Like many rally fans snookered by the current Coronavirus lockdowns, I’ve taken to hitting the simulator to get my fix.
It seems wherever you look there’s a club, a team or a championship setting up their own eSports competition for like-minded fans to challenge each other.
I’ve tried many rally games over the years, and it’s fair to say that the improvement in the graphics and the playability over that time has been staggering.
To keep up with the cool kids, I forked out 90-odd dollars for the last in the Dirt Rally 2.0 series, for PlayStation 4, complete with the special Colin McRae pack.
As the owner of a road-going Legacy RS Turbo, I was eager to get behind the wheel of McRae’s Group A machine, and I wasn’t to be disappointed. The sound of the car – even on a video game – is simply stunning.
I’m no simulator guru, but even I have figured a few things out along the way, such as fine tuning the car to handle and brake better, and that the newer the car, the better it handles and the easier it is to drive.
Simulators will never give you anything like the real rally driving experience, but shy of forking out for a top-of-the-range simulator that rocks, rolls and vibrates with every bump in the road, this is about as good as it gets.
The stages on the game are incredibly lifelike as well. You can drive over the Col de Turini, through Sweet Lamb in Wales and on plenty of other famous rallying locations, including New Zealand’s own Whaanga Coast.
I’ve never driven the stage competitively, but I’ve spectated on it several times. Recognising certain corners when you’re driving in the game was quite a surreal feeling.
It brought back many Whaanga Coast memories, such as when Petter Solberg hit a telegraph pole in his Citroen in 2010, and more famously, when Colin McRae put his Ford Focus off the road on a tricky right hander after a cattle stop.
Yep, that corner’s in the game too.
I’m yet to enter any online competitions, and continually get a hiding from my sons on the game, but it’s great fun and at least gives you a small fix of rallying in trying times.
The way things are going, this will be the only way we can continue rallying in the foreseeable future, so we might as well make the most of it.
Now, let me soften the suspension, increase the negative camber, put a bit more rear bias on the brakes, and go for that stage record …..
See you in cyberspace!
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