Scaff
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So we have GTS just around the corner and the news that it will include rally sections will almost certainly increase interest in the discipline. Some may start to look at titles that focus just on the rally itself.
As such I wanted to take a look at the three standalone titles that are currently out, as while most in this sub-forum may already know them well, others may be in need of some assistance and some may just want to take a look at the three side by side.
So we have WRC5, the only one of the three to carry the WRC licence; Seb Loeb Rally Evo developed in conjunction with the multiple WRC champion and DiRT Rally from the studio that brought the Rally stage to the wider gaming audience with the Colin McRae series.
To assist with the comparison I have put the following video together, which shows both in-car and replay footage from all three, the car used was the WRC Fiesta and Rally Wales used for the example gravel stage.
So how do they feel behind the wheel?
WRC5
Offers all the events from the 2015 season and teams and cars from the J-WRC, WRC2 and WRC classes. As far as Wales goes the stage itself looks good, however the actually resemblance to the real stage would require a huge amount of generosity to be described as even close. A situation which is not helped by a co-driver who seems incapable of completing a sentence without putting odd (and very loud) emphasis on random words.
Things soon however get far worse as soon as you actually drive the damn thing. The physics with a wheel are a mess, with feedback adjustable between far, far to mild to clipping like a manic (to the degree I feared for my wheel). Its difficult to build up any kind of flow with the car and it randomly seems to alternate between feeling like you are steering through syrup to then being overly twitchy!
Oh and it kept changing down an extra gear for me, which was not helpful when I changed from second to first and it goes 'nah you need to be in neutral for this corner'.
So overall it looks OK, its got all the official events and cars, but with a wheel it's simply rubbish, feeling like wheel set-up was tacked on just to say it had it.
Seb Loeb Rally Evo
OK so lets get the obvious out of the way. This is not a good looking title at all, not even close, in fact it looks bloody awful for a PS4 title. Its easy to see why so many people would dismiss it given the was it looks, I mean if the game looks that bad they can't have put any effort into it at all.
Not the case at all, the range of cars and stages are excellent and while ugly the stages are well mapped using GPS data and good and narrow (the car models however do contain quite a few iffy issues). In short the stages are a joy and the Hafren stage in the video is a serious challenge, but one that you can get into a good flow with.
It also has a massive single player mode, with two career modes (one of which allows you to recreate the events of Loeb's career) as well as the normal Single Stage, Championship and Time Trial mode. It also (along with DiRT) has Rallycross and Hill Climb events.
Behind the wheel is has truly excellent physics and feedback that is arguably the best of the three titles as well as comfortably the best damage model of the three. One highlight of the physics on gravel is how the car reacts to changes in surface and ruts, etc.
In summary is a hideous looking title that play excellently, has a huge amount to do and a great car list, and will never get any future love and attention as its developed by Milestone (who have a great track record of almost never updating titles post release for more than five minutes).
DiRT Rally
In total contrast to SLRE this is a stunning looking title, both in-car and in replay. The car models and stages are excellently designed, close to the real thing and good and long (SLRE stages are not quite as long - but its close). However it is the title with both the fewest events and stages of the three.
The range of cars is nice and varied and spans a wide range of classes and decades, with some classics as expected. Its not however as comprehensive as SLRE's car list.
Career mode is limited to say the least, but it does have an AI that once you reach the 'Elite' level will pose a serious challenge to beat, and the Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Special 'Challenges' that Codemasters push out to challenge players do help to bolster it. These also introduce the 'hardcore' approach of DiRT at its most extreme. While in career you don't have a rewind option, as both WRC5 and SLRE do, you can restart the stage up to five times (with a penalty on the amount you win for your final finish position). In these 'Challenges' you don't even get the restart option, if you mess up you live with it!
Now that is slightly tempered by the damage model, which if I am honest doesn't punish you as much as it could by a long way, and certainly not as much as SLRE does. With most of the damage being a visual effect rather than having any serious impact on car performance on a stage, and you have to effectively forget to repair between stages for its impact to make any serious difference (and it even reminds you to repair the car). The most you will have to realistically deal with is punctures and the loss of a tyre, and at times you may not even notice you have a flat until your co-driver tells you.
Physics wise it is excellent, with great feedback that allows you to build a relationship with the car and get a great 'flow' going in stages, all the while allowing you to focus on what the car is doing under you.
The Winner (sort of)?
So which one 'wins'? Well the one to throw in the bin is easy, WRC 5 simply isn't a good game and its a waste of the official licence. Note that I'm not dismissing it because its 'arcade', nothing wrong with a good arcade rally title (hi Sega Rally), its simply not a good title at all.
Now it gets tricky, as if you judge it on looks alone then DiRT rally would walk it. However once you take into account the larger career mode, greater number of events, larger car list and better damage model SLRE starts to show that looks alone are not everything.
Physics wise its a hard call to make between the two, and I personally prefer the FFB you get from SLRE and you will not go wrong on gravel with the physics model of either title.
If you have to pick one then it very much depends on how 'ugly' you are willing to go, and I can fully understand people who go for DiRT's 60fps loveliness, particularly as a title to show off exactly what can be done visually with a rally title. Doing so however would result in you missing out on what is a real diamond in the rough in SLRE, which once you push past the looks is a varied title with great physics and FFB.
Personally if you can I would strongly recommend getting both, I just know which one you will hide when your friends come around.
Gear Used: Playseat Challenge, Thrustmaster T150, T8SA (used for handbrake), TP3A. No driver aids were used and manual gears only.
As such I wanted to take a look at the three standalone titles that are currently out, as while most in this sub-forum may already know them well, others may be in need of some assistance and some may just want to take a look at the three side by side.
So we have WRC5, the only one of the three to carry the WRC licence; Seb Loeb Rally Evo developed in conjunction with the multiple WRC champion and DiRT Rally from the studio that brought the Rally stage to the wider gaming audience with the Colin McRae series.
To assist with the comparison I have put the following video together, which shows both in-car and replay footage from all three, the car used was the WRC Fiesta and Rally Wales used for the example gravel stage.
So how do they feel behind the wheel?
WRC5
Offers all the events from the 2015 season and teams and cars from the J-WRC, WRC2 and WRC classes. As far as Wales goes the stage itself looks good, however the actually resemblance to the real stage would require a huge amount of generosity to be described as even close. A situation which is not helped by a co-driver who seems incapable of completing a sentence without putting odd (and very loud) emphasis on random words.
Things soon however get far worse as soon as you actually drive the damn thing. The physics with a wheel are a mess, with feedback adjustable between far, far to mild to clipping like a manic (to the degree I feared for my wheel). Its difficult to build up any kind of flow with the car and it randomly seems to alternate between feeling like you are steering through syrup to then being overly twitchy!
Oh and it kept changing down an extra gear for me, which was not helpful when I changed from second to first and it goes 'nah you need to be in neutral for this corner'.
So overall it looks OK, its got all the official events and cars, but with a wheel it's simply rubbish, feeling like wheel set-up was tacked on just to say it had it.
Seb Loeb Rally Evo
OK so lets get the obvious out of the way. This is not a good looking title at all, not even close, in fact it looks bloody awful for a PS4 title. Its easy to see why so many people would dismiss it given the was it looks, I mean if the game looks that bad they can't have put any effort into it at all.
Not the case at all, the range of cars and stages are excellent and while ugly the stages are well mapped using GPS data and good and narrow (the car models however do contain quite a few iffy issues). In short the stages are a joy and the Hafren stage in the video is a serious challenge, but one that you can get into a good flow with.
It also has a massive single player mode, with two career modes (one of which allows you to recreate the events of Loeb's career) as well as the normal Single Stage, Championship and Time Trial mode. It also (along with DiRT) has Rallycross and Hill Climb events.
Behind the wheel is has truly excellent physics and feedback that is arguably the best of the three titles as well as comfortably the best damage model of the three. One highlight of the physics on gravel is how the car reacts to changes in surface and ruts, etc.
In summary is a hideous looking title that play excellently, has a huge amount to do and a great car list, and will never get any future love and attention as its developed by Milestone (who have a great track record of almost never updating titles post release for more than five minutes).
DiRT Rally
In total contrast to SLRE this is a stunning looking title, both in-car and in replay. The car models and stages are excellently designed, close to the real thing and good and long (SLRE stages are not quite as long - but its close). However it is the title with both the fewest events and stages of the three.
The range of cars is nice and varied and spans a wide range of classes and decades, with some classics as expected. Its not however as comprehensive as SLRE's car list.
Career mode is limited to say the least, but it does have an AI that once you reach the 'Elite' level will pose a serious challenge to beat, and the Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Special 'Challenges' that Codemasters push out to challenge players do help to bolster it. These also introduce the 'hardcore' approach of DiRT at its most extreme. While in career you don't have a rewind option, as both WRC5 and SLRE do, you can restart the stage up to five times (with a penalty on the amount you win for your final finish position). In these 'Challenges' you don't even get the restart option, if you mess up you live with it!
Now that is slightly tempered by the damage model, which if I am honest doesn't punish you as much as it could by a long way, and certainly not as much as SLRE does. With most of the damage being a visual effect rather than having any serious impact on car performance on a stage, and you have to effectively forget to repair between stages for its impact to make any serious difference (and it even reminds you to repair the car). The most you will have to realistically deal with is punctures and the loss of a tyre, and at times you may not even notice you have a flat until your co-driver tells you.
Physics wise it is excellent, with great feedback that allows you to build a relationship with the car and get a great 'flow' going in stages, all the while allowing you to focus on what the car is doing under you.
The Winner (sort of)?
So which one 'wins'? Well the one to throw in the bin is easy, WRC 5 simply isn't a good game and its a waste of the official licence. Note that I'm not dismissing it because its 'arcade', nothing wrong with a good arcade rally title (hi Sega Rally), its simply not a good title at all.
Now it gets tricky, as if you judge it on looks alone then DiRT rally would walk it. However once you take into account the larger career mode, greater number of events, larger car list and better damage model SLRE starts to show that looks alone are not everything.
Physics wise its a hard call to make between the two, and I personally prefer the FFB you get from SLRE and you will not go wrong on gravel with the physics model of either title.
If you have to pick one then it very much depends on how 'ugly' you are willing to go, and I can fully understand people who go for DiRT's 60fps loveliness, particularly as a title to show off exactly what can be done visually with a rally title. Doing so however would result in you missing out on what is a real diamond in the rough in SLRE, which once you push past the looks is a varied title with great physics and FFB.
Personally if you can I would strongly recommend getting both, I just know which one you will hide when your friends come around.
Gear Used: Playseat Challenge, Thrustmaster T150, T8SA (used for handbrake), TP3A. No driver aids were used and manual gears only.
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