Sega Rally demo (360 & PS3)

[Yoshimax]

Just had a few shots and I'm well chuffed with it

The demo has two tracks - Canyon2 and Tropical2 and a choice of Impreza or Evolution and thereafter 2 variants - off-road or race/street.

Doesn't seem to be running at 60fps so you fps-whores have something to whine about but I've got no qualms with it it's nice & smooth and handles brilliantly.

The thing about cars carving tracks in the dirt works absolutely sublimely I was amazed (especially after motorstorm where I found it barely noticeable). First lap was banging about getting used to handling, by lap 2 I'd got the hang of it and posted a much faster laptime, by the 3rd lap I'm actively looking for the previous track-grooves to add extra grip. Special mention here to the joypad rumble - you can actually feel when you hit the track grooves and see the change in grip onscreen - t'is excellent Not tried my FF wheel out yet gonna stick that on in a mo.

It's got that whole Sega palette and feel down to a T - the blue skies/green (3D) grass and bushes/dusty oranges are so vibrant it's nuts and I couldn't hear it very well but the music sounded ****e so it could have that daytona/SR magic only prolonged play will tell

Was already a day one purchase for me - the demo has sealed that. Just wish it had replays !!! I'm off to do doughnuts in the grit

Oh, and if you don't smile when you hear the jingle at the end of your first race you probably don't deserve to be playing it

[SegaMark]

GAME OVER, YEAH! I came in my pants when it said that.

Looks lovely, plays lovely, it's a proper SEGA racer, this is. Can't say much about the music, ah well custom soundtracks FTW.

Am I alone in preferring the d-pad on this one?

[charlesr]

Sega Rally demo

Well, if the demo is anything to go by, this is very arcadey. Just point and squirt. The ground deformation thing is probably the main secret to good lap times - hitting ruts means you drift wide.

You can't go off the edge of anything - you just bounce along at the same speed (Gran Turismo style).

There are 2 tracks and 2 cars (impreza and lancer).

There are 2 car handling options of which the faster, looser one is more fun, but neither are particularly sensitive - could just as well be playing with a D-pad.

Based on the vids, I was totally buying this, but now, I'll be waiting for the First Play thread. I was hoping for something more serious after the rather limp DiRT and was fooled by the ground deformation stuff, whereas it's actually just a hook to make the game different. Fun enough when taken in isolation - just not what I was looking for. It's a proper Sega racer though just without the spot on handling of Daytona.

[Yoshimax]

No smilies ffs Charles ?

and yeah i meant to mention it's "glass tunnel racing" here folks off the beaten track is a no-no but then that's Sega Rally for you innit.

[charlesr]

Ok, the Lancer is more fun than the Impreza I reckon.

This reminds me a lot of the original V-Rally.

[charlesr]

Smilies for the music

[SegaMark]

I can't get into the music, I'm listening to the old Sega Rally ST instead.

[charlesr]

After a bit more play, the Lancer is definitely the way forward. It actually goes where you point it.

[MikeRox]

Sounds mint, didn't even realise a demo was coming, shouldn't have read this as I now can't wait to finish work to get home and try it >_<

[megatron]

After a bit more play, the Lancer is definitely the way forward. It actually goes where you point it.

First time I played I thought I was racing on ice. Then I realised you need to follow the racing line to get any grip whatsoever.

Needs to be played in 1st person mode though otherwise the controls feel way too sensitive.

[Kubrick]

Quite pleased with how it's turned out. I was never convinced it was going to be amazing, but my preorder will be staying put. It's already kicked the **** out of DiRT.

The Canyon track seems a wee bit too long though, hope the rest are more like the Tropical one, which at approx 1min long, is the classic SRC length

[merf]

all decent racers need to be played in FPS mode.

[Yoshimax]

all decent racers need to be played in FPS mode.

I find it amazing that people still play racers in 3rd person - nothing can ruin the impression you're racing a car more.

I think as long as you remember this is SEGA rally and not Richard Burns rally then you'll be satisfied.

Kubrick agreed about the tracks the Canyon did feel a bit long whereas Tropical felt like classic sega rally but it did make me wonder if doing the "classic" sega rally mode of racing each section once overtaking cars as you go would stand up in this modern day - I'm not convinced but it'd be nice to have the mode as an extra !

[Kubrick]

I'd normally agree about FP view, but to be honest, I played the previous Sega Rallys in 3rd person view (and still do). Ditto for Daytona, OutRun 2 etc...It's always felt more natural to me to play SEGA racers that way. I can't do it in this one though because the controls seem hyper-sensitive - as pointed out by megatron.

[charlesr]

I thought the controls were rather wooly and unsensitive thus the D-pad comment.