[Macworld.com]

After a long development process fraught with hurdles, Colin McRae Rally finally arrives on the Mac. And it takes the rally racing genre to new heights, despite an unsatisfactory online mode. [more]

[swartzfeger]

RIP Colin. Anyone know how this differs from DiRT on the 360/PS3?

[Peter Cohen]

Dirt, for the uninitated, is what Codemasters chose to rebrand Colin McRae Rally this year.
Probably the single biggest difference is that Dirt features multiple cars on the same track, for a racing experience that's a lot more familiar to racing game fans.
Dirt features an updated graphics engine, new physics engine, new damage mdoeling, new cars and tracks and a lot more. It looks spectacular in HD, if you're playing on an Xbox 360 or PS3.
CMR Mac is more akin to the 2005 edition of the game for the PC. No slouch in its own right, to be sure. Just not quite "this year's model."

[swartzfeger]

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Dirt, for the uninitated, is what Codemasters chose to rebrand Colin McRae Rally this year.
Probably the single biggest difference is that Dirt features multiple cars on the same track, for a racing experience that's a lot more familiar to racing game fans.
Dirt features an updated graphics engine, new physics engine, new damage mdoeling, new cars and tracks and a lot more. It looks spectacular in HD, if you're playing on an Xbox 360 or PS3.
CMR Mac is more akin to the 2005 edition of the game for the PC. No slouch in its own right, to be sure. Just not quite "this year's model."

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Good to know, thanks Peter. For those thinking about DiRT on the 360/PS3, it's multiplayer is also lackluster. If you're jonesing for rally action on the Mac, Colin McRae is probably worth checking out... I'm not a huge fan of multiple cars on the track anyway (this is rally, not nascar), so it sounds like CMR is a solid choice for Mac gamers.

[griffman]

For the record, the game (the demo, at least) works quite well with my Logitech Momo force feedback wheel -- though force feedback only works in 10.5 on Intel Macs. The first time I tried to set it up, the game wouldn't remember my settings for the size of the wheel's dead zone and sensitivity, which made it darn near impossible to drive. After quitting and relaunching, though, all was fine.
If Santa's nice to me, I'll see how well it works in the real game in a few weeks /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
-rob.

[Steve_S]

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For the record, the game (the demo, at least) works quite well with my Logitech Momo force feedback wheel -- though force feedback only works in 10.5 on Intel Macs.

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Thanks, that's the kind of information that's important to note in a review. I was disappointed when I learned "the hard way" that Need For Speed doesn't support this device.

[griffman]

Ummm ... I'm using it just fine in Need for Speed Carbon. What issues are you having?
-rob.

[Peter Cohen]

Feral has been really on the ball when it comes to game controller support for a lot of their games. Reading the forum feedback on Inside Mac Games about CMR Mac since its release, it's pretty clear that some users have had issues getting their wheels or other products to work, while others haven't. But barring really awesome OS-level controller support with an accessible high-level API, Feral does as good a job as it can under the circumstances.
Now, if I can just piece together my own Momo wheel again...I'm missing parts! :

[Steve_S]

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Ummm ... I'm using it just fine in Need for Speed Carbon. What issues are you having?

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It sees the device, but the steering axis is relative rather than absolute. That is, if I turn the wheel a little to the left, the car keeps turning left, same with the right. To be more clear, imagine turning the wheel 90% to the left, then just a nudge to the right. With absolute axis control, you'd expect the steering to be maybe 80% left. Instead, the car turns right.
This same setup works fine with Nascar, Redline, Jamin' Racer, etc.
Maybe I overlooked one of the control options because I was to anxious to play the game. Was there an absolute / relative setting somewhere?
Incidentally, it turns out (to my surprise), the game is quite playable on the keyboard. I've gone through the game 3x (muscle, exotic and tuner) now.

[wardoggie]

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Incidentally, it turns out (to my surprise), the game is quite playable on the keyboard. I've gone through the game 3x (muscle, exotic and tuner) now.

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That's good to know, too. I'm not into driving games enough to get a dedicated controller (which is why I haven't played one on the mac since "Carmegeddon" like ten years ago), but this game and Civ IV might be the thing to get me through a week at my broadband-less parents' house /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[griffman]

I don't see any such setting; I just have it configured with the typical x-axis = steering, y-axis = braking setup. Just tested it again, and it seems to work fine.
-rob.

[Steve_S]

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I don't see any such setting; I just have it configured with the typical x-axis = steering, y-axis = braking setup. Just tested it again, and it seems to work fine.

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Well, I'm encouraged... (perhaps challenged?) now to see if I can't figure out what's wrong. In all honesty, after not being able to get it to work the first day, I just chalked it up to a lousy Cider port issue. However, knowing that you've been able to get it to work with the MoMo racing system makes me want to give it another try. I'll do that. Thanks...

[Steve_S]

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which is why I haven't played one on the mac since "Carmegeddon" like ten years ago

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Ahh... yes, that was a classic. I'm almost ashamed to admit I enjoyed "virtually" running people over. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Anyway, if you have a decent system, NFS is worth a try and it works well with the keyboard. I have to warn you though, running from the cops and wrecking their cars is addictive. My wife isn't to happy with me for purchasing this one... That's one the better compliments you can give a game.

[stephano]

Hi,
just purchased a momo logitech wheel for Colin McRae Rally. The wheel is detected just fine on my macbook pro 15" running the last version of tiger. I unfortunately cannot get the force feedback effect. This is true of NFS carbon as well. Is it just a matter of upgrading to Leopard?
Cheers