mfnick Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Well this is a very pleasant surprise. I played some of the old ones and thought they were ok at best, plus middling reviews with little to no fanfare throughout the series meant I’d ignored it until now. Not played much but initial impressions of this one are really great. The handling model is seriously good. It’s definitely sim focused but has enough give to be immediately fun at the same time where even on your first go you can finish a rally without totalling your car. Think Dirt Rally turned down a few notches. So far it seems like the prefect blend for me between being too sim focused and difficult and being too arcadey. The features around the edges are great too. The career mode gives you the option of messing about hiring crew, levelling up your garage for more crew members and better equipment for repairs etc. You also select the events youd like to do on your calendar between rallies including some historic ones which are much appreciated. It just makes it all feel less sterile than some racing games can be. The graphics are pretty decent. The cars in particular look great with impressive mud effects on the bodywork. The weather effects are stunning too. I’m on PS5 and it runs at a silky 60FPS with a 120hz option - not worth the downgrade IMO. There’s a fidelity mode I’ve not tried but 60FPs is near essential in racing for me so not interested. Only disappointment so far is the track pop in - a common issue with recent racing games Ive played for some reason. I thought this problem had been solved but it’s especially obvious here (as it was in DIRT 5), big trackside bushes and details literally pop into view mere yards away from you. Not a deal breaker and worth it for 60fps but disappointing nonetheless. Maybe just cut down on the amount of trackside details? Think I’d prefer it to it popping in all the time. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 Just got to add if you have a PS5 and like racing games you must get this. The pad is a real game changer. It honestly makes you better at the game, no exaggeration. You can feel all the different track surfaces through the haptics, you can feel which tyres have the most grip, the brake trigger tension really helps tell how far to press before they lock up and the ABS effect is fantastic (if you have it on, I Heineken to start with but it feels so good I’ve not left it on). The accelerator is loose but has just enough tension whereby you can modulate it so much better. Plus it has a nice satisfying click on gear changes. The sound effects through the speaker are great too and really add to the immersion and the ‘feel’ in a similar way to Astro. It’s going to be very difficult to go back to playing racing games on the Xbox now, I’m actually worried Forza will feel shit no matter how good it is just because it’s missing these features. They’re that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatular Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 nice one for starting a thread on this. yeah i agree it's really good, and also agree about the difficulty, a bit easier than dirt rally is a good place to be. and yeah the pop in with the stones on the track is really noticeable - and that sort of thing usually doesn't bother me. oddly it's main downfall for me is the main reason i bought it, it's the sort of game i'd usually play with a wheel but got it to try out the fancy rumble stuff on the ps5 pad, but probably should have just played it with a wheel. although i tried 8 with a wheel and couldn't get it setup how i like it. it (9) does control really well with a pad though. the fancy rumble, on one hand is cool, but on the other it doesn't seem to offer much useful feedback, and a bit disappointing when you can see a big bump in the road and the pad doesn't react. i'm half way through my 3rd season in career mode - i don't really like the messing around hiring people management stuff, but i do like the events you can play inbetween rallies to mix things up. haven't played much of the other modes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 10, 2021 Author Share Posted February 10, 2021 Surprised to read your thoughts on the pad. I’m genuinely blown away by it. The feel of the surfaces is spot on. The differences between sand in Kenya to the loose dirt of Wales is stark and just right IMO. The way it provides more feedback on the side of the pad in response to which side your car is leaning on in a corner is great too. As well as the trigger tensions I genuinely feel better at the game due to those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatular Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Yeah maybe its great but im not any good at understanding what its telling me, maybe theres too much info in there so i cant make out anything useful, it just feels like fancy rumbling to me, which is cool to be fair, or maybe however good it is im still going to prefer a force feedback wheel. I remember in pgr3 i could feel the grip through the rumble, even though its just basic rumble, i dont get that sort of feeling here. Maybe just because im not used to it. The click on backfires/gear changes/whatever is cool. I do like it, but also maybe feel a bit disappointed because of the hype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted February 11, 2021 Author Share Posted February 11, 2021 Don’t get me wrong I don’t think it’s comparable to a even a basic wheel with Force Feedback, but as far as racing games on a pad go, I’ll struggle to go back now. Only way I can see it being improved is if they could some how add resistance to the analogue sticks too. I’ve done my first season and moved onto WRC3 now. I accepted the contract before my calendar finished though and it basically started from square one in the new season. Any idea if its worth finishing the season before changing contracts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatular Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 ^ yeah that contract thing where you move onto the next season early is odd, i've rejected it a few times, but then if you reject it sometimes they don't offer you a car at the end of the season (so i was stuck with a car i didn't want the next year), i think you need to not do any manufacturer challenges unless you want to start a new season early - but i'm not 100% sure on that. i stopped doing them anyway - maybe i won't get any offers for next season now! i think it's just a way of moving onto a different car early if you don't like your current one or something, don't think it matters if you complete the season early or not, just do whatever you want. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatular Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 got round to trying this with a wheel and it works really well. great fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Good to hear. Only problem with getting it for PS5 for me. Got a great wheel set up but it’s for Xbox. May re-buy it when it reaches about £15 on there so I can use wheel when I want to. Game is great so don’t mind that. Plus got it relatively cheap on PS so won’t lose out too much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatular Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 ^ Yeah i think its worth £10-£15 for a go with the wheel. i think i enjoy the more wide open stages where you can throw the car around more. There are some really narrow stages too where it plays a bit more like dirt rally and ive not enjoyed those as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Agree completely. In the narrow ones it can be just a bit too easy to clip the side and fuck up the entire race. Not much fun, especially with how squirrelly some of the cars can be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey_chaser Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 I picked this up, heard good things about the controller and it was cheap (£17 on PSN). Not my type of game normally but i'm enjoying it (i'm not really into sports but Rally driving is one of the few i'll stop and watch on TV if it's on). I was nicely surprised by the career mode. It's really nicely presented and seems to have a nice bit of meat to it with some light RPG elements thrown in. I'm just trying to find my difficulty level now though. Dropped it to 90 and was finishing with a 14 second lead. Back up to 100 and i'm 14 seconds behind everyone. Fair play to anyone that's legitimately good at these games though, the level of focus you need is immense. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfnick Posted April 18, 2021 Author Share Posted April 18, 2021 This is £8 on Xbox at the minute. Highly recommended. I’ve just repurchased it on there at that price so I can use my wheel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 I picked this up on Xbox for £7.99 as @mfnick mentioned above (pricing error? It's Not this cheap on any other region) and having a wonderful time with it so far. After playing a few rally games, this one just feels right and is a lot of fun to blat around the tracks. The career beginning on the snow stages were a great opener. Even the training missions are fun, trying to beat your own times. Managing your team and bits in between events isn't over complicated and adds to the game rather than being there for the sake of it. Overall I am well impressed and will be looking forward to WRC 10. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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