Bushes slow you down rather than stopping you, which is great, but they're just simple cross-shaped cut-outs, which is not so great. There are still a few areas where things just don't feel quite right. Make mine a Cooler Master.īut it's not all roses. If only you could get heatsinks and fans for the old grey matter.

Add in the compensations you need to make for camber, the mapping out in your mind's eye of the next couple of corners as described by your co-driver's pace notes, and suddenly your brain's working harder and faster than that raging P4 processor in your PC. You don't just skid around on muddy forest floors you hit countless little stones, rocks, potholes and inclines that constantly punch your steering off just enough to keep you fighting the controls at all times. Codemasters have managed to blend the general effect of a road surface (ice, gravel, sand etc) with the minutiae of imperfection any such surface boasts. This perversely wonderful sensation is a reflection of just how uneven the surface beneath your wheels is. Perhaps if I join an eco-charity, nature will be nicer to me. It wants you to hit that tree head on and cough your brains all over the track, like some spongy grey trap for the next driver. It despises the touch of your wheels, and bucks you at every opportunity. Belting down the rural dirt tracks and flinty forest paths of Colin McRae Rally 04, something becomes immediately and painfully apparent: nature hates you.

Colin mcrae rally 04 game over