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Great engine, but frustrating presentation

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is actually not as great as everyone says. It does not even try to appeal to anyone except die-hards who'll play any game for months to years just for its sim engine. The graphics are average. There are only eight cars, of which only three are available at the outset. Unlocking the other five can be done by coming in first in a championship, which is extremely hard even on the "rookie" setting. The game also only includes one type of racing, timed rally, in only one class, and in only the mid 2000s era. Because of this lack of diversity, they could at least have included a full rally season to make the sim complete. Instead, there are only six countries to rally in and only 36 tracks in total, including only one tarmac rally and no mud rally. Because of these things, there just isn't much to do in this game.

The game is extremely difficult, which naturally makes it less accessible and fun. If you want to drive like a rally car driver, it won't happen. You'll either be tip-toeing around the track or crashing and flying off the road on every corner if you actually try to go fast. Handbreak turns and powersliding are almost impossible to execute without crashing. However, since the consumer should realize this when buying a sim and could opt for something easier instead, it would not be fair to criticize the game because it's not as fun as an arcade racer.

The problem is, though, the game is NOT as realistic as its fans say and is in fact harder than real rally driver. Overall, the physics are excellent. On the other hand, tire wear and damage is not in the game and your only choices for tires are dry, intermediate, and rain. Vegetation is also modeled as solid objects, so you can't just drive over tiny saplings or bushes--you'll smash up the car and be stopped cold. In some places, you can only drive maybe 1.5 car lenghts off the curb. Often you'd be stuck perpendicular to the road behind a tree or a bridge and this artificial wall, and although in real life you'd just quickly do a U-turn, here you're walled in and have to call for help. In other places, you fly off the road and are quickly driving back through the wide curb, but the game resets your car one sec before you reach the road and adds a time penalty to your clock. Also, when you're clearly sliding towards spectators off the road, they just stand there. You hit them (unrealistic, btw) and incur another time penalty. Most importantly, cars' weight is modeled very poorly. They feel like they weigh, like, 200 kg, and spin out, bounce off trees violently, and flip numerous times in the air at the slightest opportunity. In real life, it would be ridicilous that a 1,230 kg car with a moderate 300 hp designed for harsh terrain driving would do a 1,080 degree flip in the air because the driver cut a corner at 80 km/h and one of his wheels hit a bump off the road. When rally drivers do that (usually to cut), I've seen the wheel go up in the air 15 cm, I didn't see them flip through the air like a plastic RC car. Such unrealistic mechanics not only look cheesy, but force you to drive more carefully and slowly (and less fun) when cutting corners than you should, and make it extremely frustrating when you repeatedly flip out for no reason and have to add 10 seconds to your time each time by calling for help. All these things make the game a lot less refined than it should be, make driving unnecessarily frustrating, and strongly detract from the realism created by the otherwise excellent physics model.

However, my biggest complaint is that the game makes little effort to teach players who aren't skilled at driving sims how to drive. There are no detailed information in the manual about accelerating, braking, and taking turns. The Rally School gives you a number of challenges and tells you what the goal is, but finishing it on all perfect will not make you a proficient beginner racer. It would do wonders to have the kind of training that real rally drivers would have--first, theory about what driving lines to hold, how to take turns in general, how to recover from skids, etc. and second, to have a teacher actually drive with you a couple of courses and, tell you what speed to use, how to take each turn, where and how hard to break and accelerate, at what point to pull and release a handbreak, where to use which rally skill, etc. There is a qualification trial that has breaking, acceleration and turning cones set up to guide you, but it never tells you WHAT your speed should be at each point, and HOW HARD to brake, accelerate, and turn where. There is also one lesson where you see Richard drive a course, however, his speed and gears aren't displayed, so you have no idea how you could emulate his driving. I mean, rally drivers practice this stuff for years, so if somebody is going to jump into the game and attempt to do what they do, the least the game could do is offer not just a mode with driving challenges done on a big parking lot, but a theoretical and field track driving tutorials.

In the end, if you have mastered other sims and you can jump right into this game, you'll probably love it and have a blast driving. For everybody else, the game is too inaccessible, frustrating, and unrewarding to be fun. The competitors' finish times even on "rookie" level are so good, that although good at racing games, after three weeks of playing this game, I usually come in 10th, can only come first in two out fo six rally sets, and have managed to unlock only one car. Yes, even with the frustrations, the driving itself is really fun, but making the players feel like they are doing so poorly and not making any progress for weeks of playing the game is probably too discouraging to keep them around with much more rewarding and diverse, if less realistic, rally games around.

The best car game I've played even till 2007

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is outstanding, I love the simulation type driving, mixed with amazing sound, graphics. I've played both Dirt and Forza II and I still much prefer this game, I hope there is some sort of sequel or another game based off the driving of this game, i plan at some point to get myself the driving wheel to make it an even better experience. BEWARE THAT YOU HAVE AN ADEQUATE GRAPHICS CARD I COULDNT PLAY IT TILL I GOT MY LAPTOP

REALISTIC!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

by far the most realistic racing game ive ever played... and for that, i love it... i believe most people would dislike this game because you simply cant floor it and go.. its like driving a real car.. great game though and it has some pretty amazing driving training..

A Must

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you drive on PC, you owe it to yourself to own this game. This game will have you playing/simulating real Car Rally till the cows come home.
It may be frustrating if you are used to driving over the roof of your car, or a console fan. Once you've learn his skills, and you start shaving seconds, then minutes off your time, it is so rewarding.
Force-Feedback is so much better and appreciated with this game. I have a Logitech Momo and I'm so glad I bought this due to this game.
5.1 speakers is rewarding also with this game.
I currently run on AMD64 2.4Ghz, 2GB Corsair XMS, eVGA 7900 256MB GT PCI-E, Asus A8N and its runs smooth.
The closest game that compares to this game is JooWoo's Rally Trophy. Also a must have if you drive Rally.
Some maneuvers comes in handy in real life.

Great game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's so unfortunate that Richard Burns lost his battle with cancer. He truly was a master of his sport, and great fun to watch. This is by far the best rally simulator you can buy. The level of tuning that you can do to the car is intimidating. I had to read up on a few things to figure out what settings I should use, but if you're familiar with the inner workings of a rally car then you'll be fine.

You really need a wheel for this one because it is a simulator and the keyboard just doesnt give you enough control over the level of throttle, brake, and steering that you need to complete the stages. There are a number of rally games out there if you want an arcade-style game where you can hold the throttle button for the entire race, but this game is different. Your car will be wrapped around a tree pretty quickly if you try that. Don't expect it to be easy and don't expect to be winning races like you do in other games.

Fortunately, there's an awesome "Rally School" series of tutorials that you can go through to prepare yourself for the real races. He starts you out with the simple stuff and then takes you into under/oversteering, power slides, hairpin turns, and the scandinavian flick. I've played the other rally games like the Colin McRae series and Xpand Rally, but this is much more realistic and a great option if you're ready for it.

RBR over a year later...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Just wanted to say, I've had this simulator for over a year now and it still gives me great pleasure to use, and is STILL a challenge to do well at. You can see all the great features and read the tech stuff.., but not often does software keep you entertained for this long a time. Cost based on hours of use is getting close to nothing now.

Most Realistic Car Simulation So Far...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've played as many car simulations as I can and this is one of those simulations that is very accurate, but still has some minor flaws. To prove that that car was moving right, my brain would get confused as to the fact that I was watching a game. I loved to watch the replays to see the car move in a realistic manner. I would be more able to judge the game, if I have had experience in a rally car on gravel tracks, but going from the experience of watching rallys, Richard Burn's Rally is pretty close.

If you don't know how to drive a regular car in extreme situations such as when the car looses grip during snowy or rainy weather or do not plan to practice a lot, this game is not for you. In addition, this game should be played with a force feedback steering wheel, sequential shifter and pedals and only that. It's too difficult with a game pad and keyboard. The experience is not as fulfilling without the proper equipment. I recommend the Logitech products or the new Act Labs wheels, pedals and shifter that are coming out later in 2006.

I wish that more cars were included, but it's probably because of the accuracy of the game, that the cars took a long time to set up properly.

The Rally School part of the game is not hard at all for anyone who has played many car simulations. For a player new to this game, it might be very difficult. Just keep in mind, that this game is very difficult for anyone used to arcade games, especially when the damage is set to realistic. Get plenty of sleep and be ready to focus before driving.

The future looks bright for car simulations. With the computing power going up, more car simulations will continue to blur the line of reality by simulating the many parts of a car and the many factors that affect it.

Classic - A Must Have For Sim Racers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Having been unaware of this title prior to stumbling across it on great sim racing sites such as bhmotorsports.com, autosimsport.com and simhq.com, I feel truly blessed that I was introduced to this game. One reviewer called it the GPL of rally sims, and I couldn't agree more. That statement alone should give people enough incentive to buy this game and try it out on their own hardware. And this is a hardware intensive game, so step up if you have a machine absolutely capable of running extreme graphics with high frame rates. I have only had this game for three weeks and after one intensive weekend of multiple hours of play, I got a good feel for the car and was able to post competitive sector times. I have yet to try RBR-online.com, but eagerly anticipate bartering some time with the Mrs. to permit a few hours dedicated to competing globally. The game is amazing and the detail is superb. Few things in the sim racing world are as rewarding as absolutely nailing a rally stage, then have the pleasure to watch it back on such a fine replay machine. Highly recommended and a must for a sim racer.

Great game very real feel to the game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game has some of the most realistic graghics I have seen in a driving game. They actually use real roads from each area and make a digital copy for the game, check out the offical website to see the comparisons it is amazing!

The game is fun and very tough, with the MOMO Force feedback wheel it is a very fun and realistic game. It is not a smash um up can do no wrong game, when you wreck you have call for assisance and after a wreck the car doesn't handle as well or steer as tightly.

It worked perfect with my Windows XP system and the MOMO wheel. I have seen no glitching or choppy graphics (I also have a high end system) It recommends a 2.6ghz processor and I can see why, it is fast and very realalistic and I sweating last night playing from the intensity and challange. I found myself having to slow down my breathing because I was so into the race I was breathing too fast.

Great game, if you can find it in the US.

not just "a game" but "the rally sim"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: February 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Richard Burns Rally continues where other rally sims have stopped. It manages to be better than CMR 2005 in just about every important aspect, from physics to eye candy.

It definitely is not an arcade racing sim. Everyone not experienced with these games is in for a frustration at first, as the learning curve is quite steep for a racing sim. PC steering wheel is a must. Cars can be "driven" through the keyboard, but it is far from realistic and even more important - far from being competitive.

This sim doesn't leave the user wondering. There is a rally school which teaches you basics and some advanced techniques. Lessons are useful and informative and are a big plus for this sim.

I've been looking for a car sim which would help me understand and practice driving in extreme conditions. So far only few have managed to deliver, with this sim being on the very top. Along with real world practice, it will help you to become a better driver, no doubt about it.

The sims lacks mouse support, which is a clear minus IMHO.

Even bigger minus is limited number of cars. Well, it is a sim and it simulates rally - you don't have hundreds of cars in top modern rallies. However, a wider selection would be nice. Right now we are left with enthusiast users making mods. So far there has been none, but new cars are coming.

Definitely recommended as a rally sim, not as just another PC game.

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