Well my luck ran out on the Alt rally. Started Stage 6 with a pretty much pristine car and managed to slam face first into a group of logs in the ditch a few thousand feet after the start. Two punctures and only one spare (carried two after that). That pretty much set the mood for the rest of the rally, smacking into many a pile of logs. Each rest stop I had way to much damage to repair and not enough time, even with the 45 minute stops. Basically took the recommended repairs as they seemed good, but they almost always fixed the engine and radiator. Wheel geometry had been a bit off according to the repair chart, but it felt fine so I didn’t worry about it. Differential was also showing some wear, but again, it felt fine up to then.
Start Stage 9 and something is definitely wrong with the car. Engine was fully repaired but it was very slow accelerating off the line, so differential must be screwed. Figure I can get though the stage and fix it at the end. I’ll loose some time, but I can probably recover. Then I get to the first corner, a square right…
Hit the brakes, turn the wheel, reach for the handbrake…but the car isn’t turning. Slow to a few mph, crank the wheel all the way to the right, and it can’t even make the turn then. That wheel geometry that I’d been ignoring must be absolutely shot to pieces. Reverse out of the corner and managed to coax the car around. I’m hoping I can (eventually) get to the end of the ~7 mile stage and repair enough that I may be able to make the time up I’m loosing. Managed to get to about 7/8 of the way through and slide off a gentle slope. Terminal damage on suspension (no kidding!). Sigh.
Obviously did a lot better than the first attempt, but still couldn’t make it. Lost my mojo from yesterday I guess. The heavy rain combined with the steep drops and logs (both in the cut piles and still standing in the forests) are just so unforgiving. Bravo to people who do make it through in one piece.
So out of three rallies I’ve got two DNFs and a win. Guess my “zero or hero” prediction is coming true.
THAT is a fantastic description. I began simming as an F1 piloto, but soon grew bored with the repetitive nature of the racing, with little margin for error. In rally, you can roll your car, drive through the woods, or take out a massive hay bail, and still limp to the finish, only to have your mechanics rebuild the car in 30 minutes, so that you can continue and possibly finish on the podium. It is truly the driver’s version of the dynamic campaign, and I love it.
I CTD 1st stage and then smashed a rock face on stage 3, so ya. Not much point finishing that with all that 360s I’m doing. Good on you guys who made that work.
Ah yes, forgot to mention that they are all RWD, because I forgot they were to begin with. I was intending on easing in the RWD vehicles. Crash course I guess, should make the less powerful ones easier from here on out.
I don’t own a racing wheel nor VR so won’t join the next round…but this thread has looked so fun that I’m almost considering getting a wheel, hehe. Nice work team
I am sehr disappointed. Besides bungling something every single stage, I lost lots of time flapping paddles trying to get to reverse. Barely took a video and then wound up dumping them all into the bin in disgust afterwards. Did have a nice one of the big jump though. I think I know a few things I might need to get for my birthday now
Well it was going well in Germany. However the long stages would be my undoing. I think I got to comfortable on the long ones.
Stage 3 near the end it just got away from me. Punctured a tyre. Then stage 5 happened, that long into a hairpin left or square left, I overcooked it a went straight into hay. Punctured three tyres but I finished the stage. Started stage 6 but it just wasnt going to happen once the rubber came off those tyres.
Sad really because I liked this combo. I felt good but thats when it all feel apart. When I was scared of the car it was fast but manageable when i wasnt scared of the car it was too fast and not manageable at all!
Baumholder is always interesting to me, being it just 50km away from my real life whereabouts I picked the Aston Martin, as always, and finished the Rally completely before anyone else joined, I guess. I had two blown tires and one stage in the dark where I ignored the ‘deceptive’ advice by my co-driver and paid with a blown radiator and engine down on power. I also collected a few 1 minute penalties when going off-road.
I guess I’ll be around 10 minutes of the top times in this one, but at least I finished The powerful car and the asphalt makes it feel more natural than with the Rally GT on dirt, where I usually spin the car around easily. Thanks for the combination, Mudcat!
After a couple of days off to do some training in this months aircraft I flew my Viggen into Germany, skidded to a halt at a cheeky angle and put on my rally hat.
If this is going to be half as difficult as Argentina was I’m replacing my co-pilot with a spare wheel before I start.
Ok, I did finish.
However the first few stages were very rough, as my kids kept interrupting me and there are some very strange co-driver callouts that got me.
Later it got a tad better. I’ll upload a video of one of my stages soon.
LOL, I mistakenly left the alternate club. @Mudcat, sending another request. I’m pretty sure that it will wipe out the results of Scotland, but no worries. Long season ahead.
Holy cow, watching it through the first time, I thought that something had come off your car. I do see the deer though on the replay. That was a fast deer!
Put in the first 6 stages of the main rally. Bit of a rough start buy now really getting into it. Treat the car with generous respect and everything really starts to flow together. Thankfully the tarmac physics in Dirt Rally 2.0 are light years ahead of what they were in Dirt Rally (1).
Incidents so far have been minor (mostly). Tagged one of the stone bollards with the right rear early on; thankfully nothing much happened though it felt like a big whack. Also had a couple of instances where I misjudged my braking into hairpins and square turns, but thankfully stopped before the bollards and could reverse out without hitting anything.
Had one big moment at the end of one of the early stages were you’re flat out for a section over the “big jump,” then a “5 right” after a crest. Didn’t really slow down at all, so went spearing off into the field at top speed. Thankfully it was a completely empty and flat field and the game reset me to the track with an 18 second penalty. Got really lucky there as it could have been game over anywhere else.
Really sad you couldn’t finish @weaponz248. You were right up there and giving me a real run for my money.
I think this is the key to rally driving. Drive 6, 7, or 8 tenths of what you think your ultimate pace is. 6 tenths if you can’t see (rule number 1, don’t trust your co-driver if you can’t see the corner!), 8 tenths if you have a clear sight line (vary as needed). Very likely what you think is 10 tenths is just going to be barreling off into the undergrowth if you’re lucky, or a brick wall if you’re not. Force yourself back to 6-8 and you’ll probably be going the fastest you really can.
The other difficult thing is to not get caught up too much it the splits (I’m very guilty of this). Even if you’re loosing time, keep to your pace and hope that someone else will go off or make a mistake, and you can sail by them. It’s hard as you don’t want to get to the end and feel you held back too much, but just remember that by finishing you will be faster than the guy who retires (see my two DNFs so far). It’s an age-old adage:
I picked the Aston Martin, as always, and finished the Rally completely before anyone else joined, I guess. I had two blown tires and one stage in the dark where I ignored the ‘deceptive’ advice by my co-driver and paid with a blown radiator and engine down on power. I also collected a few 1 minute penalties when going off-road.
Actually your times stayed there.