General Gaming Who else loves rally games?

[ShreddieMercury]

So far this holiday season I've found myself consumed with EA Sports WRC.  I usually swear off anything EA Sports out of principle, but I couldn't help myself since this saw a 40% discount in the winter Xbox sale.

 

Despite having no affinity for simulation racing, I'm loving this game.  I do wish it was a bit less challenging, but learning how the cars drive and finding the perfect balance between control and speed is extremely engaging.  I've always loved rally games, back to Sega Rally on Saturn, and this game does one thing better than nearly any other: the stages.  The variety of different rally stages here is probably the best in any game to date.  All of the surfaces feel very unique to drive, and the weather effects are excellent.  It's a pretty perfect recreation of what makes this sport so enthralling.

 

That said, there seem to be pretty severe performance issues that people are experiencing, including a completely borked career mode that will crash the game when you select "continue".  The only thing I've seen is some inconsistent screen tearing, but like most things released nowadays it does appear to be an unfinished product, hence the likely poor sales and early discount.  It certainly doesn't help that EA just gutted the Codemasters staff shortly after acquiring them.  Awesome industry!

 

The next one on my list is Rush Rally 3 on Switch, which I've heard is fantastic as well.

[Biggie]

Rally games are fun as hell. I remember one on the 360 made by Microsoft but can’t remember the name. It was a blast. Also enjoyed the Colin McRae games. 

[ShreddieMercury]

13 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Rally games are fun as hell. I remember one on the 360 made by Microsoft but can’t remember the name. It was a blast. Also enjoyed the Colin McRae games. 

 

Rallisport Challenge 1 and 2?  Those were awesome on the original Xbox.  I'm bummed that they never were made backwards compatible.  The only 360 ones I remember were Dirt 2 and 3, which were developed by Codemasters, who also made this new WRC game.

[Biggie]

1 minute ago, ShreddieMercury said:

 

Rallisport Challenge 1 and 2?  Those were awesome on the original Xbox.  I'm bummed that they never were made backwards compatible.  The only 360 ones I remember were Dirt 2 and 3, which were developed by Codemasters, who also made this new WRC game.

YES that’s it!!! I loved those games. On the original Xbox. I thought it was 360 cause the graphics were top notch back then. I remember the water and mud just blowing my mind. I need to try the WRC game because I have EA Play with GamePass Ultimate. You say it’s pretty good huh? 

[HardAct]

Huge racing game fan and Dirt 2.0 is by far the best out there. Very Sim heavy. This not the arcade Dirt game out, this is strictly Sim intense amazing with a wheel hold on to your pants racing game. Highly recommend it and it cheap too!

[ShreddieMercury]

2 hours ago, Biggie said:

YES that’s it!!! I loved those games. On the original Xbox. I thought it was 360 cause the graphics were top notch back then. I remember the water and mud just blowing my mind. I need to try the WRC game because I have EA Play with GamePass Ultimate. You say it’s pretty good huh? 

 

It's excellent, but it's definitely more on the sim side than something like Rallisport Challenge.  I play on controller, and it's pretty much necessary to play with at least some assists on to make the handling somewhat doable.  The default settings are solid, so I would just advise not going with the hardcore option unless you have a wheel and are super serious about it.

[Mr.Vic20]

Of all the various styles of racing, for me, Rally is the best. 

[Dodger]

It ain’t quite the same but I loved Art of Rally

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, Dodger said:

It ain’t quite the same but I loved Art of Rally

 

Free on EGS for another ~10 hours, for anyone interested.

[Biggie]

I thought WRC was on GamePass but it’s just the trial for EA Play. I got Ultimate so I’ll try it out. 

[HardAct]

Test Drive V-Rally

WWW.METACRITIC.COM

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The Ultimate Open Road Racing Championship. 16 officially licensed rally cars with 10 bonus cars. Over 80 new tracks in over 12 different countries exclusively for the Sega Dreamcast. Powerful track editor and generator - create, save and exchange saved tracks you create! Real-Time Damage feature shows visible damage during game play.

   Man I miss this game so much it was on the Dreamcast and you could build your own tracks and it was rather pretty easy to make them and you could make them really intense and at the time I had never played any racing game like that especially a rally game I missed these days

[gamer.tv]

It’s been ages since I played a rally game (V Rally 99), but there was a stone I loved a racing game- but that also coincided with having hours of free time. 

[Biggie]

5 hours ago, Biggie said:

I thought WRC was on GamePass but it’s just the trial for EA Play. I got Ultimate so I’ll try it out. 

Downloading before bed. I’ll try it out tomorrow. 

[Keyser_Soze]

If you liked SEGA Rally Championship (which if you're ITT you should otherwise GTFO) then check out this upcoming game!

 

Over Jump Rally on Steam

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

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RALLY! Hot blazing sun! Relive arcade racing with Over Jump Rally – an unofficial remake of Sega Rally from the '90s. Unreal Engine 5-powered stunning graphics, nostalgic music, and intuitive controls bring classic racing to a new generation. Easy, right? Maybe!

 

 

 

[Biggie]

 I’m soooooo in

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I cannot remember the last rally game I played. I thought I played one on the Xbox 360 when I last had a wheel and peddle set, but looking through my achievements the answer is no. So maybe it was back on the PS2/Xbox or even PSOne. I remember Gran Turismo adding rally stages and physics and they weren’t ever my favorite part of the game, but an ok break from standard road course circuit racing. 
 

I should give it a try at some point though. I might really like it on my wheel. I’ll need to see if any of the WRC games on Game Pass are any good. I’d hate to try a shit rally game and judge the entire sub-genre off that. 

[Biggie]

WRC is legit fun! Wish it was on GamePass instead of just the 10 hour EA Play trial. 

[stepee]

lol every time I see this thread I first read it as “who else really loves game?” and I’m thinking I mean yeah 

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Biggie said:

WRC is legit fun! Wish it was on GamePass instead of just the 10 hour EA Play trial. 

 

Give it some time for it to hit the vault it will definitely be on game pass since it is part of EA Play, but the game just came out last month so it won't be on game pass right now.

[Biggie]

On 12/24/2023 at 10:58 PM, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Give it some time for it to hit the vault it will definitely be on game pass since it is part of EA Play, but the game just came out last month so it won't be on game pass right now.

I downloaded DiRT Rally 2.0 off of GamePass and it’s really fun!    I still rather play WRC from EA. Really hope it comes to GamePass in 2024. 

[stepee]

1 minute ago, Biggie said:

I downloaded DiRT Rally 2.0 off of GamePass and it’s really fun!    I still rather play WRC from EA. Really hope it comes to GamePass in 2024. 

 

It will come to GP Ultimate for sure. All EA games will come to GPU within a year of launch because it includes EA Access! 

[Biggie]

Just now, stepee said:

 

It will come to GP Ultimate for sure. All EA games will come to GPU within a year of launch because it includes EA Access! 

I used up the 10 free hours of EA Play. 

[stepee]

Just now, Biggie said:

I used up the 10 free hours of EA Play. 

 

I imagine the full version hits sometime in summer!

[ShreddieMercury]

Update on this, as I've dropped EA WRC for now.  It's a remarkable simulation of the sport, but they forgot to put a game in.  They don't give you a good reason to do anything, and the career mode has lots of superfluous mechanics (hiring/firing a crew, budget management) that do absolutely nothing if you just ignore them.  I've gone through two seasons and there is zero friction or game design outside of the actual driving.  Lots of racing games have this issue, but I've noticed with Codemasters games this is often the case.  I need to give Dirt Rally 2.0 a try, but from what I can see that is similarly anemic outside of the specific sim aspects of the rally driving. 

 

I cleaned up my original Xbox and got a copy of Rallisport Challenge 2, and it's incredible how well that game holds up.  It might be the best rally game ever made, and it's a real shame that there is no modern way to play it.  I remember pining for it during the last wave of BC announcements on Xbox, but due to the car licensing we'll never see it again.

 

Also gave Test Drive V-Rally a spin on Dreamcast, and it's fantastic.  Older, arcade-focused racing games > modern sim racing.

[Biggie]

56 minutes ago, ShreddieMercury said:

Update on this, as I've dropped EA WRC for now.  It's a remarkable simulation of the sport, but they forgot to put a game in.  They don't give you a good reason to do anything, and the career mode has lots of superfluous mechanics (hiring/firing a crew, budget management) that do absolutely nothing if you just ignore them.  I've gone through two seasons and there is zero friction or game design outside of the actual driving.  Lots of racing games have this issue, but I've noticed with Codemasters games this is often the case.  I need to give Dirt Rally 2.0 a try, but from what I can see that is similarly anemic outside of the specific sim aspects of the rally driving. 

 

I cleaned up my original Xbox and got a copy of Rallisport Challenge 2, and it's incredible how well that game holds up.  It might be the best rally game ever made, and it's a real shame that there is no modern way to play it.  I remember pining for it during the last wave of BC announcements on Xbox, but due to the car licensing we'll never see it again.

 

Also gave Test Drive V-Rally a spin on Dreamcast, and it's fantastic.  Older, arcade-focused racing games > modern sim racing.

It’s the best Rally game ever imo

[stepee]

I got sega rally revolution pc version downloaded on deck last night but I’m missing something at the beginning of the instructions I found. I’ll figure it out though, the psp version I have doesn’t look nearly as good.

[Remarkableriots]

I have most of the Dirt games on PC but currently don't have a PC. I have Dirt 5 on PlayStation 5, though. The Crew has some fun off-road tracks with dirt and raid vehicles.

[XxEvil AshxX]

I like 'em.

 

I suck at 'em.

[ShreddieMercury]

On 1/28/2024 at 3:53 PM, stepee said:

I got sega rally revolution pc version downloaded on deck last night but I’m missing something at the beginning of the instructions I found. I’ll figure it out though, the psp version I have doesn’t look nearly as good.

 

Sega Rally Revo is an amazing game.  Sadly, on PC the frame pacing is messed up in the career mode, as it's somehow locked to 62.5 FPS.  This issue goes away in the quick race and time trial modes after you restart a race, but there is no fix for the career mode.  Even with that issue, it's more than worth playing and getting used to, as the gameplay is peak Sega Rally.

[ShreddieMercury]

3 hours ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

I like 'em.

 

I suck at 'em.

 

You won't suck at the ones that remember to be a fun game first and a sim second.  Unfortunately at some point in the past generation or so racing fans decided that realism is the only factor that matters, so you get boring, punishing, and unfun games that are solely designed for people with expensive simulation rigs.

[EternallDarkness]

I remember loving Rallisport on xbox, the rumble on that game was insane, I think it blew out one of my controllers 

[XxEvil AshxX]

16 hours ago, ShreddieMercury said:

 

You won't suck at the ones that remember to be a fun game first and a sim second.  Unfortunately at some point in the past generation or so racing fans decided that realism is the only factor that matters, so you get boring, punishing, and unfun games that are solely designed for people with expensive simulation rigs.

 

Dirt 2 was one of my favorites. That game was arcade racer first and sim second. It had a great blend of circuit races and rally races. I played the shit out of it. Unfortunately Dirt 3 focused more on that gymkhana crap and it was all downhill from there. Dirt 5 was... weird.

 

I'm not so much a rally racing fan as I am an off-road racing fan. Rally just happens to fit in the category.  There's even this knock-off Dirt game called Baja: Edge of Control that's not great but it's actually more enjoyable then it probably should be. And it goes on sale for like, $5 all the time. My only gripe with it is that there is this one race type event where you need to drive through gates and they're flanked by barriers that will slow you down. The game is literally called "edge of control" and they're expecting you to be going balls-out and threading a needle. It's frustrating to say the least.

[best3444]

On 12/24/2023 at 10:43 PM, stepee said:

lol every time I see this thread I first read it as “who else really loves game?” and I’m thinking I mean yeah 

 

Two days in a row this got me. 😆 

[Dodger]

How’s WRC generations? Currently on sale for $20