GAMING: FIA World Rally Championship

Driving a rally stage is one of the most knuckle blanching experiences one can have, and despite not going bumper to bumper against racing opposition, the pressure of being precise, clean and fast is enough to quicken the heart rate of any racing fan.

So it is when the sport is brought to the video-game screen, and it is always exciting to pop in the disc for the latest rally driving game and then get muddy with controller in hand.

The official WRC branded game this year is FIA World Rally Championship from Italian developer Milestone S.r.l and while it may not win fans over from other video-game franchises such as Dirt or Colin McRae/Richard Burns, it does an adequate job of conveying some dirt drifting action to those sitting on the couch.

Structure wise players have an option of jumping straight into any stage or rally in the WRC branded series, from the standard WRC to the Super 200 S-WRC, production car P-WRC, junior J-WRC or, initially locked, Group B rally selections.

The entire 2010 WRC series of rallies can be selected from.  This includes the muddy tight turns of New Zealand as well as Turkey, Jordan, Mexico, Sweden, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, Germany, Finland, the wet gravel of France or mostly tarmac courses in Bulgaria.  
 
Within each rally a number of special stages can be selected, and thus the single player game-play can be customised at will.  Well mostly at will, some courses and cars are initially locked and only playing through the campaign will release them.

The Rally Academy challenges offer a number of short courses, with guides to line, breaking (including hand-breaking) and speed.  Completing the challenges – against an AI "Ghost" car - will give new players a much better idea of what to expect in the campaign mode to come.

Multiplayer offers up to four player hot seat stages, or the downloading of ghost cars to battle against. There are also three online modes for going up against networked owners of the game around the world.  Primarily however, this game is a single player experience built around the campaign mode.

Starting with enough funds to buy a Ford Fiesta or Suzuki Swift, it's time to launch into a rally driver career.  Select a difficulty (the easiest includes stability and breaking assist, the hardest locks the camera in cockpit), and a co-driver (my French lass was initially fun, but ultimately a little painful in the way she pointed out my poor driving), and then it is off to our first event.

You can select tires for an event, and whilst the game gives some indication of the stage to come, it would have been nice to simple see a percentage indicator of the expected surface, for example 85% tarmac, 15% gravel.

The game also gives budding drivers objectives such as get in the top five, or beat a particular AI driver over the course of an event.  Meeting the objectives will encourage sponsors to cough up more money at the day's end.

Once at the starting line for a rally stage, there is a palpable drop off in enthusiasm.  Quite bluntly, the games visuals below par for today's hardware.  Lines are jaggy and effects are muted, there is nice lens flare when driving into the sun, but the draw distance for countryside horizons, dust and water effects are a throwback to a previous generation of gaming devices.

Audio is much better, with nice throaty engine noise, associated exhaust pop when you ease off the accelerator and harsh grating of the sump on road edge when things get a little awry.

The all important car handling is ok.  It does seem awfully difficult to throw a rally car into a gravel drift; the coefficient of friction needed to overcome the grip seems too high in this simulation.  Higher level, more powerful vehicles on the other hand require deft throttle management to not find yourself constantly sideways, this feels better.

Handling and damage modelling make or break games such as this, if it doesn't feel right the illusion is snapped.  This official WRC game only just manages a pass on both fronts.  Hitting the smallest rock or roadside sapling will stop the car dead in its tracks, causing significant damage that will affect the rest of the stage, I can live with that.  Unfortunately it is not too consistent, sliding sideways into a fence or large tree may result in only a slight shunt or nothing at all despite the speed.

Likewise, if the driving line takes you off the track, even into the light grass on the verge, expect speed to drop off dramatically, it feels unrealistic, which is enough to break the spell.

Completing each event will result in money awards and unlocking of further events along the way.  There are plenty to perform in, and sometimes you will need to come back to earlier events after unlocking enough cash as well as the required vehicle as dictated by the event rules.  Unlocking colours for car customisation is a little annoying on behalf of the developer.

Generally this game is an adequate representation of the sport of rally driving.  It is not as sophisticated as its competitors but ultimately it is a lot of fun, and that is the most important measure of all.

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