Were the early Colin McRae Rally games easier?

Stovehead

Stovehead

Stovehead

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I got into the PS1 quite late in it’s life but I absolutely loved Colin McRae Rally. I seem to remember being able to keep up with, and beat the AI fairly easily.

I try and play Dirt Rally 2.0 now and I’m really struggling to keep up with the AI.

Do we think it’s because the games more got more realistic with the increase in processing power or that I’ve aged and my reactions are worse. Or do I just need to practice more?

I rage-uninstalled DR2 last night, just because it feels too difficult. Never remember feeling like this with the early Rally Games.

Or was CMR 1 & 2 classed as games and DR2 a Sim?

I play GT Sport and am ranked C/D with a 99 SR rating so am not terrible at driving games. Obviously the circuits are easier to learn and practice on than a rally stage.
 
Yep I think it's due to too many games going from being fun orientated to trying to be too realistic for their own good/simulations. If you don't enjoy a game or it's stressing you out then why keep playing it?

I would hazard a guess that the number of people with sim setups (cockpits/wheels) are still a tiny minority so why cater them so much? there's just an obsession today with realism over enjoyment.
 
Like you say they were games more than a direct sim/simcade. DR2 is up there with being a very realistic sim game, or that was the intention at least (friend was a PM for Codemasters during the development of DR/DR2)
 
you have to play quite a few of them to find what suits you, some of them dont suit a control and are much better with a wheel/peddels set-up.

I seem to remember the original Dirt game was good and should be very cheap now since its old.
 
Yeah I think Colin McRae 1 and 2 were easier but that was PS1 days so less "realistic" I quite like the latest Dirt Rally 2.0 as it was more simulation than the more arcadey Dirt games
 
Having played the original Colin McRae Rally and then one of the Dirt Rally games about a year or so ago, I found Dirt bloody hard but way less fun. I feel some games these days try and be too hard or realistic to then forget about the enjoyment factor.
 
People didn't like them as much when they went all big bouncy 4 wheeler truck nonsense so they made them more simmy like the old CM games. I loved the early ones (Colin McRae 4 I played to death) and yes these new ones are way harder.

I still find them fun but you have to be prepared to really learn the tracks to get decent times.
 
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I think it's the reason why Japanese games (ie. Nintendo) are still so popular, they tend to make games that are easy to learn but difficult to master without necessarily being super realistic to the point where you just get massively frustrated. Western studios tend to be obsessed with producing simulations at any cost to how fun it is to play.
 
Bear in mind that the PS1 didn't even have analogue controls and it probably ran below 30fps.

I remember it fondly, but I doubt it's handling simulation/physics were actually very realistic.
 
byeo said:
Having played the original Colin McRae Rally and then one of the Dirt Rally games about a year or so ago, I found Dirt bloody hard but way less fun. I feel some games these days try and be too hard or realistic to then forget about the enjoyment factor.
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Exactly my experience. I did not enjoy Dirt Rally as I think there were objects planted on the course to cause frustration (e.g. a boulder on the exit of a corner). I know its rallying, but, you would expect the Navigator to call out a blooming big boulder or something. I felt cheated! :p

I really enjoy proper sims and play all the main ones all the time, only Dirt Rally never really clicked with me. Whereas Colin McRae, love it! I would play CM tonight if I could get it to work. Even with my retro rig with XP it was giving me grief. I wish GOG would release it.

Never tried Richard Burns Rally, not sure if it was released on PlayStation, apparently that was rather good but a proper sim.
 
I loved the early rally games (especially CM ones) always choose the Subaru even now :)

I think its a multitude of factors
1) Physics is getting more realistic (and less forgiving) the better the technology gets
2) We are getting older and Im sure our reactions are getting worse.....I know mine are anyway hahaha
3) The controllers are also much better, and its much tougher to do finer controls at speed
4) and yes I recently got WRC9 which Im VERY frustrated with , even without considering the huge cost games are now, I hadnt realised just how much of a SIM this is (and the whole team management stuff which doesnt interest me at all - totally my mistake but the advertising I felt was more arcadey than the game actually is)

Every generation of Gran Tourismo I think is still very arcadey even though it does have a few sim elements here and there (and even the latest I thought was an excellent mix even though its self proclaimed as a SIM hahaha), admittedly less arcadey than Forza but no better / worse for it
 
Ninco! said:
Exactly my experience. I did not enjoy Dirt Rally as I think there were objects planted on the course to cause frustration (e.g. a boulder on the exit of a corner). I know its rallying, but, you would expect the Navigator to call out a blooming big boulder or something. I felt cheated! :p

I really enjoy proper sims and play all the main ones all the time, only Dirt Rally never really clicked with me. Whereas Colin McRae, love it! I would play CM tonight if I could get it to work. Even with my retro rig with XP it was giving me grief. I wish GOG would release it.

Never tried Richard Burns Rally, not sure if it was released on PlayStation, apparently that was rather good but a proper sim.
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RBR was brutal in its difficulty. Amazing though in its day.
 
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