Network Q RAC Rally
Released: 1993
Published by: Europress Software
Developed by: Pixelkraft
Credits: Mark Stamps, Martin Cook, Kevin Cook, Andy Mucho, Christian Pennycate, Neil Beresford, David Eddy, Simon Willmott, Mick Garlick, Mark Healey, Adam Lawes, John King, Neil English, Mike Askew, Richard Vanner, Alex Blagg, Darren Ithell
System Requirements
| System Requirements | 80386DX-33 CPU (fast 486 or Pentium recommended). 640 KB of RAM required. DOS 2.11 or later. Graphics support: VGA/SVGA only. Audio support: PC speaker, Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Disney Sound Source, or MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum 16 Peripheral support: Joystick or mouse. |
|---|---|
| Original Media | Four 3.5" 1.44 MB (DS/HD) floppy disks or one CD-ROM |
| Installed Size | - |
The spiritual successor to Europress's earlier Lombard RAC Rally and the first game in the RAC Rally Championship series of titles, Network Q RAC Rally upped the ante for rally driving games in 1993 compared to what came before. Don't confuse this game with its immediate successor, Network Q RAC Rally Championship, which came out in 1996.
For one, it added multiplayer options - up to 8 networked players could play over an IPX/SPX (Novell) network. The cars were brought up to date for '93 with the choice of five of the highest performing makes and model on the rally scene at the time: Toyota Celica GT4, Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Lancia Delta HF Integrale, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Subaru Impreza Turbo.
The game has full-motion video clips of the cars during the intro sequence and an audio commentary from your navigator as you drive, such as 'left 5, don't cut', and so on - really nice! You also have a good variety of road surfaces and weather to tend with, driving on dry road, wet road, mud/forest, and snow. Checking the weather before each 'leg' (or segment) of the rally allows you to specify the appropriate tyres for the upcoming challenge. You also have legs that run during the daytime and also at night.
Unlike its predecessor, Network Q RAC Rally showed other rally cars on the road with you. Typically, as you probably know, the start times of the cars is spread out deliberately to try to avoid direct confrontation, but it does happen, and will in this game!
Playing in non-networked mode, you can still compete against other human players. This works by having each of the six players take turns to drive each segment before everyone moves to the next. Each driver can choose their own team and car and put their own name in. If you don't have six friends ;-), the computer will take over the rest.
The driving mechanics are pretty basic, and the game is best played using a decent short-stick analogue joystick. Your vehicle will take damage if you hit things, and it's entirely possible to end the race prematurely if you're not careful. You will also then need to repair the vehicle before the next segment, which can be costly.
Sadly, if you recall playing [much] later games like Colin McRae Rally, this game provides no external camera views of your vehicle, so you're stuck in 'authentic' mode from a visual perspective. On occasion, I spun and got confused which way I was supposed to be going - something that with an external view would have been easier to identify.
If playing on a low-end machine (and treat their minimum specs with a huge mountain of salt - a 386 won't cut it at all), the game offers a number of choices to eek out as many frame rates as possible. Switching off weather effects, ground textures, and disabling any or all of the sound channels independently is a really nice feature. A clock-double or tripled 486DX should really be the minimum to get enjoyment here, and ideally a Pentium-class system.
The game was also released on the FM Towns and PC-98 platforms. It was also destined for a SNES release in 1995 under the title 'The Final Round of the World Rally Championship', but the project was cancelled. Only a prototype of this version of the game exists.
From where can it be run?
The game must be installed to a hard disk.
Copy Protection
The floppy disk version of Network Q RAC Rally has no copy protection. The CD version checks for the presence of the original CD-ROM in the drive.
How to Setup
I don't have any setup information for this game right now.
Problems
No known problems in running Network Q RAC Rally.
To Quit the Game
Supporting Documents
I don't have any documentation for this game.
Save Games
I don't have any information on how to save a game.
Versions of the game known to exist
| Version | Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| ? | 1993 | Commercial release. |
Original Floppy Disk Contents
Game Review
This is the spiritual sequel to Europress's earlier Lombard RAC Rally we looked at in Part 1 of the 'DOS Best Driving Games' article, having switched developers from Red Rat to Pixelkraft for this one. It's also apparently the first game in their RAC Rally Championship series.
The intro sequence is nice, showing video footage of rally cars in action as the credits roll. Sound support covers PC speaker, Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Disney Sound Source and ProAudio Spectrum 16.
You can opt to drive one of five rally cars of the time: Toyota Celica GT4, Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Lancia Delta HF Integrale, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo and Subaru Impreza. For each stage you can check the weather and set appropriate tyres ranging from dry road, wet road, mud/forest and snow.
Just like in a real rally car, you get verbal directions of what's coming up by your navigator, such as "right one" or "road narrows", and this is incredibly valuable. The graphics are pretty decent and the weather effects like the rain and night driving really add to the atmosphere.
You will see other rally cars on the stage with you, since each car is released 30 seconds apart at the start line. This delay can be altered using a command-line argument (check the readme file).
The game allows for up to 6 human players who take it in turns to drive each rally stage before everyone moves to the next segment. Each driver can select their own car and change their name if they choose. The computer will operate all the other cars that are taking part.
Controlling the car is best done with an analogue joystick, as I found playing with keyboard controls to be too 'digital' - you need that progressive steering that only an analogue joystick can provide. Even then, the car physics aren't particuarly complex and it feels pretty 'arcadey'. If you go for a manual gearbox there's a handy gear change light on your dash that lights up green if your revs are too low (indicating that you should change down) or red if your revs are too high (change up).
The game does require a pretty fast 486 or Pentium to get the best out of it. If you're running on a low-end 386 you can switch off weather effects on the windscreen, ground/road textures, and also disable any of the four sound channels independently using CTRL+F1 through F4 (the audio places a big burden on game speed).
The game does get a bit boring after a while, but there is good variation in the rally stages and with the weather and day/night featuring, this keeps things interesting for a while. It's a massive improvement on Lombard RAC Rally!
Sound: Decent music during the intro and menus, and good sound effects during driving - engines sound authentic, and let's not forget the navigator's speech - great job! 8/10
Gameplay: So much better than the earlier Lombard RAC Rally (that's what 4 years of PC advancement delivers). You get a great sense of speed in this game, and it can get tense at times, though the car physics aren't the best. If there's one or two criticisms I have, it's that there's no obvious drifting capability built into the physics engine, and there are no external views to help you understand the direction your car is facing compared to the direction of travel, 7/10
Lastability: You won't last too long playing this game - aside from the aforementioned different weather and day/night changes, it's a lot of the same. Still, a fairly decent attempt at a rally game. 5/10
OVERALL: 7/10