One of the biggest dissapointments is the lack of throttle control. Most of
the time, suddenly applying full throttle does nothing more than make the
car go faster, even when cornering. There is no sense of wheelspin or the
resultant slide, much less being able to feel which wheel(s) are spinning
and resultant behaviour.
At least CMR 4 is good enough to teach the non-sim racer (read: average
game) the basics of oversteer and understeer - this is required for fast
times. Hopefully, it may give them an incentive to move up to the
(hopefully) more realistic Richard Burns Rally when it is released.
Summary:
In summary, the demo is worth a download (if you have broadband). The wet
road of Japan is by far the most realistic and fun of the stages
As mentioned at the start, I'm being harsh as I'm wearing my "Sim racer"
hat. For the gamers that enjoyed CMR 3, this is by far the biggest
improvement of the series and finally offers something approaching the
physics of an actual car. Combined with the incredible graphics, it is sure
to be a best seller and I'm sure will get rave reviews in the *** press.
As for me, I won't delete it immediately as I did with the CMR 3 demo, but
will keep playing it a bit to keep me occupied until RBR comes out in a few
months.