In all honesty I don't mind the tarmac physics. Yes they're highly unrealistic but they can be gotten used to, and at the end of the day it's a game, not even a full simulator, rather a simcade leaning on the sim side, so I guess I can forgive the oversight.
My gripe with Spain is what you claim to be its strong point lol. The layout is as bland as it gets, uncharacteristic and unmemorable. Not even challenging to drive, if not involuntarily because the pacenotes are bad.
Heh, same for me and Greece. I'm from the Peloponnese and the entire area, not just roads, of the Greek stages immediately shook me for how well it has been depicted.
Solid list! Completely agree with New England being the best, my number one location for sure. I used to love New Zealand, but it’s such a slog with RWD cars. Greece is growing on me, but it’s so hard, I usually end up with a couple big offs.
My absolute shitshows are Monaco and Finland. Finland is at least fun, Monaco is always a chore. I hate all the ice.
I mostly dislike Spain and Poland for being almost impossible to memorize. Most of their stages are repetitive 5s and 6s with the occasional 4 that throws you off both mentally and literally as it skyrockets you to the service area. Spain has also a pacenote issue, very late calls sometimes.
Finland I haven't raced that much, because it seems to me basically a drag race, but I see that it could grow on me. On the other hand I love Monaco and the ice is my favorite bit, I just love threading the car from corner to corner while having very little control on it.
Poland has pace note issues too, lots of 5's that are more open than all the previous 6's, then a 4 more open than all of those... If you grind them enough you'll definitely remember them
I hear you on Spain it’s very hard to get into a rhythm. With Poland, my trick is to just recognize the sections where you can go completely flat out banging off the limiter to make up time where I have to be more conservative lol. It also gets real narrow which is a pain in RWD.
That’s exactly what I hate about Monaco, there’s no opportunity to correct or catch a slide without going too slow. I mean obviously other people can do it but I just can’t haha
Finland is hard because you spend so much time in the air. Talk about threading corners together with little control lol. You take a curve wrong and you’re into the tree tops at 100mph
For Monaco, the tip(s) I can give you for RWD are:
On the dry stuff, brake hard, rotate off throttle and as soon as you think you can on exit, short shift through the gears early, like go from one gear to the next at the middle of your RPM range, and keep ratios a bit lower than usual. Helps a ton with traction and not coming to a halt at sharp turns.
On the ice, find the maximum speed you can sustain without bumping from side to side and let the car just meander through the stage. Your throttle and brake inputs have to be minimal and timed. Also turn your car earlier than you might expect. I know it feels slow but everyone is going at snail pace on the ice.
In all fairness an R5 car can make Spain good fun. Tonnes of grip and good acceleration means you can just slingshot out of the sweepers and be nimble through the town sections. Anything with less grip can be a chore
I haven’t quite figured out the R5s yet. Maybe I have the gears too long, they feel like driving a boat sometimes. They are quite wide which I have a hard time with too.
The mini cooper can be fun in Spain in its own way, just trying to conserve as much speed as possible between sharp curves
I have a hard time hating on almost any of the events, except for Spain - tarmac physics issue we all know. But I’ve really learned that each event has its own challenge which makes this game so damn good and fun. I’m still trying to like Monte Carlo more.
1500+, I really can't get greece. Wales and Scottland is better for me at least. German tarmac feels good and they have some recognizable stages from reality. Spain is the absolute shitshow because how bad the tarmac physics work.
New Zealand should be part of the goated list! Those fast sweepers and chicanes with the smooth gravel are 10/10 when you hit that perfect apex & weight distribution
I am still trying to like New Zealand as much as Greece and USA but it hasn't grown on me that much. Its stages are, or feel, extremely long compared to most of the rest, and have some sort of feeling of repetitiveness. Also it tilts me way more than the others because of those damn slightly lifted enbankments that will make your car fold in two at even the slightest of touches lol. It's still way up there tho for what you mentioned, really nice flow
Germany is one of my favourites(Oberstein with supercars is my #1 map time wise) but I can understand how it’d get boring, Finland is fun for the fast paced driving and I enjoy the challenges of Poland. NZ is the one I have the most problems with and everything else falls in between
Completely agree with Spain. Tarmac physics in this game feels like sliding around on plastic.
Also, Germany: Full throttle!, brake!, square turn!, full throttle!, brake!, square turn!
I hope you enjoy it, I'm certainly not feeling hyped about the release tbh. Primarily because it is EA and secondarily because I liked the Dirt Rally series and WRC series being separated. I hope they don't make the WRC game focused exclusively on the actual championship and give us a Dirt Rally 3 + WRC game. Doubtful though
Only started the game recently so cant say much, the ones I played I liked all of them (probably because I suck). But I can say why the fuck is shitshow green but goated red?
Mine:
* Best: Scotland, Spain, New Zealand
* Great: USA, Greece, Australia, Monte Carlo
* Good: Argentina, Wales, Germany, Finland, Poland
* Meh: Sweden
I have to disagree to some extent. Poland is one of my favourite locations, it’s just so rewarding to go fast and get it right. Monte Carlo can be fun, especially on the snow and ice. Sliding through the corners and connecting the slides feels therapeutic. Finland is also fun with the tons of air it has.
My gripe with Poland is bad or late pace notes mostly... also very low visibility and narrow roads with high speeds and crests and jumps over turns, makes for a lot of restarts as a combination..
Monte Carlo for me personally is hella fun, but I get that it's something you grow used to and it's not a default behavior to like the ice skating... at least that was my case... until I figured out how to drive it, it was a chore.
For Finland I have some reservations because I have driven it for way too little time, but at the same time it doesn't amaze me particularly, I can see me getting bored of the constant flat out nature.
really somewhat depends on the car... with sequential AWDs I like Argentina, but I don't like it with most RWDs and Group B AWD
with tarmac stages I agree, MC is the only alright one but not universally great because it's still DR's tarmac physics
I absolutely love Scotland though
yes ofc depends on the car. I hate FWD in Argentina, good luck not understeering off of a cliff, but I love it in RWDs because of the drifts you can throw. I am mostly a RWD and AWD driver and this tier list has been based mostly off of that.
Poland is my nightmare in RWD, the car is constantly off balance due to the bumpiness and speed while Phil is giving me the call for a corner right as I am about to hit a tree at the very same corner.
Germany and North America…NZ has a lot of fun to be had as well. Germany first stage that is like a 3 min shakedown is love. I have the most fun on that one. Spain I hit with more circuit style cars…like GT’s the M1, or the lancer/Impreza battle. I generally like all the stages for one group or another. I am excited over the upcoming game just because how long it has been in development. I believe some serious debate has occurred over it, and having the group 3 team and driver basically onboard will likely result in something special. Any day now….lol
Finland low down? 0/10 Not enough Sisu.
hasn't grown on me yet... but at the same time I don't think it ever will grow on me that much because it lacks..uhh.. corners
Theres plenty of corners, just mostly all flat out, over crests or hidden behind some trees.
yeah here is corners alright.. 😄
Its a shame asphalt is so bad on DR2 because Spain and Monte Carlo have such great layouts.
In all honesty I don't mind the tarmac physics. Yes they're highly unrealistic but they can be gotten used to, and at the end of the day it's a game, not even a full simulator, rather a simcade leaning on the sim side, so I guess I can forgive the oversight. My gripe with Spain is what you claim to be its strong point lol. The layout is as bland as it gets, uncharacteristic and unmemorable. Not even challenging to drive, if not involuntarily because the pacenotes are bad.
Its probably because I lived 3h from there and those roads are quite familiar for me, the game really model them right.
Heh, same for me and Greece. I'm from the Peloponnese and the entire area, not just roads, of the Greek stages immediately shook me for how well it has been depicted.
Solid list! Completely agree with New England being the best, my number one location for sure. I used to love New Zealand, but it’s such a slog with RWD cars. Greece is growing on me, but it’s so hard, I usually end up with a couple big offs. My absolute shitshows are Monaco and Finland. Finland is at least fun, Monaco is always a chore. I hate all the ice.
Hate Monaco/Spain/Germany
Germany isn’t too bad for me, it has some fun sections and stages at least
I mostly dislike Spain and Poland for being almost impossible to memorize. Most of their stages are repetitive 5s and 6s with the occasional 4 that throws you off both mentally and literally as it skyrockets you to the service area. Spain has also a pacenote issue, very late calls sometimes. Finland I haven't raced that much, because it seems to me basically a drag race, but I see that it could grow on me. On the other hand I love Monaco and the ice is my favorite bit, I just love threading the car from corner to corner while having very little control on it.
Poland has pace note issues too, lots of 5's that are more open than all the previous 6's, then a 4 more open than all of those... If you grind them enough you'll definitely remember them
I hear you on Spain it’s very hard to get into a rhythm. With Poland, my trick is to just recognize the sections where you can go completely flat out banging off the limiter to make up time where I have to be more conservative lol. It also gets real narrow which is a pain in RWD. That’s exactly what I hate about Monaco, there’s no opportunity to correct or catch a slide without going too slow. I mean obviously other people can do it but I just can’t haha Finland is hard because you spend so much time in the air. Talk about threading corners together with little control lol. You take a curve wrong and you’re into the tree tops at 100mph
For Monaco, the tip(s) I can give you for RWD are: On the dry stuff, brake hard, rotate off throttle and as soon as you think you can on exit, short shift through the gears early, like go from one gear to the next at the middle of your RPM range, and keep ratios a bit lower than usual. Helps a ton with traction and not coming to a halt at sharp turns. On the ice, find the maximum speed you can sustain without bumping from side to side and let the car just meander through the stage. Your throttle and brake inputs have to be minimal and timed. Also turn your car earlier than you might expect. I know it feels slow but everyone is going at snail pace on the ice.
In all fairness an R5 car can make Spain good fun. Tonnes of grip and good acceleration means you can just slingshot out of the sweepers and be nimble through the town sections. Anything with less grip can be a chore
I haven’t quite figured out the R5s yet. Maybe I have the gears too long, they feel like driving a boat sometimes. They are quite wide which I have a hard time with too. The mini cooper can be fun in Spain in its own way, just trying to conserve as much speed as possible between sharp curves
R5s benefit from aggressive driving in my experience. Throw it in there and let the AWD save you
I have a hard time hating on almost any of the events, except for Spain - tarmac physics issue we all know. But I’ve really learned that each event has its own challenge which makes this game so damn good and fun. I’m still trying to like Monte Carlo more.
Finland and Wales not on goated = no point in debating lol
1500+, I really can't get greece. Wales and Scottland is better for me at least. German tarmac feels good and they have some recognizable stages from reality. Spain is the absolute shitshow because how bad the tarmac physics work.
New Zealand should be part of the goated list! Those fast sweepers and chicanes with the smooth gravel are 10/10 when you hit that perfect apex & weight distribution
I am still trying to like New Zealand as much as Greece and USA but it hasn't grown on me that much. Its stages are, or feel, extremely long compared to most of the rest, and have some sort of feeling of repetitiveness. Also it tilts me way more than the others because of those damn slightly lifted enbankments that will make your car fold in two at even the slightest of touches lol. It's still way up there tho for what you mentioned, really nice flow
Run it in the NR4 class/Lancer. It’s a course that’s more fun in a bit slower of a car with tighter handling
Strong agree on 50%, strong disagree on the other 50%, after about 500 hours
I'm glad to see Greece on the goated tier, its forever gonna be my most fav rally location in the game since some stages heavily remind me of touge
Kurwa, I'm offended.
Well, now seriously, we have quite different taste :) I'm not the biggest fan of USA, my definite fav is Sweden.
Germany is one of my favourites(Oberstein with supercars is my #1 map time wise) but I can understand how it’d get boring, Finland is fun for the fast paced driving and I enjoy the challenges of Poland. NZ is the one I have the most problems with and everything else falls in between
Completely agree with Spain. Tarmac physics in this game feels like sliding around on plastic. Also, Germany: Full throttle!, brake!, square turn!, full throttle!, brake!, square turn!
Germany has saving graces. It has some nicely flowing sections, the forest stages especially, and the tarmac feels better than the Spanish one
Yeah that's true, for me it's not enough to get excited over. End of July we get WRC23, though, so.. Fingers crossed to see what they've changed!
I hope you enjoy it, I'm certainly not feeling hyped about the release tbh. Primarily because it is EA and secondarily because I liked the Dirt Rally series and WRC series being separated. I hope they don't make the WRC game focused exclusively on the actual championship and give us a Dirt Rally 3 + WRC game. Doubtful though
Feel like Finland on first and last group
Only started the game recently so cant say much, the ones I played I liked all of them (probably because I suck). But I can say why the fuck is shitshow green but goated red?
Tierlists have always been like this
Good to know
I might be an outsider here, but I’m a big fan of Poland
Swap Monte Carlo with Poland and we're pretty much in agreement. Nice tier list.
Mine: * Best: Scotland, Spain, New Zealand * Great: USA, Greece, Australia, Monte Carlo * Good: Argentina, Wales, Germany, Finland, Poland * Meh: Sweden
I have to disagree to some extent. Poland is one of my favourite locations, it’s just so rewarding to go fast and get it right. Monte Carlo can be fun, especially on the snow and ice. Sliding through the corners and connecting the slides feels therapeutic. Finland is also fun with the tons of air it has.
My gripe with Poland is bad or late pace notes mostly... also very low visibility and narrow roads with high speeds and crests and jumps over turns, makes for a lot of restarts as a combination.. Monte Carlo for me personally is hella fun, but I get that it's something you grow used to and it's not a default behavior to like the ice skating... at least that was my case... until I figured out how to drive it, it was a chore. For Finland I have some reservations because I have driven it for way too little time, but at the same time it doesn't amaze me particularly, I can see me getting bored of the constant flat out nature.
really somewhat depends on the car... with sequential AWDs I like Argentina, but I don't like it with most RWDs and Group B AWD with tarmac stages I agree, MC is the only alright one but not universally great because it's still DR's tarmac physics I absolutely love Scotland though
yes ofc depends on the car. I hate FWD in Argentina, good luck not understeering off of a cliff, but I love it in RWDs because of the drifts you can throw. I am mostly a RWD and AWD driver and this tier list has been based mostly off of that. Poland is my nightmare in RWD, the car is constantly off balance due to the bumpiness and speed while Phil is giving me the call for a corner right as I am about to hit a tree at the very same corner.
yeah I have the same feeling in Poland, my favourite cars are the Stratos and the 037 and Poland is definitely not satisfying to drive with them
Spain and Poland are a lot of fun!!
Germany and North America…NZ has a lot of fun to be had as well. Germany first stage that is like a 3 min shakedown is love. I have the most fun on that one. Spain I hit with more circuit style cars…like GT’s the M1, or the lancer/Impreza battle. I generally like all the stages for one group or another. I am excited over the upcoming game just because how long it has been in development. I believe some serious debate has occurred over it, and having the group 3 team and driver basically onboard will likely result in something special. Any day now….lol