Colin McRae Rally and Rally games

[DLC]

03 is good, 04 is better, 05 is best. I have at least one copy of all 5, 1-2 on PS1 and 3-5 on XBox.

[rallysam]

Really? I've been progressively less and less a fan of each version. Granted, the car physics has gotten more realistic, but they've also dialed too much oversteer into their car models my taste. I feel like I can't go all out - I spend too much of my control inputs on keeping the car from going too far sideways. Was that your experience DLC?

[DLC]

I think it has indeed gotten more realistic. Play 3, then 5, and you'll immediately notice what a lot of people had issues with: the car rotates on an axis through the center of the car. In 04 and 05, the cars act much more realistically, without that feeling that the car is simply rotating on that axis.

I think that your observation is exactly what they were going for, in other words, more concentration on the controls and driving the car.

One observation made by someone was that in the days of Group B, cars had to slide around corners because they had too much power and too little traction. Now that there's less power and more traction, WRC cars of the last 10 years are actually faster than Grp. B through stages. This translates directly to the game, where I try to not slide very much, and maintain a firm handle on what the car is doing.

I can't say that I have an issue with too much oversteer. In fact, it might be the other way. I usually end up hitting objects, like trees, when I understeer.

On a side note, a friend and I created a php-based CMR04 stage time records page that we used a while ago. It was cool to be able to put in your times on stages and compare them to what he was running. Most of the time I was faster, but he had one run on S01 Greece in a FWD Golf that I could not beat in any FWD car, no matter how much I tried.

[206er]

I just ordered rally trophy just to drive the volvo amazon, and richard burns rally because I got a good price. I have totally beat cmr3. next will be colin mcrea 2005 I guess. is it worth buying if I am sick of cmr3?
lee, I sent the game out today, and emailed you a total. I'll also PM you on here.

[DLC]

Richard Burns is, and I say this from experience, hard to the point of frustration. I've tried it a few times, and it's just HARD. Good luck.

You should like 05. It has a lot of cars, new stages and it also looks quite a bit better than 03.

Rallisport Challenge 2 is actually very fun, and for graphics, it's probably second to none where rally is concerned.

[skid542]

Thanks Jeremy, I sent payment and I look forward to it .

[rallysam]

I think it has indeed gotten more realistic. Play 3, then 5, and you'll immediately notice what a lot of people had issues with: the car rotates on an axis through the center of the car. In 04 and 05, the cars act much more realistically, without that feeling that the car is simply rotating on that axis.

I think that your observation is exactly what they were going for, in other words, more concentration on the controls and driving the car.

One observation made by someone was that in the days of Group B, cars had to slide around corners because they had too much power and too little traction. Now that there's less power and more traction, WRC cars of the last 10 years are actually faster than Grp. B through stages. This translates directly to the game, where I try to not slide very much, and maintain a firm handle on what the car is doing.

I can't say that I have an issue with too much oversteer. In fact, it might be the other way. I usually end up hitting objects, like trees, when I understeer.

On a side note, a friend and I created a php-based CMR04 stage time records page that we used a while ago. It was cool to be able to put in your times on stages and compare them to what he was running. Most of the time I was faster, but he had one run on S01 Greece in a FWD Golf that I could not beat in any FWD car, no matter how much I tried.

I definitely agree. The sliding felt so fake in the old ones. It was too easy to get in and out of the slide, and it did feel like the car spun freely on an axis instead of realistically gaining and losing traction seperately at the front and rear.

I don't mind that they made it more realistic. Mostly I mind that they made it a realistic simulation of a car with a lot of oversteer dialed in when I'd prefer that they made it a realistic simulation of a more neutral car. In Rallysport Challenge, I felt like the cars were pretty neutral, and it taught you to "ask" for oversteer when you needed it by modulating the throttle. In recent CMRs, it's like everything brakes, throttle lift, throttle on, turning the wheel, going straight, EVERYTHING induces oversteer and spins except constant, active, fast-reacting, countersteering. It's like the textbook example of "unstable".

It's not impossible, but I just don't like that kind of car set up. That's what I had in my rallycross car last weekend. It makes me feel like I have to spend too much of my attention just caring for your car's attitude to keep the rear behind the front, and not enough attention on going faster.

The experience you describe is totally different. You're going to make me want to go fire it up again and see what I'm remembering wrong

[franticfour]

We have a shop contest going at the moment .
Specific stages on CM 3 .

Add yours or beat these

UK SS1 2WD - 2:55.71

USA SS4 4wd - 2:53.79

[206er]

what is a good steering wheel to try? I'm thinking I want to step up from arrow keys.

[DLC]

Arrow keys, HA! The last CMR I played on a PC was version 2. XBox has superior controllability.

[franticfour]

Arrow keys, HA! The last CMR I played on a PC was version 2. XBox has superior controllability.

Not!
Arrows rule. Beat my times with your superior control

[DLC]

I might just have to see if I can stomach playing 03 after getting used to the better physics of 04/05.

[Josh Long]

Eric's time (FranticFour) on UK SS1 in a 2WD car is insane. I was in the running for a while but he kept aking time out of it.

On the other hand I think I have taken another 2 seconds out of USA SS4.

Josh

[DLC]

I tried playing 3 again, and even went though the championship, but I'm just having a hard time with the wonky physics. As soon as I play 5, it's all good.

Those times are pretty insane, for sure. My compliments on your keyboard skillz.

[206er]

so I just got richard burns rally, and the damn game doesnt work. downloaded all the patches that are SUPPOSED to fix the exact damn reason it wont load, and nada. Ive got a pentium 4, no reason it shouldnt play an older computer game.

[skid542]

Boo to that.

I got the game in the mail yesterday Jeremy, haven't had a chance to get it up and going yet but thanks.

[206er]

so I got all the drivers for my nvidia Geforce 440, got all the patches for the game, and still no worky. any ideas? computers=teh suck

[DLC]

I suspect that your video card isn't up to the task. The 440 is, in computer terms, ancient technology. Here's the system requirements page:

http://www.richardburnsrally.com/support.htm#a8

Post your computer specs.

[206er]

damn planned obsolescence. its a 2003 computer.

XP professional
system model: dimension 4600
BIOS: default system BIOS
processor: INtel pentium 4 2.40Ghz
256MB ram
page file: 279 MB used, 349 MB available
Direct X version 9.0c
NVIDIA Geforce MX440 with AGP8X
DAC type: integrated RAMDAC
64.0MB approx. total memory
800x600 32 bit 75hz display

I am thinking the problem has to do with pixel shading as that is what the error message the game shows says. how do I tell if my graphics card supports pixel shading?

[DLC]

Here's a quote from a review of the eVGA Geforce4 MX440:

The software bundle was exceptionally weird. I say this because several of the items on the CD don’t work properly with the GeForce 4 MX (e.g. 3 of the Tech demos provided require the nfiniteFX engine or other DirectX 8 T&L unit either I’d assume). Meanwhile one of the game demos provided, Comanche 4, is a DirectX 8 Game which supports Pixel & Vertex Shaders, neither of which the GeForce 4 MX support in Hardware (You also get a Voucher that will let you get this Game at a discount).

So it sounds like your card doesn't support pixel shaders. There's a chance that you could get a reasonably priced AGP card for the system, along with some more RAM, and get another year or two out of it. A P4 2.4 is still decent, but it is showing its age.