Sega Rally - the racing game series
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I've always liked the rally series from sega.
There were arcade version of all 3 games.
Sega Rally Championship
Sega Rally 2
Sega Rally 3
In addition there were many home versions, and
another stand alone game 'sega rally revo' for the
pc and consoles, along with sega rally 2006 for the ps2
in japan.
This listing is dedicated to detailing the differences,
the handling and gameplay of each one.
Also, details about the systems used to run it,
or how to run them on pc's and emulators if possible.
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All games are based on racing a few courses against a number
of cars, and progressing by time (not racing position, except for Revo).
So you can't really really come in first place until the
end of the very last race.
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my background
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played virtua racing for several months in the arcade, and then several more
on the sega genesis, and saturn. learned how to win 1st on all tracks.
daytona took a couple of weeks in the arcade to master coming
in 1st on all races, and advanced ones. i did play it for several months
when it came out for the saturn, and the pc versions.
sega rally - i played it for a couple of weeks in the arcade to master it,
and come in first on all races. i then played it for a few more months
to research writing a comprehensive FAQ on it. i then played it for several
more months when it came out for the saturn, and pc.
sega rally 2 - never saw it in the arcades, i played it on the PC for several
weeks to master it (still never got a hang of the u-turns). then i tried it
briefly years later on the dreamcast. the pc version had a 10 year
championship which took a few months to finish and master.
indy 500 - played it for several months in arcade to master it, and come in
1st on all courses. wrote a detailed FAQ about it also. played it for a few
more weeks on PC with m2 emulator.
sega rally 2006 - played it for a few weeks on the PS2, but gave up.
currently playing it on PC, with emulator. never made much progress
when i did play it.
sega rally revo - played it for a few months on pc/xbox 360 when it came out, and got
about 1/3 way through the game before giving up. 7 years later, i am now almost finished after a few weeks of playing
and still trying to come in first on all the tracks and time trials.
sega rally online - played it for a few weeks on xbox 360, and came in first on all courses
very quickly.
sega rally 3 - have not played in arcade, working on playing it on pc. i anticipate
it will be very easy to finish, as it is almost identical to sega rally online.
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Comparisons of all games in the series
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game races steering type friction effects difficulty and car AI
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sega rally 3+1 direct minimal medium - hard for 1st
sega rally 2 3+1 direct partial medium - hard for 1st
sega rally 3 3+1 direct minimal easy - medium for 1st
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sega rally
online 3+1 direct minimal easy - medium for 1st
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sega rally
revo variable spring tension major hard - hardest for 1st
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sega rally
2006 variable direct minimal medium - hard for 1st
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steering types
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direct - most normal racing games all use this type of steering,
the direction and intensity applied directly impact the cars
ability to turn
spring tension - the force applied to steering applies for a short time frame.
even if you hold it for longer period of times, then there is
NO impact. short taps work at times, but for long drifts, the
direction is only held if the car has enough friction and speed
to maintain it.
impacts of drifting and friction
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sega rally - it is crucial to drift through turns in order to win.
you can either brake or downshift to initiate drifts.
there are several turns on dirt and road that if you start drifting
you can maintain it throughout. the lakeside bonus track is
almost completely dirt that requires drifting through almost the
entire track
sega rally 2 - again, drifting is crucial through turns on dirt, and snow
you can brake, or downshift and also a handbrake for u-turns.
the snow course requires drifting almost through the entire course.
sega rally 3 - there are a few turns that need drifting, but most areas do not.
(and online) although it looks like there is track deformation on sand, snow,
and dirt, there is very little effect on the handling of the cars
sega rally revo - depending on which car you pick, there is huge variation in
the cars ability to drift. some cars are very loose in their
handling, others require much more force to turn.
each track has a huge impact on the cars, and snow, dirt, and
sand all greatly affect the ability of the cars drift ability.
every track has multiple turns that require drifting.
car competition AI
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sega rally, sega rally 2, sega rally 3 (and online)
DEFAULT SETTINGS
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in all these cases the rally is broken into 3 main races, and if you finish
1st you get to race in a bonus race.
the competition is very easy for the 1st and 2nd races, and the lower positions
allow you to pass 3-5 cars in each one. they are completely predictable, and
ramp up in a linear difficulty.
the 3rd place car is medium difficulty to pass, where the 2nd place and
1st require very aggressive driving and mistake free driving.
compared to daytona - which has many more cars to pass, the top cars are
the hardest to beat.
sega rally revo
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quick race mode - easy, medium, hard - similar to arcade AI
championship - variable ramping, that is exponentially harder.
in revo, there are always 6 opponents.
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the last 3 cars are always the easiest to pass, and the 3rd place is
much harder, and the 2nd place is harder still, while the 1st place car
races a near perfect line.
during the races, all cars very aggresively hit you, try to pass you,
and block your path. another factor that makes it very hard is that
sometimes when you crash, you lose all momentum and speed which is
very hard to recover from. there are areas you can bounce off walls
or the sides of roads without losing speed.
there are some other issues to deal with -
if championship mode you must race a series of rallies, mostly 3,
sometimes 4. the biggest problem is YOU NEVER get to start in 1st
place, despite winning the race. you ALWAYS start in 6th place
for each race.
to come in 1st place in each race consistently, you have to pick
the right car out of 6 choices. and although there is only off-road
and road tires (which almost always favors the off-road), each makes
a huge impact on the car chosen.
we will focus on the individual games next.
later
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