What a blast!

[wide2tele]

Think it might be around 15 years since I last hit this game hard. I've just gone through the Russia rally stages and talk about fun! Game still looks great, still plays great. I haven't felt let down at all that maybe my memory "glorified" the game. It's just as I remember it and just as enjoyable. My driving is terrible but I can see I should quickly find my feet. Surprisingly, I can't remember what I did 15 minutes ago but as I drove the stages I remembered many aspects of them quite well.
Finally, let's talk about "that sun!" lol
This game was famous for it and you know what, it's actually kinda good to see it again.

If you have never played Rally Trophy, it's a racer everyone should try at least once. I'm loving it!
Back to RT...

 

[wide2tele]

Lol, the navigator constantly derides me for crashing "his" car. (Though if you tire of him there's a mod providing a calmer female navigator.)

I got RT shortly after it came out (a local store decided to drop all their gaming oriented inventory, I paid the princely sum of $5 for it) and it has been on every system since then. Even those lean years when I was stuck with Vista, before some kind soul created the new dlls so RT was fully functional again (I still played it ...with auto transmission ...and extracted and edited all the car files so shifts would occur when I wanted them).

Tried several other rally sims but always return to RT; as you said, it is fun. My only real complaint is shared with every rally sim I've tried - you cannot add new cars and tracks, only replace existing ones.

It would be fantastic to add a few more countries and tracks. Too bad they never released an add-on/expansion to give you the tracks and maybe some cars.

I'm with you. This game deserves permanent residency on any racing sim PC.

Thanks for the reminder on the female navigator. I have that add-on but never tried it. Will give it a try at some point.

I'm going to go take on Finland after this post!

 

[jgf]

One of the first mods I install is the one that reduces that overblown sun flare, without it you can't see anything for a few seconds at a couple of tracks.

 

[wide2tele]

Sun is an interesting one. Back in the day there were complaints galore about the sun and I hated it myself. You simply couldn't see at times. The sun will always be remembered with RT.

Interestingly, today I enjoy the sun and can see where I am driving. I'm guessing it has to come down to the monitor. I'm not sure if in 2001 when RT was released, I was already using an LCD or still on a CRT monitor. In 2001 it very possibly could've been a CRT and maybe the LCD display at least for me, totally changes any issues I previously had with the sun.

If you have never run RT without the sun mod on a LCD, maybe give it a try.

 

[blackskull101]

The sun have never bothered me, I'm always too preoccupied with staying on the track to pay attention to it

 

[blackskull101]

Lol, the navigator constantly derides me for crashing "his" car.

One of these days you should teach him who's the boss.

 

[wide2tele]

Just a thought if anyone else might want to do the same.

I often like to keep stats for games. RT fortunately keeps enough information and high scores etc that I was quite satisfied. The one stat it doesn't keep that I will now note over a championship, is number of stage wins.

There are 32 stages so from here on, I'll keep track of how many stages I have won in a complete championship.

 

[wide2tele]

27 wins out of 32 stages on the first championship run. I also don't cheat. If I screw up on the first stage or an early stage of a championship, there is no reset the rally and start again.

Totally motivated to try and get 32 out of 32 wins. Having waaaay too much fun! Just wish I had more time to play the game.

 

[jgf]

Time? Time?!? I'm well past retirement and still waiting for all that leisure time I'm supposed to have.

With Rally Trophy and RBR and GTL (two installs) and GTR2 (two installs plus P&G) and rfactor (two installs) and N2k3 (with two installs of GTP mod) and GPL (two installs) plus Silent Hunter 3 and MSFS9 (with 100gig of scenery and 400 aircraft) ...all I need are two more mods - one to give 36 hours in a day and another to negate the need to sleep.

 

[wide2tele]

I play some of those games and masses of others and have other hobbies as well. Enjoy sport and tv/movies. Trying to catch up on 650-700 hours of Star Trek which I never watched until recently and I still work!

Retirement will be great but it isn't so soon for me. It's more about having priorities. Rally Trophy is right up there and then of course family comes next.

 

[blackskull101]

...all I need are two more mods - one to give 36 hours in a day and another to negate the need to sleep.

Lol, familiar feeling

 

[wide2tele]

Want to make a comment:
I don't wish to give away any spoilers or hints but I will say you certainly get what you deserve in this game. Focus needs to be spot on and you need to drive like it was a real car.
I am getting more and more motivated on teaching RT a lesson as it's bit me more than once! It bit me hard only a couple of minutes ago and why I'm making this post!
I'll be back in the ring against RT hopefully tomorrow.

 

[jgf]

Absolutely. One slight error can drop you from first to fifth in a heartbeat; and unlike other racing series, except drag racing, you only get one shot at the win, you can't make up time on the next lap(s).

RT is one of those sims where it is best to stick to the default cars and tracks til you are proficient and can consistently finish in the top five before trying new cars and tracks, much less the TT or WRC mods.

 

[wide2tele]

Absolutely. One slight error can drop you from first to fifth in a heartbeat; and unlike other racing series, except drag racing, you only get one shot at the win, you can't make up time on the next lap(s).

RT is one of those sims where it is best to stick to the default cars and tracks til you are proficient and can consistently finish in the top five before trying new cars and tracks, much less the TT or WRC mods.

I've never even used mods and always drive the Stratos. I've had a quick play with some of the other cars in the vanilla game but that's about it. The game keeps me entertained and challenged as it is.
I want to keep attempting to win all 32 stages with the Stratos and then move to a slower car and try and win the championship. I mentioned earlier, I'm still yet to win a championship by finishing first in all 5 countries.

It's great fun and from the driving aspect, it just feels so true to life. Your times get punished for all the things you would get punished for in a real car and by the right amount. I couldn't say that about many of the other racing sims.

 

[wide2tele]

Woohoo! Finally won in all 5 countries! Stage wins were 27 out of 32 as my previous best.
All 32 wins are possible in the one championship but it's not an easy task.

I'm using paddles, using a shifter could create another challenge.

RT would also be a great game for fastest time competitions. I don't like the other racing sims I've tried for fastest times/laps as the setups become ridiculous imo to the point the car no longer handles anything like a real car. The setup will however give you a fast time but fast times alone don't do anything for me. I like to keep the handling as realistic as the game allows and the driving to be as close to a real car as possible. I don't care at all what time this ends up becoming on the track.

 

[wide2tele]

Well...won 31 out of 32. Kinda not happy as I made a silly mistake on the stage I lost.
I'll have to keep at it. Going to bug me forever if I don't do all 32.

What a great game!