The wheels on the bus go - what? Well if you entered the SEGA Newsletter competition for October you’ll hopefully have answered “round and round” for it was the correct answer.

We’ve drawn five names from the huge number of replies we had out of a big mud speckled hat and those who can look forward to receiving a SEGA Rally t-shirt in the post are

Bjorn Eriksen - Slagelse, Denmark
Steve Price - Birmingham
Adrian Hamer - Stanmore, Middlesex
Linda Rumsey - Mildenhall, Suffolk
Edward Steer - Marshfield, Wiltshire

Congrats to those of you who won, commiserations to those who missed out and there’ll be another contest in the next issue of the newsletter.

The Ford RS200E is an 80’s rallying legend, no other Group B car came close to the RS200 in the one year it had in competition (before Group B was abolished). After 1986 when Group B had been cancelled many Group B rally cars found homes in rally cross, sprints, and hill climb events. This RS200 is the Mach 2 Racing Pikes Peak version with a recorded 840bhp!

The original Group B RS200 was good, but this RS200 is sublime. The whole car has been re-engineered from the ground up and all round performance and ability has been pushed way beyond anything Ford had ever intended. It is an honour to have this car included in the car line up for SEGA Rally, and I can hand-on-heart say this is the fastest car in the whole game, can you keep it on the track though?

There is an interesting little story about this car which you may find entertaining. When we were taking our research photos of the car prior to building the in-game model, the sound guys were recording engine samples for the in-game sound effects. To cut a long story short the car is run on a rolling road while the sound chaps record the exhaust and engine noises at various engine revs. Just as one of the Art Team went around the back of the car taking shots, the car lunched its gearbox and spat most of it out of the back end. Fortunately the Mach 2 Racing team were able to fix the car and we were able to complete the sound recording a few weeks later.

And that’s it - the SEGA Rally cars - hope you enjoy racing them as much as I have enjoyed developing them!

Check out the official SEGA Rally website now at www.segarally.com

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When I first began researching potential cars for SEGA Rally back in late 2005, one area that I always thought would be successful for car content was Hill Climb events. These international events are where entrants compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. Many events are based on winding tarmac surfaces, but courses like the infamous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado are a 12.4 mile rough cut gravel surface, that winds up the side of Pikes Peak to a height of 14,100 feet.

Many cars entering these fearsome contests are bespoke home made purpose built machines or very heavily developed factory customizations. We decided that SEGA Rally should have its own Pikes Peak Racer, so after a bit of research I discovered that the Open Car class entrants used what looked like off-road Formula 1 cars.

These vary a lot between competitors due to them being entirely hand-built specifically for the purpose of this event, so I also had to design our car from scratch. Fortunately I had just completed the Baja Dune Buggy, and I had built that car around a tubular space frame (exactly the same build process used on Open Pikes Peak Racers). So I stripped the Buggy of all external body parts, lights, spare wheel etc and then set about re-profiling the overall scale and space frame shape. The Buggy is also a 2 seater so I had to reduce and completely re-design the cockpit space (Open Racers are single seaters).

Once I had correctly proportioned the main frame I set about re-working the suspension and open wheel style front and rear wheels/tyres. The final task was to build the lightweight body panels and front and rear spoilers; these were the cherry on the cake as all Pikes Peak Racers need excessive front and rear wings to create the necessary down force required.

So what you see is the final result, I think it looks bonkers and quite unlike anything else in SEGA Rally (nothing like the original Buggy model anyway!) In-game the Pikes Peak Racer is insanely fast, possibly one of the fastest cars in the game. The power-to-weight balance is crazy as the car doesn’t weigh anything but has massive amounts of BHP. The thing to bear in mind when racing this car is that corners come up very quickly and you’ll need to be very handy with the brakes.

As this is an in-house designed car, we had complete freedom over the livery design and colour way. We chose to use the Vision Racer as the main sponsor as it fitted in with the general feel of this car; the colours of the logos are strong enough to be visible on the minimal bodywork and extreme angles and shapes. Vision Racer also supply us with the high tech driving seat-ware that we use to display SEGA Rally on at shows and press events, so the space frame basis of the Pike Peak Racer kind of fits in with the space frame technology of the Vision Racer simulations hardware.

Check out the official SEGA Rally website now at www.segarally.com

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Read more about Vision Racer at www.visionracer.com

You may be surprised to see this in our list of cars, and you will  definitely be surprised at the pace of this little giant-beater. Most  people will be very familiar with the MINI re-invention, and most people will  be familiar with the uprated and performance orientated Cooper S version.

           

The  version we chose has the full GP body modifications and increase performance enhancements, the gutsy and enthusiastic 1.6 supercharged engine in this flyweight  will be more than a match for many of the bigger hitters in SEGA Rally.

The  thing that wins me over about this little car is the pure functional aggression  it looks to possess, the deep front and rear bumpers, fully formed side skirts,  rear roof spoiler and large alloys completely transform the original cutesy MINI  into something athletic and purposeful. I spotted one on the road a few  weeks ago and it looked simply superb, but that could have been the fact that  the driver was sliding it round a roundabout grinning like a small boy with a  new toy.

           

I’m also particularly pleased with the livery on this car; we wanted something loud and  proud as the car has such a unique character.  Our Licensing Manager  secured an agreement with Marshall Amplification and it just fitted perfectly,  I did originally go with black paint but the whole car looked de-saturated so I  added a touch of deep blue to the base layer and the Marshall stickers just kind of popped off the  surface perfectly.  I don’t have many favourite cars in SEGA Rally as I  have developed a strong connection to all of them, but this car in this livery  just looks so right.

Check out the official SEGA Rally website now at www.segarally.com
 
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    You may have noticed that we have a few Peugeot’s in our car selection; this is principally because Peugeot have always been at the forefront of most major motorsport competitions for a number of years. They have a particularly strong heritage in WRC, rally raid events, hill climbs and international rallycross competitions. The Peugeot 405 T16 Rally Road is the most famous version of the 405, and the rally 405 Turbo 16 was very different from the road-going 405.

It was built in a coupe body style in mid-engine  configuration, had constant four wheel drive with an electronically-adjustable  centre differential like the 205 T16, as it was based on the same technology.  Only two examples were ever made, one raced hill climbs with the other competing  in the infamous Paris-Dakar Rally.

What I like about this car is the sheer size of the thing it’s a  proper rally monster, because of its weight and size its good competition for  some of the other larger vehicles in the game. As we have the Peugeot 205  T16 Evolution 2 (1986) in the main Masters Championship I thought it would be nice  to have matching liveries. So the 405 T16 wears the original Yellow  Peugeot Rally Raid colour scheme, and unlock livery 2 on the 205 T16 is in a very similar style. Team play anybody?

Check out the official SEGA Rally website now at www.segarally.com
 
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In 1986 Lancia displayed the ECV1 (Experimental Composite Vehicle) at the Bologna Motorshow. It was a composite technology concept car testing the use of carbon kevlar, thermosetting and thermoplastic resins, glassfibre and honeycomb in-car production. It was also considered as Lancia’s prototype Group S rally car (a formula sadly never to exist due in part to Group B rally cars being banned).

Lancia had enjoyed success with the Group B Delta S4, and the new ECV1 shared some of its basic design. For example, the ECV1 used a rear engine layout, AWD, and the 1759cc twin turbo engine, which were all similar to the Group B Delta S4.

However, the ECV1 had a new experimental ‘triflux’ turbo system where the twin turbochargers were used sequentially depending on engine speed; and the ECV1 was considerably lighter (overall weight of 930kg!) due to its extensive carbon fibre construction (from the wheels to the roof).

We chose the ECV1 due to its rarity and its genuinely extreme technological breeding. The Lancia Delta S4 is well known for its rallying pedigree and would have been a worthy SEGA Rally contender, but why have a good quality, medium strength variety car when you can have the full flavour, max-strength, firebreathing beast of a motor. I particularly like it for its quirky appearance, almost van-like in fact, but make no mistake this unlock is insanely fast and quite tricky to tame.

Check out the official SEGA Rally
website now at www.segarally.com

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Very early on in the SEGA Rally project it was decided that we wanted vehicles in the game that were just that little bit more extreme in appearance than the usual saloon based rally car.  The Baja Dune Buggy was a fairly obvious design choice as it is a very popular type of all terrain racing vehicle.

Like the previously mentioned Icelandic Racer I studied a lot reference imagery of off-road racing buggies and trucks, and using these as inspiration I came up with the design you see here.  The beauty of these kinds of unlicensed vehicles is that you have free rein over how they look, so the placement of lights, aerials, the engine and pretty much everything else is completely up to the artist creating it.

Obviously it needs to look realistic so you always try and use shapes and designs that look realistic.  Look at the suspension design for example, I was careful to mimic the external damping chambers and multi spring setups you might see on real off-road racers.  The interior is also built to look like something that could be feasible in the real world with the switches and buttons placed only where you would expect to find them.  The engine design was one of my favourite area’s, I wanted to build an engine type that was familiar yet not going to take me weeks to complete, so I chose an iconic V8 set up which also sounds sweet in the game.

I think we got it just right with the design and layout of this vehicle, its fun and purposeful looking, and out performs many of the less agile cars in the game due to its softer and greater travelling suspension setup.  That V8 motor hanging out the back packs a mighty punch as well!

Check out the official SEGA Rally
website now at www.segarally.com

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more SEGA Rally blogs - click here

Here at
SEGA we have been encouraging people to get down and dirty for the
launch of the ‘King of rally games’ SEGA Rally by urging you to advertise the game
on your own muddy cars. We want you to send in a picture of your dirty
car with a SEGA
Rally inspired slogan written into the dirt for the launch
of the game on September
28th.

We’ll decide on the best ad slogan and
one lucky winner will win the chance to burn up the track with an
extreme rally experience and be able to practise their rallying skills
day-after-day at home on their very own brand new PS3 with a copy of
SEGA Rally.

Visit our SEGA Rally ‘Dirty Car’ Gallery

More about SEGA Rally
SEGA Rally speeds
onto the PS3, Xbox 360, PSP and PC opening up an exciting rally driving
worlds featuring a range of different driving environments, each
inspired by exotic locations from around the world.

Are you ruthless enough to destroy your
opponents in six brutal car battles? Can you conquer tracks that deform
and degrade with every lap?

The king of rally racing games has
returned, armed with the intense gameplay that made it famous and the
latest next gen technology to make it unforgettable.

(Click through to more SEGA Rally info)

(Read more SEGA Rally Blogs)

Email your images to: blogs@sega-europe.com

We promise to post the best SEGA Rally ‘Dirty Car’ images both here on our blog and in our SEGA galleries!

I am very excited to announce that the demo for SEGA Rally, our truly thrilling and highly anticipated racing game, is available for download on the Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. 

The demo features two quick race tracks taken from the colourful, steep sided Canyon environment and the gloriously muddy and downright dirty Tropical environment.  Players will also have the choice of literally tearing up the deformable surfaces in either the Mitsubishi Evo IX FQ3 or the Subaru Impreza STi Spec C type RA.

SEGA Rally will be released across Europe for the Xbox
360, the PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system, the PSP
(PlayStationPortable) system and the PC on September 28th 2007.

Now,
go and try out the unique deformation technology which the SEGA Racing
Studio has worked so hard to implement into SEGA Rally.  For the first
time ever you can not only see the deformation in action, but feel
every bump along the way.

Find out more at www.segarally.com

Lets just skip to the point shall we, how delicious is this car?  VERY, VERY delicious.

When I first saw the photographs of this concept at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show I was stunned Mitsubishi had made such a bold design step away from the current Lancer Evolution models. 

The stance and scale are much the same as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, but the surfaces and overall style are a world apart from the current model, which is another reason why we really wanted it in SEGA Rally.

The full time four wheel drive system, 2.0 litre turbocharged aluminium straight 4 engine and sequential semi-auto six speed paddle shift transmission only increased our interest in this very cool car.

Let me list some technical stats for you; 650 bhp, 3.8 litre Biturbo
engine, rear wheel drive with 4 wheel drive as an option, improved
aerodynamic characteristics with RUF developed front/rear bumpers, rear
spoiler and side mirrors, 19″ RUF 5 spoke wheels, drilled/ventilated
discs, light alloy monobloc calipers, and suspension, packaged and
designed to reach 220mph.  What more needs to be said, this has to be
one of the most perfect high performance cars ever made?

This is possibly one of the best looking modern cars in SEGA Rally so we had to create a livery that honored and amplified the overall look of the car.  Black paint is always mean looking so that was a good start, and of course very sharp blood red decals aren’t shy.  So the result is what you see in the images, a cutting edge, modern day rally weapon that looks the absolute business.  I’ll take two please…..!!

Check out the official SEGA Rally website now at www.segarally.com

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