15 replies to this topic

[The Kanisteri]

Does anyone else has this game? (It was released 19 November 2003)

Euros and centimetres I've saved from drinking I spend on this game and I have bit mixed feelings on this game.

Well, it has few very clever visual things which makes driving nice looking: more better looking gravel, weathereffects are sweet. Plenty of cars (48 total, most of are fixed bonus cars )
Then there's option to have just testing: Free driving at testing center which includes long tarmac oval, inside of it gravel courses with slalom and bounce events. Of course there's parking lot area to make some donuts.

Replay mode shows telemetry about your driving: tops speed, average speed of ss, longest jump and highest jump (very usefull and cool for Neste Rally Finland!!!)

I'm playing first rookie level trought so I won't say about damage or such a things nothing yet.

But...I have something to rant when compared to WRC 1 and WRC 2. There is too much bugs in game! Heh, they won't effect on gameplay or game overall but, oh boy...those are really stupid ones.
For example: I do perfect SS without collision and after finishline co-driver sounds worried and ask "Are you alright?" LOL! (I think just because car automatically slows down after finishline...game engine goes 'confused' ).
And visual glitch: when driving Super Special Stages agains rival car, you can clearly see there's no cloud of dust n' dirt from rival car!!! It just look so weird...

I also miss locked replaycamera view from WRC 2. You can sure change the replay view but game does change it automatically after few seconds...gosh...whole ss helicoptercam would have been nice. :


Me adds more when knows more...

Kind regards,

Mike

[Superbar]

I'm very curious about this game. WRC2-Extreme was a huge improvement in many areas over WRC. If they've taken a big step again the game should be something really special. What do you think? Please do share your further impressions.

[JDeRosa]

yeah, definitely want to know more. I have both WRC1 & II. II was a huge step over the first. The handling was quite tricky as well. I mainly play this game with my FF wheel because it's sooooooooo much more fun

I know you've mentioned you have a wheel, are you using it? How is it? Have you played CMR4? If so, which was better? (sorry for all the questions ;) )

[Rob G]

The first WRC game was released here in the States, but not WRC II. I'm really hoping that they'll deem us worthy of WRC3, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[The Kanisteri]

Rob,

I think WRC 2 is released on NA in this autumn - I read that from somewhere.

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Back to WRC3:
Now I have played and won novice level championship and 5 rallies left when I do that in professional level - as Tommi Mäkinen, Subaru Impreza WRC3 E-Spec.
(Expert level is still unlocked and I think for even begin that level you will need AFTER unlocking complete driving licence test...not sure though)

E-Spec? A-B-C-D-E. 5th evolution of this rallycar in season!!! Further you drive, your engineers developes new 'perks' for car: better ignition, fuel controller, sturdier parts, more torque, better aerodynamic. After 100 km completed driving you will get advanced version of current WRC car.
That sure makes more play for the game because there's 7 official WRC3 cars and if you want all 5 levels you need to drive 500 km with each car...

I also unlocked Suparu Impreza Extreme 03 car... Oh boy!...B-group is back..Kind of!
I tested the car on testrack and topspeed was about 320

And about wheels for ps2:
According to manual of the game Speedster 2, Speedster 3, Logitech Driving Force, GT Force Steering Wheel are supported. With pad you are able to use analog controls.

More whining:

Mechanics?
On Pro level I haven't seen options for damage fixing. It looks like they do automatically fix the car as new even it looks like overhand knot after ss. You can only adjust brake bias, gearing and suspension. Poring...

Where is night?
I liked challenging nighttime special stages in WRC1 and WRC2, but I haven't sawn any in WRC3 yet! Unbelievable! One ss at Monte Carlo is on dusk, but no really need to have lights. I'm pretty disappointed if more demanding difficulty levels won't have night SSes.

RIP replay.
Like I did mention earlier replay mode is ripped too. You can't save your funniest/craziest/perfect stunts into memorycard anymore. You can't lock the replay camera, but you can change it...till game itself does change it to another by it's own will. I don't mind much about this but it would have fun to show your buddies some weird you managed to do in game...

Scenery:
Scenery is optimized to show further distance and more objects. Because limitations of PS2 technology, they have had to downgrade quality of objects too. No!...everything from your own rally car to surface you drive is better than in predecessors, but ground, trees and secondary objectives are simplified which you clearly see from replay. It doesn't effect on gameplay so that's ok.

Goodies:
Earlier mentioned test track - maybe even more bonustracks when you do advance in game.

Driving:
Feeling on various road surfaces are great. Gravel is really fun to drive, snow as well, tarmac too - althought all rallygames still makes driving on tarmac feel bit weird - but direction on this game is right.
I don't know how good or bad handbrakes are in REAL WRC rallycars, but in this game that's pretty useless. Normal braking will make you faster and even better looking. Heh. Forget the handbrake.
Cars feels more heavier and more real. You can bush and throw them like in other games, but they act more real and light touch won't kill the speed or spin your car.

That's goor bridge to tell about damage model:
Light damage won't effect much on speed or controlling the shitwreck but damagemodel is very good improved from predecessors. Do-it-yourself-cilin-colin-car is possible (althought due licencing issues there's no Colin McRae in game - but his bro is!). strong smashes cracks or drops your windshield/other windows, makes bodywork look like raisin, hood/bumbers/spoilers can tearn off.
I haven't tried to do damage for PURPOSE, so I don't know is it possible to kill engine or dumb one, two or three or even all wheels off.

Special Stages:
Total 9 in 14 rallyevents. Difficulty level decides how many ss you have on event: Novice 3, Professional 2+2+2= 6, Expert 3+3+30 9. You can save game and fix car after each 'day'.
New in WRC game serie is crossroads, if you don't pay attention on co-driver you just might pass it till timer sends you after 3 seconds on right way. Heh. Very funny to drive those...even middle of cities.

Music:
I don't like music on driving games so I have turned them off - but it's somekind of wrc related dancemusic.

Overall:
Good rally game. Evolution of WRC 2 but looks like they have make few compromisses.
Better than CMR3.

[Superbar]

Where is night?

Maybe this is a reflection of the changes to the real WRC. I'm not sure, anyone know if they did night stages on the rallies this season?

The Kanisteri, there's a couple of things I wonder about:

1. How's the collision physics? Especially regarding things like guard rails.
In WRC2 they're quite tricky. Good in the sense you can't, like in reality, use 'em as support, hitting them on purpose. Bad that often the slightest touch means you're spun around, very frustrating.

2. How's the timing of the co-driver notes?
I find that in WRC2 they can sometimes lag behind, giving you not enough time to negate the corner.

Thank you.

[The Kanisteri]

Originally posted by Superbar
1. How's the collision physics? Especially regarding things like guard rails.
In WRC2 they're quite tricky. Good in the sense you can't, like in reality, use 'em as support, hitting them on purpose. Bad that often the slightest touch means you're spun around, very frustrating.

2. How's the timing of the co-driver notes?
I find that in WRC2 they can sometimes lag behind, giving you not enough time to negate the corner.

1. Some rails are solid you can damage car, sometimes even spin...depends on hitting angle. But sure thing is, it's better done than in WRC2. Most of rails are breakable, so if you want to take wider driving lines...heh. Go for it.

2. Usually co-driver (in game) reads notes about 100 - 300 metres before 'there'. But sometimes he forgot to say some crucial notes which leads you to smash through forest. And yes, if too much action in line his last notes might have some lag.
It just would be nice to set own notes, but this is just a game.

[Nasty McBastard]

i tend to think that all rally games are much of a muchness.

some have better graphics, some have more cars/stages...whatver....but theyre pretty much the same.

the 2 things that i want most, and find most annoying cos theyre not there, are what most rally games miss.

A> decent colision detection (IE not modeled in a ****ed up way......just try even grazing a wall in wrc2, and not end up pointing 180 degreesd in the wrong direction...bet you cant)
B> decent pace notes. ok.. sometimes theyre a bit slow...or a bit fast, thats really just a matter of preference (id prefer not to hear more than 3 corners ahead, and id like to hear the call a little late), but when you get no call at all, or even worse, a call that says left, when its really right....thats just wrong.
from my experiences, thats the one area where the WRC games give CMR rimjobs





btw. has anyone heard of the dick burns game thats in the works? (or was...maybe things have changed since he got head cancer).... sounds like it could make v-rally, cmr and wrc its bitches.

[Exar Kun]

Yep, RBR looks to be the real deal. There is a forum at RSC dedicated to it now and a couple of the devs are on board there to answer any questions. Helicopter recovery from stages, full setup options, rally school, realistic damage (hit a tree and your whole rally is over) etc.

http://forum.racesim...splay.php?f=563

[Linus27]

I just got a PS2 and I got Colin McRae rally 4 with it. I am actually really impressed with it. I am a big sim head liking GPL and Nascar 2003 but for once, this console rally game is very good. The stages are excellent and not short and wide and I love how they have implimented the sheer power of the cars. Wheel spin, push, brake locking is all modelled and the sounds are brilliant. Considering most console rally games are pants, this one is very very good.

I tried a demo of WRCII and it seemed ok but way to twitchy is steering. Be interested in if WRCIII is improved.

[Exar Kun]

A mate of mine has CMR4 on PS2 I've also really enjoyed despite being a GPL nut. It really is fun and some of the stages are incredibly narrow. The group B cars are wild but don't feel quite right. The WRCs feel great, however. And there are some sensible setup options when it comes to tyres too.

[JDeRosa]

Originally posted by Linus27
I just got a PS2 and I got Colin McRae rally 4 with it.

...... Linus, you used to have a PS2 and sold it right?? Welcome back!!!

[The Kanisteri]

Tip to unlock all cars

When you reach extreme level and got one extreme car, go drive complete Wales Rally on extreme level. If you beat whole rally or atleast 3rd, you do unlock all concept cars, all extreme cars and all evolutions for WRC3 cars.

[Superbar]

I bought WRC3 a couple of days ago and I've been playing it a lot. How it compares to CMR04 I can't say, but it sure is an improvement on WRC2. It's great fun!

I've noticed it's possible to damage both the radiator and the gearbox. Both things slow you down, but while the gearbox is immideate it takes a while for the engine to overheat. I managed to damage the radiator on the first stage on the second day in New Zeeland. Didn't matter much for that first stage but on the second I lost a lot of time because the engine didn't feel too good. The interesting part is that it wasn't that noticable at first but it got progressivly worse during the stage and the car felt at the end like it had not much more than 100hp left in it.

[JDeRosa]

can't wait.... pretty sure my gorlfriend got this for me for xmas. I've been palying WRC 2 to get used to it all again. I did have a few gripes with WRC 2 so I hope that they have sorted these.
Can't wait, I've read everyone's comments and things are looking good. I owned WRC and that was excellent. They keep getting better so they have a lot to live up to.

[JDeRosa]

Early Xmas gift..... played it last night and it is definitely a big improvement!!! The only gripes (sort of) is the restriction of set up, but I hardly ever changed this anyway. The game is now enjoyable to play with the controller, in WRCII it was not so good which is why I only ever really played it with the Driving Force.

Cars look great, the stages somehow look a bit livelier, bit brighter sort of, The dust and particle effects are great and the rain/snow looks spot on!!! What I do find most different is that playing in chase cam is the best. I always used bonnet cam in the past but I now find chase better now. The car evolution stages is a nice touch and are worth it because the difficulty has been stepped up a lot. In WRCII I first played the game in Professional level and won just about every rally. This time, my first attempt at the Rally Monte Carlo and I finished 12th!!! But I did smash the front end up at the beginning of day 2, consequently I lost shitloads of time and just dropped down the leader board..... nevermind, I'll have to make up for this in Finland!!!!

Having played both this and CMR4, I'd say WRCIII pips Colin overall - pretty convincingly, for me anyway. Great game, well worth having.