SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Review: Richard Burns Rally

Apart from the Rally School, you can enter a Quick Rally. If this is your first stop in Richard Burns Rally, you will most likely wrap your car around a tree, or hit a pothole in the road and crash out in sommersaulting style. This is not a sim where you only have to be fast, you also have to know when to slow down, and by how much.

Naturally there's a full rally season for you to compete in. 6 Rallys with 6 stages, and the dynamic weather will add to the spice and varity as you can drive a stage in dry conditions, but the next time you drive the same stage, you might get pouring rain.

Stage lengths vary between 2 and 14 km, perhaps they are a bit on the short side, but having said that, I was more than 10 minutes in completing one of the longer stages in Japan driving in heavy rain.

There's Tarmac, gravel, snow/ice, so your skills will be tested in grand style.

You can choose between 3 levels of difficulty: Rookie, Professional and Veteran. The difference is mainly in the speed of the AI, they get faster on the more difficult levels. You can also choose between no damage, light damage and realistic damage. If you choose realistic damage and crash out, it is very likely that you will damage your car beyond repair, and will have to retire from the rally.

In the Richard Burns Challenge mode you can go head to head with Richard, on the stages that you unlock as you pass your driving tests.

Cars

Some cars you have to unlock by passing the school lessons, winning a rally, or at the end of a season. Personally this kind of console-inspired gameplay is lost on me. I'd want each and every car available right from the start.

The selection of cars is not the biggest I've seen, but it's not a question of quantity, but of quality. And here we have quality, and lots of it!

The cars supplied are:

Subaru Impreza (03 and 00)
Citroen Xsara
Peugot 206
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
Hyundai Accent
Toyota Corolla
MG

They all behave differently and you'll soon find your personal favourite. At the moment mine is the Pug 206: Nimble, agile and with a great balance. The "famous" cars like the Impreza and Lancer Evo are a bit understeery by nature because of their 4WD. All the cars are fast though, fast enough for you to get from zero to trouble in 0.1 of a second.

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