WoMR Pt6 Rallying

This game is supplied with the latest rally data available.

Although this is officially Part 6 in our 'World of Motor Racing' series it is a stand-alone module and it uses different design features in many areas whilst conforming to the 'WoMR' format in others. We did not feel confined to following too closely the earlier parts in the series as rallying is a very different form of motor sport from those simulated in Parts 1 to 5, and as such needs a different design approach - we felt it better to end up with a product that captured the feel of international rallying rather than trying to fit it into the strict 'WoMR' formula.

Rallying is all about cumulative time, that is time taken to cover the various stages plus time lost in additional servicing 'penalties', and as such presents a difficult design problem. We wanted the simulation to be realistic and accurate (of course) but also fun to play, and not bogged down by masses of paperwork in keeping track of all the entrants.

We thought hard and long about some sort of display to monitor rally positions, without the need of any sort of time book-keeping, but that just didn't feel right and in any event the time gaps in some of the longer rallies are often measured in minutes rather than seconds making the scale of any form of display impossible to handle. So cumulative time book-keeping is in, and to be fair works well enough monitoring only the twenty or so 'top entries' in each rally, but playing time was excessive (about four hours per rally) when we allowed ourselves to be concerned with actual stage times down to split seconds. But the simple expedient of dealing only in full seconds and looking not at actual stage times but rather by how much the standard time for the stage was 'missed' or beaten by surprisingly knocked around 35% off the playing time, the average rally now taking no longer than two-and-a-half hours and the book-keeping, sorting out the rally positions and construction of the leader board all become much simpler and less of a chore. The cumulative rally time, including split seconds, can be recalculated at the end of each day if you require this information, by simply adding a driver's time to the Cumulative Standard Rally Time and obtaining a split second from a fast action card, so that information is not lost by the new process, merely kept in the background in the interests of playability. The other real advantage of looking at 'time over standard' rather than actual time is that it is much easier to see who was fastest, and by how much, on each stage, which is the sort of information most replay gamers will want to know.

The technical input from Philip Riviere has been enormous and meticulous. As with Part 5 - '24 Hours at Le Mans', Philip has provided all the Ratings and rally details plus all the accident and mechanical trouble descriptions and has kept our feet firmly on the ground (or maybe, rubber on the tarmac) when we have tried to cut too many corners (sorry, not meant as a pun) in the interests of playability. The result, we think, is a simulation that plays smoothly (despite the paperwork) but at the same time is heavy on accurate technical data. One way we have tried to smooth out some of the bumps is to use fast action cards rather than dice, three per driver/car combination for each stage, and once the sequence for checking different aspects of the stage performance becomes second nature this results in a quick calculation of 'time over standard' without compromising realism and accuracy. And by expressing all times in full seconds, rather than in hours, minutes, seconds and decimals the arithmetic involved is quick and simple.

The game includes a single sample rally from an earlier era to cut your teeth on. We also have available the previous ye seasons making a lot of hours of replay gaming.