Dytut

Nah, the Tänak attack will continue. Tänak first, winning by about 30 seconds after blitzing fridays gravel. Then I actually wager that Loeb will snatch second, while Ogier and Neuville will battle it out for 3rd after both having some small isuues.  This would leave it wide open for a three way battle in Australia aswell :-D 

RallyDriven Redemption.  I’m hoping the horse handling has been improved from the last game. Also hoping my G920 is supported as they haven’t put out a list of supported wheels and saddles yet Does the horses come with proper horsebox h-shifting?  :o #NoMotionRigNoBuy Can't play horse riding game without the seat moving. Breaks immersion.

Just because I want to be silly during silly season. Peugeot leaves WRX for 2019. Loeb wants something do to but gets tired of PSA. Malcolm sneaks in and offers him a drive at M-Sport for 2019  B) :p ;)

Keep wondering who they aimed it at. They had a fairly decent driving model in WRC7, but then they apparently dumbed it down for V-Rally, but they didn't make it arcade so they didn't appeal to that market either. 

Japanese rally drivers Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai and also co-driver Sayaka Adachi are all part of TGR Challenge Program. They have all been participated in the Finnish rally championship season for couple of years now in with TMR team. They have also participated in couple of rallys in the WRC calander. Challenge program is aimed to train japanese rally drivers to compete in the WRC and Katsuta seems to the most potential driver. If he gets the seat in the Toyota WRC he will probably get Sayaka as his co-driver. Then it's a japanese driver and co-driver in a japanese rallycar. I'm fully aware of that. I'm just questioning whether there is talent enough to sit in a Yaris WRC in 2019. For 2019, not a chance. For 2020, not so sure. He was fast and consistent in Sweden, but he hasn't really shown that much pace after that. Definitely not enough to unseat any of the three drivers Toyota has now. But TGR really wants a japanese driver in the top league, so they might go for a fourth car on a part time program.

Yeah I think so too. It seems to favour an aggressive driving style. I'd actually like to see how Ostberg would do in a Yaris.Jii7 said: Kalle has an contract for Skoda until 2019. Pretty sure he is going to Toyota for 2020 along with japanese WRC2 driver Takamoto Katsuta Oh, didn't know he was signed for 2019 :-) Yeah, the 2020 Toyota seat sound quite plausible then.

Wait until you get to play DR2 with a wheel! And for a while, the blessed few testers will be like "ah, you poor virgin" about any discussion of any other rally game prior to DR2  ;)

Oil spraying up on the windscreen... yum.

As a finn I'm having hard time to understand Lappi's move to Citroen. He is moving from the strongest team to the weakest team at the moment. Also same team as Ogier = always the number 2 driver. Latvala and Evans are the proof of that. Me too, if I was playing Devil's Advocate, I'd say that he's going to a team where Ogier will be number one but has inferred that he will step down; it gives him a chance to really build a team around him to take over when Seb retires and become a number one. Neuville and Tanak you'd expect to be around a bit longer. I think it was on the Absolute Rally podcast, they said it could also be the opportunity to work beside and learn from Ogier. That experience has worked out pretty well for Tanak. If this is Ogier's last contract, then in a couple of years Lappi could be leading an Ogier-built team with a few seasons learning from the champ. I think it's a combo of both. Being the clear no 2 driver is probably easier for him than to be the no 3 at Toyota. I also get the feeling that he hasn't quite liked the Yaris, as if it hasn't suited his driving style. Combine that with the chance to work close with Ogier and learn from him.  Lappi wants to win, and he hasn't really moved forward that much this year. So switch things up and work with the champ is probably a good move in his mind.

That's not too far fetched if Paddon moves to M-Sport, since apparently Sordo was quite content with a partial season.

There we go, the expected announcements of Meeke to Toyota and Lappi to Citroën.  By the sound of it, Meeke is just happy to get a drive and made a point of not stirring things up in the team. So we'll see if he can keep to that ;-) Toyota should have the manufacturers title ready and waiting with that team, considering that I'd say all three of their drivers could potentially win any rally.

It's been like that for years... quoting in this forum is a pain in the ass. Why don't they give us simply quotation marks based code like <quote> and </quote> it would be much more easier. Ehmm... you know you can press the code button "" and you get full tags?

I definitely think Breen will join M-Sport if Citroën is going for two cars. Paddon... I hope so, but he has such strong ties to Hyundai at home.... Breen and Paddon would be a perfect fit for M-Sport though. Experienced, and both of them can be very fast. Might be a spark that reignites their careers, knowing that both of them really want to do better than they have so far.

2021, is that when the current regulations go through their overhaul? Makes sense for them to come back when all cars need to be rebuilt a bit, like Toyota did.  So confirmed drivers list is now: Toyota: Tänak, Latvala, Meeke Citroën: Ogier, Lappi Hyundai: Neuville, Mikkelsen M-Sport: Suninen Sounds like Citroën might go for two cars, which I find a bit at odds with Ogier saying they're all in now. I still hope we'll see a third car, since good teammates are quite important for the drivers title. In that case, I'd believe in Breen there. Hyundai will most likely go for a split car like this year. Might be that Paddon moves to M-Sport, but unlikely. M-Sport is still wide open. As it looks now, they might go for Breen as first driver, or at least as #2. Ostberg and Paddon are maybes. Might bring up someone from WRC2. Take a wild gamble on Rovanperä maybe, or pick up Tidemand or Kopecky. With Meeke gone there aren't any proven winners available to pick from. 

I wonder if that Polo will be as dominant in the R5 class as they been in WRC and WRX.

So Meeke confirmed for Toyota, and Lappi all but confirmed for Citroën. Latvala isn't confirmed yet, but most likely staying at Toyota. Or will Malcolm manage to get him to M-Sport again? Sounds like Citroën won't go for 3 cars full time next year, so most probably both Mads and Breen are without a drive. Will one or both of them go to M-Sport then? 

Yeah... If I was Malcolm Wilson I'd consider grabbing Kalle for 2019.

Ehhh... I'm getting into the idea of a kexchoklad simulator in VR.

I thought they had fixed it somewhat with the new enginge, but it seems to still be an issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJWxS_-7brA Tänak makes a whoopsie on shakedown.  Is he finally showing some nerves?

https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/ogier-gave-ford-ultimatum-before-citroen-switch/3188115/ Oh Ford, I will never understand why you hate rallying so much nowadays.

Kexchoklad. Now this awoke my sweet tooth. 

Can't remember if they said that it's absolutely out, but in one of the interviews Ross said all stages are bespoke.

Not at the moment, all stages so far are crafted after real world locations like they were in DR. Highly doubtful we'll see your stage as a DLC later on, but if enough sales... we never know. I think it'd work well as an addon later on to the already great handcrafted stages .

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/139094/ogier-citroen-no-longer-doing-things-by-half Allright then, if Citroën is going all in then that must mean they're going for a real three car lineup for 2019. I think they can actually make do with Ogier - Ostberg - Breen. Ostberg and Breen are both podium contenders. Lots of talk about Lappi maybe joining up, but if he gets the #2 spot then I'd be hard pressed to choose between OStberg and Breen for the last seat. I'd suspect Citroën will go for Breen in that case. But... my money is on both Ostberg and Breen staying with Citroën for the next year.