Peugeot 205 is...surprisingly easy?

[AshyGreen]

Read it on a recent noob-car post and decided to try it out. Turns out of all the group-B 4WD cars, for an almost 500hp monster it's really easy to control. It doesn't spin like Metro, doesn't jiggle like Delta, you don't have to keep in mind its massive nose and ♥♥♥♥ like when in a Quattro, and most importantly, unlike RS200, its breaks actually work! Took it to J-something-lahti, easily beat community delta by 30+s, almost flooring the whole time and only spinned out once. Not mentioning I'm playing with a controller.

Would totally recommend it to newbies. It's steady, with plenty of power from lowest rev all the way to red-line and doesn't have the annoying turbo-lag of those group-A cars. Long as you remember it's a tiny car that doesn't cope well with crest-corners, it's quite friendly.

[Arya]

Don't get too comfortable. It's about to get a physics and handling overhaul, and that may make it harder to drive in the short term.

I do agree, tough. At the moment it's surprisingly easy to drive. Not only is the handling really sorted, you've got so much raw power that you never need to push it's limits.

[Meszes]

Has a close to neutral balance, so handling wise it is easy. But it has the most power, the fully upgraded car is more like a rocket. Newcomers not knowing the stages could easily struggle with keeping it on the road just because of the sheer speed.

We'll see how the v2 pass will change it.

[Simon said EAT DUST PLAYER_1 !]

keep in mind that until now: Dirt Rally gives you a handbrake on those AWD Group-B cars ... whereas in real life - for all intends and purposes - they did not have such a "driving-aid".

[NETSCAPE]

Group B cars didn't (couldn't) use handbrakes so you can up your manliness +15 by not using it.

[Cyroch]

I think I rather keep using the handbrake and counteract it by drinking more beer.
Don't take my handbrake away, I will die...

[dgeesio & ronMctube]

as with any car its easy at not top speed. on the edge its probably one of the most challenging cars. thing is most dont drive it that fast.

[Simon said EAT DUST PLAYER_1 !]

Originally posted by dgeesio & ronMctube:

as with any car its easy at not top speed. on the edge its probably one of the most challenging cars. thing is most dont drive it that fast.

+1)

Might change with the next patch, though :D

[Servatis]

Originally posted by NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR:

Group B cars didn't (couldn't) use handbrakes so you can up your manliness +15 by not using it.

I generally find little use for the handbrake in Group B cars anyway. they have so much power that if you use the brakes properly and pitch the car into the turn shifting the weigth to the front wheels you can easily controll it around tight turns. In such cases using the handrake wouldn't
gain you much, if any, time.

[Simon said EAT DUST PLAYER_1 !]

does not change the fact that even I can easily recover a badly set-up aproach to a corner should I realise my mistake early enough. Then the handbrake in D.R. will allow me to recover from my bad driving in about 75% of such occurances. Which means: I am not held responsible to learn the car as it should be driven -- rather playing out fantasies and thus learning nothing at all if I so choose. Which is sad in a way: because in relative terms, D.R. is the first rally-game with a simulation-centric aproach that actually gets the details and the relative performance of all it's car-classes very close to "right". It is just a few minor-in-work, yet deliberate changes away from achieving true greatness in that regard.
I would love to be able to say after final release:

"If you really want to know about a certain historic rally-car, save yourself the trip to museum for now and just play Dirt Rally first"

Maybe we will get there, eventually. But there is no guarantee as of yet. Great game so far, very promising at a whole. Just not quite there, yet.

[Oyster]

Group B cars are not easy, they are treacherous. They'll give you a sense of false safety, for they apparently being so easy to control. And when you start to feel safe with them, BLAM, that's when they get you. The 205 is gonna say "hey, how about going full speed in that corner sequence? It's easy, I can handle it, trust me", and when you get to the corner it says "sorry dude, I never said that, f*** you". So, they may be easy when you take the foot off the gas, but if you do this most of the time, well, it breaks the purpose of rallying.

You gave a great description of the car: "It's steady, with plenty of power from lowest rev all the way to red-line and doesn't have the annoying turbo-lag of those group-A cars. Long as you remember it's a tiny car that doesn't cope well with crest-corners, it's quite friendly." The 205 T16 was exactly this. Until today, it is one of the greatest "miracles" of car engineering, because it was a car that could push you to the utmost limit feeling like a ride to the park. It could kill you with a smiling face.

"There was this unbelievable efficiency about the Peugeot. With the Escort I'd have been sideways with the rear wheels spinning, while the car might not really keep its momentum. But the Peugeot just slingshot out of a corner. Maybe you could compare the two cars in musical terms: in that case driving the Escort would be like rap, whereas driving the 205 would be symphony!"
(Ari Vatanen)

[AshyGreen]

Originally posted by Simon said DIE ♥♥♥♥♥!:

Which means: I am not held responsible to learn the car as it should be driven -- rather playing out fantasies and thus learning nothing at all if I so choose.

THIS. I'm no rally historian and I was rather disappointed when I learnt Stratos (and apparently a bunch of group-B, too) don't have handbreaks. But I'm sure Codie knows the obvious and has plans about it. And I too really do wish I could say this one day:

Originally posted by Simon said DIE ♥♥♥♥♥!:

"If you really want to know about a certain historic rally-car, save yourself the trip to museum for now and just play Dirt Rally first"

[Sierain]

To me, the 205 is probably the hardest 4WD Group B car to drive, a good rival would be the Metro. "Easy to control, doesn't jiggle, doesn't spin"? I feel like we're driving different cars. Haven't experimented with 205 setups much, though.

[AshyGreen]

Originally posted by Sierain:

To me, the 205 is probably the hardest 4WD Group B car to drive, a good rival would be the Metro. "Easy to control, doesn't jiggle, doesn't spin"? I feel like we're driving different cars. Haven't experimented with 205 setups much, though.

I drive stock setup most of the times.

You've been playing DR for around 30 hours. I'm sure you'll feel how the car's weight shift and control throttle differently when you join the 100+ hour club :D

[Sierain]

Originally posted by Helmstif:

You've been playing DR for around 30 hours. I'm sure you'll feel how the car's weight shift and control throttle differently when you join the 100+ hour club :D

Huh? Steam tells me I've played it for 199 hours. Haven't spent much of that driving the 205 because of the reasons mentioned above. Probably gonna give it a proper try after it gets V2.

[AshyGreen]

Originally posted by Sierain:

Originally posted by Helmstif:

You've been playing DR for around 30 hours. I'm sure you'll feel how the car's weight shift and control throttle differently when you join the 100+ hour club :D

Huh? Steam tells me I've played it for 199 hours. Haven't spent much of that driving the 205 because of the reasons mentioned above. Probably gonna give it a proper try after it gets V2.

LMAO I'm an idiot I read "recent activity" instead of total time....

M8 I really think 205 is smooth....