WORLD RALLYING AT IT'S BEST.

First off I must admit, this game was the reason I bought a x-box, I played the rallisport challenge demo at a local best buy and I was hooked, this is one well put together game, and the developers should be patting themselves on the back, this game rocks.
Although it is mostly arcade it is a blast, from the moment you put in the cd and see the opening scenes of the lancer evolution blasting thru dirt, freezing in mid air and changing to a ice track it is time to put on your racing suit, and tighten the full harness on your lazy boy.
What I like about this game is the attention to detail, as a old club racer myself this is as close as you can get to the real thing, the only thing missing is the castrol gtx and the burning rubber, need for speed was good, gran turismo is great, but rallisport is excellent, this is not a game you can buy at thanksgiving and it is in the back of the closet by Christmas, hardly.
The game developers have done a excellent job of recreating the world rally championship or (simulating) it, starting out in the Mediterranean moving on to the African safari, they also threw in some super autocross tracks, the pacific high speed back roads, and finally ice tracks this game takes you all over the world.
This game not only challenges you, but it MAKES you step your game, and to win the stages you have to run flat out or 110%, if you own this game can you remember how many times you blasted thru a stage, you are at the edge of your seat, heart pounding, blood pressure thru the roof, and at the end of the stage the progress meter in the top left of the screen has more red bars than green, and you cannot believe it cause you cannot seem to go any faster, (but you have to), so you gather yourself up and do it over again.

As stated previously it is the attention to detail that makes this game superior to anything on the market in the racing gene, the selection of cars are great, the developers provided a nice menu to choose from, and that is the essence of what the game aims to capture, from the newer cars like Toyota corolla wrc to ford cosworth, they have also included some old school like the metro 6R-4 and the Peugeot 205 T16 - turbo, and as your skill improves and win more stages thereby unlocking more of the faster cars and stages, especially the hill climbs, which are ( unbelievable), you can see that a lot of thought and research was put into rallisport challenge, small things like a flock of birds on the side of the safari, or the setting sun that ripples off the TV screen, or the well placed rock in your racing line that completely blows you away when you are 50 feet from the finish line.

Now to the cons I guess this game would appeal mostly to all the gear heads, or the young import racers who are looking for something other that the quarter mile drag race, and I guess you would also have a copy of (gran turismo /2) somewhere in your collection, and as you play this game you find yourself comparing rallisport challenge to that, as gran turismo is the granddaddy of racing simulation, (the level of customization is unreal), what this game lacks is a better selection of tires that, would add a little more realism, and gear selection, as you get more familiar with rallysport challenge you find out the choice of gearing on some stages is either too short or too long, and you either have to take more risks to complete the stage in a respectable time or go hunt for a faster car which comes with its own quirks as ( the faster you run the more braking space you need ) and the majority of tracks in this game are slippery (very slippery), and you seem to spend more time sideways that straight, and that is what this sport is about, I can just hear tomi makinen shouting (no grip) I have no grip, I need better tires.

All in all rallisport challenge is a well thought out, researched piece of game software, Microsoft game division has done a super job on this project, (and the x-box) adds the superb graphics to compliment this racing game, after a hard day in the office, rallisport challenge is just what the doctor ordered.