Colin McRae Rally 4

[MichaelH]

Well, I was going to avoid this one. I loved CM1 and the king 2.0, but in the midst of glowing reviews and such I never really dared express just gow **** I felt Colin McRae Rally 3 was. (apologies for the naughty word, I'm expressing it now ). But having given into temptation and bought it on Xbox today....

...I'm stunned. It looks a million dollars, you can use any car you like, there are loads more options, customisable rallies, and the handling is back to how it was in the earlier games...spot on.

I can't recommend this highly enough, I really can't.

Anyone else got an opinion on it? Will my enthusiasm wear off after the "honeymoon period" or is it a laster, there must be more CM4 owners out there, otherwise you're all stark raving mad to miss out...

[Damon]

Yep, damn fine game, best in the series. Worryingly it's tugging me away from GPL practice at the moment, but drifting around on gravel is a lot more appealing than pounding around Monaco. Got the PS2 version it looks stunning and the frame rate is solid as a rock. Codies are clearly getting the hang of the PS2 now as a Gamespot preview said it doesn't look or run much different to the Xbox version, so good on you guys!

One downer, in the intermediate Championship I don't appear to be able to loose, it's a little too easy, I'm hoping that the step up at the end of this one will rectify that though.

[racer69]

What cars are in it?

[andy_b]

Have to agree. Wasnt too sure of CM3, but CM4 is back to how it was. Very good.

Cars include your normal WRC lot (although not in WRC livery), some 2wd like the Punto, MG, VW Golf, Puma some Group B, Lancia 037(Esso), Pug 205, Ford RS200 and Audi quattro S2 and some weird bonus cars such as a MGB, twin engined 2cv, Mk1 Ford Escort and Pajero.

Excellent game (played on PS2)

btw- just found out there working on a new ToCA race driver for next year. Hopefully that will be as much of an improvement.

[Damon]

Originally posted by andy_b
btw- just found out there working on a new ToCA race driver for next year. Hopefully that will be as much of an improvement.

Sorry to go off topic but where did you hear that? That's great news, I loved Race Driver.

[andy_b]

In one of the computer games trade mags MCV. I work for a competitor of Codemasters

Text is

Microsofts own X03 event saw Codemasters unveil details of Race Driver 2: Ultimate Racing Driver.
Considered to be the most comprehensive motorsport project to date, RD2 will feature an array of motorsports that Codemasters hope will prove to be the definitve racing game.

Codemasters have already begun development on the title which is expected to be completed for a spring 04 release, exculsively to Xbocx with PC version to follow

(no mention of PS2, but this was at an X box show)


In return for me typing this out, can you vote for Spencer over in the Paddock club section of www.seatcuprachampionship.com Ta!

[spanner]

Its good to hear that Codemasters have returned to making a decent raly game, after the PC CMR3 attempt. Though CMR4 has come out without a blaze of publicity wonder why? I just hope they dont take years just to convert to PC and not actually do anything to it. On the subject of rally games, V-rally 3 is out for PC. Is it any good?

[Damon]

Hell no! Avoid like the plague.

[pirenzo]

I think there's real potential for a decent Rally game, but they're all just ****. Absolutely ****.
Colin McRae rally, V-Rally, RalliSport Challenge, they all try to do a good job, but just seem to lack a decent physics model (no, i'm not expecting GPL quality, but i do get a scalextrics feel, as if the car is sorta flapping around on a central pivot or something, and not actually sliding)

The best of the above games (and i have played all of them) is Ralli Sport Challenge.

Another thing that irritates me about rally gmaes is that the stages are never real (though in CMR, they have real names, but i think they're scaled down versions, they're too short for proper rally stages)

[MichaelH]

Originally posted by Damon
Sorry to go off topic but where did you hear that? That's great news, I loved Race Driver.

I have some screenshots, if someone will show me how to post them! I keep getting told they're not valid jpg/gif files etc....Basically, it's Xbox and PC exclusive, it's moving away from the official series', just the DTM plus make believe stuff I believe, and it includes single seater racing, the highest form of racing being an F1 style competition. And you play as yourself. Looks sweet.

[MichaelH]

I'll just link you, this is too complicated...


http://www.tothegame.com/game.asp?id=2939

[Damon]

Wow, they look incredible, cheers for those Michael.

p, Colin 4 has really been a huge leap in the Rally genre. Instead of, as before, having one pivot point, the new game has four contact points, one for each wheel. You can really feel the difference and it means that the traction on each wheel is dependent on the surface that wheel is running on, rather than the car as a whole. It really is worth a go.

[MichaelH]

Never quite understood this Pivot Point thing, because as far as I was concerned there was no issue with the first two games, just the third, which seemed quite a lot less fluid and believeable in terms of steering. But whatever, Colin 4 is indeed a massive leap forward in this department, you really need to play it to believe it. Which is exactly what I'm off to do now!

[gttouring]

Race Driver 2 looks stunner- wow i can't wait
I still like Toca 1 and 2 best- graphic were shoddy but what a game.
colin 2 is great, i skipped #3 as i heard it was so bad, Vrally3 on PS2 is alright but no analog gas and brake kinda annoying,

[429CJ]

I think CMR 4 has the best car handling of all. Now even those small 1600 FWD cars handle like they should.

[MichaelH]

I got out my copies of CM1 and 2 last night, and did a bit of a customisation job so I got both discs in one dual branded case. It looks quite nice even if I do say so myself. Gotta love CM4, it's totally rekindled my enthusiasm for the series.

[429CJ]

Finally they have a lots of big jumps on finnish roads.

[MichaelH]

congrats on the big 1000

Yep, for pretty much the first time the Finnish event does justice to the reality, thank gawd for that! I love this game more and more with each passing day; I'm a member of an Xbox forum where the members have all gone rally mad just as a result of this game. It's amazing. CM3 was the black sheep of the series, this is right back to it's phinominal best.

[Damon]

Sure is, the 2WD are just great fun as well aren't they. So far I've won 4WD normal Championship, 2WD Advanced Championship and I'm just start 4WD Advanded. I love this game!!

[MichaelH]

Yeah, won 4WD normal, won every rally until I came fourth in the UK, leading 2WD advanced by a couple of points after three rounds. Tried 2WD normal but it just seemed far too easy.

Slight niggle time...in single rally mode can you adjust the difficulty? Because it seems to default to "normal" and that's really not much of a challenge, which is a shame.

[Down F0rce]

RD2 is looking sweet...and I'll be able to play it when I get my new PC

[the_royksopp]

Is CMR4 out for PC?

[Damon]

Not at the moment, and if CM3 is anything to go by you could be waiting a while.

[the_royksopp]

[Knowlesy]

Am currently pounding my way through Colin 04 and it is just the most addictive, thrilling game. The suspension on the cars seems to be full as well, rather than the car turning on a central pivot. Great stuff.

The Peugeot 205 is a beast to handle. Just unlocked it. Phew!