My suggestions

Hi,

Thought I’d give my suggestions (or plainly put: things I’d like to see) to the group as well-maybe there’s a few good ideas in there too in addition to the most commonly mentioned livery editor mirroring, results filter, pace note editor, AI balance etc. just to name a few.

Livery Editor

It would be nice if we could have the simple or basic colours of each car, or at least their respective testing colours (Blue for Subaru, Red for Mitsubishi Evo 6 for instance or simply White, Black etc…)

In addition to this, it would be ideal for some cars to keep their original rims colours when creating your own livery (again referring to the gold rims of Subaru, yellow rims of the Stratos or even the grey rims of the Polo Rally2 since they are not that easy to recreate).

Livery editor should have the option to paint specific parts of the car without too much hassle like the bumpers and the mud flaps – just as the existing bonnet, roof, spoiler etc that is in the game now. We also need the large competition numbers on the doors for older cars (I believe from WRC 1997 – 2011 and backwards!)

Next should be the crew and team appearance. We need some plain, single coloured suits, helmets gloves etc, and not all the fancy stuff.

Car appearance and sounds

As to many other details mentioned by others in their posts I would also like to suggest a few edits.

Firstly the lamp pods, something more closely related to the older group A cars. Subaru Impreza 1995 lamp pods where so unique and just as in DR 2.0 they are not portrayed as such. Another example is the Peugeot 309. Too small! When it comes to lamp pods especially of the group A era and older, THE BIGGER, THE BETTER. There’s just something about lamp pods that gives these cars a huge appeal to the audience (see TGC group on FB).

Adding to this are the Ford Sierra RS500 rims. Those are the Group N rims and don’t do the car enough justice! (The actual ones are very similar to the Ford RS200 which shouldn’t be too hard to recreate).

And another issue for me personally, and please do not get me wrong, the car sounds in this game are EPIC, the Mitsubishi sounds need some tweaking. Both the Evo 6 and the Galant are quite off and they are quite characteristic sound to not include.

Also as a co-driver for the past 20 years I feel I need to explain something regarding night driving and lamp pods. Lamp pods on rally cars (usually a typical set of four) are aligned in this manner: 2 of the lights are aimed straight ahead and far away (high enough to be able to see the road) and the other two are aimed closer and to the sides to disperse light in the corners and short range. Currently what I see in the game (which is indeed much better than DR 2.0) is more light but aimed far away and centred. In general things should be a bit brighter and more dispersed.

Another thing regarding appearance (as a post named ‘make it less lifeless’) is exactly this. More spectators are needed, mechanics and service vans in the service areas, start/finish scenarios, perhaps a drive from the intro screen to the start line(?) things that give the game a more immersive feeling.

Another note here would be if the altitude of the stage could indicate if it’s upwards or downwards i.e uphill or downhill.

Running of Rallies

To continue from the previous point, a good addition (as we had on DR 2.0) would be the unexpected moments. To see the other cars on the start line, the unexpected random road degradation and finding other cars in the stage was a very nice immersion touch as mentioned above.

Adding to this we could have unexpected rocks in stages, ditches and even catching up to other cars. I would go to the extent of mentioning even unexpected and unexplained car faults just as IRL. ‘Like racing, but rally’…well…this is it. This also includes brake fade on long stages, tire wear, engine heating when pushing too much for too long etc., things we see on the stages all the time.

Tire management is another issue (as well as a fact) that crews have to face in a rally. We should be able to choose the tires we carry and be able to change what we carry with us between stages as long as we have a tire wear indicator. Sticking to this point, there should be an option to disable tire choice limitations (maybe not so for the career and standard championships but more so for the rallies we create). I currently have the limitation of 2 remaining sets of tires in a rally of 10 stages and 10 service points!

This brings me to another point (yes, again aimed at older cars/rallies). We need an option of running a rally that without service areas/parks. Service up to 1996 was done between stages in the remaining time crews had between the stages. That would be as close to representing an old school rally as it could be! We could have for instance a standard amount of time between stages to carry out repairs and  a longer time gap before the end of the day to prepare for the next stage. Not wanting to go too far, the current layout of service intervals can work for this as long as there are no tire limitations as mentioned above.

Next point is one that has been bugging me since DR 2.0 and it has to do with the car categories and specifically with H3 (RWD). The BMW M3 and Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 do not belong in that category in any way! Those cars have at least 10-15 years difference with the other cars and are definitely and clearly group A category cars. This could lead to the division of the Group A category into a RWD division like group B, as (hopefully more cars can be added). Also the Vauxhall Nova, by the same logic, should not be in the H1 (FWD) category but in the H2 (FWD) category (or H2.2 (FWD) category if the division is possible for example).

And in turn we should have been able to choose which categories are eligible to run in a rally or championship we create. An example would be Rally1, Rally 2, Rally3 and Rally 4 only. I think this is something that a lot of people are asking over and over again.

Added Cars and Countries

And just like everyone else here is my list of hopes and dreams that I wish to see in the game. Hopefully, as mentioned/suggested many times online I hope in the future we get updates for the game in forms of paid DLC rather than a new game every year as this will help build on what seem to be some great foundations.

My selection of cars:

Toyota Pack: Celica RA20/40 (H2/H3 RWD), Celica Turbo Twin Cam Turbo TA64 (Gr B RWD), Supra 3.0 (Gr A), Celica ST 165/185/205 (Gr A), Corolla WRC (WRC 97-11), Yaris WRC (WRC 17-21), Yaris Rally2.

Mitsubishi Pack: Lancer Turbo EX2000 (H2/H3 RWD), Starion Turbo (Gr A), Evolution 3 / 4 (Gr A), Evolution 7/9 (Gr NR4/R4), Evolution WRC (WRC 97-11)

Skoda Pack: 130 RS (H2/H3 RWD), Favorit 136L (H1/H2 FWD – to complement the Nova), Felicia Kit Car (S1600), Octavia WRC (WRC 97-11), Fabia R2 (Rally4), Fabia S2000 (S2000).

Other Iconic Rally Cars: Subaru Impreza N12 (NR4/R4), Mitsubishi Evo 9 (NR4/R4), Renault Clio Williams (F2), Opel Kadett/ Vauxhall Astra GTE (H2 FWD), Nissan RS240 (Gr B RWD), Datsun 240Z (H2 RWD), Ford Sierra/Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 (Gr A), Ford Escort WRC (WRC 97-11), Renault Clio Rally3 + Rally4.

My Selection of Countries/Rallies

UK/Wales – RAC Rally

Cyprus

Argentina

San Remo

Ireland

Belgium (Ypres)

Poland

Latvia

All in all just a ‘small’ suggestion list taken from my experiences in real life and put together into this small ideal world. I know most of these are hard to achieve but just like everyone else, these are only suggestions or wishes coming for people who play the game and want to see it achieve excellence.