Rally Championship Full Version (BETA) Comments

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. IMO, the demo was basically just a sneak peek. The full version is incredible. 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

> I've been testing the full version of Rally Championship. [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 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] 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

:> :> I've been testing the full version of Rally Championship. : [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

Quoted text (7 lines)

> : 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.

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. 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

Now for the BIG question.... when is it due out? 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 -----------== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeeds.com The Largest Usenet Servers in the World! ------== Over 73,000 Newsgroups - Including Dedicated Binaries Servers ==-----

Marko - It's easy for you to attack Europress for giving you a "subpar demo", but keep in mind that the file was not intended for you. Yes simply put, it was never meant to be on the internet and to be critiqued my *** sim fans. So I don't really see where they messed up with the demo. Just my 2. -- Tony Wyss, Editor-in-Chief Gamers Alliance Sports www.ga-sports.com ------------------------------- Network Developer Gamers Alliance, Inc. www.gagames.com ------------------------------- "I'm not an athlete, I'm a baseball player" - John Kruk

Hi 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.

Quoted text (9 lines)

> > 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. > 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. Bendito;

> Marko - It's easy for you to attack Europress for giving you a "subpar > demo", but keep in mind that the file was not intended for you. Yes simply > put, it was never meant to be on the internet and to be critiqued my > *** sim fans. I did not know that. Bendito;

I don't know where you heard that. I have the demo and have not found a single insisible wall ... the only things you can hit are the things that you can see. Hence you can drive on top of the bank, cut corners etc all day long :-) Regards, David Mocnay

Quoted text (15 lines)

>Hi >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.