GTPlanet League: Codemasters Classic Championship - Round 04

MagpieRacer

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England
Wymondham, Norfolk
Seagull_Racer
Welcome to the GTPlanet league tribute to Codemasters and the Codemasters Classic Championship where every round is inspired by each Codemasters developed rally game. From 1998 to 2024, we will experience all the classic iconic cars and rallies from nearly 30 years of rally game history.

Every rally will be 1 week long, will take place over 5 stages, and must be run with the car specified. I have no way of policing this so please keep within the rules. The championship begins Monday 12th May.

Round 1: Colin McRae Rally
New Zealand
Subaru Impreza WRC 1998

Round 2: Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Finland
Ford Focus WRC 1999

Round 3: Colin McRae Rally 3
Japan
Ford Focus RS WRC 2001

Round 4: Colin McRae Rally 04
Greece
Citroen Xsara WRC

Round 5: Colin McRae Rally 2005
Germany (CER)
Ford Escort RS Cosworth

Round 6: Colin McRae: Dirt
Italy
Citroen C2 Super 1600

Round 7: Colin McRae: Dirt 2
Croatia
Subaru Impreza WRC 2008

Round 8: Dirt 3
Kenya
Ford Focus RS WRC 2008

Round 9: Dirt Rally
Sweden
VW Polo R WRC

Round 10: Dirt 4
Spain
Ford Fiesta R5

Round 11: Dirt Rally 2.0
Poland
VW Polo R5

Round 12: WRC
Monte Carlo
Rally1 2023

Round 13: WRC24
Portugal
Toyota GR Yaris Rally2​
 
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Round 1
Colin McRae Rally - 1998
3933141-colin-mcrae-rally-windows-front-cover.jpg

Car

Subaru Impreza WRC 1998

Country
New Zealand

Brynderwyn
Tahekeroa - Orewa
Mareretu
Orewa
Waiwera

Colin McRae Rally launched at the start of 1998 and changed the way we look at rally games, particularly on consoles. Previously rally games had been arcade affairs, Sega Rally, V-Rally and the like, with proper rally 'sims' being limited to PC, such as Network Q Rally and International Rally Championship.

The game had the official WRC license and featured the 1998 World Rally Championship teams, cars and drivers (minus Tommi Makinen who had given his name to another game) as well as 8 of the 13 real season rallies. It featured a full championship mode with both 4WD and FWD cars, service areas and multiple setup options as well as full 3d animated cockpit views.

The game was highly acclaimed by media and players alike for it's attention to detail and faithful recreation of rallying that for many at the time, had never been seen.

The 1998 Impreza is of course the iconic cover car, the first car that many will have taken the wheel of in this game as Colin McRae, it was the only choice for this opening rally. New Zealand featured as the opening event in the Championship mode and is probably the one most remembered, certainly for me. Dipping the front wheel into the ditches on the inside of the corners to help pull the car through the corners.

 
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Disastrous start unfortunately, first stage and a few corners going well until I overcooked it and iinto the valley of no return….terminal damage
 
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Well. I didn't expect that. Currently in the lead and won 4 out of the 5 stages.

Disclaimer - I fully expect to be run down the leaderboard once the aliens show up.

Car felt quite nice on the stock setup but on stage 3 it felt a bit weird, not sure if the Oceana wet stage bug is still there ( and thanks to EA will always be there now )

Also a bit weird was this. I used one set of softs for stage 1 and 2 ( 15.1km ) and another set for stages 3 and 4 ( 13.6km ), the first set were in poor condition at the end but the second set was only worn. Didn't matter so much cos I used the mediums for the final dry stage although I had a scare after the big jump and survived a big spin

Here's a few shots
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Is the Oceania wet weather surface bug still there? The wet stages felt absolutely horrible to drive.
 
Is the Oceania wet weather surface bug still there? The wet stages felt absolutely horrible to drive.
Yeah I found stage 3 felt a bit odd, more so than the first two
Can confirm, stage 3 in particular (the one with rain) was a lot twitchier on the brakes and generally sliding about a lot more. 1, 2 and 4 felt rather wobbly, not to mention the very snappy understeer I was experiencing half the time when getting back on the power (essentially running the default setup).
 
I wasn’t aware of any wet weather bug, not that I’m making excuses for my lame effort 🙈 but I ran a few dry runs to get a recce on the course and the Subaru felt sublime as usual , whereas on the actual runs it was hard just to keep it in a straight line
 
A disastrous start to my favourite location Finland…biffed it slightly on the shakedown so carried out some minor repairs before the first stage..countdown goes 3,2…….and CTD before I even floored the throttle, so couldn’t even do the stage as upon restart it jumped straight to stage 2..mind messed up too much to even attempt a decent time there . ( severe lift off oversteer in the Focus too) gutted!!
 
The Focus '99 is really fast. I was convinced I was going to crash into something but apart from one spinout I managed to make it through yesterday despite forgetting to change my tyres for stage 3.
 
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Has the power stage got a different points structure?
I was wondering why I ended up on the same points as you! Assume it must be due to finishing ahead of you on the final stage. I made quite a few mistakes in round 1, as I was doing the rally in the final hour before it expired, so the final stage was pretty much the only decent one I had out of the 5 😅
 
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