When Rally Trophy (RT) was first mentioned somewhere, long before it was a commercial product, there was hope it would become a rally simulator, featuring great cars of the past, like the Ford Escort MK1, the Mini Cooper, the Saab 96, the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, the Lancia Stratos, the Lancia Fulvia, the Volvo Amazon, and the Ford Cortina. These are cars from the late 1950s, to early 1970s, but - more importantly - these were cars yet to star on a true simulation. Sure you could and can find some of them (like the Mini) in *many* games, but you'll have no clue about their "real" behavior, since that their only difference to other featured autos will be the 3D model on screen, and - hopefully - their top speed :). Rally Trophy was expected to change all that.

RT is here, and it has even been patched, but it doesn't exactly deliver the "simulation" I was looking for. On the other hand, it is hard to find better looking and more entertaining driving games... Bluntly, Rally Trophy scores very *very* high on any thinkable rating, except for comparative realism. What is "comparative realism"?! I call "comparative realism" the way RT measures up against the best simulators I know of, which are...

Nascar 2002 (N2002) and GP Legends (GPL) are clearly - and beyond any doubt - the more accurate racing simulators for PC; Grand Prix 3 (GP3) is also a decent effort, and Colin McRae 2 (CMR2) delivers a very popular balance between arcadish gameplay and serious car behavior. Rally Trophy is *not* as convincing as these titles; it resembles a lot with Rally Championship Extreme (RCE), meaning that it is highly enjoyable, but not believable enough.

My favorite RT car is the Lancia Fulvia, a front traction 1600cc beast, that once saved saved the Lancia rallying department and allowed us all to drop shins with future wonders, like the Stratos, the 037, and the Integrale. The Fulvia is *not* the best example of RT's forgiving handling, but it is enough for you to understand what you would *not* find if more accurate physics were involved.

Braking is RT's greatest issue. You just do *not* need a brake pedal. Most of the time, it suffices *not* to throttle, and/or use the handbrake and drop a gear. This is a fact and - c'mon! - that can't be called "realism". However, even if one would admit that that happens because of the "open" tracks (open in the sense of not twisty), there are other quite obvious issues.

Responsiveness is RT's second "realism" issue. I never drove a Fluvia, or a Giulia GTA, but these cars were heavier or didn't have the weight distribution of nowadays vehicles, meaning that correcting a trajectory would require the usual effort, *plus* a delay that today's technology fights hard to eliminate. That is one of the reasons why you have all these videos of huge power slides, and snake trajectories, with the older glories. You just don't have that "completely sideways" situation on modern rallying - cars will respond and when they won't they'll just spin, very much like formulas.
Even with the Giulia, it is hard to recreate these slides on Rally Trophy. For contemporary demos of such reactions, check for european "classics' championships".

However, other than a "modern" handling and a strange braking, Rally Trophy is just perfect to the end, even when it comes to handling! It is fun, it is extremely good looking, and it feels better than any other rally game, except for CMR2.

Speed is very convincing, the force feedback is 1st class, the car will stick to the road as you would expect, according to the conditions (rain, mud, tarmac); the collision detection routines are very accurate and you'll damage the chassis even when not respecting your co-pilot's "don't cut!" warnings... for short: with better braking and response, Rally Trophy could easily enter the simulators arena (GPL, N2002, GP3 and CMR2).

Graphically, Rally Trophy is awesome! In fact, I am yet to face more believable night and "over exposure" conditions. When the sun hits you directly, you'll have a hard time tracing perfect trajectories; and if you damaged your lights, night driving will be hellish!

Damage is a realtime thing, with obvious graphical feedback - hit a tree, and there goes the windshield (at the very least!); cut a deep corner, and you damage the car's base (novelty!)...

Rally Trophy is very addictive - I just love it! I am sorry it rests inches from being a "true" simulator, but - nevertheless - I enjoy it plenty and I am sure some people will just prefer a "not hardcore" racing game. Note that the challenge is *not* compromised by the slightly more forgiving handling - the CPU adversaries can be quite hard to reach...

For its differences and overall perfection, Rally Trophy is a must on anyone's racing collection.