A good reason *NOT* to buy Colin McRae Rally

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>I agree. The first time I saw a preview of CMR was in a magazine. The >cover said "The best, most realistic, rally game ever". So I read the >preview and liked it until the last sentence: "And if you still have >trouble keeping up... just drive trough the trees, they won't slow you >down much." This is when I decided NOT to buy it. >// Johan

Silly, really, for if you had brought it, you'd know that doing this is champ modes cause damage which will render your car stuck in 2nd/3rd gear, and crawling. In any case, the increased driveable area is a good thing (remembering those "walls" in previous rally sims.) Mr Grist will let you know which corners not "to cut" anyway. He's welsh! welsh! i tell you ;) (suprised at all the magazine mentions of McRae voice overs, or the scottish co-driver mentions) Must say expert is very hard. Interrmediate was a little too easy.. but i relaise i'm going to have to wait for a decent wheel before i'm ball park in Expert mode. Still, it's your loss. CMR is the bee's knee's. Z.

Thanks for the info. Perhaps I'll start DL'ing the demo now and see for myself. // Johan

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> >I agree. The first time I saw a preview of CMR was in a magazine. The > >cover said "The best, most realistic, rally game ever". So I read the > >preview and liked it until the last sentence: "And if you still have > >trouble keeping up... just drive trough the trees, they won't slow you > >down much." This is when I decided NOT to buy it. > >// Johan > Silly, really, for if you had brought it, you'd know that doing this is champ > modes cause damage which will render your car stuck in 2nd/3rd gear, and > crawling. > In any case, the increased driveable area is a good thing (remembering those > "walls" in previous rally sims.) > Mr Grist will let you know which corners not "to cut" anyway. He's welsh! > welsh! i tell you ;) (suprised at all the magazine mentions of McRae voice > overs, or the scottish co-driver mentions) > Must say expert is very hard. Interrmediate was a little too easy.. but i > relaise i'm going to have to wait for a decent wheel before i'm ball park in > Expert mode. > Still, it's your loss. > CMR is the bee's knee's. > Z.

>Thanks for the info. Perhaps I'll start DL'ing the demo now and see for >myself. Johan, your mileage may vary. I don't believe damage comes into play except in Full Championship mode. Z.

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> I know what you mean about Expert mode! I have a TSW wheel and its really a >blast to try and stay ahead in Expert, though if you use one of the high- >horsepower cars it is a little easier -but by no means a sure thing! But >Codemasters should really get a little more serious about their work, because >it seems like everything they put out has a bad arcade aftertaste in it >somewhere. In the first stage of the Greek rally(for example) at the turns >that come right after you start, if you stay flat-out and ignore the road and >just drive right over the top of the areas to the side, and you can gain >plenty of time. And in the 4th stage theres a place where you can drive right >across country and still get a high-score code. This can be a problem in >online racing, where you would prefer NOT to have temptations ..especially >ones that are impossible to check. There are plenty of things Codemasters >could have done to prevent this, but they don't! Because they do want to >scare the arcade drivers away. Mark.

Actually just re-thinking, my biggest problem so far is the Hay bales made out of solid bricks.... 8) Well, i do realise they are fairly heavy, but i owuld expect to move thme a bit.. not just bounce off... Z.

>Silly, really, for if you had brought it, you'd know that doing this is champ >modes cause damage which will render your car stuck in 2nd/3rd gear, and >crawling. The only silly thing about CMR is the idiotic "Championship" mode. Who ever heard about drivers being excluded from the championship because they finish out of the points? Never. Yet somehow Codemasters decided this was a really good idea. Coasting towards the WRC on the last rally I had a lot of mechanical problems and finished 7th. Despite being 20 points clear of the rest, I didn't win, I just got a "Game Over" message. Where's the point in this? It's not encouraged me to play again and it's not encouraged me to retry the rally to get that previously illusive 6th place. Instead I've switched to my copy of GPL and started to play with setup options. If you want a fun rally game then get CMR, if you want a relatively good simulation of driving a rally car, get CMR but if you're expecting a WRC simulation avoid it like the plague because the flaws in the product will annoy you to no end. Meiji

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>Hard to say what coudl be done? :) >I mean, Rally is point to point, and the road or track is the assumed quickest >route. But there is nothing to stop people cutting corners which is indeed >done. All that i think Codemasters could have done for these section is hide >holes? (causing damage) :) >Hot lapping stages is really not the same thing though, as doing the >championship, and worrying about dragging your car safely through the 6/7 >stages. >I mean, imagine if they'd artificially slowed you down.... (all the F1RS >critic's for this....) >Really, it's no-win, in my mind. >If anyone can offer a realistic solution, i'd be greatful to hear.....

Rallying on stages like this and at this level is *not* point to point. The drivers have a set route to follow and must complete it as fast as possible. When was the last time you saw Colin McRae use his local knowledge on the RAC to nip off to the left down some road ignored by the other drivers and thus make up several minutes? Likewise, I'm sure if your idea was the case, most drivers would ignore the swerves and turns on the frozen lakes in Sweden and just head straight for the finish line in the most direct route available. Rally drivers need to stick to the course otherwise they're assessed a time penalty, and this should be the same. Crossing a "marker" should give the driver a, say, 20 second penalty. This would allow people the freedom to do what they wanted but stop them winning, surely the point of the exercise. M