A quick correction; I've been informed that I accidentally mispronounced Toyota 'Celica' at 3:11 🤦 Silly mistake, not sure how I didn't pick that up during the record and editing! I did, however, say it correctly at 10:58 Apologies for any confusion caused!
Also as always another extremely well presented video. If you ever had any ideas for future videos & wanted some community opinions, statements, or help from anyone with real world driving experience alongside sim in regards to rallies, im more then happy to help out :)
Dirt Rally 1 with physics mods is pretty competent. Not RBR level, but LARGELY improves the physics on that game. Might break AI racing though since the AI doesn't really care about your updated physics.
thank you, this is a very well thought out constructive criticism video, unlike some others. I really like how you presented the things you liked and don't like. It gives motivation to the modders to improve things further. Few pointers: - replay has fast forwarding and rewind, but they are hidden in the pacenote plugin menus. Double left and right click with the mouse to find them. - there will be some measures coming soon that concern removing a lot of the worse quality stages, along with other really nice UI improvements - there was a lot of work done in the last few months in the car interiors, after RBRHUD plugin came about. In the video i see you have it disabled in most of the cars you showed. The difference is huge - we're slowly working on including the better codrivers & pacenotes by default installation - isn't it easier when the FFB is just strength and sensitivity? No fancy filters available, just pure steering rack force. Set FFB strength in game to max, and tweak sensitivity to wanted level of controllability and feel - missing updates can be a problem, but you only have to manually tick the stages you missed from previous updates - game size will get a bit more optimized once we get around to converting the old stage files to new format and create a new torrent. This enables us to massively reduce duplication of the same stage textures, and there is potential to reduce the install size by 10's of Gigabytes - hotlap rank only showing the fastest times is indeed quite frankly embarrassing to not have filtered by class at this point. It's been the most requested feature for a long time.
Mostly agreed but for tweaking FFB, mileage varies a lot depending on wheel and sometimes you need to change certain filters. I don't usually suffer from that problem running a gear driven logitech wheel, my wheel is simple and I just make the ffb relatively weak since a rally game already is too demanding on my noodle arms lol
Glad you liked it! I think critiquing something so beloved like this without coming across like an arrogant dick is a very delicate balancing act, so I'm glad to hear that you think I managed it! Glad to hear that those improvements are in the works, I think they'd make a very big difference. As for ffb, I guess that you could argue that having less options make it's less confusing, but if you find yourself wishing that you could just make it feel slightly different then it makes me wish the options were there. That might just be me, though.
@@MetallvmPT Wheel software doesn't let you set parameters that are specific to the game, like which simulated forces affect the FFB, what effects you want, and so on. Some games have FFB effects I just find distracting and want to turn off, like certain vibrations that don't really give you information and are just there as a gimmick or for immersion. That's the kind of stuff that changes on a game per game basis. Ironically DR 2.0 is one of the offenders, there are some stuff on the FFB I either completely remove or turn way down, like wheel and tyre friction. Another example is some games having too little or too much curb effect, etc.
That was a nice little tribute at tbe end. With all the endless fanboy mudslinging and debates over pivot points, tarmac physics and force feedback, it's nice to remember that there was a real guy called Richard Burns and if life was fair he really should still be with us.
Agreed! I didn't feel right doing this long critique of the game without acknowledging him and paying some much deserved respect. Now that I'm approaching the age that he was when he passed away, it reminds me how fragile life is.
RBR immersion really takes flight for me when I am competing in a multi rallly championship. I get so focused on being consistent and keeping the car tidy that I really feel like I am involved in something. It is a blast. The daily rallies or the short one-time rallies don't hold the same level of hook for me. I highly recommend giving a championship a try (like Sim Rally Masters or American Rally Championship).
It is very annoying how clunky it is, but driving in this game is, in my opinion, head and shoulders above anything else on offer. It is very addictive for me
Completely agreed on the stage inconsistency. Since I basically disregard the online aspect of the game and just boot up the game occasionally to drive a car I like, I saved myself a lot of disk space by selectively only installing the cars and tracks that I consider really well made. It's like Assetto Corsa, some mods are ported straight out of the original rFactor and just don't live up to the standards of that game. It's also one of the gripes I had with the PS3 gran turismo games, especially GT5 (in GT6 they reworked some of the standard cars ported over from PS2 games to look a bit nicer, but on GT5 they looked REALLY out of place in the grid). On the other hand, some of the stuff they made for RBR, especially interiors, I find extremely impressive. The original version didn't have cockpit camera, the game was not coded to support it, but it's possible to achieve fully working interiors with a decent level of detail in that game and that's admirable.
Yeah I don't go in for the online rallies very much because they often use stages I don't like. I guess I could probably create my own rally with my own stage and car choices and that would help. But, you know, effort 😁
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah it's kinda the type of game you sit on a sunday afternoon to get into the rabbit hole of setting up properly to have a cool rally, I personally don't daily drive it much
I really liked this video. It showcases a lot of the same issues that I had when I was a newcomer to RSF, while giving credit where it’s due. I hope that the future is bright for you and your channel!
I've been studying Ancient Relic games in many action genres. Some of these titles guys have thrown their lives away for... So far I've come up with: Richard Burns Rally ReTHAWed (tony hawk's american wasteland mod) The King Of Fighters 13 Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Guilty Gear XX rev.2 DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou - Black Label F-Zero GX Skate 2 Project Brutality (doom 2 heavily modded) Marble Blast Ultra/Gold Celeste Geometry Wars 2 Ikaruga NHL 14 NBA 2K14 Football Life 2023 (PES 2021 heavily modded) Top Spin 4 Guitar Hero 3 ESPN NFL 2K5 Mirrors Edge
One thing that would help me enjoy the game more would be a curated list of the "best" stages. An appeal of older games is their smaller footprint, but when you jam every conceivable stage into a game and bloat the size to well over 100 GB, it takes away from that. But I'd most likely have to do that myself. And since EA WRC is much easier to jump into, I'll stay there until there's a better option.
Agreed, better curation would go a long way. As it stands, a new comer could get everything installed, pick a random stage and get one that doesn't exactly scream "OK, so THIS is why people rave about this game".
There's a spreadsheet listed on the RBR discord that gives crowd-sourced ratings for all of the available tracks, so I think that's a pretty good starting point.
Another great video! RBR is my personal favourite rally title though I can see why it's not for everyone. Thank you for showing it the respect it deserves.
Nailing that last rally school stage was extremely satisfying and felt like a hard earned achievment. i love how you learn that holding down the throttle flat out like you can (to some extend) in dirt rally 2.0 will kill your run very fast. still, i never had that urge to beat times or challenges like i do in other games. i dont agree with you on graphics as i think physics is what make a game immersive when playing with a wheel. but when failing a stage on RBR i dont mind just quitting out as there is no progress or anything else to keep you going really. its like a big sandbox where you don't even know what car or track you should choose anyway. Still very grateful to the community for keeping this alive, I just hope for some more campaign-like features in the future!
I just installed RBR like a week ago because I had always heard the legend but never got to play it. I just have a controller and had been playing a bit of WRC 10 because it's fun to have a friend co-drive or take that role (Please WRC 10, let us turn off that co-driver mini-game) but what really struck me about RBR was how good the physics are, like weight transfer actually behaves as you'd expect and car setup changes behave as you'd expect. (Note, I have competed in stage rallies IRL. Competed might be a strong word, more like adventure tourism.) It's a shame none of the newer titles saw fit to give us a high-fidelity physics simulation, even if it was just a checkbox option. Seems like not doing that is just ignoring a market segment that would flock to a rally simulator where the cars actually behaved like a real car, especially on loose surfaces. But yeah, you're pretty much spot on and kudos to the team keeping this game alive, I enjoy it despite its warts.
Yep, the car behaviour is very good! When the discussion of 'why don't other rally games drive like this' comes up, I've repeatedly seen RBR diehards say that it wouldn't be commercially viable because it would alienate too many players, or something along those lines. I personally don't buy that argument. I think DiRT Rally was successful because it earnt the reputation of being the 'Dark Souls of racing games', while being far more difficult and more punishing than most arcade racers but tied up in a nice, polished game. The greater industry has absolutely proven that there's an appetite for difficult but fair games, and I think racing titles are no exception.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Are you familiar to Grand Prix Legends from Sierra/ Papyrus ? pretty much the same goal and fate... community still going strong though..
Great Vid! Nice for ending too paying respect to Richard, a lot of people wouldn't have took the extra time to do that. Much respect and keep grinding big man 🤘
In a very werid way, graphics from early 2000s like in this game (on the better looking maps), are kinda becoming something ppl are starting to like, specially/mainly with drawing games... there is something very charming about the low poly pixel boxes... And im not even old enough to be really nostalgic for those, this game is one year older than me (i think)
@@pihlajafox yeah I know what you mean, I had an Xbox during the early to mid 00s so I definitely have a certain fondness for visuals of that era, which is probably part of why I like the way the vanilla stages look. I did recently figure out a way to make RBR look more to my liking in a way that also plays into the nostalgia factor. I'll be making a video about it so stay tuned for that 👍
The Codemasters and EA games simply can't keep up with the physics and driving of RBR. I won't even mention the fact that in the Codemasters and EA games you can slam into a tree, cartwheel end over end, then just reverse and finish the stage. They're good fun for what they are and give a solid challenge, but they're not RBR. RBR is to the EA/CM games what AC, iRacing, RF2, AMS, etc. are to GT7 and FM. The EA/CM games are awesome Simcades where awesome driving and fun can be had. RBR is a hardcore sim that doesn't care about accessibility, if you want to do well, you have to learn how to drive.
I certainly agree that the NGP physics are ahead of CM's efforts and I agree that the damage model still lacks for a LOT in their games. However, I think that RBR lacks in the immersion, visual consistency and user experience to a far more detrimental degree. The ideal game would have all of these factors nailed down, but RBR stumbles that much harder for my tastes. It's a hard pill to swallow (which is why I've continued to try and like it) but that's my truth. YMMV etc.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah I feel you there. I think for me, physics means more than graphics/fidelity. That isn't to say I want to sit down in front of Revs anytime soon (so it has to be within reason) but I'll gladly take a graphical hit if it means the vehicles behave closer to their real life counterparts, flaws and all, and react to hard and soft barriers as they would if I were actually piloting the vehicle. I think part of that, for me, is because I'm VERY late to the sim racing scene. I started with IRL stuff almost 16 years ago. Drifting, autocross, time trials, track days, etc. So when a virtual vehicle reminds me of how it feels to drive the actual vehicle, I'm instantly drawn in with little regard to the graphical presentation. Conversely, a game can be STUNNING (and the EA and Codemasters games are STUNNING) but if I feel like a super hero driving around or as if someone has enabled God Mode, it takes me out of it. I like the fear and danger that comes along with RBR because that's how it actually is in real life. You can't do 90kph sideways into a tree, mountain face, or barrier without sustaining rally-ending damage. Likewise, you can't do 120 into a 1 Right and make it just because you had a well timed handbrake yank HAHAHA! I think that's the ultimate divide between the sims and simcades. One was designed with accessibility and approachability in mind. The other forgoes that in an effort to remind those who have been out there (and to teach those who haven't) what it's like to actually drive quickly.
I want to clarify, I'm not saying that any of your points are invalid. I completely see your side of this, just enjoying a bit of shop talk and back-and-forth with a fellow gear head and sim driver
@@DaveAdams222 that makes total sense! If you're coming from real racing you're naturally going to be more sensitive to physics oddities or inaccuracies than someone like myself who hasn't driven anything other than a rental go kart on the limit.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Well, here’s the thing. I guess you could say that there are two categories of players (of course there are much more in general but for the sake of this argument I’ll simplify it). And those are gamers and drivers. The gamers will play a lot of many different games of different genres because, well, thats what they like to do. And along the line, they’ll like to sometimes try out a little bit of rallying. For them, the total appeal of the game they are playing will heavily rely on the visual experience and ease of play, as thats what they are getting from majority of games they indluge with. The drivers, on another hand, are the kind that, if possible, wouldnt even play games, but drive rallying in real life but due to budget restrains/other life occurances, simply aren’t able to. For those kind of people, RBR is simply unbeatable because it does that one thing they look for well, very well, and by far the best of any other offering. Its highly likey also their only “game” on the PC aswell, next to maybe one or two other circuit based sims. And they don’t care about the ease of play either, they know how much effort you need to invest into something to work well and how rewarding it is once it does. This is also the reason why we are highly unlikely to ever see a modern big budget rally sim like RBR see the light of day, as the latter group is simply too small of market share to make that kind of game be profitable, and it will be far to brutal and unforgiving to the casual player. Hence why RBR has this hardcore following; its small number of people gathered around one thing that can bring them as close as possibile to their real actual desire: to drive a race car on public roads as fast as possible.
I got emotional on the last part of the video when you recognized the richard burns involvment and history. It was honest and intense. Thanks! Amazing video, very centered and balanced between what is good and what is bad in this game, without idolizing it. Thanks again
Dont forget every single set up tweak you could do on RBR out of the vanilla menu are made with inverse engeniering. All mods are implemented without the original code of the game. Knowing that, it's still the best f@&king thing we have to feel close to real behavior of a car
You bring up some good constructive criticism. I am in the process of getting my friend set up in RBR and he has been getting a bit frustrated. In his case, the issues are more due to his PC and wheelbase...but it is still frustrating for him. The settings are not super intuitive, and in some cases you need to go to three different locations to do certain things. There is a large learning curve...however, one of the great things about RBR is the community and the willingness to help people out. Sure, it would be nice if everything was easier, but I guess I also understand/respect that some things need to be done in certain ways because of limitations of the platform. It never feels like there is a lack of effort from the modders...and it does seem like they are very open to recommendations. They also welcome and like it when people offer to get involved in projects...whether testing stages...helping write pacenotes...designing car dashes, etc.
I agree, given the constraints of working without the source code (as far as I know, at least) a lot of great work has been done on the game. I just think that's only worth so much consolation to the end user that has to deal with those problems, and ultimately, many do get turned away because of it.
The Richard Burns ending almost got me tearing up lol. I have the same problems. I am jealous of the people that can ignore the visuals. But I will stick to EA WRC myself. I find it very difficult in its own way, probably you cant call it 'realistic' physics, but its still not get in and go, it took me weeks to get sort-of-fast.
Yep, I think RBR ngp reigns supreme in the handling but I don't think codemasters take on things are 'bad', I find them very enjoyably drivable. Combined with the much better sound, visuals and user experience, that's why I spend my time playing those instead.
man that last part almost brought tears to my eyes ♥ I would love to hear Fantano review azov 🤣 A pretty fair and balanced video, although I think a part you missed is that the RSF website adds a lot to the experience, for instance that hotlap filtering you wanted is available on there. Not as good as in game of course but we have to accept limitations. Just the pure amount of new stages/cars couninuously being developed and improvements to the game make RBR an exciting comunity to be a part of. I love DR and EA WRC but the feeling of driving in RBR is just on another level when you get it right, which i seldom do 😝
Another well argued video that explains things fairly and without going out of its way to drive clicks. I have the vanilla game on the PS2, remember how difficult it was against the Colin McRae games of the time, and have preferred to watch RUclips videos of others that showcases the latest mods without dipping into it myself. I play EA WRC on the PS5 and while it's not perfect, thete are moments in it that I am completely immersed. I'm finding the same parallel in this video (old and modded versus new and polished) with Assetto Corsa (modded PC) versus Gran Turismo 7. It took me an hour of stuffing around just to get my wheel settings somewhere near acceptable in AC, and theres so much effort in sifting through really good mods from the downright poor that, even with the brilliant Content Manager, it feels like a fair bit of squeeze for not much juice. Yet, on Gran Turismo 7, it's a case of booting the console up, plugging peripherals in, and off you go with slick menus, career progression, astonishing car models , gorgeous graphics and a solid handling model. I enjoy playing GT7 so much more than AC because, like your video notes with Codemasters games, they have a great baseline of quality that is consistent and immersive. I'm not interested in fielding criticisms that my PC isn't high end enough, or I should have a better wheel/driving rig, or that any opinion that modded AC should always be infinitely superior to GT7. In my world, on my equipment, with my time limitations around work and family, and with my demands that I want to be immersed and entertained in equal measure, my experience reflects that of this video - I can acknowledge the flashes of excellence in modded AC, but gee, it's a lot of hassle to get there and doesn't give me the enjoyment that the plug-and-play ease of GT7 does. For the reasons outlined in this video - and my own frustrations with modded AC - I'll give RBR a miss. I don't have the time, energy or patience to go through the install hassle simply to drive a few stages to unwind of an evening. I'll stick to DR2.0 or EA WRC. For those of us who choose to eschew the complexity of modded game installation and its various plugins and filters, that doesn't make us any less sim racing fans.
Thank you! Funnily enough, when writing the script for this video, the comparison between RBR and AC did come up but it got left on the cutting room floor for time. I think when it comes to the overall user experience and quality of the content that you can easily find, AC is far, far ahead of RBR. Not being involved in the mod process for either game, I can only assume the core reason for this is because AC is a decade newer, which ties into why I want to see more current competition in the rally game space.
You can change the peace notes to numeric. Rbr directors cut mod fixes most of the replay system problems. The problem with modded stages/cars is kind of fair enough and it really is a mess but incosnsistency is expected. The game can be absolutly amazing amazing if everything is just right. A good car. A good stage. And you getting into that state of flow. But it can get very buggy, weird and inconsistent. If any one was to take the best parts of this game, that is the physics, polish it and put it in a nice consistent user friendly package then we would have possibly the goat among goats of rally games
Really great video mate. I hear all the things you say and agree with them. I think I can tolerate it a little more than you (by the sounds of things) due to the amazing physics, but man oh man, a codemasters looking game with these physics would be incredible. Just a hats off that despite going against the masses (in that most people worship this game), you didn’t lord your view or say that others that like it are wrong. In addition your tribute to Richard burns himself was classy. Well done.
100% Had this on my previous PC and the driving physics are unmatched, I just cant go through the install process on my new machine for all the reasons mentioned - If only the cleaver cats behind NGP could mod EA WRC I would be a happy man.
Yeah I don't blame you. Hopefully some changes are made to the RSF package to cover the initial legwork and make it less tiresome, because it's a big problem that clearly turns some folks away.
That's exactly what I'm going through right now, but ea wrc still doesn't seem to be a stable enough of a game for me to finally bite the bullet, especially with VR.
what RBR does tell me, is how important getting the feeling of the car is for a sim.. something newer games fails at, whilst they are focusing on things that doesnt matter, like HD grass.
Obviously i am obsessed with the way the cars drive in RBR... this is some pretty worthwhile feedback. Interesting point re: visual quality on the stages. Part of the reason for the variance in the quality of stages accepted is just because building any rally stage is an extremely slow process. I will admit there may be some utility in having a few tiers of stages in the repository: vanilla, core, community, and extras for instance. That, i think, could easily become controversial however. Another possibility would be putting a bounty on accepted stages that need a facelift. With that said, it is generally considered to be against the spirit of modded simracing to be critical of the appearance of free tracks/stages. you certainly wouldn't do this in circuit racing, but i do think its true that the beauty of the scenery is part of why rally is great. It is generally regarded as unfortunate that single player modes are broken in NGP, and it was supposedly quite the trick to get rally school to work. I will also add... the physics have only marginally changed with recent ngp updates fyi, so if you thought the physics improved that's probably mostly placebo. Even vanilla RBR physics were closer to life than codemasters driving though. As for steering, the forces are translated from the virtual forces on the steering column in the model, you're going to have to rely on setup changes if you want different patterns of steering forces.
That's interesting regarding the physics. It's true that I wasn't actually able to find any explicit 'patch' or 'release' notes that cite the specific changes, but I distinctly remember when NGP 6 came out watching a Janne Laahanen video where he felt it was grippier on gravel, with others saying similar, too. Another potential explanation is that in the years since my experience with NGP 5 (when I was primarily driving DiRT Rally), I've put a LOT of hours into DiRT Rally 2.0, which is noticeable more slippy than the first game, so maybe that simply got me used to it. Hard to say, but regardless, I like the way NGP drives now so that's all that matters 😄 Thanks for watching and for the comment!
I find these old school 2000' graphisms with flat lightning charming and cozy, making it pretty in a sense for me. ps: That end with RB got me sad, makes me wanna play it even more, glad it's still played.
Yeah I feel that way about the vanilla stages, I'm quite fond of this mid 00s era, it's just a shame that so much of the mod content falls very short of the same standard.
BTW, without any mods installed. You can switch the pacenotes from descriptive (I can't stand that either) to numeric (even reverse numeric if that's your thing). You simply need to double click on screen, and change two settings. I'm pulling a black on the settings names but I have a short video on my channel describing how.
I'm glad you mentioned Beamng, it's probably the most realistic shot of a game with a strong community behind it that can turn it into a proper rally sim. The problem with it is the track selection just isn't there (hopefully it'll pick up in the future). Though my absolutely favourite thing about that game is being able to drive a "stage" with actual multiplayer and seeing my friends absolutely wipe out in front of me
More than anything, I'd like to see Beamng license their engine to other developers who could make an actual, structure racing sim out of it, rather than relying on user content.
ive been saying this for a while too (but im nobody), i hope the modders move over to beamng and i hope beamng moves on from a sandbox to a platform for other games.
My biggest issue with it was that the road textures on even the best maps were so bad that it was hard to accurately gauge how much traction you would have. Soft dirt? packed dirt? loose dirt? They pretty much all look the same. The same for gravel and snow as well. Ice? Packed snow? Fresh snow? Who knows man. At least with the less physically accurate games, its a lot easier to tell how much grip you'll have going into a corner
That's interesting. I can't say it's something I've ever noticed personally, but if you find it hard to read the surfaces I can see how that would make driving a nightmare.
id say RSF physics make more sense, while codemasters has better feel of everything, which is why in my opinion, makes it hard to compare which game did the physics right especially since that im a young gamer. Also, the game is very large. Larger than DR2.0 with all DLCs installed, so keep that in mind when you want to try it out
I tried RBR, as a casual player. I did enjoy it, but after around 6h of setting it up, driving a stage, settings, restarts, settings, test drive I still was annoyed by some of the parts of the game, the pace notes were a big deal to me and I didnt even realize there was a mod for it lol. The game is massive, 120 gbs for 20 yo game, it's cool that it is free and older so most of PCs can run it, but most of the older machines dont have space for it. After messing around for so much time in it I downloaded Dirt Rally, spent 10 minutes to do a set up and just enjoyed my game. RBR is lovely, for people that like to tinker with the game. For a casual dude like me I dont even notice a difference in driving model between RBR and Dirt, so I prefer the easier experience of setting up dirt, prettier graphics for the same storage space and just convenience of it.
Yep, what you're saying is bang on, it really isn't a casual friendly experience at all. Given how elitist some people can be about this sort of stuff, they probably WANT it like that 🤣 It's definitely going to turn some people away who would otherwise be interested, though. A better user experience is integral for the RBR community's growth.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Agreed 100%. Smooth out the UI, make one settings page that I can change while driving so I can test it immidietely and optimize the install size and the game would bring a lot of new players into it. Probably it's way harder to do as it's all mods of a 20 yo game, but with all that people's effort they could create a new game, RBR 2.0 you could say and I believe it could be a massive success. Anyway, great video, keep it up :)
What is happening with RBR reminds me what happens with NASCAR 2003. Both games are GOATs in their respective camps, have very dedicated communities who deliver mods and can be enjoyed in potato PCs. But at the same time those are becoming older games and lacks of modern features that other current games or even games from the same period have. For example Colin McRae 2005 may be quite arcade, but I love the idea of winning events to unlock more cars. Or the KT games where you start in WRC lower classes and climb up to the top ones. Sometimes I wish have a rally game with the RBR physics and the career mode features of other games. Nice video!
Thanks! I've heard people namedrop NASCAR 2003 a number of times despite having no interest in oval racing so I'm not surprised that it has a similar reputation (with similar problems).
after 150 hours of Dirt rally 2, 20 hours of EA WRC and about 20 hours of RBR id say that RBR is actually my favorite in terms of immersion and replayablity. DR2 : Fun and easy to drive, very nice content via daily weekly and monthly challenges, after 150 hours i pretty much know every stage and its slowly getting boring EA WRC : Fun and easy to drive, confusing or little content (not sure which applies more), i mostly use it for time trials since clubs and career really do not interest me. Stages are very neat tho. RBR : Very fun and hard to drive, due to modding its a little janky at times, BUT, sign up for a rally online, maybe practice the stages and go in for the race run, daily challenges, free entry rallies, sometimes completely blind or without pace notes. Very hard, very fun, very satisfying, very punishing. Overall just a fantastic experience and its FREE and runs on a potato. Id say if you learn rally play Dirt rally 2.0 until it gets boring (150-200 hours) then you are ready to experience the CBT that is RBR.
@@mrelwood_media The problem in EA WRC clubs is the absolute massive amount of cheaters... every club event I've done there's 1 or 2 guys that are waaaaaaay faster than everyone else because they're pretty much running world record times on every stage without a single mistake... and I'm sorry but that's NOT realistic cause setting a time like that is done through trial and error and NOBODY is that fast consistently... I'm a fast rally driver and in EA WRC I can get to the top 10-50 worldwide consistently in most stages/car classes ( top 30-50 in Rally 1 cars since there are a lot more users)... you can't tell me that it's realistic for someone that can run a top 30-50 time in the world in most stages to have never been on the podium in a club event... ever... not even close... on the podium at least 2 out of the 3 are always cheaters with world record times... sorry but we all know there are a ton of cheats for racing games and I don't put it past them buying those cheats... People nowadays love winning more than actually playing games so they loooooove their cheats... if you can't win fair and square, just cheat... everyone that has seen me drive tells me "jesus, you're really fast"... well, somehow I'm 1-2 MINUTES behind 1st place every time... yeah... MINUTES... even when I'm driving flat out and I don't have a single crash I end up more than a minute behind first... come on... that's unrealistic that there are people driving world record times for 6-9 stages in a row...
@@sportschool3537 Your experience with the clubs is vastly different than mine. You are clearly a much much faster driver than me, yet I sometimes even win in my clubs. Maybe we’re taking part in very different kinds of clubs. I stay away from the official ones and only join ones with a Discord server and some soul to them. Like a theme or something. And that has been the only way I play EA WRC nearly since the beginning.
You're correct, it does! I've been enjoying that aspect of the game recently and I look forward to it being expanded upon to include more classes of cars, and stages
You make good points and its a great video. I will say though that the base game, vanilla RBR, is one of my most played games ever and I consider it a masterpiece. I even have a physical copy of it, bought it around 2007. It may not be as realistic as the new NGP physics, but it is an absolute blast still and it doesn't suffer from the inconsistencies of a modded RBR. I play video games to have fun, and for me vanilla RBR is hard to beat. NGP is objectively "better" and more realistic, but I find it to have a spongy feeling that I don't like. Also, if you look at other games released in 2004 the vanilla stages looks incredible for its time. Especially considering this was pretty much an indie dev when they made this.
Thank you! I tried the vanilla game years ago and I remember thinking it was surprisingly decent to drive, though at the time I felt that I still preferred DiRT Rally. The vanilla stages really are great, though! The Wales stages in particular are very good and are my most driven in game by a mile. I will say I've never been a fan of the USA stages, though, but maybe I need to revisit them.
I like tinkering and modding so it's not a problem for me, but it's easy to understand why people find RBR hard to get into. Even simple things like the default camera positions can be rough and it's not immediately clear how to change them. Once you've got your favourite cars and tracks though and if the graphics don't bother you, there is so much fun to be had with this game.
It's certainly great for tinkerers, no doubt about that! And in fairness, the RSF package is certainly better in that regard compared to what I experienced with RBRTM back in the NGP 4 and 5 days. I literally spent more time trying to mod it to my liking than I did actually driving the damn thing! RSF is a miles better experience, I just wish it was a little more user friendly and would cut that fat with some of the included content.
They have, it's really great to see more progress made. I'm particularly liking the re-addition of the season mode, being able to race against well-tuned AI is extremely welcome!
I recently tried rally sim fans mod and was surprised how quick and easy was installation and setup. My DD wheel works out of the box and in Dirt Rally 2.0 i was struggling for 2 weeks to have correct wheel rotation. The biggest bummer are pacenotes. Default ones are bad.
Glad to hear that you had a good time with getting it up and running! The rsf guys are continuing to improve it and there's already been notable additions since I made this video which is great to see.
Yes, I got RBRHUD up and running part way through the process of making this video, which is why some footage has it and other footage does not. You're right that it does make a difference! Given that it's a totally optional thing that you not only need to tick during RSF installation (and if you don't know what it is, as I didn't, you might not) and then also enable it in the launcher (which is also easy to miss when you're an overwhelmed beginner), I think it's valid criticism.
This is a great video, it's just kinda funny that it cameout around the time the RSF team started announcing their goal to clean up the graphics/purge some of the ugly stages from the game (Which they should definitely). I still think the immersion of RBR is great no matter the car/track (though this does go slightly down with really old snow stages, they look like HL1 engine full bright maps) because the sounds and the sense of speed you get (especially on triples) is unmatched and it's both terrifying and exhilarating. Long rallies especially really feel like you are in an event, where just surviving feels like a win (unless you're some Finnish Alien who is flying through stages, those guys are gods). I do agree though that setting the game up is a nightmare but when you realize how personal an actual rally drive/codriver team it is, it kinda makes sense. Not only are there different languages in a rally but also the same language can have different calls. I think they should definitely add in a PDF file though how to properly find these pacenote packs and voice packs, since they are actually really important but a lot of info on RBR is buried under a huge discord (it also doesn't help that, at least in my opinion, a lot of the guys on the RSF discord come off as incredibly snobbish and rude at times). The configuration for the controls is definitely annoying especially when considering that if you use an Hpattern shifter you need to properly configure a whole different plugin that ISN'T in the control menu to make sure it works and not conflict with anything else, and the FFB is a bit weird to setup but it makes sense if you think about it. I think that RBR will probably not die ever if nothing can come along to replace it. Even though you have to treat the game and setting it up to play it almost like you are preparing a real car, it's so good to drive in and feels so right all the time that it is really hard to move away from it for that sort of racing. Sure it doesn't have the amazing 2024 flare or the "ease of access" (though many other niche games are harder to get working) but once it all works and is dialed in literally no other game can rival it. The FFB response from the game on a DD wheel is legit unmatched, you get so much detail where it matters and it rarely feels "gamey." The fact it is a passion project at this point is another just mind blowing experience. You can do all this free content + championships for free while a lot of other companies kinda price gouge the sim racing market (that's not even including the actual peripherals needed to get a fully realistic experience). It's an art form of a sim at this point.
Hey thanks for watching, and your thoughts! It was certainly interesting timing but I'm very glad that stuff is in the works :) As I said, I very much WANT to like and I continue to play it now to try and enjoy it as much as I reasonably can because the driving is genuinely very good.
RBR is amazing when everything clicks. It takes ages to set up the settings, you basically have to troubleshoot something before each race and then you gotta find that right track+car combo. Once you get it done, boy oh boy you're in for a fun time. I personally still remember my "best" drives in RBR, but I can't remember a single run in DR2 or any of the WRC games. I just wish it wouldn't be such a PITA to get to that point. This is also one of my pet peeves with RFactor2. You need a freaking masters degree to set up a single race. It's just not worth the hassle for me.
I honestly don't mind the difference in graphics quality in stages, but another thing about them which I'm surprised you didn't mention. The bad collision model. The amount a bad object collision has spun or outright killed me is way over an acceptable limit. I'd wager around 25% of my rallys end in DNF's either due to game crashes or bad collisions. I still love the game, but you really can't be too competitive of a person, or you'll punch a hole in your monitor sooner than later.
The damage is very punishing and I, too, crash out with terminal damage very frequently when playing the game. I ummed and uhhed about how to represent damage in the video, and when I think about the collisions I've had that felt unfair to me, I have to say that I think it ultimately ties back in to stage quality, which I of course already harped on quite a lot. So I ultimately settled on briefly touching on the damage system's oddities with the front engine shenanigans, and left it at that because the video was long enough as is 😅 But as I said earlier in the video, I do also genuinely like that it feels dangerous. Even with EA WRC's damage improvements I still think codies games are far too forgiving. Hitting a tree head on at any kind of reasonable speed really should end your rally in the vast majority of cases, and it just doesn't in CM's games.
It's just a shame how you can't be truly competetive without knowing some of the more broken parts of some stages. Although the same goes for CM games when you consider how crazy some corner cuts are.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver The damage model is absolutely ridiculous... first of all rocks in RBR are actually nuclear warheads cause you can touch them at 20kph and you get engine damage... at 20kph!!! My real life Opel Corsa would barely have a scratch from that... a ROAD CAR!!! And in this game you touch the rock and somehow your engine explodes to outer space... RBR is the all time classic case of idiots that wanna call everyone else a "pleb" because they don't play the "pure sim" that think hard=realistic... not it isn't... I recently watched an on board of Kalle Rovanpera out of curiosity and the driving style of a modern rally car is very close to EA WRC actually which shows you that when Armstrong (the ERC champion and also a rally e-sports champ that is helping with the development) said that this is a sim, he wasn't lying like RBR fanboys wanna say cause they claim it's "arcade"... no it's not, it just simulates MODERN rally cars with MODERN rally tyres... in RBR all cars feel like the have tyres from the 90s... modern rally cars are extremely grippy and stable. Anyway, RBR as you said is a pain in the ass and yes, it's a good rally sim for old and historic cars but it's so hard to set it up that if you have a life and a job then it's clearly not worth it... on the other hand if you're unemployed and have a ton of time in your hands have fun... I have a few free hours to race and I'm certainly not gonna spend them in the menus of a 20 year old game...
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Unfortunately I've completely fallen in love with rallying in VR. For me a smooth framerate is crucial for an enjoyable experience, and unfortunately EA WRC has a few too many framerate hiccups for me to get immersed. So for now I end up sticking to RBR.
@@LarryAszune yeah I've yet to try VR but I've heard that its implementation in EA WRC leaves a lot to be desired, so I can certainly appreciate that it would be a selling point for RBR!
Nice video and some fair points on why you might not like rbr. With the latest update the single player mode is back and all game setup points seem to be improved.
@@natas4748 thank you! Yeah the new update is cool, I actually tried to start a single player season last night but I encountered a weird bug where I couldn't shift past 1st gear in the 2019 WRC cars, so there's definitely some issues that they need to iron out.
Hi, biased RBR guy here. Thanks for this video. It is informative and definitely touches on some of RBR's pain points. Some of them I totally agree with, like the flickering of stage objects or the obvious variance in design quality of cars and stages made by different designers with different skill levels. However, there are two things I disagree with and would like to point out. Firstly, I see no reason why the size of the installation should be a problem. You get 500 stages with a total length of over 4000km. Even if some stages lack quality, this is still a great ratio of space to content compared to modern games that easily reach the same size. A 256GB SSD costs 18EUR these days. Secondly, I cannot confirm that RBR is difficult to install and configure. Could you be more specific about which settings are difficult to adjust besides the FFB values? I recently had to reinstall RBR using RallySimFans and it took me maybe 30 minutes to configure everything to my liking. Maybe I am a bit biased here, but based on my experience with other sims, I do not see that other sims are easier to configure than the pre-configured RSF version of RBR to get it up and running. You put a lot of emphasis on general aspects of the game that are more geared towards the casual racer, which is fine. In my opinion, RBR is made for the more advanced sim racers and rally fans who pay a lot of attention to realism and authenticity. They are more immersed in the realistic driving experience rather than a modern graphics engine. They do not mind the default pacenotes, but they do mind making their own pacenotes, just like you have to do in real life. What matters to you is all subjective. Just choose what you like best. For you RBR is museum, for me it is in its golden age 😉
Hey, thanks for watching! I appreciate the kind words :) You're right that storage space is cheap these days, but games are also big these days. The way I see it, every game 'competes' with other games for space on my drives, and if its something that I don't play regularly that takes up a lot of space (I definitely consider a game that is over 100GB to be quite large), then it makes it kinda painful to keep installed when I could get rid of it to make room for something else. Aleksip (who, to my understanding, is involved with RSF) actually commented on this video and mentioned that they are working on converting stages to a file format which will allow them to be more efficiently compressed, so given that there is room for improvement there, I think its a valid criticism. I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of SSD space, but for people on older systems who are more budget constrained than I am, it could be a problem. As for the configuration woes, I allude to some of the other problems I had at 5:23, allow me to focus on the gauges. When installing RSF (at least when I did it), RBRHUD was an optional module, so it's very easy to miss or overlook it, especially when you don't know what it is. If anything, I would argue that it is named very misleadingly (it is NOT a HUD) which if anything means it is more likely that people will miss it. As a first time player, if you start playing and notices that the gauges are static, you either need to; A. Know what RBRHUD is and install/enable it, or B. Go on google/reddit/discord and ask for help and be informed that you need to install RBRHUD. All for something that just works, out of the box with no tinkering required in every other sim I've ever played. Another example is adjusting the cockpit camera position. I had to google how to do that because it's not obvious or intuitive that you need to double right-click to get the menu to appear. It's great that you were able to quickly get RBR running so quickly when you reinstalled it, but that's the key word here. Reinstalled. That implies prior knowledge, which newcomers aren't going to have. There's plenty of anecdotal accounts around (including some in the comments of this video) of people who have had trouble getting things with RBR configured properly. All sims require some tinkering and setup, but RBR required the most for a very long way in my (and other's) personal experience. So, again, I think it's a very valid criticism. And I agree, everyone should choose what they like best!
I agree with many of the points made, but let's understand that this is already 20 years old technology. What the RBR community is doing with this old game (simulator) is amazing. And with all the disadvantages listed, nothing beats RBR for me. After trying some of the latest rally games, I immediately deleted them. None of them lived up to my expectations. I have remained loyal to RBR to this day. Only here you experience the greatest joy of driving and gain experience that helps you in real life and those listed shortcomings remain in the background. I do not agree with some of the comments. Fig. My Thrusmaster 300 steering wheel feels great in this game, FFB is great informative. And it is not difficult to adjust it properly, the weight of each car is perfectly felt. What can I say about the game Dirt 2. In it, the steering wheel is light without any information...
Gave EA WRC a whirl today, and finally had some runs after getting through the myriad of problems andrews bugs that still exist for it to work properly with my Moza wheel and Quest 2. The presentation and graphics are very nice, with some excellent tracks on offer. But I really felt like I'd been spoiled by the RBR physics. WRC felt amateurish in comparison, whereas with RBR the weight transfer, handling and grip feels far more realistic.
I am one of those who fell in love with the KT games. I have plenty of hours in DR2 and EA WRC but must of the time I play WRC 8 and 9. I would love to be able to move all the stages from all KT games, Dirt, EA into WRC 8 or 9. That would be my dream game. I love everything about those games (art design, lighting, etc.), yeah the sound is not the best but for me is pretty good.
I have 7 and 9, and I think the latter in particular is a pretty decent game and I can see why it (and I'm sure it's successors) have their fans. The stages, weather system and imo the damage are better than the codies games. However, I prefer how the codemasters games drive (particularly on loose surfaces), I think they look, sound and run way better, and most importantly, the classic cars are way more numerous and of higher quality. That's a big one as that's what I tend to drive instead of the modern stuff.
What a great video! I have barely even driven RBR, yet I’m very familiar with all the issues mentioned in this video. EA WRC is easily the best and most comprehensive rally game, _for_me_. It is lacking in several areas, but the competition is lacking way more.
For me the on top of the general jankyness the biggest deal breaker is that on Linux it's an absolute pain in the ass to even get running and I imagine getting a wheel and force feedback working would be even more painful though I haven't bothered to try yet tbh. In comparison both DR2 and EA WRC run pretty much flawlessly and with no tinkering required, even though neither of them are built for Linux, Proton is a godsend.
That's something I hadn't even considered, but yes, that would certainly kill it for me if I was in that position. Good to hear that the codemasters games run well, though!
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah 😅 Also, i'm loving the videos, man. I like how you use actual arguments and isn't afraid to poin out RBR's faults. It's one of the rally games i want to try out the most (after Dirt: Rally 2.0). Anyways, can't wait to see what else you're going to do, because i know it's going to be amazing :)
Ok, i forgot to go back, but i remembered it just now. I loved how you mentioned the hassle that is running an old game, and while i don't immedeatly hate the graphics, the fact that in lots of cars the interior is really bad (as you said), and the mirrors don't work, set it really close to being below what's acceptable to me; Again, the extremely wide aspect ratio fills my phone screen almost perfectly. It's a small detail, yes, but together with the narration being on point, the background gameplay also being amazing, and the incredibly well put together video, makes for a masterpiece. Also, i really admire that last section of the video. It's clear the respect that you have for Richard, and for the RBR community to keep him alive, even if just in our hearts. R.I.P Richard Burns
RBR has been a reference because the base game without mods, especially on dirt and snow sections is still the best in terms of realism... If you can play a full rally on the highest difficulty level in the original game, you'll understand why it's still the best.
I am developing rally simulators for mobile with quite comparable phisics with richard burns rally! In the next years I will work on pc/console projects too :D
I've been binge watching videos on this game forever now but never actually played it. I want to, I just know theres going to be a bunch of work to get it running right. I also don't have a wheel, I only have an xbox controller. So idk. But yeah, its really the convolutedness of it that keeps me from making the plunge. Hopefully this video will inspire those modders to clean it up and add some much needed QOL. Hmm, I'll have to get off my butt and actually download it now.
Well if it's any encouragement, it's very playable on controller as it gives you good tools to dial it in. The worst that can happen is that you realise the game you got for free isn't up your alley, so I recommend you give it a try!
Great vid, fair points and I love the respect paid at the end rbr is a personal favourite of mine especially with the mod however I will say I don't think rbr getting better faster than (due to its age) it gets worse is gunna last much longer, maybe a couple of years, and while I do think rbr will always have its dedicated fans, its well past due passing of the torch NEEDS to happen. I want a rally sim that looks AND feels good so bad and as much as I love rbr I'm more than ready to say good bye (probs not permanently 😅)if the right sim comes along.
Thanks Conrad! Glad you agree that there needs to be a true successor, sometimes I almost get the feeling that its hardcore fanboys don't want that to happen lol
@@DiariesOfABadDriver I think many are concerned that rbr will experience an exodus for a lesser sim and though I'm certain there's a few MuH cHAnGe BaD types out there I'm pretty sure most would move to a modern sim if the driving and feel was as good or better than rbr
Good video. Good arguments. After 20 years of racing games under my belt RBR tarmac + FFB is still unbeatable in the game of rallying. That combo is almost as good as on Assetto Corsa which is another very old, unbeatable game. It's strange how the newer titles haven't been able to capture that same road/tyre feel in their force feedback. I mostly play just classic F1 these days and nothing comes close to AC. And believe me, I have TRIED to like Automobilista 2 and rF2. Personally, I never cared for the graphics that much and to me RBR after mods still looks ok. Cheers.
@@detonator2112 thank you! I definitely agree that both RBR and AC might just be the best feeling Sims to drive in their respective categories. I'm keen to see what AC Evo ends up being like to drive.
What a fantastic video. I've loved RBR since the day I got it (2007ish maybe? as a young kid in the states it just wasn't readily available). You hit basically every point that I have with the game here. It's still so good, But so frustratingly annoying at times. I recently got a good friend into it and he's been loving it, But I'm apprehensive to tell him to try DR2.0 or EAWRC because he doesn't have as much patience for the bullshit that I do lol.
@@blaknift Thanks man! Hell, playing since 2007 makes you a RBR og in my book! Haha yeah honestly I think the reason I struggle with RBR's problems is because I played Dirt Rally first, so I guess I was spoiled by that smooth experience. It's hard to go backwards in those areas even if I think the physics are better and the car lineup more extensive.
Yeah I picked that up cheap years ago and gave it about 10-12 hours before deciding I didn't like it. I remember disliking the pacenotes, visuals and sound, and also having performance problems with it. I might revisit it for a video at some point, we shall see!
it wont even launch anymore for me, like i click start but it just doesnt do anything, it shows the loading courser for a second, but then it just stops doing anything. i tried to troubleshoot it but all i got was the error message "invalid fingerprint" so litterally all the toubleshooting only lead to me getting an error message
FFB not having separate settings does my head in. I play Codies games with really low self aligning Torque, as I feel it counter-steers without my input & when I do not want it to. I love rbr. but it has some things keeping me from putting serious hours into.
I generally like playing with the SAT reasonably high, as I find it particularly helpful for high rotation RWD cars. But in RBR I find that the RWD cars have very light feeling ffb. If I turn it up to compensate, it then makes the other types of cars excessively heavy, so I just can't win 🙄
Great video, and pretty much the same reasoning why I'm having sich a hard time getting into the game. Is there any way to filter the stage list for vanilla tracks. I also think these are overall the most well crafted. For now I just look at the "warthog game" when browsing through stages to know whether a track was in the og game.
Thanks, glad you liked it! The best way that I've found is to simply scroll through the 'All' list and favourite them (by pressing space) so that you have all the vanilla stages in your favourites tab. For reference, the six locations included in the vanilla game were UK, Japan, Australia, France, USA and Finland, so you can probably just go through those folders to find them more quickly. Hope that helps! Additionally, the new rally season mode (which is AI racing! Glad to see that added back in) only uses the vanilla stages for now, so that's a good way to experience those stages.
Yeah it's definitely not great in that regard. I mean, with RSF there are effectively three separate options menu, so it's a real mess to navigate and it makes it very easy to miss things.
@@lloydmutabharuka6934 well it's not easy to remember what stages you do and don't like when there's so many of them. I think a moderately smaller amount of more consistent quality stages is preferable to wading through oodles of less desirable content, but that's just me.
RBR is a hobbyist venture. Any game that deals with a mod community is for hobbyists. Unlike modern games with no mod community you customize to your desire. It takes dedication like any other hobby.
Yep, I've very much been there and done that with RBR back in the Czech mod days. I distinctly remember spending more time modding the game than I did actually driving, which I personally look back on that now as being a big old waste of time, but to each their own. I just want to drive with minimal tinkering.
Codemasters games all have the same problem, the cars steer like there is a skewer through the roof of the car and all movement revolves around this single point rather than multiple wheels.
The only point I would like to and in your well put opinion is there is no competition that will ever rise up because this abandoware allows for all this content. Newer games can be great but are ALWAYS limited by the money grabbing so.. there could be competition but nothing will come close to all the content this game allows and produces. I’m very happy with it overall, but I can see your points as well.
Excellent video dawg, youve made me realize that I share the same immersion problem with you when it comes to the visuals. Its really a shame because like you said, when its good, its fucking great, but theres too much NASA rocketscience involved in making the game look and feel like it can do for me.
If you want a simcade to just drive they are plenty games to do it. RBR was build like a rally sim. So you have the opportunity to make your own pacenotes like real world, to spend time to understand the car behave and make a proper setup according to your driving style like real world. And of course you can't crash in 100km/h and continue driving like real world. The only thing that is missing is tire punctures. Maybe in next versions of NGP can be implemented.
How about driving 20-30 kph and the moment you touch a rock you get high or terminal damage? Is that realistic? Rocks in RBR are landmines or nuclear warheads... my real life Opel Corsa that I drive everyday can go over a moderately smooth rock at 20kph but somehow a rally car will explode when it touches it... the damage model in RBR is atrocious... it's punishing for the sake of punishment and it's waaaaay harsher than real life... yes, at high speeds it feels really realistic but at low speeds it's so laughably bad that it's not even funny... and making something that is harsher than real life is waaaay worse than making something that is more forgiving than real life... I literally touched a rock at 20 kph after a hairpin and my engine was flashing yellow and I began laughing cause my little Opel Corsa at 20 kph would barely have a scratch in real life... not even gonna talk about the radiator being damaged in real life from that... So save me the "it's a realistic sim" part... it's not... it's hard for the sake of hardness and for idiots that buy in to the fairytale that hard=realistic... if real rally was as harsh as RBR 90% of the drivers wouldn't finish a rally... you can't have cars getting terminal damage at stupidly low speeds and then tell me "it's realistic"... no it's not realistic, it's SADISTIC...
@@sportschool3537 the idiots as you mention that they say that the most realistic rally sim is RBR are WRC drivers. Hit a rock with 20kph and we will see if your radiator will damaged.
@ Hi! Thanks for the reply! Just to clarify, what I’m asking is if the “vanilla” or original PC physics, prior to any redone physics, carried over to OG XBox… I’m assuming “yes”, but I’ve seen instances of games where the port didn’t match 1:1…
Old but still king. New WRC is way too forgiving in every way. In RBR or even DR2 after certain mistakes you know you are out, but in EAWRC somehow you always get away with it. We all crave fresh, good rally title with good physics, sound and features but it didn't come yet and I don't think it is coming anytime soon.
Ultimately, they are games, which means there should still be an enjoyment element buried in there somewhere. DR2.0 and EA WRC both have that, partly because they have to appeal to a wide-enough player base to be commercially successful. But using that base game to then toggle on and off an option for 'full simulation' including damage, would be good for those for whom the very act of getting to the end is the challenge. If only former Codies staff from the DR days could work with the NGR modders to implement the RBR handling model inside a modern and aesthetically pleasing game...
After I had played RBR for a while and got used to it, I couldn't enjoy EA WRC or dr2 anymore. Some of the problems have been worked on lately (single player content and game size namely), and I actually prefer the graphics of rbr, as theyre more "realistic" imo.
@@jauhis_ indeed, I'm liking the developments that have been made and I'm certainly looking forward to more. I believe all of the cars in the game now have working dashboards, too, which is great. I get what you're saying about the graphics, RBR does have a realistic visual style. My problem is that the fidelity and execution is all over the place and is really bad in some places. The higher quality cars and stages, though, look good given the ancient tech being used.
Actually, i thin that rallysimfans rbr looks way better than dirt rally 2 in VR. And ea wrc is just unplayable on VR. And the stages and physics in rbr are just so much better than in any other rally game.
I've never tried VR (yet) but given that it's so easy to run I'm sure that helps it to have nice crisp image quality without visual compromise. Thanks for watching and commenting!
From my very limited time with it, in its current form it doesn't really seem like a racing game, which is why I don't play it much as it seems you've got to go out of your way for that kind of experience. It certainly has the potential to properly cater to people who just want to race, and I hope it gets there, but it's got a long way to go.
For anyone that just wants the base game and last patch and don't want to play online, don't go with the RallySimFans version. You can still download mods you want instead of their 100gb install bs.
Yeah I mean RSF certainly isn't the only option, it's just what I use because it's both popular and convenient (relatively speaking). That said, the RSF installer does allow you to deselect any stages you don't want, which is where I think most of the size comes from.
I totally agree with many of your points, but also totally disagree with your conclusion! RBR is still the best rally simulator available today: it's physics model gives better immersion than DR2 and EA WRC, two of my other favorites. - The game is a nightmare to install and configure for the first time and to update. However, you only have to install once and then the update process gets easier when you have installed the latest update for a few times. - FFB settings with just the slider in the game and numerical values for different surfaces in the launcher are not very intuitive and does not allow editing individual effects. But it doesn't have to; once I found settings that work for Fanatec, the FFB communicates very well what the car is doing and the feeling of weight transfer is better than what the competitors can provide. - Some of the stages are so bad, they shouldn't be in the game. But also, there are dozens of good quality stages available thanks to the modders. - Pacenotes are very inconsistent between stages but you can edit them yourself! - There's no proper single player. But at least I don't need one; it's the online rallies and local multiplayer events that I enjoy the most. All in all, RBR requires huge effort, but the reward is high. On bad days I'm crashing all the time, but the feeling you get for finishing a rally is what keeps me coming back.
Muh singple player... in a plugin that's designed for multiplayer only. Maybe join an actual championship either the big or the private ones, instead of just runing random online events. There's a big difference. Not saying it will be more immersive, if you're looking for a SP experience, but it certainly helps and the private ones usually have great communities too that can help you get up to speed with both setting up and the way rsf actually works. The graphics are another story. Many different people did the stages which leads to the inconsistency with the looks. Some teams make amazing looking stuff, some, not that much. From what I heard, there will be improvements to get rid of the poor quality ones. Anyway, good video and well thought out. Though I feel you're a little too hung up on the technical details of a 20 years old game that's being kept alive by it's community. - Which is also the strong point of it. You won't find another rally community like this! :D
Thank you! Regarding the SinglePlayer, this is how I see it. RSF is billed as the most convenient, one stop shop way to get up and running with RBR, which means its most likely where a beginner goes to try it. And I think if you're a beginner, you're more likely to want to play a career mode, so it's a shame it isn't there. Having features of the vanilla version broken by mods certainly isn't a good thing, no matter what way you slice it. Is it worth it for the sake of having better physics? I would say so, it's just unfortunate that it had to be sacrificed at all. It is what it is, the modders have constaints that they have to work within.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver I think it's a matter of personal preference, but I certainly wouldn't expect a singple player option from any game that's purpose built for multiplayer, because it's built for that. And in case of the RBR plugins they are meant for multiplayer. If one wants to play singple player, can just download the vanilla game for free and play it. Sure it's one more extra step, but again, i expect no single player from any game that was made for a competitive, multiplayer experience.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Must've been hard to wait 6 months for this to try and make a point. You still failed as I was talking about rbr in it's current state 6 months ago. I don't really care about it though. I'm there for the online experience and my community.
A quick correction; I've been informed that I accidentally mispronounced Toyota 'Celica' at 3:11 🤦 Silly mistake, not sure how I didn't pick that up during the record and editing! I did, however, say it correctly at 10:58
Apologies for any confusion caused!
Everyone calls it "sell-ee-kah" in the UK lol.. I've literally never heard it pronounced differently
_You learn something new every day..._
@@unbearifiedbear1885 In the US I believe it's typically pronounced 'Cell-ickuh' too. I just prefer the south American 'Che-lye-chuh' variant.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver not criticising, by the way ❤
@@unbearifiedbear1885 oh I didn't think you were, so no offence taken! I appreciate you watching and commenting 🙏
@@DiariesOfABadDriver I can say I have never heard it pronounced 'chell-itch-uh' and I thought you were trolling at first 😅
Man i wish they had RBR physics with a codemasters games lick of paint over the top. Ah well I can dream
Me too...
Also as always another extremely well presented video. If you ever had any ideas for future videos & wanted some community opinions, statements, or help from anyone with real world driving experience alongside sim in regards to rallies, im more then happy to help out :)
Dirt Rally 1 with physics mods is pretty competent. Not RBR level, but LARGELY improves the physics on that game. Might break AI racing though since the AI doesn't really care about your updated physics.
@@ElShogoso Can you mod Dirt Rally 1 despite it being on Steam?
@@Skumtomten1 Yeah you can, I dont really recommend because it might make the game extremely hard, also you cant do any kind of online event
thank you, this is a very well thought out constructive criticism video, unlike some others. I really like how you presented the things you liked and don't like. It gives motivation to the modders to improve things further.
Few pointers:
- replay has fast forwarding and rewind, but they are hidden in the pacenote plugin menus. Double left and right click with the mouse to find them.
- there will be some measures coming soon that concern removing a lot of the worse quality stages, along with other really nice UI improvements
- there was a lot of work done in the last few months in the car interiors, after RBRHUD plugin came about. In the video i see you have it disabled in most of the cars you showed. The difference is huge
- we're slowly working on including the better codrivers & pacenotes by default installation
- isn't it easier when the FFB is just strength and sensitivity? No fancy filters available, just pure steering rack force. Set FFB strength in game to max, and tweak sensitivity to wanted level of controllability and feel
- missing updates can be a problem, but you only have to manually tick the stages you missed from previous updates
- game size will get a bit more optimized once we get around to converting the old stage files to new format and create a new torrent. This enables us to massively reduce duplication of the same stage textures, and there is potential to reduce the install size by 10's of Gigabytes
- hotlap rank only showing the fastest times is indeed quite frankly embarrassing to not have filtered by class at this point. It's been the most requested feature for a long time.
I hope he sees this comment!
Mostly agreed but for tweaking FFB, mileage varies a lot depending on wheel and sometimes you need to change certain filters. I don't usually suffer from that problem running a gear driven logitech wheel, my wheel is simple and I just make the ffb relatively weak since a rally game already is too demanding on my noodle arms lol
@@ElShogoso that's what the respective wheel softwares are for.
Glad you liked it! I think critiquing something so beloved like this without coming across like an arrogant dick is a very delicate balancing act, so I'm glad to hear that you think I managed it!
Glad to hear that those improvements are in the works, I think they'd make a very big difference.
As for ffb, I guess that you could argue that having less options make it's less confusing, but if you find yourself wishing that you could just make it feel slightly different then it makes me wish the options were there. That might just be me, though.
@@MetallvmPT Wheel software doesn't let you set parameters that are specific to the game, like which simulated forces affect the FFB, what effects you want, and so on. Some games have FFB effects I just find distracting and want to turn off, like certain vibrations that don't really give you information and are just there as a gimmick or for immersion. That's the kind of stuff that changes on a game per game basis. Ironically DR 2.0 is one of the offenders, there are some stuff on the FFB I either completely remove or turn way down, like wheel and tyre friction. Another example is some games having too little or too much curb effect, etc.
That was a nice little tribute at tbe end. With all the endless fanboy mudslinging and debates over pivot points, tarmac physics and force feedback, it's nice to remember that there was a real guy called Richard Burns and if life was fair he really should still be with us.
Agreed! I didn't feel right doing this long critique of the game without acknowledging him and paying some much deserved respect. Now that I'm approaching the age that he was when he passed away, it reminds me how fragile life is.
And if he were given a good enough car, could've given a certain Sébastien a run for his money.
RBR immersion really takes flight for me when I am competing in a multi rallly championship. I get so focused on being consistent and keeping the car tidy that I really feel like I am involved in something. It is a blast. The daily rallies or the short one-time rallies don't hold the same level of hook for me.
I highly recommend giving a championship a try (like Sim Rally Masters or American Rally Championship).
It is very annoying how clunky it is, but driving in this game is, in my opinion, head and shoulders above anything else on offer. It is very addictive for me
Completely agreed on the stage inconsistency. Since I basically disregard the online aspect of the game and just boot up the game occasionally to drive a car I like, I saved myself a lot of disk space by selectively only installing the cars and tracks that I consider really well made. It's like Assetto Corsa, some mods are ported straight out of the original rFactor and just don't live up to the standards of that game. It's also one of the gripes I had with the PS3 gran turismo games, especially GT5 (in GT6 they reworked some of the standard cars ported over from PS2 games to look a bit nicer, but on GT5 they looked REALLY out of place in the grid).
On the other hand, some of the stuff they made for RBR, especially interiors, I find extremely impressive. The original version didn't have cockpit camera, the game was not coded to support it, but it's possible to achieve fully working interiors with a decent level of detail in that game and that's admirable.
Yeah I don't go in for the online rallies very much because they often use stages I don't like. I guess I could probably create my own rally with my own stage and car choices and that would help. But, you know, effort 😁
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah it's kinda the type of game you sit on a sunday afternoon to get into the rabbit hole of setting up properly to have a cool rally, I personally don't daily drive it much
I really liked this video. It showcases a lot of the same issues that I had when I was a newcomer to RSF, while giving credit where it’s due. I hope that the future is bright for you and your channel!
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you liked it :)
I've been studying Ancient Relic games in many action genres. Some of these titles guys have thrown their lives away for...
So far I've come up with:
Richard Burns Rally
ReTHAWed (tony hawk's american wasteland mod)
The King Of Fighters 13
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
Guilty Gear XX rev.2
DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou - Black Label
F-Zero GX
Skate 2
Project Brutality (doom 2 heavily modded)
Marble Blast Ultra/Gold
Celeste
Geometry Wars 2
Ikaruga
NHL 14
NBA 2K14
Football Life 2023 (PES 2021 heavily modded)
Top Spin 4
Guitar Hero 3
ESPN NFL 2K5
Mirrors Edge
Ah, NBA 2K14 my beloved.
One thing that would help me enjoy the game more would be a curated list of the "best" stages. An appeal of older games is their smaller footprint, but when you jam every conceivable stage into a game and bloat the size to well over 100 GB, it takes away from that.
But I'd most likely have to do that myself. And since EA WRC is much easier to jump into, I'll stay there until there's a better option.
Agreed, better curation would go a long way. As it stands, a new comer could get everything installed, pick a random stage and get one that doesn't exactly scream "OK, so THIS is why people rave about this game".
There's a spreadsheet listed on the RBR discord that gives crowd-sourced ratings for all of the available tracks, so I think that's a pretty good starting point.
Done ruclips.net/video/i551F9ORzkM/видео.html
Another great video! RBR is my personal favourite rally title though I can see why it's not for everyone. Thank you for showing it the respect it deserves.
Glad you enjoyed it! And yes, despite all of my problems with it, it does deserve respect.
Nailing that last rally school stage was extremely satisfying and felt like a hard earned achievment. i love how you learn that holding down the throttle flat out like you can (to some extend) in dirt rally 2.0 will kill your run very fast. still, i never had that urge to beat times or challenges like i do in other games. i dont agree with you on graphics as i think physics is what make a game immersive when playing with a wheel. but when failing a stage on RBR i dont mind just quitting out as there is no progress or anything else to keep you going really. its like a big sandbox where you don't even know what car or track you should choose anyway. Still very grateful to the community for keeping this alive, I just hope for some more campaign-like features in the future!
I just installed RBR like a week ago because I had always heard the legend but never got to play it. I just have a controller and had been playing a bit of WRC 10 because it's fun to have a friend co-drive or take that role (Please WRC 10, let us turn off that co-driver mini-game) but what really struck me about RBR was how good the physics are, like weight transfer actually behaves as you'd expect and car setup changes behave as you'd expect. (Note, I have competed in stage rallies IRL. Competed might be a strong word, more like adventure tourism.)
It's a shame none of the newer titles saw fit to give us a high-fidelity physics simulation, even if it was just a checkbox option. Seems like not doing that is just ignoring a market segment that would flock to a rally simulator where the cars actually behaved like a real car, especially on loose surfaces.
But yeah, you're pretty much spot on and kudos to the team keeping this game alive, I enjoy it despite its warts.
Yep, the car behaviour is very good!
When the discussion of 'why don't other rally games drive like this' comes up, I've repeatedly seen RBR diehards say that it wouldn't be commercially viable because it would alienate too many players, or something along those lines.
I personally don't buy that argument. I think DiRT Rally was successful because it earnt the reputation of being the 'Dark Souls of racing games', while being far more difficult and more punishing than most arcade racers but tied up in a nice, polished game.
The greater industry has absolutely proven that there's an appetite for difficult but fair games, and I think racing titles are no exception.
@@NubbyEvo share your gamepad setting please
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Are you familiar to Grand Prix Legends from Sierra/ Papyrus ? pretty much the same goal and fate... community still going strong though..
Great Vid! Nice for ending too paying respect to Richard, a lot of people wouldn't have took the extra time to do that. Much respect and keep grinding big man 🤘
@@Lumdrogba thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!
The monologue on Richard near the end gave me chills, damn.
I'm not entirely sure if chills is a good or a bad thing but I'm glad an emotion was evoked nonetheless :)
Thanks for watching!
In a very werid way, graphics from early 2000s like in this game (on the better looking maps), are kinda becoming something ppl are starting to like, specially/mainly with drawing games... there is something very charming about the low poly pixel boxes... And im not even old enough to be really nostalgic for those, this game is one year older than me (i think)
@@pihlajafox yeah I know what you mean, I had an Xbox during the early to mid 00s so I definitely have a certain fondness for visuals of that era, which is probably part of why I like the way the vanilla stages look.
I did recently figure out a way to make RBR look more to my liking in a way that also plays into the nostalgia factor. I'll be making a video about it so stay tuned for that 👍
The Codemasters and EA games simply can't keep up with the physics and driving of RBR. I won't even mention the fact that in the Codemasters and EA games you can slam into a tree, cartwheel end over end, then just reverse and finish the stage. They're good fun for what they are and give a solid challenge, but they're not RBR. RBR is to the EA/CM games what AC, iRacing, RF2, AMS, etc. are to GT7 and FM. The EA/CM games are awesome Simcades where awesome driving and fun can be had. RBR is a hardcore sim that doesn't care about accessibility, if you want to do well, you have to learn how to drive.
I certainly agree that the NGP physics are ahead of CM's efforts and I agree that the damage model still lacks for a LOT in their games.
However, I think that RBR lacks in the immersion, visual consistency and user experience to a far more detrimental degree.
The ideal game would have all of these factors nailed down, but RBR stumbles that much harder for my tastes. It's a hard pill to swallow (which is why I've continued to try and like it) but that's my truth. YMMV etc.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah I feel you there. I think for me, physics means more than graphics/fidelity. That isn't to say I want to sit down in front of Revs anytime soon (so it has to be within reason) but I'll gladly take a graphical hit if it means the vehicles behave closer to their real life counterparts, flaws and all, and react to hard and soft barriers as they would if I were actually piloting the vehicle.
I think part of that, for me, is because I'm VERY late to the sim racing scene. I started with IRL stuff almost 16 years ago. Drifting, autocross, time trials, track days, etc. So when a virtual vehicle reminds me of how it feels to drive the actual vehicle, I'm instantly drawn in with little regard to the graphical presentation. Conversely, a game can be STUNNING (and the EA and Codemasters games are STUNNING) but if I feel like a super hero driving around or as if someone has enabled God Mode, it takes me out of it. I like the fear and danger that comes along with RBR because that's how it actually is in real life. You can't do 90kph sideways into a tree, mountain face, or barrier without sustaining rally-ending damage. Likewise, you can't do 120 into a 1 Right and make it just because you had a well timed handbrake yank HAHAHA! I think that's the ultimate divide between the sims and simcades. One was designed with accessibility and approachability in mind. The other forgoes that in an effort to remind those who have been out there (and to teach those who haven't) what it's like to actually drive quickly.
I want to clarify, I'm not saying that any of your points are invalid. I completely see your side of this, just enjoying a bit of shop talk and back-and-forth with a fellow gear head and sim driver
@@DaveAdams222 that makes total sense! If you're coming from real racing you're naturally going to be more sensitive to physics oddities or inaccuracies than someone like myself who hasn't driven anything other than a rental go kart on the limit.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver
Well, here’s the thing.
I guess you could say that there are two categories of players (of course there are much more in general but for the sake of this argument I’ll simplify it).
And those are gamers and drivers.
The gamers will play a lot of many different games of different genres because, well, thats what they like to do. And along the line, they’ll like to sometimes try out a little bit of rallying.
For them, the total appeal of the game they are playing will heavily rely on the visual experience and ease of play, as thats what they are getting from majority of games they indluge with.
The drivers, on another hand, are the kind that, if possible, wouldnt even play games, but drive rallying in real life but due to budget restrains/other life occurances, simply aren’t able to.
For those kind of people, RBR is simply unbeatable because it does that one thing they look for well, very well, and by far the best of any other offering.
Its highly likey also their only “game” on the PC aswell, next to maybe one or two other circuit based sims.
And they don’t care about the ease of play either, they know how much effort you need to invest into something to work well and how rewarding it is once it does.
This is also the reason why we are highly unlikely to ever see a modern big budget rally sim like RBR see the light of day, as the latter group is simply too small of market share to make that kind of game be profitable, and it will be far to brutal and unforgiving to the casual player.
Hence why RBR has this hardcore following; its small number of people gathered around one thing that can bring them as close as possibile to their real actual desire: to drive a race car on public roads as fast as possible.
I got emotional on the last part of the video when you recognized the richard burns involvment and history. It was honest and intense. Thanks!
Amazing video, very centered and balanced between what is good and what is bad in this game, without idolizing it.
Thanks again
@@marcelo_delgado thanks, Marcelo! Very glad to hear you enjoyed it :)
Dont forget every single set up tweak you could do on RBR out of the vanilla menu are made with inverse engeniering. All mods are implemented without the original code of the game. Knowing that, it's still the best f@&king thing we have to feel close to real behavior of a car
You bring up some good constructive criticism. I am in the process of getting my friend set up in RBR and he has been getting a bit frustrated. In his case, the issues are more due to his PC and wheelbase...but it is still frustrating for him.
The settings are not super intuitive, and in some cases you need to go to three different locations to do certain things. There is a large learning curve...however, one of the great things about RBR is the community and the willingness to help people out. Sure, it would be nice if everything was easier, but I guess I also understand/respect that some things need to be done in certain ways because of limitations of the platform. It never feels like there is a lack of effort from the modders...and it does seem like they are very open to recommendations. They also welcome and like it when people offer to get involved in projects...whether testing stages...helping write pacenotes...designing car dashes, etc.
I agree, given the constraints of working without the source code (as far as I know, at least) a lot of great work has been done on the game. I just think that's only worth so much consolation to the end user that has to deal with those problems, and ultimately, many do get turned away because of it.
Richard has achieved eternal glory with this game. What a legacy!
The Richard Burns ending almost got me tearing up lol. I have the same problems. I am jealous of the people that can ignore the visuals. But I will stick to EA WRC myself. I find it very difficult in its own way, probably you cant call it 'realistic' physics, but its still not get in and go, it took me weeks to get sort-of-fast.
Yep, I think RBR ngp reigns supreme in the handling but I don't think codemasters take on things are 'bad', I find them very enjoyably drivable. Combined with the much better sound, visuals and user experience, that's why I spend my time playing those instead.
man that last part almost brought tears to my eyes ♥
I would love to hear Fantano review azov 🤣
A pretty fair and balanced video, although I think a part you missed is that the RSF website adds a lot to the experience, for instance that hotlap filtering you wanted is available on there. Not as good as in game of course but we have to accept limitations.
Just the pure amount of new stages/cars couninuously being developed and improvements to the game make RBR an exciting comunity to be a part of. I love DR and EA WRC but the feeling of driving in RBR is just on another level when you get it right, which i seldom do 😝
Thank you!
Yeah, when the game is good? I can absolutely see how it earned its GOAT rep. I just wish it was good more consistently. Perhaps one day.
Another well argued video that explains things fairly and without going out of its way to drive clicks. I have the vanilla game on the PS2, remember how difficult it was against the Colin McRae games of the time, and have preferred to watch RUclips videos of others that showcases the latest mods without dipping into it myself. I play EA WRC on the PS5 and while it's not perfect, thete are moments in it that I am completely immersed.
I'm finding the same parallel in this video (old and modded versus new and polished) with Assetto Corsa (modded PC) versus Gran Turismo 7. It took me an hour of stuffing around just to get my wheel settings somewhere near acceptable in AC, and theres so much effort in sifting through really good mods from the downright poor that, even with the brilliant Content Manager, it feels like a fair bit of squeeze for not much juice. Yet, on Gran Turismo 7, it's a case of booting the console up, plugging peripherals in, and off you go with slick menus, career progression, astonishing car models , gorgeous graphics and a solid handling model. I enjoy playing GT7 so much more than AC because, like your video notes with Codemasters games, they have a great baseline of quality that is consistent and immersive.
I'm not interested in fielding criticisms that my PC isn't high end enough, or I should have a better wheel/driving rig, or that any opinion that modded AC should always be infinitely superior to GT7. In my world, on my equipment, with my time limitations around work and family, and with my demands that I want to be immersed and entertained in equal measure, my experience reflects that of this video - I can acknowledge the flashes of excellence in modded AC, but gee, it's a lot of hassle to get there and doesn't give me the enjoyment that the plug-and-play ease of GT7 does.
For the reasons outlined in this video - and my own frustrations with modded AC - I'll give RBR a miss. I don't have the time, energy or patience to go through the install hassle simply to drive a few stages to unwind of an evening. I'll stick to DR2.0 or EA WRC. For those of us who choose to eschew the complexity of modded game installation and its various plugins and filters, that doesn't make us any less sim racing fans.
Thank you! Funnily enough, when writing the script for this video, the comparison between RBR and AC did come up but it got left on the cutting room floor for time.
I think when it comes to the overall user experience and quality of the content that you can easily find, AC is far, far ahead of RBR. Not being involved in the mod process for either game, I can only assume the core reason for this is because AC is a decade newer, which ties into why I want to see more current competition in the rally game space.
You can change the peace notes to numeric. Rbr directors cut mod fixes most of the replay system problems. The problem with modded stages/cars is kind of fair enough and it really is a mess but incosnsistency is expected. The game can be absolutly amazing amazing if everything is just right. A good car. A good stage. And you getting into that state of flow. But it can get very buggy, weird and inconsistent. If any one was to take the best parts of this game, that is the physics, polish it and put it in a nice consistent user friendly package then we would have possibly the goat among goats of rally games
Really great video mate. I hear all the things you say and agree with them. I think I can tolerate it a little more than you (by the sounds of things) due to the amazing physics, but man oh man, a codemasters looking game with these physics would be incredible.
Just a hats off that despite going against the masses (in that most people worship this game), you didn’t lord your view or say that others that like it are wrong. In addition your tribute to Richard burns himself was classy.
Well done.
Thanks, Chris, very much appreciated! Glad you enjoyed it
100% Had this on my previous PC and the driving physics are unmatched, I just cant go through the install process on my new machine for all the reasons mentioned - If only the cleaver cats behind NGP could mod EA WRC I would be a happy man.
Yeah I don't blame you. Hopefully some changes are made to the RSF package to cover the initial legwork and make it less tiresome, because it's a big problem that clearly turns some folks away.
That's exactly what I'm going through right now, but ea wrc still doesn't seem to be a stable enough of a game for me to finally bite the bullet, especially with VR.
what RBR does tell me, is how important getting the feeling of the car is for a sim.. something newer games fails at, whilst they are focusing on things that doesnt matter, like HD grass.
Obviously i am obsessed with the way the cars drive in RBR... this is some pretty worthwhile feedback. Interesting point re: visual quality on the stages. Part of the reason for the variance in the quality of stages accepted is just because building any rally stage is an extremely slow process. I will admit there may be some utility in having a few tiers of stages in the repository: vanilla, core, community, and extras for instance. That, i think, could easily become controversial however. Another possibility would be putting a bounty on accepted stages that need a facelift. With that said, it is generally considered to be against the spirit of modded simracing to be critical of the appearance of free tracks/stages. you certainly wouldn't do this in circuit racing, but i do think its true that the beauty of the scenery is part of why rally is great. It is generally regarded as unfortunate that single player modes are broken in NGP, and it was supposedly quite the trick to get rally school to work.
I will also add... the physics have only marginally changed with recent ngp updates fyi, so if you thought the physics improved that's probably mostly placebo. Even vanilla RBR physics were closer to life than codemasters driving though. As for steering, the forces are translated from the virtual forces on the steering column in the model, you're going to have to rely on setup changes if you want different patterns of steering forces.
That's interesting regarding the physics. It's true that I wasn't actually able to find any explicit 'patch' or 'release' notes that cite the specific changes, but I distinctly remember when NGP 6 came out watching a Janne Laahanen video where he felt it was grippier on gravel, with others saying similar, too. Another potential explanation is that in the years since my experience with NGP 5 (when I was primarily driving DiRT Rally), I've put a LOT of hours into DiRT Rally 2.0, which is noticeable more slippy than the first game, so maybe that simply got me used to it.
Hard to say, but regardless, I like the way NGP drives now so that's all that matters 😄
Thanks for watching and for the comment!
I find these old school 2000' graphisms with flat lightning charming and cozy, making it pretty in a sense for me.
ps: That end with RB got me sad, makes me wanna play it even more, glad it's still played.
Yeah I feel that way about the vanilla stages, I'm quite fond of this mid 00s era, it's just a shame that so much of the mod content falls very short of the same standard.
BTW, without any mods installed. You can switch the pacenotes from descriptive (I can't stand that either) to numeric (even reverse numeric if that's your thing). You simply need to double click on screen, and change two settings. I'm pulling a black on the settings names but I have a short video on my channel describing how.
@@MedievalRally good to know, thanks for the info!
I'm glad you mentioned Beamng, it's probably the most realistic shot of a game with a strong community behind it that can turn it into a proper rally sim. The problem with it is the track selection just isn't there (hopefully it'll pick up in the future). Though my absolutely favourite thing about that game is being able to drive a "stage" with actual multiplayer and seeing my friends absolutely wipe out in front of me
More than anything, I'd like to see Beamng license their engine to other developers who could make an actual, structure racing sim out of it, rather than relying on user content.
ive been saying this for a while too (but im nobody), i hope the modders move over to beamng and i hope beamng moves on from a sandbox to a platform for other games.
I just wish it had better VR support though. It doesn't work at all with my headset because it's WMR.
My biggest issue with it was that the road textures on even the best maps were so bad that it was hard to accurately gauge how much traction you would have. Soft dirt? packed dirt? loose dirt? They pretty much all look the same. The same for gravel and snow as well. Ice? Packed snow? Fresh snow? Who knows man. At least with the less physically accurate games, its a lot easier to tell how much grip you'll have going into a corner
That's interesting. I can't say it's something I've ever noticed personally, but if you find it hard to read the surfaces I can see how that would make driving a nightmare.
The thing is that Asseto Corsa with its latest Rally mod is already on par with RBR :D
@@elisterr9913 I've yet to try any real rallying in Assetto Corsa, but that's a bold claim! I've noticed that crew chief has an AC rally option, too.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver This only applies to the newest mod and two specific cars, the Celica and Rally1 Toyota 2024. Portugal SS1 is hella fun
id say RSF physics make more sense, while codemasters has better feel of everything, which is why in my opinion, makes it hard to compare which game did the physics right especially since that im a young gamer. Also, the game is very large. Larger than DR2.0 with all DLCs installed, so keep that in mind when you want to try it out
I tried RBR, as a casual player. I did enjoy it, but after around 6h of setting it up, driving a stage, settings, restarts, settings, test drive I still was annoyed by some of the parts of the game, the pace notes were a big deal to me and I didnt even realize there was a mod for it lol.
The game is massive, 120 gbs for 20 yo game, it's cool that it is free and older so most of PCs can run it, but most of the older machines dont have space for it.
After messing around for so much time in it I downloaded Dirt Rally, spent 10 minutes to do a set up and just enjoyed my game. RBR is lovely, for people that like to tinker with the game. For a casual dude like me I dont even notice a difference in driving model between RBR and Dirt, so I prefer the easier experience of setting up dirt, prettier graphics for the same storage space and just convenience of it.
Yep, what you're saying is bang on, it really isn't a casual friendly experience at all. Given how elitist some people can be about this sort of stuff, they probably WANT it like that 🤣 It's definitely going to turn some people away who would otherwise be interested, though.
A better user experience is integral for the RBR community's growth.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Agreed 100%. Smooth out the UI, make one settings page that I can change while driving so I can test it immidietely and optimize the install size and the game would bring a lot of new players into it.
Probably it's way harder to do as it's all mods of a 20 yo game, but with all that people's effort they could create a new game, RBR 2.0 you could say and I believe it could be a massive success.
Anyway, great video, keep it up :)
What is happening with RBR reminds me what happens with NASCAR 2003. Both games are GOATs in their respective camps, have very dedicated communities who deliver mods and can be enjoyed in potato PCs. But at the same time those are becoming older games and lacks of modern features that other current games or even games from the same period have.
For example Colin McRae 2005 may be quite arcade, but I love the idea of winning events to unlock more cars. Or the KT games where you start in WRC lower classes and climb up to the top ones. Sometimes I wish have a rally game with the RBR physics and the career mode features of other games.
Nice video!
Thanks! I've heard people namedrop NASCAR 2003 a number of times despite having no interest in oval racing so I'm not surprised that it has a similar reputation (with similar problems).
If you think the grapics in RBR aren't immersive, you are driving to slow 😂
Serious note: good video with a lot of great points!
The human eye can only see at 30kph 😁 And thanks! Much appreciated
Well done and right on point! Great video!
@@timl9870 Thanks, Tim!
after 150 hours of Dirt rally 2, 20 hours of EA WRC and about 20 hours of RBR id say that RBR is actually my favorite in terms of immersion and replayablity.
DR2 : Fun and easy to drive, very nice content via daily weekly and monthly challenges, after 150 hours i pretty much know every stage and its slowly getting boring
EA WRC : Fun and easy to drive, confusing or little content (not sure which applies more), i mostly use it for time trials since clubs and career really do not interest me. Stages are very neat tho.
RBR : Very fun and hard to drive, due to modding its a little janky at times, BUT, sign up for a rally online, maybe practice the stages and go in for the race run, daily challenges, free entry rallies, sometimes completely blind or without pace notes. Very hard, very fun, very satisfying, very punishing. Overall just a fantastic experience and its FREE and runs on a potato.
Id say if you learn rally play Dirt rally 2.0 until it gets boring (150-200 hours) then you are ready to experience the CBT that is RBR.
I'm glad you're able to enjoy it, I wish I could. But you can't have it all in life, I guess :')
Just one point… I wonder if you’ve looked into the EA WRC clubs deep enough since they don’t interest you, yet you like online rallying in RBR.
@@mrelwood_media The problem in EA WRC clubs is the absolute massive amount of cheaters... every club event I've done there's 1 or 2 guys that are waaaaaaay faster than everyone else because they're pretty much running world record times on every stage without a single mistake... and I'm sorry but that's NOT realistic cause setting a time like that is done through trial and error and NOBODY is that fast consistently...
I'm a fast rally driver and in EA WRC I can get to the top 10-50 worldwide consistently in most stages/car classes ( top 30-50 in Rally 1 cars since there are a lot more users)... you can't tell me that it's realistic for someone that can run a top 30-50 time in the world in most stages to have never been on the podium in a club event... ever... not even close... on the podium at least 2 out of the 3 are always cheaters with world record times... sorry but we all know there are a ton of cheats for racing games and I don't put it past them buying those cheats...
People nowadays love winning more than actually playing games so they loooooove their cheats... if you can't win fair and square, just cheat... everyone that has seen me drive tells me "jesus, you're really fast"... well, somehow I'm 1-2 MINUTES behind 1st place every time... yeah... MINUTES... even when I'm driving flat out and I don't have a single crash I end up more than a minute behind first... come on... that's unrealistic that there are people driving world record times for 6-9 stages in a row...
@@sportschool3537 Your experience with the clubs is vastly different than mine. You are clearly a much much faster driver than me, yet I sometimes even win in my clubs. Maybe we’re taking part in very different kinds of clubs. I stay away from the official ones and only join ones with a Discord server and some soul to them. Like a theme or something. And that has been the only way I play EA WRC nearly since the beginning.
@@mrelwood_media Ok, I might look up some clubs with a discord server then cause trying to beat cheaters ain't fun or even interesting to me
Great video man! Really sums up my experience with rbr.
Thanks mate. There's dozens of us!
From what I've heard RSF now has single player championships :)
You're correct, it does! I've been enjoying that aspect of the game recently and I look forward to it being expanded upon to include more classes of cars, and stages
You make good points and its a great video. I will say though that the base game, vanilla RBR, is one of my most played games ever and I consider it a masterpiece. I even have a physical copy of it, bought it around 2007. It may not be as realistic as the new NGP physics, but it is an absolute blast still and it doesn't suffer from the inconsistencies of a modded RBR. I play video games to have fun, and for me vanilla RBR is hard to beat. NGP is objectively "better" and more realistic, but I find it to have a spongy feeling that I don't like.
Also, if you look at other games released in 2004 the vanilla stages looks incredible for its time. Especially considering this was pretty much an indie dev when they made this.
Thank you!
I tried the vanilla game years ago and I remember thinking it was surprisingly decent to drive, though at the time I felt that I still preferred DiRT Rally.
The vanilla stages really are great, though! The Wales stages in particular are very good and are my most driven in game by a mile. I will say I've never been a fan of the USA stages, though, but maybe I need to revisit them.
Wow, I'm impressed by the quality of this item. Looking forward to more quality content!
Thanks, it's appreciated :)
Thank you for making this video. Haven't felt this much satisfaction from watching youtube videos in a while :)
You're very welcome, I'm just happy that you liked it!
I like tinkering and modding so it's not a problem for me, but it's easy to understand why people find RBR hard to get into. Even simple things like the default camera positions can be rough and it's not immediately clear how to change them. Once you've got your favourite cars and tracks though and if the graphics don't bother you, there is so much fun to be had with this game.
It's certainly great for tinkerers, no doubt about that! And in fairness, the RSF package is certainly better in that regard compared to what I experienced with RBRTM back in the NGP 4 and 5 days. I literally spent more time trying to mod it to my liking than I did actually driving the damn thing!
RSF is a miles better experience, I just wish it was a little more user friendly and would cut that fat with some of the included content.
They’ve changed a lot in recent updates
They have, it's really great to see more progress made. I'm particularly liking the re-addition of the season mode, being able to race against well-tuned AI is extremely welcome!
I recently tried rally sim fans mod and was surprised how quick and easy was installation and setup. My DD wheel works out of the box and in Dirt Rally 2.0 i was struggling for 2 weeks to have correct wheel rotation.
The biggest bummer are pacenotes. Default ones are bad.
Glad to hear that you had a good time with getting it up and running! The rsf guys are continuing to improve it and there's already been notable additions since I made this video which is great to see.
Your video made my day :)
@10:58 you point out Celica ST-185 interior being quite good - but it's showing the stock textures on the clip. RBRHUD improves it quite a bit!
Yes, I got RBRHUD up and running part way through the process of making this video, which is why some footage has it and other footage does not. You're right that it does make a difference!
Given that it's a totally optional thing that you not only need to tick during RSF installation (and if you don't know what it is, as I didn't, you might not) and then also enable it in the launcher (which is also easy to miss when you're an overwhelmed beginner), I think it's valid criticism.
Where is this setting you are talking about?
This is a great video, it's just kinda funny that it cameout around the time the RSF team started announcing their goal to clean up the graphics/purge some of the ugly stages from the game (Which they should definitely). I still think the immersion of RBR is great no matter the car/track (though this does go slightly down with really old snow stages, they look like HL1 engine full bright maps) because the sounds and the sense of speed you get (especially on triples) is unmatched and it's both terrifying and exhilarating. Long rallies especially really feel like you are in an event, where just surviving feels like a win (unless you're some Finnish Alien who is flying through stages, those guys are gods).
I do agree though that setting the game up is a nightmare but when you realize how personal an actual rally drive/codriver team it is, it kinda makes sense. Not only are there different languages in a rally but also the same language can have different calls. I think they should definitely add in a PDF file though how to properly find these pacenote packs and voice packs, since they are actually really important but a lot of info on RBR is buried under a huge discord (it also doesn't help that, at least in my opinion, a lot of the guys on the RSF discord come off as incredibly snobbish and rude at times). The configuration for the controls is definitely annoying especially when considering that if you use an Hpattern shifter you need to properly configure a whole different plugin that ISN'T in the control menu to make sure it works and not conflict with anything else, and the FFB is a bit weird to setup but it makes sense if you think about it.
I think that RBR will probably not die ever if nothing can come along to replace it. Even though you have to treat the game and setting it up to play it almost like you are preparing a real car, it's so good to drive in and feels so right all the time that it is really hard to move away from it for that sort of racing. Sure it doesn't have the amazing 2024 flare or the "ease of access" (though many other niche games are harder to get working) but once it all works and is dialed in literally no other game can rival it. The FFB response from the game on a DD wheel is legit unmatched, you get so much detail where it matters and it rarely feels "gamey."
The fact it is a passion project at this point is another just mind blowing experience. You can do all this free content + championships for free while a lot of other companies kinda price gouge the sim racing market (that's not even including the actual peripherals needed to get a fully realistic experience). It's an art form of a sim at this point.
Hey thanks for watching, and your thoughts! It was certainly interesting timing but I'm very glad that stuff is in the works :) As I said, I very much WANT to like and I continue to play it now to try and enjoy it as much as I reasonably can because the driving is genuinely very good.
RBR is amazing when everything clicks. It takes ages to set up the settings, you basically have to troubleshoot something before each race and then you gotta find that right track+car combo. Once you get it done, boy oh boy you're in for a fun time.
I personally still remember my "best" drives in RBR, but I can't remember a single run in DR2 or any of the WRC games.
I just wish it wouldn't be such a PITA to get to that point. This is also one of my pet peeves with RFactor2. You need a freaking masters degree to set up a single race. It's just not worth the hassle for me.
I honestly don't mind the difference in graphics quality in stages, but another thing about them which I'm surprised you didn't mention. The bad collision model. The amount a bad object collision has spun or outright killed me is way over an acceptable limit. I'd wager around 25% of my rallys end in DNF's either due to game crashes or bad collisions.
I still love the game, but you really can't be too competitive of a person, or you'll punch a hole in your monitor sooner than later.
The damage is very punishing and I, too, crash out with terminal damage very frequently when playing the game. I ummed and uhhed about how to represent damage in the video, and when I think about the collisions I've had that felt unfair to me, I have to say that I think it ultimately ties back in to stage quality, which I of course already harped on quite a lot. So I ultimately settled on briefly touching on the damage system's oddities with the front engine shenanigans, and left it at that because the video was long enough as is 😅
But as I said earlier in the video, I do also genuinely like that it feels dangerous. Even with EA WRC's damage improvements I still think codies games are far too forgiving. Hitting a tree head on at any kind of reasonable speed really should end your rally in the vast majority of cases, and it just doesn't in CM's games.
It's just a shame how you can't be truly competetive without knowing some of the more broken parts of some stages. Although the same goes for CM games when you consider how crazy some corner cuts are.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver The damage model is absolutely ridiculous... first of all rocks in RBR are actually nuclear warheads cause you can touch them at 20kph and you get engine damage... at 20kph!!! My real life Opel Corsa would barely have a scratch from that... a ROAD CAR!!! And in this game you touch the rock and somehow your engine explodes to outer space...
RBR is the all time classic case of idiots that wanna call everyone else a "pleb" because they don't play the "pure sim" that think hard=realistic... not it isn't... I recently watched an on board of Kalle Rovanpera out of curiosity and the driving style of a modern rally car is very close to EA WRC actually which shows you that when Armstrong (the ERC champion and also a rally e-sports champ that is helping with the development) said that this is a sim, he wasn't lying like RBR fanboys wanna say cause they claim it's "arcade"... no it's not, it just simulates MODERN rally cars with MODERN rally tyres... in RBR all cars feel like the have tyres from the 90s... modern rally cars are extremely grippy and stable.
Anyway, RBR as you said is a pain in the ass and yes, it's a good rally sim for old and historic cars but it's so hard to set it up that if you have a life and a job then it's clearly not worth it... on the other hand if you're unemployed and have a ton of time in your hands have fun... I have a few free hours to race and I'm certainly not gonna spend them in the menus of a 20 year old game...
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Unfortunately I've completely fallen in love with rallying in VR. For me a smooth framerate is crucial for an enjoyable experience, and unfortunately EA WRC has a few too many framerate hiccups for me to get immersed. So for now I end up sticking to RBR.
@@LarryAszune yeah I've yet to try VR but I've heard that its implementation in EA WRC leaves a lot to be desired, so I can certainly appreciate that it would be a selling point for RBR!
Nice video and some fair points on why you might not like rbr. With the latest update the single player mode is back and all game setup points seem to be improved.
@@natas4748 thank you! Yeah the new update is cool, I actually tried to start a single player season last night but I encountered a weird bug where I couldn't shift past 1st gear in the 2019 WRC cars, so there's definitely some issues that they need to iron out.
Hi, biased RBR guy here. Thanks for this video. It is informative and definitely touches on some of RBR's pain points. Some of them I totally agree with, like the flickering of stage objects or the obvious variance in design quality of cars and stages made by different designers with different skill levels. However, there are two things I disagree with and would like to point out. Firstly, I see no reason why the size of the installation should be a problem. You get 500 stages with a total length of over 4000km. Even if some stages lack quality, this is still a great ratio of space to content compared to modern games that easily reach the same size. A 256GB SSD costs 18EUR these days.
Secondly, I cannot confirm that RBR is difficult to install and configure. Could you be more specific about which settings are difficult to adjust besides the FFB values? I recently had to reinstall RBR using RallySimFans and it took me maybe 30 minutes to configure everything to my liking. Maybe I am a bit biased here, but based on my experience with other sims, I do not see that other sims are easier to configure than the pre-configured RSF version of RBR to get it up and running.
You put a lot of emphasis on general aspects of the game that are more geared towards the casual racer, which is fine. In my opinion, RBR is made for the more advanced sim racers and rally fans who pay a lot of attention to realism and authenticity. They are more immersed in the realistic driving experience rather than a modern graphics engine. They do not mind the default pacenotes, but they do mind making their own pacenotes, just like you have to do in real life. What matters to you is all subjective. Just choose what you like best. For you RBR is museum, for me it is in its golden age 😉
Hey, thanks for watching! I appreciate the kind words :)
You're right that storage space is cheap these days, but games are also big these days. The way I see it, every game 'competes' with other games for space on my drives, and if its something that I don't play regularly that takes up a lot of space (I definitely consider a game that is over 100GB to be quite large), then it makes it kinda painful to keep installed when I could get rid of it to make room for something else. Aleksip (who, to my understanding, is involved with RSF) actually commented on this video and mentioned that they are working on converting stages to a file format which will allow them to be more efficiently compressed, so given that there is room for improvement there, I think its a valid criticism. I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of SSD space, but for people on older systems who are more budget constrained than I am, it could be a problem.
As for the configuration woes, I allude to some of the other problems I had at 5:23, allow me to focus on the gauges. When installing RSF (at least when I did it), RBRHUD was an optional module, so it's very easy to miss or overlook it, especially when you don't know what it is. If anything, I would argue that it is named very misleadingly (it is NOT a HUD) which if anything means it is more likely that people will miss it. As a first time player, if you start playing and notices that the gauges are static, you either need to; A. Know what RBRHUD is and install/enable it, or B. Go on google/reddit/discord and ask for help and be informed that you need to install RBRHUD. All for something that just works, out of the box with no tinkering required in every other sim I've ever played. Another example is adjusting the cockpit camera position. I had to google how to do that because it's not obvious or intuitive that you need to double right-click to get the menu to appear.
It's great that you were able to quickly get RBR running so quickly when you reinstalled it, but that's the key word here. Reinstalled. That implies prior knowledge, which newcomers aren't going to have. There's plenty of anecdotal accounts around (including some in the comments of this video) of people who have had trouble getting things with RBR configured properly. All sims require some tinkering and setup, but RBR required the most for a very long way in my (and other's) personal experience. So, again, I think it's a very valid criticism.
And I agree, everyone should choose what they like best!
I agree with many of the points made, but let's understand that this is already 20 years old technology. What the RBR community is doing with this old game (simulator) is amazing. And with all the disadvantages listed, nothing beats RBR for me. After trying some of the latest rally games, I immediately deleted them. None of them lived up to my expectations. I have remained loyal to RBR to this day. Only here you experience the greatest joy of driving and gain experience that helps you in real life and those listed shortcomings remain in the background. I do not agree with some of the comments. Fig. My Thrusmaster 300 steering wheel feels great in this game, FFB is great informative. And it is not difficult to adjust it properly, the weight of each car is perfectly felt. What can I say about the game Dirt 2. In it, the steering wheel is light without any information...
Hey, all the power to you! Obviously it's all subjective when you boil it down, and that's the beauty of having options.
Thanks for watching!
Gave EA WRC a whirl today, and finally had some runs after getting through the myriad of problems andrews bugs that still exist for it to work properly with my Moza wheel and Quest 2. The presentation and graphics are very nice, with some excellent tracks on offer. But I really felt like I'd been spoiled by the RBR physics. WRC felt amateurish in comparison, whereas with RBR the weight transfer, handling and grip feels far more realistic.
I am one of those who fell in love with the KT games. I have plenty of hours in DR2 and EA WRC but must of the time I play WRC 8 and 9. I would love to be able to move all the stages from all KT games, Dirt, EA into WRC 8 or 9. That would be my dream game. I love everything about those games (art design, lighting, etc.), yeah the sound is not the best but for me is pretty good.
I have 7 and 9, and I think the latter in particular is a pretty decent game and I can see why it (and I'm sure it's successors) have their fans. The stages, weather system and imo the damage are better than the codies games.
However, I prefer how the codemasters games drive (particularly on loose surfaces), I think they look, sound and run way better, and most importantly, the classic cars are way more numerous and of higher quality. That's a big one as that's what I tend to drive instead of the modern stuff.
Richard Burns Rally is the best rally simulator I've tried, but there are a lot of issues with downloads and other practical aspects of the game.
What a great video! I have barely even driven RBR, yet I’m very familiar with all the issues mentioned in this video. EA WRC is easily the best and most comprehensive rally game, _for_me_. It is lacking in several areas, but the competition is lacking way more.
Thank you! WRC has a lot going for it but I wish it was better in other areas, too, but I get a fair bit of enjoyment out of it regardless.
For me the on top of the general jankyness the biggest deal breaker is that on Linux it's an absolute pain in the ass to even get running and I imagine getting a wheel and force feedback working would be even more painful though I haven't bothered to try yet tbh. In comparison both DR2 and EA WRC run pretty much flawlessly and with no tinkering required, even though neither of them are built for Linux, Proton is a godsend.
That's something I hadn't even considered, but yes, that would certainly kill it for me if I was in that position. Good to hear that the codemasters games run well, though!
Lads, he's back 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I haven't finished the video yet, however, i want to comment why i liked it
Thanks bro! Your enthusiasm is always appreciated 😁
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah 😅
Also, i'm loving the videos, man.
I like how you use actual arguments and isn't afraid to poin out RBR's faults.
It's one of the rally games i want to try out the most (after Dirt: Rally 2.0).
Anyways, can't wait to see what else you're going to do, because i know it's going to be amazing :)
Ok, i forgot to go back, but i remembered it just now.
I loved how you mentioned the hassle that is running an old game, and while i don't immedeatly hate the graphics, the fact that in lots of cars the interior is really bad (as you said), and the mirrors don't work, set it really close to being below what's acceptable to me;
Again, the extremely wide aspect ratio fills my phone screen almost perfectly. It's a small detail, yes, but together with the narration being on point, the background gameplay also being amazing, and the incredibly well put together video, makes for a masterpiece.
Also, i really admire that last section of the video. It's clear the respect that you have for Richard, and for the RBR community to keep him alive, even if just in our hearts.
R.I.P Richard Burns
RBR has been a reference because the base game without mods, especially on dirt and snow sections is still the best in terms of realism... If you can play a full rally on the highest difficulty level in the original game, you'll understand why it's still the best.
I am developing rally simulators for mobile with quite comparable phisics with richard burns rally! In the next years I will work on pc/console projects too :D
Nice!
I've been binge watching videos on this game forever now but never actually played it. I want to, I just know theres going to be a bunch of work to get it running right. I also don't have a wheel, I only have an xbox controller. So idk. But yeah, its really the convolutedness of it that keeps me from making the plunge. Hopefully this video will inspire those modders to clean it up and add some much needed QOL. Hmm, I'll have to get off my butt and actually download it now.
Well if it's any encouragement, it's very playable on controller as it gives you good tools to dial it in. The worst that can happen is that you realise the game you got for free isn't up your alley, so I recommend you give it a try!
Another great video.Keep it up mate
Cheers, I appreciate it mate!
Excellent video. Well done.
🙏 thank you!
Awesome video! Very moody, and well planned!
Thank you! Much appreciated
Great vid, fair points and I love the respect paid at the end rbr is a personal favourite of mine especially with the mod however I will say I don't think rbr getting better faster than (due to its age) it gets worse is gunna last much longer, maybe a couple of years, and while I do think rbr will always have its dedicated fans, its well past due passing of the torch NEEDS to happen. I want a rally sim that looks AND feels good so bad and as much as I love rbr I'm more than ready to say good bye (probs not permanently 😅)if the right sim comes along.
Thanks Conrad! Glad you agree that there needs to be a true successor, sometimes I almost get the feeling that its hardcore fanboys don't want that to happen lol
@@DiariesOfABadDriver I think many are concerned that rbr will experience an exodus for a lesser sim and though I'm certain there's a few MuH cHAnGe BaD types out there I'm pretty sure most would move to a modern sim if the driving and feel was as good or better than rbr
Did bro just call a celica a chelicha at 10:58? wtfiet
Only the finest and most accurate pronunciations for me!
Good video. Good arguments. After 20 years of racing games under my belt RBR tarmac + FFB is still unbeatable in the game of rallying. That combo is almost as good as on Assetto Corsa which is another very old, unbeatable game. It's strange how the newer titles haven't been able to capture that same road/tyre feel in their force feedback. I mostly play just classic F1 these days and nothing comes close to AC. And believe me, I have TRIED to like Automobilista 2 and rF2. Personally, I never cared for the graphics that much and to me RBR after mods still looks ok. Cheers.
@@detonator2112 thank you! I definitely agree that both RBR and AC might just be the best feeling Sims to drive in their respective categories. I'm keen to see what AC Evo ends up being like to drive.
What a fantastic video. I've loved RBR since the day I got it (2007ish maybe? as a young kid in the states it just wasn't readily available). You hit basically every point that I have with the game here. It's still so good, But so frustratingly annoying at times. I recently got a good friend into it and he's been loving it, But I'm apprehensive to tell him to try DR2.0 or EAWRC because he doesn't have as much patience for the bullshit that I do lol.
@@blaknift Thanks man! Hell, playing since 2007 makes you a RBR og in my book!
Haha yeah honestly I think the reason I struggle with RBR's problems is because I played Dirt Rally first, so I guess I was spoiled by that smooth experience. It's hard to go backwards in those areas even if I think the physics are better and the car lineup more extensive.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver yeah that's true! Rbr was basically my first experience with rally so I've always compaired everything else to it
This is the most true video I've ever come across
@@FailedRacers thanks, it was bound to be controversial but it's nice that there are people who agree :)
Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo has phonomenal physics. Maybe give it a try at some point?
Yeah I picked that up cheap years ago and gave it about 10-12 hours before deciding I didn't like it. I remember disliking the pacenotes, visuals and sound, and also having performance problems with it.
I might revisit it for a video at some point, we shall see!
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Yeah, I had to uninstall it because of the V-Sync jank. I enjoyed it while it ran well though!
Absolutely brilliant video, mate. Hats off to you.
Much appreciated!
it wont even launch anymore for me,
like i click start but it just doesnt do anything, it shows the loading courser for a second, but then it just stops doing anything.
i tried to troubleshoot it but all i got was the error message "invalid fingerprint" so litterally all the toubleshooting only lead to me getting an error message
That's weird, can't say I've had any issues like that before. You might just need to fresh install it.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver ok, i might try that
@@BWB_Cubing worth checking on the RSF discord as well, those guys can probably help you best :)
@@DiariesOfABadDriver ok thanks
Very good review. Ticks all the boxes.
@@warzonefightclub6551 thanks mate, appreciate the feedback!
FFB not having separate settings does my head in.
I play Codies games with really low self aligning Torque, as I feel it counter-steers without my input & when I do not want it to.
I love rbr. but it has some things keeping me from putting serious hours into.
I generally like playing with the SAT reasonably high, as I find it particularly helpful for high rotation RWD cars. But in RBR I find that the RWD cars have very light feeling ffb. If I turn it up to compensate, it then makes the other types of cars excessively heavy, so I just can't win 🙄
Great video, and pretty much the same reasoning why I'm having sich a hard time getting into the game. Is there any way to filter the stage list for vanilla tracks. I also think these are overall the most well crafted. For now I just look at the "warthog game" when browsing through stages to know whether a track was in the og game.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
The best way that I've found is to simply scroll through the 'All' list and favourite them (by pressing space) so that you have all the vanilla stages in your favourites tab. For reference, the six locations included in the vanilla game were UK, Japan, Australia, France, USA and Finland, so you can probably just go through those folders to find them more quickly. Hope that helps!
Additionally, the new rally season mode (which is AI racing! Glad to see that added back in) only uses the vanilla stages for now, so that's a good way to experience those stages.
3:11 the toyota what??🤣
The Toyota Celica. Surprised you haven't heard of it, it's a classic!
@@DiariesOfABadDriver 😄
I feel like the worst thing about rbr just has to be the menus and setup. IT TAKES AGES
Yeah it's definitely not great in that regard. I mean, with RSF there are effectively three separate options menu, so it's a real mess to navigate and it makes it very easy to miss things.
10:40 there is nothing wrong with more options, if you don’t like a certain stage then don’t play it. The graphics on all stages looks good to me.
@@lloydmutabharuka6934 well it's not easy to remember what stages you do and don't like when there's so many of them. I think a moderately smaller amount of more consistent quality stages is preferable to wading through oodles of less desirable content, but that's just me.
You can't adjust self aligning torque in BeamNG either. But, you can adjust the caster angle.
RBR is a hobbyist venture. Any game that deals with a mod community is for hobbyists. Unlike modern games with no mod community you customize to your desire. It takes dedication like any other hobby.
Yep, I've very much been there and done that with RBR back in the Czech mod days. I distinctly remember spending more time modding the game than I did actually driving, which I personally look back on that now as being a big old waste of time, but to each their own. I just want to drive with minimal tinkering.
Codemasters games all have the same problem, the cars steer like there is a skewer through the roof of the car and all movement revolves around this single point rather than multiple wheels.
The only point I would like to and in your well put opinion is there is no competition that will ever rise up because this abandoware allows for all this content. Newer games can be great but are ALWAYS limited by the money grabbing so.. there could be competition but nothing will come close to all the content this game allows and produces. I’m very happy with it overall, but I can see your points as well.
Excellent video dawg, youve made me realize that I share the same immersion problem with you when it comes to the visuals. Its really a shame because like you said, when its good, its fucking great, but theres too much NASA rocketscience involved in making the game look and feel like it can do for me.
Thanks man!
If you want a simcade to just drive they are plenty games to do it.
RBR was build like a rally sim.
So you have the opportunity to make your own pacenotes like real world, to spend time to understand the car behave and make a proper setup according to your driving style like real world.
And of course you can't crash in 100km/h and continue driving like real world.
The only thing that is missing is tire punctures. Maybe in next versions of NGP can be implemented.
Punctures would be great, though in classic RBR fashion they'd probably happen way too often
How about driving 20-30 kph and the moment you touch a rock you get high or terminal damage? Is that realistic? Rocks in RBR are landmines or nuclear warheads... my real life Opel Corsa that I drive everyday can go over a moderately smooth rock at 20kph but somehow a rally car will explode when it touches it... the damage model in RBR is atrocious... it's punishing for the sake of punishment and it's waaaaay harsher than real life... yes, at high speeds it feels really realistic but at low speeds it's so laughably bad that it's not even funny... and making something that is harsher than real life is waaaay worse than making something that is more forgiving than real life... I literally touched a rock at 20 kph after a hairpin and my engine was flashing yellow and I began laughing cause my little Opel Corsa at 20 kph would barely have a scratch in real life... not even gonna talk about the radiator being damaged in real life from that...
So save me the "it's a realistic sim" part... it's not... it's hard for the sake of hardness and for idiots that buy in to the fairytale that hard=realistic... if real rally was as harsh as RBR 90% of the drivers wouldn't finish a rally... you can't have cars getting terminal damage at stupidly low speeds and then tell me "it's realistic"... no it's not realistic, it's SADISTIC...
@@sportschool3537 the idiots as you mention that they say that the most realistic rally sim is RBR are WRC drivers. Hit a rock with 20kph and we will see if your radiator will damaged.
Would anyone happen to know if the physics carried over to the OG XBox version?…
(Great video, by the way…)
😊
@@fernfernacelli thanks! If what you're asking is if the Xbox version has ever received the NGP treatment, I don't believe so, no.
@ Hi! Thanks for the reply!
Just to clarify, what I’m asking is if the “vanilla” or original PC physics, prior to any redone physics, carried over to OG XBox… I’m assuming “yes”, but I’ve seen instances of games where the port didn’t match 1:1…
Old but still king. New WRC is way too forgiving in every way. In RBR or even DR2 after certain mistakes you know you are out, but in EAWRC somehow you always get away with it. We all crave fresh, good rally title with good physics, sound and features but it didn't come yet and I don't think it is coming anytime soon.
I think I personally find WRC less forgiving than DR2, but they're both quite forgiving compared to rbr, that's for sure.
Ultimately, they are games, which means there should still be an enjoyment element buried in there somewhere. DR2.0 and EA WRC both have that, partly because they have to appeal to a wide-enough player base to be commercially successful. But using that base game to then toggle on and off an option for 'full simulation' including damage, would be good for those for whom the very act of getting to the end is the challenge.
If only former Codies staff from the DR days could work with the NGR modders to implement the RBR handling model inside a modern and aesthetically pleasing game...
After I had played RBR for a while and got used to it, I couldn't enjoy EA WRC or dr2 anymore. Some of the problems have been worked on lately (single player content and game size namely), and I actually prefer the graphics of rbr, as theyre more "realistic" imo.
@@jauhis_ indeed, I'm liking the developments that have been made and I'm certainly looking forward to more. I believe all of the cars in the game now have working dashboards, too, which is great.
I get what you're saying about the graphics, RBR does have a realistic visual style. My problem is that the fidelity and execution is all over the place and is really bad in some places. The higher quality cars and stages, though, look good given the ancient tech being used.
Right what was that pronounciation of Celica then
The one TRUE pronunciation!
03:14 so we aren't gonna talk about how he pronounced "CELICA"? 😅
Of course we can! I'd say I pronounced it flawlessly.
Actually, i thin that rallysimfans rbr looks way better than dirt rally 2 in VR. And ea wrc is just unplayable on VR. And the stages and physics in rbr are just so much better than in any other rally game.
I've never tried VR (yet) but given that it's so easy to run I'm sure that helps it to have nice crisp image quality without visual compromise.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I was just about to mention BeamNG when you did, but I still think a video from you about would be interesting.
From my very limited time with it, in its current form it doesn't really seem like a racing game, which is why I don't play it much as it seems you've got to go out of your way for that kind of experience.
It certainly has the potential to properly cater to people who just want to race, and I hope it gets there, but it's got a long way to go.
For anyone that just wants the base game and last patch and don't want to play online, don't go with the RallySimFans version. You can still download mods you want instead of their 100gb install bs.
Yeah I mean RSF certainly isn't the only option, it's just what I use because it's both popular and convenient (relatively speaking). That said, the RSF installer does allow you to deselect any stages you don't want, which is where I think most of the size comes from.
I totally agree with many of your points, but also totally disagree with your conclusion! RBR is still the best rally simulator available today: it's physics model gives better immersion than DR2 and EA WRC, two of my other favorites.
- The game is a nightmare to install and configure for the first time and to update. However, you only have to install once and then the update process gets easier when you have installed the latest update for a few times.
- FFB settings with just the slider in the game and numerical values for different surfaces in the launcher are not very intuitive and does not allow editing individual effects. But it doesn't have to; once I found settings that work for Fanatec, the FFB communicates very well what the car is doing and the feeling of weight transfer is better than what the competitors can provide.
- Some of the stages are so bad, they shouldn't be in the game. But also, there are dozens of good quality stages available thanks to the modders.
- Pacenotes are very inconsistent between stages but you can edit them yourself!
- There's no proper single player. But at least I don't need one; it's the online rallies and local multiplayer events that I enjoy the most.
All in all, RBR requires huge effort, but the reward is high. On bad days I'm crashing all the time, but the feeling you get for finishing a rally is what keeps me coming back.
Boomer bait and I'm here for it.
I'm hoping to catch a 300 pounder!
Muh singple player... in a plugin that's designed for multiplayer only. Maybe join an actual championship either the big or the private ones, instead of just runing random online events. There's a big difference. Not saying it will be more immersive, if you're looking for a SP experience, but it certainly helps and the private ones usually have great communities too that can help you get up to speed with both setting up and the way rsf actually works.
The graphics are another story. Many different people did the stages which leads to the inconsistency with the looks. Some teams make amazing looking stuff, some, not that much. From what I heard, there will be improvements to get rid of the poor quality ones.
Anyway, good video and well thought out. Though I feel you're a little too hung up on the technical details of a 20 years old game that's being kept alive by it's community. - Which is also the strong point of it. You won't find another rally community like this! :D
Thank you!
Regarding the SinglePlayer, this is how I see it. RSF is billed as the most convenient, one stop shop way to get up and running with RBR, which means its most likely where a beginner goes to try it. And I think if you're a beginner, you're more likely to want to play a career mode, so it's a shame it isn't there. Having features of the vanilla version broken by mods certainly isn't a good thing, no matter what way you slice it. Is it worth it for the sake of having better physics? I would say so, it's just unfortunate that it had to be sacrificed at all. It is what it is, the modders have constaints that they have to work within.
@@DiariesOfABadDriver I think it's a matter of personal preference, but I certainly wouldn't expect a singple player option from any game that's purpose built for multiplayer, because it's built for that. And in case of the RBR plugins they are meant for multiplayer.
If one wants to play singple player, can just download the vanilla game for free and play it. Sure it's one more extra step, but again, i expect no single player from any game that was made for a competitive, multiplayer experience.
@@FormulaPenguin483so how do you feel now that they've added singleplayer? 😂
@@DiariesOfABadDriver Must've been hard to wait 6 months for this to try and make a point. You still failed as I was talking about rbr in it's current state 6 months ago. I don't really care about it though. I'm there for the online experience and my community.