Sega Rally [PlayStation 3]

"I have actually owned this game for quite a while now. I purchased it in a period when I was playing a lot of Forza 2, Dirt and PGR4. When I came home I of course let my new game slide into my PS3's disc slot. And I wasn't impressed. It looked great and all, but the handling was so slippery that I bounced around the tracks hitting the walls left and right. And more importantly, all other cars seemed way faster than mine. WTF? How could I ever win a race like this? So I put the game back on the shelve, planning to get back to it later.

And I did. Having watched some Blu-Ray movies last week, my PS3 was connected and ready to go, so I thought, what the heck, let's try Sega Rally again. And it seemed like a completely different game. After a few rounds I was sliding through the muddy curves of the tracks like a pro. I was even winning races! Maybe it took some perseverance to get used to the arcade style controls. Or maybe the hours and hours I put into Burnout Paradise in the past few weeks made a difference? Of course Burnout's driving style is a better fit to Sega Rally than that of Forza 2, Dirt or PGR4.

Anyway, I love it now. Of course the handling is very arcade and "easy". But it is sooo much fun. Just hit the accelerator, keep it down all the way and start drifting. Don't make the mistake that I made initially, which is to slow down before tight corners. You will only loose races. The trick here is to keep going full speed and use the handbrake where necessary to make your car go sideways.

The hyped feature of Sega Rally was the "track deformation". And that indeed is a cool feature. Basically it means that the track surface is changed by the cars, that is, the cars create deep tracks in muddy sections. The result is that each lap is slightly different, sections that were nice and even the first time round can have treacherous deep holes on the 2nd lap, slowing you down considerably. So you have to keep watching the surface to find the best route.

This is not a game that I would recommend to die-hard Gran Turismo and Forza fans, or even to Colin McRae fans. But if you are open for some stupid fun once in a while, this is a great game."