art of rally

I have a racing wheel to play DIRT Rally and I love this game with xbox controller! Graphical style is timeless and controls are surprisingly advanced. Campaign progression is satisfying and vehicle lore is fun and recognizable. Easily put over 40+hrs in it and still having fun!

This game is absolutely beautiful. There's an immediate "Wow!" factor to this game that is rarely found in other racing games, especially indie-made racing games. Everything about this game is gorgeous. Including the cars, which handle just as beautifully as they look. Each car feels different from the last, and you're able to tweak the way each car handles to your liking. Some cars may need more steering assist, personally I prefer to crank assists down to make my cars as slippery as I can handle. That occasionally has me sliding off-road, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it-- I'm only 4 hours in, after all. I suck at this game, that much is true. I started the career mode on normal and I barely got 1st place in one race, albeit only by a few milliseconds. But that's how this game earns the "Art" in its title: you're expected to fail, it's how you get better. Racing right in this game feels amazing. There's nothing quite like it, especially at this price range, when you've mastered a car and can hit every turn without having to completely slow down. The free roam is my favorite aspect of Art of Rally. The environments pair so well with the game's stellar, relaxing soundtrack that it successfully activates my Zen mode. Driving around aimlessly in this game feels just like meditating. The best piece of advice I can give for this game is "Don't think, feel". Feeling is where this game shines, and I feel that's why this game is a cut above the rest.

I don't like the controls/feeling of the cars, it's like they just float in the air, or drive on ice all the time. No friction at all against the ground, just sliding and drifting everywhere. And if it starts to slide, it almost won't stop until you hit a tree/rock, since...yeah, no friction! Still being updated so I hope they'll try to improve the physics and not just add extra tracks, so we get some friction agains the road (with sounds matching it too for extra feedback to the player) and some feeling of weight to the cars. It could be some fun anyway, even with lack of physics/friction/feeling, trying to beat your own scores (while cursing a lot lol), but in this game I can't see my previous times! Not while racing (like +/- seconds compared to my best), and sadly not after finish either! If I beat a new record, it doesn't mention if it was by 0,5s or by 10s - I only see one time on the leaderboard, and that is my current best and nothing else. Probably won't play this any more, but I'll keep an eye out for future updates, and see if they ever tweak the physics/handling of the cars!

Okay. art of rally (aor) is not without issues, but the potentional it has is incredible, so while currently it's a great game, I'm expecting even more from it in the future! The bad is not too much - a few visual glitches here and there and the occasional random surprise that people attribute to the Unity engine. That said, the developers at Funselektor are actively fixing bugs and adding new content. Even engaging with the community on Discord. There is a lot to love about aor. The minimalistic graphics and the soundtrack perfectly blend to create an unforgettable experience - something that most games nowadays fail to do. There is no bumper cam, nor pacenotes, but the abundance of camera settings makes up for it completely. And honestly, the bird's eye point of view is part of the magic. The experience is just like watching a rally, but instead here you are the one controlling the car. It's brilliant! And if you're into drifting, you can enjoy that too. The driving itself could also be very relaxing, but your mileage may vary. It's fun, but punishing. Push that throttle a tad too much and you'll be off into space. A gamepad's analog controls will give you an advantage, therefore using one is probably a must. You also MUST spend time tuning the advanced controls and gameplay settings to suit your driving style. I'm fine playing with a keyboard, but I wouldn't recommend it for most people. If still in doubt, there's a demo you can try. The 2 cars in it are not the best example, but you'll get an idea at least. Keep in mind that aor has been greatly improved since the demo was released. The selection of cars has also become amazing. They all handle uniquely too. After 40 hours of gameplay I can easily have fun with half of them and feel rewarded in a different way by each car. Verdict: Buy it! Buy it even at full price! Buy even the Deluxe edition! It's a lot of good game and a lot of good soundtrack for little coin, so it's definitely worth it.

I've jumped into this game and it's real fun. Once you get used to the handling, you get the same kind of rewarding feel after nailing a couple of corners the DIRT series is known for. The beautiful soundtrack and art style hide that there is a real racing game under the hood that takes time to master and that will keep me entertained for the foreseeable future. The only things I could critizise is that the game resets me back to the track too quickly if I go off course. I had some nice moment in Dirt where I could save the car in a creative manner and keep going - this is not possible here. If there were a way to "soften" this while keeping the excellent corner-cutting detection in place, it would suit me more. Also, even on high settings, the bushes noticeably switch to a higher detailed model when approaching - could this be (maybe in an Ultra-setting) be reduced by loading the detailed model earlier as the game itself is not too demanding?