Do I recommended this game for you? No Never. Even not after the awfull patch after 2 months

Introduction

Dear Milestone,

I am very surprised by your work. You've as company improved a lot from WRC 1 2 3 and 4. It is not in the class of Dirt Rally, but it's a huge improvement over these previous games. There are some remarkable things to see; like tracks, cars, graphics, skytexures, and more.

I am glad to give you the important points I've found in your game. If you can fix this you can perhaps stand proudly next to Dirt Rally; this means you can challenge each other to be become better over the years.

Competition is what we need as customers, as gamers, as rally-enthusiasts, and more. I hope you do something with my feedback and not neglect to support the game. Good luck!

The bugs and design choices; highlighted the most important

- No auto-center-steering when restart/reset.

- I am using a TX servo base, default 900 degrees, in-game automatic, etc. There is no steering for like 180 degrees from the center, so 90 left, 90 right.

- 900 degrees feels like 1800, 540 like 900, etc etc. (Mostly on FWD and RWD)

- Old FWD / RWD / AWD feels ackward compared to Modern AWD cars

- Can't make tiny corrections while steering. Steering is very rude.

- Cars are too tame; RWD's too planted, can throttle 100% out of corners, etc.

- Concrete bushes, pole, trash bins and more. No "rag-doll"

- When rolling on the roof you can see though the road

- Pause button can't be remapped.

- No subtitles for in video's

- No fov adjustement for triple screen

- Very understeery

- Setup slots are shared slots for all cars.

- Texture pop-ups, like fences, trees etc.

- No real damage. Damage is set to heavy, but nothing happens. Only visual. Seems to be very random

- Little to no punctures/flatties; Too robust, but it can happen.

- No multiply devices support; means a different wheel and different pedals will not work together (as example T300 + Fanatec pedals will not work. In other "sims" they will)

- Bugged keybindingmapping

- Tracks too wide, but that's probably a good things with the awful steering on a lot of cars.

- Wheel calibration must show the actual wheel degrees; when you go to the right you must have 900% when using 900% degrees. Now you don't know what wheel degrees you will have when you must calibrate to the right which results in incorrect input.

What I like

- Cars; I want to tame all the FWD's that Dirt Rally has <3

- Tracks; they remind me of RBR vanilla. Which are awesome too.

- Graphics

- Sky-textures

- Overall presentation; Menu, Loeb experience.

- Triple screen.

- Force Feedback, also when lost a tyre.

Below the changelog:

- Support 21:9 - Good, but no fov-adjustement
- Fix Saves - Good
- Support Triple-monitor - Good, but no fov adjustement
- Fixed Logitech wheels minor issues - Don't have a logitech
- Fixed Time Upload issues - Good
- Minor Fixes - No idea what they have fixed.

Conclusion

The steering is still awfull as before the patch. It's the same as before... but with triple screen support.

Next time when you release Loeb Evo 2 or any other rally-game please consider the help of Early Access. All your problems could have been solved by Early-Access or experienced Beta-testers.

Have a fine day.

Ivy.

Tips for the stubborn people; Don't calibrate your wheel. Set pacenotes on early or so and steer a lot of meters in advance. use gloves to prevent blisters, cause you need to rotate the wheel a lot due poor steering/handling

Tested with a Thrustmaster TX, T3PA-Pro's, Heusinkveld Seq Shifter, Th8A

it doesn't matter what's good about this game

this game has steering dampening. and that is so bad that it negates anything good.

this means the wheels in the game will always turn slower than you make your inputs.

the in game wheels take about a full second to catch up with your inputs.

And if that isn't bad enough, the design of the roads are all flat. even gravel roads have no bumps, holes, or anything like that. sure they follow crests, but they are still just perfectly even surfaces with a dirt texture on them

Sebastien Loeb Rally, where do we start. I'm curious as to how much input he had with Milestone, as there are quite some glaring oversites that have totally been overlooked in this game. 1.) Do the employees at Milestone own a car, and if so, does it have a steering wheel, because this game handles horribly. 2.) What kind of vacuum cleaner did they use for the engine sounds. No immersion at all; the sounds are so bad, it literally makes you want to exit the game. 3.) The ways your car can literally get stuck on objects, you would think it was a magnet at times. Just the total lack of steering input again is astounding; it boggles the mind. During a race, if your windshield gets filthy, you can not activate your windshield wipers. That is only available when it's raining, and you have no control over it. I own Dirt Rally, RBR, a number of Dirt games, and the old Mobil One Rally Championship from Magnetic Fields, which beats this game even now, and that game came out in 1999. This is the first, and the last Milestone game I will ever buy. It's really ashame, because the stages are not that bad. When you're playing a rally game, you should be able to push your car to the limit, take some chances and for some of the time, not all; be able to maintain control of your car while on the limit. SLRE unfortunately does not allow you that sensation of speed, or risk taking balls of the seat driving. It's like the car is a pogo stick waiting to bounce you off the road. Any one looking for a rally game that is current, needs to look no further than Dirt Rally. It doesn't have nearly the amount of tracks, but the immersion and game handling by far out weighs that small fact, and new tracks will be available in the future. I give SLRE a thumbs down!

WTF!!!

Logitech gaming software does'nt work with this game.
Calibration in game does'nt work.
I cant exit to menu in game. It only works with alt F4 to desktop!
I assigned handbrake to a button on the wheel (G27), but it dose'nt work.
FFB is terrible!

40 euro For a game that is'nt ready to launch!

I hate to say this but this game is terrible. I don't rate games much unless there really good or really bad.. Well this one is really bad. No support for many wheels, handling is bad ,graphics bad & the servers are empty. Also there already releasing DLC's FIX THE GAME FIRST BEFORE YOU WORRY ABOUT DLC's. $10 tops is what this game is worth. I would rate this game 3/10 and im being generous....

At this time I cannot recommend this title. It has promise and could be better so I'll stick with it and see if things get better with more time played (however some items are deeper than a quick fix). Of my time played half of it was setting up controls and getting the game to run smoothly.

I express a bunch of my negative veiws in this review video. https://youtu.be/DvC8TCaka_I

The good, it looks better than WRC 5 and appears to have a better career mode.

Game modes would also be a plus, rally, hill climb, and rallycross something for nearly everyone.

Stage lengths are ok, same as DiRT Rally 5km to 10km.

Pace ntoes are good, intuitive for those who have played rally games the past 10+ years unlike WRC 5.


The bad, no triple monitor support. Oh sure you can select your triple screen resolution but it'll lag just trying to select to type your name in. Runs fine on one screen.

Handling, not sure how you fish tail a FWD car on tarmac but apparently you can. Overall the handling feels stupid loose, and not realistic at all.

Stages, I've only driven in Finland but they have made the finish forest roads 1.5 cars wide. ummmmmm they are much wider go watch some WRC footage.

Wheel support, they do support a variety of wheels but even on a G27 you have to do some profiler set-up before even calibrating it in the game.

Pace notes, how can they be both good and bad, well they are given in monotone no matter what is happening or the speed of the car. If I'm going faster and there are successive calls you probably should rattle them off a bit faster.

Basically I'll still give this title a chance just because I like rally games but I don't have high hopes for it to improve.

Sorry for the wall of text.

Well, thought I would give this a go as I like my rally games, was a bit hesitant about the purchase as it's a Milestone game and as usual i was right about my hesitancy.

The game looks fairly good graphics wise but trying to drive the car using my excellent thrustmaster t300rs racing wheel is nigh on impossible, i spent ages tweaking the controls and trying differen settings but to no avail, the wheel input seems to have a delay and the car feels like it is hovering across the track plus you cant alter the wheel settings on the fly, you have to exit the game to the main menu and then have a play with the control settings.

I've requested a refund and will buy DIRT RALLY instead. Milestone you are almost there but your control issues need some serious work.

I'd love to write an actual review, but I can't get the game to map the controls on my G27... The most widely used and generic gaming wheel available.

EDIT: I CANNOT EVEN EDIT FREAKING KEYBORD CONTROLS ON THIS STEAMING PILE OF...

I HAVE TO HIT F2 TO GO INTO ADVANCED WHEEL SETTINGS TO EVEN BACK OUT OF CONTROL CONFIG BECAUSE IT'S LITERALLY THE ONLY KEY ANYWHERE THAT WORKS IF YOU HIT THE ENTER KEY TO CHANGE A CONTROL?

It doesn't recognise my pedals. I literally CANNOT remap this game to make it recognise anything..........

I can't comment on the game itself. I've yet to test it. :S


DO NOT. I REPEAT. DO NOT BUY THIS CONSOLE AFTERTHOUGHT!!!

Would i recommend it, as it is now? No. Simply because there are to many bugs. I've experienced alot off stuttering. I've tried v-sync on and off, and it resulted in 2 different problems. For some reason with v-sync on, the game puts itself in 30 FPS for awhile and then suddenly goes up to 60 again. At 30 FPS the input lag is horrible. It's not fun when you have to steer 1-2 seconds before you actually have to steer just because the game doesn't recognize it properly in 30 FPS. With V-sync off i have between 80-100 FPS. The problem is screen-tearing and frequent stuttering (screen-tearing could be on my part because off an old monitor).

EDIT: It seems that D3DOverrider worked to get most off the stuttering and FPS problem away. I have occasional FPS drop to 40-45 but it goes right back up to 60 again, so it's not a perfect solution but makes the game playable atleast. Here's a link to the version off D3DO i use: https://hostr.co/5JA4NRt (thanks @Cunin)

Now to another issue, car vs road.
In my experience the Toyota Celica seem to have problems in Sweden with interaction on the road. It makes it more slippery than it's supposed to. On gravel and tarmac it seems fine though.
Here's a clip i recorded yesterday with the issue: https://youtu.be/195bnmqLvyk
I've sent this to Milestone in hope for a fix. I've only experienced this with the Celica, so it might be the car itself. Haven't tried any other 4WD on snow yet.

RWD seems to be a little funky too, at times. There isn't really any throttle control. I've tried the Stratos and an RWD Toyota and both have the same issue. It feels like there's to much grip. I can't feel it through the the wheel.

My settings in the Thrustmaster Control panel thing, is set to 100% on everything except dampening. In-game vibration is on highest and overall FFB is set to 60.

So to the physics. I would say it has potential to become very good. FWD is fun to drive and feels really good. Same thing with 4WD (except the Celica on snow). RWD needs more work to reach it's true potential, while FWD and AWD needs some polish.

The graphics aren't the best, but they're not that bad either. The stages looks as smooth as a babys butt, unfortunately. They don't feel like that if you crank up the FFB though. What i would like to see is potholes, bumps, ruts, deeper ditches in some places, more stones, something that looks like gravel, not only the color off gravel.

Options that are missing is an FOV slider, seat position adjustment, option to remove hands from the wheel/remove both arms and wheel completely.

Online doesn't work. Well, it works for some, randomly. I'm still waiting for my verification email (i've checked the spam folder). It's been almost a week since i registered.

If i where Milestone, i would put this game in EA instead. It wasn't ready for release yet. Luckily SLRE will get a patch soon and hopefully it'll fix the problems, or atleast the worst off them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJpspKAJskU&ab_channel=Mr.Beerscuit
First, I am a YouTuber and G27 Steering Wheel user I have a 38 minutes video review/parody about this game on my channel.
And I only played about 2 hours to consider a Refund later.
I have about 600 hours on Assetto Corsa, 50 hours on rFactor 2 (recently bought) and about 140 hours on Dirt Rally (main content on my channel at the moment).

About the "Only 2 hours" criticism: For a racing sim I don't think you need too much time to judge the driving feel of a racing title using a wheel, you can definetly feel how the driving feel/physics are the first moment you turn the wheel on any game/sim. About the content, it is just Dirt Rally with more content both on Cars, Stages and events. Still this is a First Impressions Review.

NOT RECOMMENDED TO:
-Those who can't decide between this or Dirt Rally or WRC 5 as a Rally game. Get DiRT Rally.
-Those that want a casual racing experience.
-Those who are not willing to deal with the bugs and can't ignore bad sound/graphics/performance.
-Those who don't have a good gaming PC.
-Those who have a steering wheel currently not supported on the game, mainly high-end gear. Check forum first.
-Those that can't play without a add-on Handbrake or Button Box (No support)

RECOMMENDED TO:
-Those who are willing to deal with the bugs and can ignore bad sound/graphics/performance.
-Those who played hours and hours of Dirt Rally and want more content in general.
-Those who want a realistic rallying experience.
-Those who have a good gaming PC
-Those who have supported wheel. G27 works if "Allow game to adjust" is UNTICKED on the Profiler.

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Game PRO/CONS

PRO:
- Surprising amount of content on both Rally Stages and Cars from all eras of Rally (More content than Dirt Rally)
- Stages are very narrow just like in real life.
- Game physics and terrain surface/car dynamics are very realistic, definitely a simulation game if you turn off the Assists. Its debatable if this game simulation/driving part is better than Dirt Rally.
- Like Dirt Rally, it simulates the challenges of Rally racing. So it is difficult but rewarding game experience.
- Price is fair if you eliminate the bugs and performance issues. There is a lot of content for the money.
- Progress and Car Unlock systems tied with Reputation and Credits earning. *We need more of credits based unlocks on racing simulations.

CONS:
- Unstable game-breaking performance, framedrops and micro-stutters that adds horrible input lag on controllers and wheels
- Terrible and limited Graphics options, can only change the already limited options outside the game in a Launcher.
- Terrible car sounds design, the sound is rough but the sound positioning is usable.
- Mediocre but believable graphics,
- Unpolished and very stupid amateur bugs, the game ONLY SAVES if you have ENGLISH UK selected on the Windows Control Painel>Region and Language Settings.
-You will get stuck on the Tutorial if you choose it just after making your team because you need to select the type of controls you are using. ALT-F4 is only solution.
- Stupid lack of support for simulation gear for a SIMULATION GAME (Common sense, please Milestone) like high-end Steering Wheels, Handbrake, Button Box, Joystick add-ons.
- Limited usable steering wheel/controllers/keyboard when in-game, can not use the keyboard buttons if using a controller or steering wheel or controller. Meaning if you use a wheel you can not use the keyboard or joysticks to function in conjunction, I can't use my Logitech Extreme 3D PRO Flight Stick as Handbrake like I do in Dirt Rally and other racing sims.

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At the current state of the game I DO NOT recommend it, a lot of bugs and instabilities in the games performance. However if you are really getting bored with DiRT Rally and just want more rally content with a surprisingly good driving physics then feel free to get this game a try, you can refund it later anyway.

BUT BE WARNED: You must deal with the bugs and annoyances of this game, if you are not a patient guy or gal, then stay FAR AWAY of this game.

The lack of response from the Developers on Milestone is very disrespectful to those that want this game to be at least playable with a stable performance.

I made a First Impression / Review with some parody video with more in-depth look on the bugs, how to fix them, how is the physics, And other info. If you want more information, please check my video.