Up to four players can play on the same computer using a split screen, and over the Internet, the game defers to
MadCatz PC Con controller, which worked well-unfortunately I couldn’t test it out with a steering wheel (my fault, not Feral’s).Ĭolin McRae Rally Mac has multiplayer support, too. The game supports game controllers, as well. Viewing the car from above and behind, for example, distances you from engine and road noises, while the bumper’s eye view will give you the steady rumble of the pavement and the clank of the transmission locking into different gears. Sound effects aren’t extensively used there a few different view modes, each of which offer you a different audio experience. And Colin McRae Rally Mac clearly revels in its realism.īecause of some of the graphics in the game, Colin McRae Rally Mac isn’t supported on MacBooks and Mac minis-systems that use Intel GMA graphics. I admit I’m no rally racing expert-you really have to go hunting around the upper tiers of American cable television to find any to watch, it seems-but I think generally courses are a bit longer in real life. This breaks up the game play into very short segments, typically only four or five minutes long at most, and that seems a bit abrupt to me. Rally racing is marked by stages-segments of a race that are several miles long. You can see trees swaying in the breeze or watch leaves falling or snow blowing by see the piercing gleam of headlights, or sun reflected in the windscreen of your rally racing car. Graphics in Colin McRae Rally Mac are gorgeous, with realistic weather effects, dramatic lighting and a really broad color palette being used to great effect. He’s a bit like having a GPS system in the car with you, although it takes a while to understand his shorthand (Calling out a “long six” means that there’s a long turn that you should go flat out on up ahead, while “hairpin two” means there’s a very tight turn that you should take relatively slowly).
Not only do you need to understand how to handle your car as it pitches around twisty chicanes at high speed, threatening to drop off cliff faces or slam into trees and boulders, but you also need to carefully listen to the instructions of your Welsh co-driver Nicky, who’s constantly (and calmly) providing you with a running monologue of what’s ahead and what speed to take the next turn at. (I had a hard time rendering the vehicle totally inoperable, although I came dangerously close repeatedly.) There’s also quite extensive damage modeling-it’s entirely possible (even easy, really) to send your vehicle tumbling off road and to tear off pieces of the body or smash the drive train to bits. You can set up your car differently for each course, changing tires, ride high, spring weight, brakes, steering and other factors that will adjust the vehicle’s handling quite dramatically. There are nine international venues across Europe, Asia and North America-dirt roads, mud, snow and ice, tarmac and sand, and all of them effect the physics of your car very differently.
: You can go off road a bit in Colin McRae Rally Mac, but it’ll beat up your car, as evidenced by the yellow damage meter.ĭriving environments vary dramatically. You’ll get an opportunity to throw two-wheel drive cars and four-wheel drive cars around the tracks over about 300 stages of competition across 20 different classes of events everything from Challenges to Cups and Championships. roadways like the Ford Focus, Mitsubishi Lancer and the Subaru Impreza, to cars from Lancia, Peugeot, Mercedes-Benz and many others. The game features more than 30 different real-world cars-rally versions of everything from cars you might see on U.S.