Why do Rally Racing games insist on catering to hand-braking fools?

So I tested WRC 4 and once again, it's another Rally game that claims to be more "sim-like" than Dirt for example. But WRC 4 on corners is once again, another Rally racer that caters to hand-braking. You turn faster and make better time with hand-braking.

I watched one youtube channel that was able to interview racers and team members of racers of their use of handbrake. Even Ken Block's navigator said, in a real rally race, Ken doesn't touch his hand brake, except for the tightest of hairpin turn. Another said he doesn't use it, even though he often had to coming from a 2 wheel front drive, but says with all wheel, car will turn itself around by itself. Another had his hand brake removed and doesn't regret it. Another drive says, never found much use for it and always found other ways. And even with two wheel was able to pitch the car without hand-brake. Another had it moved so accommodate break line adjustment and shorten the handle, to keep it out of the way.

So why do Rally racing games, from Burn, Colin McRae 2005, Dirt through WRC 4 all insist on catering to hand-braking? If none of the top Rally professionals do it, then why make these games so that often hand-braking is preferable to down shifting, slowing down and then accelerating out of the turn?

 

Simply put, noob physics.

Handbrake in forza and see what happens

 

I won't deny that hand-brake is used in Rally. But as Chris Atkinson says, only use it when the turn is tighter than the steering wheel is capable, otherwise you don't use it.
- Even then, he says you slow down and turn and swing the car around first, handbrake quick tug just to get car in place to accelerate fast.
- In other words, this is a snail slow turn!!!

Watch vids of WRC 4 and other Rally racing games and you'll see cars flying around the pin turns, drifting in 3rd/4th gear! Sometimes faster!
- I don't like doing this because when I do, it feels cheap and it feels too arcade like. If I wanted this I could just play NFS... This is supposed to be Rally!

 

Because you're looking at the wrong game.

Hard core sim racing focusing on rally are very rare. Actually I should have used "is" in the last sentence.

 

You are playing an arcade game, not a racing simulator....

It is like comparing playing Battlefield with playing paintball.

 

This game is broken as it can be. Try Richard Burns Rally. I think the best so far. I also never use handbrake in rally games, just manual switching with "left-leg brake".

 

Yes indeed RBR is the only rally simulator I know of.
It may not look that pretty by today's standard but it is go-to game in terms of physics.

While it's not an answer to the question "why" I think we all know the answer- the same reason Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and few other games became more "playable" and "aimed at wider audience".

 

hand-braking is apart of rally racing. same concept with all these hipsters that are barely getting into drifting.

in rally racing, the best times don't come from your traditional downshifting, apexing through corners, and then accelerating again. most of these big name guys that "aren't using" their hand-brakes anymore are just power sliding through every turn. that's basically the same thing as using the hand-brake to me.

 

I watched Monte Carlo race last night and I did not see "sliding" or "drifting" from any of the top racers. It was careful and very skilled.

I'm not so sure that drifting or hand-braking is more accessible though. I would just think Rally racing games would make the consequences for hand-braking incorrectly more dramatic. That's probably the biggest issue I have with this. It's easier in WRC 4 to hand brake than to plan and adjust in time to see the turn. Whereas to me in real racing, from the way the actual racers talk about making tight turns, hand-braking is hard to do and takes precise timing.

Also I'm not looking for a real "sim" game. I won't be investing money into pedals, or wheels or anything special for a rally game. I just wanted a game that makes a car flip, wheels fall off, drivetrain destroyed, horrible things happen if you hand-brake into a pin turn in 5th gear on dirt/snow/ice...

 

You can't have your cake and eat it too sadly.

Forza series is the only one I know of that has dire consequences for driving like it's ridge racer or grand theft auto.

 

Because chicks dig the long ball and handbrake turns. That's fact right there.

 

If you had any experience in any type of vehicle, you definitely wouldn't be saying this.

 

whats wrong with you znmphad. its just a game. do you know what games are for? does it make games less fun having to press a differant key