Well, everyone knows my opinion about Dakar 18, but here are a few things to consider.
This is the only officially licensed Rally Raid Game in existence, licensed by the ASO.
It is not fast food, you cannot go out there and run a few laps and learn the track, there is no such thing here. No matter who you are, you will need to take the time to learn the navigation, and time to learn to keep your vehicle in one piece.
This is perhaps the largest off road open world environment every created for a racing game. It is entirely possible to get so lost you wind up watching the sunset a hundred miles from your destination... I know, it has happened to me.
The Producers of this game take great pride in their work, and perhaps everyone knows the troubles they had at the start. But by now everyone knows how diligently the Developers have worked to make improvements and bring it along.
I have completed this title on Legend Difficulty. It is brutal beyond compare, the vehicles are clearly good, and the FFB is very good as well.
The world of Dakar 18 is enormous, and the average stage takes an hour to run, approximately 1/6 as long as real life Dakar. The weather is magnificent, from the blowing sands over the dunes in Peru to powerful storms of Bolivia and the mists of Argentina, you can almost taste it. You can preset your weather for single stages, and the effects are to die for. Driving the dunes in pouring rain, watching the sunrise in Bolivia, and driving through the changing weather that you created is remarkable.
The varying texture of the sand, and each of the hundreds of types can be felt through the wheel, and heard through your speakers, some so slick and soft you slide down off the hill you are trying to climb sideways, some like marbles outside the racing lane, and many in between. The varying road surfaces are a beauty to behold, some so rough but straight and generally flat, so there you are white knuckles trying to hold the car on line at top speed when your keyboard bounces off the desk and your medicine is falling off the shelf. When you hit the water you feel the resistance, every bump rips the wheel against you hands.
The terrain is staggering, the artwork immaculate. I have never seen the ocean lapping at the shores so realistically in any MMO RPG or even fishing game. The trees and shrubs are lifelike, the rock formations so realistic and the landscape majestic. If forced to stop to dig out you can hear the birds calling, the wind blowing, and your co-driver snapping at you to be on your way.
As for the race, the Dakar 18 rally takes between 10-14 hours. All of it off road in varying terrain, varying danger, every waypoint is another trap. There are rock climbs, mud holes, silt, fesh fesh, mud, water that can drown your car, and jumps so severe they destroy your suspension.
Dakar 18 is not what many call a racing sim, but that is because they have not driven it. I have driven everything since World Circuit on my first PC back in the early 90's, and every simulator I could find of every type from 1965 until World Circuit. Dakar 18 is young, new, and entirely different from anything you have every driven before. The learning curve for navigation is difficult, the learning curve for surviving the race is brutal, and the physical work of driving it is punishing.
The Dakar Rally is far different from anything you have ever driven in a computer sim. You must find your way where there is no track. The game is has very good replay ability, with 5 categories of vehicles, and three difficulty levels and 14 gorgeous stages one never tires of the same old thing. The addition of Ruta 40 and Desafio Inca brings the total number up to 22 stages.
Dakar 18 is well worth the effort to drive, and is well worth the money.
