Citroen Xsara Rally Car issue

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I loved the Xsara in GT3, it was my rally car of choice! The FF drivetrain was most helpful to me and I enjoyed time trailing with this (Swiss Alps was always my favorite course for rallying). I wasn't quick to the Xsara when playing through GT4 but upon buying it it's become a huge disappointment and it's because of this apparent issue with acceleration.

The car wants to go and go and go but it takes forever for it to switch gears in AT because it just revs so damn fast and yet it doesn't gain so much speed. That and it just sounds terribly loud >_o Even though A Spec points in Easy Rally show points of 7 or so, I can't catch up to the cars because I'm spending all my time revving around! Being light on the accelerator doesn't help matters, it only just delays the revving and doesn't make it switch gears any faster either. And handling this on MT? Such a chore! Too much of one. I tried using the Auto setting for the gear ratios to its max (25) but the problem still persists.

How can I fix this car to make it run like a dream as it was in GT3? I have no upgrades on this car (And don't play on getting any just yet).
 
set everything back to normal,
you have to shift when it hits the redlie, and when you are in the air.
it doesnt matter if its spinning tires, when it hits the redline, whetether its in the air or not, shift, shift, shift.
this is how i boosted my times on all of my rally cars.
also try reducing the dampers to 4 or so
 
Everything was normal to begin with; it acted up the moment I first put it on the rally track after buying it from the shop. I never had problems going through rally races in AT (I almost always race in AT anyway), and I never have similar problems with other rally cars. I bought a Lancer Evo VI Rally car and just raced rally as I usually do anyway and it works just fine without an insane revving issue.
 
what do you mean revving issue?
It insantly gets up to the redline and goes ve-ve-ve-ve-ve, not shift and go slow?
 
you definately need to follow the instructions and drive manual...
if you refuse however... set the transmission at an auto setting of 4 clicks under the stock setting. it wont have to rev so much to shift.
 
of course I won't refuse some reading material! It's still a bit confusing to me since other rally cars don't have this issue and this particular car does. Perhaps the new engine made FF cars act differently on the dirt? Or perhaps I was just spoiled on the GT3 version...
 
And, mayhaps, that FF spins the tires so easy that it's not funny?

I had a 260hp Integra at one point, shoulda blown away my poor little 230hp 323, right? Wrong. All it blew off was the tires. Seriously, the 323 was quicker down the straights (I was running on Grand Canyon) despite being heavier and weaker.

So FF<FR<AWD for rally. And of course, FF<FR<MR<RR<FAWD<RAWD<MAWD for the full list.

AWD just has more drive tire on the dirt, and therefore more grip. And the weight shifts ONTO the drive tires under acceleration.
 
The Escort Rally car is 4wd and you don't have to buy it, just win it in Tahiti (Normal).

I won the Suzuki Escudo Dirt trial car today, and my god it sucks compared to what it was in GT2 and GT3. Maybe if I messed with the settings it would be better.
 
Well sometimes you should just use that revving and let it do it. That sometimes works as well as regular acceleration, especially in special conditions.
Try getting to a bit over halfway of the possible revs before the corner, then use the VEEEing to pull it through faster, as it's just like drifting.
 
Ehh, I'm not seeing much sense there.

When you can pull through a corner without spinning the tires you accelerate faster through it, as well as out of it. Many cars WILL bounce off the rev limiter in rally, as they spin the tires in the dirt, but only in first, usually. Front wheel drive ruins that idea, and just spins the tires through 6th.
 
Well I guess I should just use another car and not waste my time. It's strange though, the Xsara was one of the most successful WRC cars in these later years...

Again I'm probably just spoiled from its GT3 appearance wherein it was extremely well-behaved. I've just stuck with my Evo VI for the rally races for now.
 
The simple answer to his basic concern is....its an FF.....the tires are spining like crazy on the dirt/snow and the your not gaining speed so the trans is not going to shift or you would bog down in low rpms. If you drive manual the problem will be solved instantly, because the transmission is controlled by you. If you continue to drive auto the issue will likely always be there, because no matter how well you gear or control the throttle the transmission itself and the traction issues of FF drivetrain cars on dirt/snow will always be seen.
 
Well Im glad you brought this up or I likely would have wasted a lot of money on this car. I never realized it was an FF and always assumed it was a 4wd like all the other modern rally cars. I was curious if this was a mistake by PD or if the real car was an actual FF rally car. After some googling I came up with this:

OK, you'll ask. If these 4WD turbocharged cars are so great how come they were matched, or even beaten in some cases, by Group F2 (2 liter non turbo, 2 wheel drive cars also known as kit cars belonging to the FIA A7 class). The answer to that question is weight. Group F2 cars weighted 300Kg less than their 4 wheel drive turbo charged counterparts and as you might already know, weight is the worst enemy of any race car. Additionally F2 cars could only match the 4WD cars on dry tarmac surfaces.
Click to expand...

The car in question is indeed a Group F2 kit car, PD even made sure the Citroen is exactly 300kg lighter than the other rally cars. But like it says above, it is only competitve in the tarmac rallies so you will have to find another car for the off-road rallies. Why PD decided to include this version of the Xsara instead of the later 4wd versions is beyond me.

You can read more here:
Brief Rally Background History
 

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