Richard Burns Rally

Richard Burns Rally is a 2004 rally racing sim developed by British studio Warthog Games (not their first take on the genre) and published by S Ci Games. As its name implies, it was developed with feedback from the famous British rally racer, Richard Burns.

Tropes featured in this game :

 * Better Than It Sounds Video Games
 * Cool Car: Not an overly wide range of cars to choose from (in the vanilla game, at least), but they're all your standard Present Day Badass rally cars.
 * Drives Like Crazy: Averted hard, when compared to other rally games. You very rarely have to push the throttle to its limit, since your car already has much higher acceleration than normal passenger cars. Therefore, you simply need to appropriately "ration" your speed according to the terrain and surroundings of the current stage. There's really no sense in trying to complete a stage by going at break-neck speed.
 * Driving Stick: As in any good rally game, you can choose between either manual or automatic transmission. Manual requires some practice, but is more sensitive and can reward you with better control over your vehicle and better stage times.
 * Game Mod: The fanbase is responsible for a lot of them and they're usualy of very high quality. Most notable is RSRBR.
 * Hey Its That Voice: Naturally, the voices of Richard Burns and his then-current co-driver guide you throughout the course of the entire game. Burns narrates the various stages of the tutorial mode, known as "Driving School".
 * In Vehicle Invulnerability : Both played straight and mildly subverted. You can't kill yourself, but if your car crashes particularly hard, you and your co-driver will become alarmed, yelp, groan and wave your hands a bit for a few seconds. Sure, you can't die or injure yourself, but at least you get an appropriate reaction from your crew.
 * Nintendo Hard: Hoo boy...firmly on the hard end of realism. The roads are usualy quite narrow, handling physics are portrayed down to minute details, speed is not always of the essence and the countdown to the stage only uses voice acting and NPC gestures instead of visual icons. Still, it's rather easy to play if you have a bit of patience, fast reflexes and some basic experience with other rally games. It's generally better to play with a driving wheel, but more skilled players can easily drive stage after stage via the keyboard.
 * Patron Existence Failure: Burns was diagnosed with a brain tumor sometime in 2003. Even though he underwent therapy and occasionally took part in some rally events, he eventually died at a young age, on the 25th of November 2005. Top Gear then gave him a touching tribute on the 4th of December.
 * It takes some pretty massive balls to cheerfully collaborate on a game project while you're seriously ill.
 * Is it a curse, that every famous rally driver with a game named after him dies soon after it achieves critical success ?
 * Some Dexterity Required: Finesse of the wheel and pedals is a MUST if you wish to push a rally car to the limit. Act too rough with any of them and you'll lose control of the car-with disasterous results.
 * Subsystem Damage
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: If you crash the car into a spot you can't back out of, you can call the local audience and personnel to help you get the car back on track. Of course, you will waste a few precious seconds on this - but that's the risk that comes with rallying.