CODEMASTERS Colin McRae Rally 2005 ( Windows )

Rating:
Summary: Best rally sim on planet
Review: Colin McRae 2005 is without as doubt the very best rally sim ever crafted by humans.

The system specs for the PC version are printed on the box. Read them.

The XBox and PC versions are virtually identical save for the flexibility and extra resolutions on PC.

The physics model is less exacting than Richard Burns Rally but far more so than Rallisport Challenge 2, very meaty and real for the sim purist yet fast, fun and accessible for the gamer.

I simply can't reccomend this masterwork highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: Not for laptops!
Review: I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 with a 64m GeFx4200 Go card and this game is unplayable, even at the lowest settings. The keyboard and mouse controls become unresponsive, as do some of the wheel buttons. This is the response I got from the manufacturer:
>Thank you for submitting your recent request to Codemasters Customer
>Services concerning Colin McRae Rally 2005. Your query was dealt with by
>Paul.
>
>Colin McRae Rally 2005 has not been developed for, nor tested on, laptop
>computers. The reason for this is that most video and sound card companies
>sacrifice DirectX compliance for compactness and portability. Due to this,
>these manufacturers do not offer drivers that are optimized for Direct3D
>games, which means that you may have limited success in running Colin McRae
>Rally 2005 properly.
>
>The only thing we can suggest that you try is to make sure that you have the
>latest drivers for all of the laptop's hardware from the manufacturers
>website. We are, unfortunately, unable to offer any more support than this.
>
>If you need further assistance, please reply to this email and INCLUDE THIS
>LINE IN YOUR REPLY:-
>
>{|CALLID|}=00767473
>
>Or include the entire text of this email.
>
>Regards
>Codemasters Customer Services

Gamestop is not responding to my request for a return, so now I am out $20. Beware