- 1,620
What doesn't impress is that we know deep down that the physics of Colin McRae games don't offer much depth. It's a rally-lite series for the average guy that just wants to feel like a rally driver. The cars still have that awful simplistic feel like they're rotating about some predetermined pivot in the centre of the car, without giving any sense that all 4 wheels are working truly independently. This was great for the PS1 era when CPU load was a big problem, but it just hasn't progressed hugely, unfortunately. Colin 3 had awful physics (worse than 2), it was fixed somewhat for Colin 4 (the car still rotated around the centre of the car for easy powersliding, but it was less obvious). Colin 5 was just more of the exact same thing for no real reason other than to milk the franchise.
Compared to something like Richard Burns Rally, the Colin games are very simplistic, with no regard for real rally driving techniques. For instance, the brakes work like magic, even on ice. No slide is ever truly out of control. The road surfaces are way too consistent in smoothness and grip level, too. Its a game that is much too easy to master, and then become aware of just how simple the physics are. There just isn't the depth I crave.
That's mainly why I don't care about Mcrae, they could make it LOOK as realistic as they wanted, it would still be a simple arcadey style game like Ridge Racer (not to that extreme, but you get the idea) though... It's an awful simulation of how rally cars behave (although fun for most people). It gives a better idea of how cars react on dirt than GT, but that says more bad things about GT's rally implementation than how amazing Colin is, IMO. You want to find out how to make a rally physics engine, go buy RBR.
Plus, Codies haven't innovated or expanded the gameplay in the last two or three Colin games much whatsoever. They're pretty much the same game! Maybe this is why its hard to get excited about a new one. It'll be more of the same with better graphics. Plus, we have seen 2 proper car models from GT5, and I frankly expect MUCH more from Colin's cars considering they only have to render one car on-screen at a time! The lighting on the car looks too simple, also. They still don't look like they're made out of metal really. The track also looks too flat, other than the rocks, which look too much like they're simply static objects stuck to the road for my liking. I want proper marbley rocks rollin' around! Its just NOT next-gen in terms of what I feel is possible...
We're not fanboys of GT and just dislike anything else... what a silly thing to randomly accuse people of! I like RBR, LFS, GTR, GTL, GT4 etc... All these games have much better sim cred than Colin, which lands squarely in the arcade racer camp. Its about as much of a sim as Gotham, IMO.
Compared to something like Richard Burns Rally, the Colin games are very simplistic, with no regard for real rally driving techniques. For instance, the brakes work like magic, even on ice. No slide is ever truly out of control. The road surfaces are way too consistent in smoothness and grip level, too. Its a game that is much too easy to master, and then become aware of just how simple the physics are. There just isn't the depth I crave.
That's mainly why I don't care about Mcrae, they could make it LOOK as realistic as they wanted, it would still be a simple arcadey style game like Ridge Racer (not to that extreme, but you get the idea) though... It's an awful simulation of how rally cars behave (although fun for most people). It gives a better idea of how cars react on dirt than GT, but that says more bad things about GT's rally implementation than how amazing Colin is, IMO. You want to find out how to make a rally physics engine, go buy RBR.
Plus, Codies haven't innovated or expanded the gameplay in the last two or three Colin games much whatsoever. They're pretty much the same game! Maybe this is why its hard to get excited about a new one. It'll be more of the same with better graphics. Plus, we have seen 2 proper car models from GT5, and I frankly expect MUCH more from Colin's cars considering they only have to render one car on-screen at a time! The lighting on the car looks too simple, also. They still don't look like they're made out of metal really. The track also looks too flat, other than the rocks, which look too much like they're simply static objects stuck to the road for my liking. I want proper marbley rocks rollin' around! Its just NOT next-gen in terms of what I feel is possible...
We're not fanboys of GT and just dislike anything else... what a silly thing to randomly accuse people of! I like RBR, LFS, GTR, GTL, GT4 etc... All these games have much better sim cred than Colin, which lands squarely in the arcade racer camp. Its about as much of a sim as Gotham, IMO.