A stage is a sequence of pace notes. Each note appears as shorthand with a tulip diagram, the stage clock is running, and your job is to translate the note into a full spoken-style call — in plain English — before the time window closes.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 · The note shows | Shorthand (e.g. R3 !) and a tulip diagram appear. The clock starts — reaction time is measured from this moment, not from your first keystroke. |
| 2 · You call | Type the full English meaning (e.g. right tight, caution) or use voice input. Match the meaning, not the exact words — the matcher is forgiving about phrasing. |
| 3 · The verdict | Clean call scores; late or missed calls lose time and stack consequences. The commentator reacts. |
| 4 · Repeat to the finish | Notes stack faster as complexity rises. Look-ahead pressure means a hard corner coming next shortens your window on the current one. |
Call it early. A perfect call a second late is worse than a good call a second early — the driver is already in the corner.
The game's default notation (RPA Standard) works like this:
| Token | Meaning |
|---|---|
| L / R + 1–6 | Corner direction and severity. 1 = hairpin (tightest), 6 = fast sweep (openest). |
| ! / !! | Caution / maximum caution. |
| FLAT | Flat out — maximum speed, full commitment. |
| CREST / JUMP | Over a crest / airborne. |
| INTO | Corner follows immediately after the previous one. |
| DONTCUT | Do not cut the inside — something there wants your wheels. |
| TIGHTENS / OPENS | The corner gets tighter / wider through its length. |
| NUMBERS (100, 150…) | Metres between features. |
Prefer another team's language? Settings → Note Conventions switches the whole game to Jemba 1 (numeric 1–6, brake-point distances, "R2( L3" style), Jemba 2 (loose, distances after the corner), or more — and you can set per-token preferences (numbering direction, terminology) to match a real team's book.
Career mode spans three decades of the sport. Each era has its own stages, vocabulary flavour, commentator, and media outlet for your stage reports.
Monsters with no limits. Sparse, brutal notes. One mistake is fatal.
The classic era. Balanced notes, iconic cars, the language modern co-driving grew from.
Rally1 hybrid era. Full vocabulary, 500hp, hybrid management, night stages.
The theme switcher (bottom-left of the menu) is not a coat of paint — each theme changes how you play, and unlocks its own signature mode.
The core experience: classic WRC career across the three eras, proper notation, proper consequences. Plus its signature mode:
JDM night racing on the Wangan. Different note style, different risks:
Marathon-raiding energy. The roadbook itself is the star:
The menu shows each theme's signature button only in its own theme — Street hides Night Recon, Roadbook hides Wangan Run, and so on. Switch theme to switch the toy box. The launch splash (shown when the game opens) and the banner at the top of Stage Setup both spell out what the active theme changes — garage, stages and gimmick — before every stage.
Difficulty controls the answer window per note — the number is seconds you get:
On top of the base window, note complexity and look-ahead pressure (a stacked hard corner next) shave further fractions, and mode modifiers (Killer B thresholds, Night Recon burns) multiply the remainder. There is no difficulty where the clock stops.
Late calls mean the driver reacts instead of drives. Crashes cost real time, damage accumulates, and career staff perks (better car prep, etc.) feed the crash-probability system. In Killer B they can end your rally.
| Signal | Effect |
|---|---|
| Accuracy | How well your call matched the note's meaning. Phrasing is forgiven; wrong direction or severity is not. |
| Reaction time | Measured from note display. Symmetric early/late penalties — calling absurdly early is penalised like calling late. |
| Streak | Clean calls build a multiplier. Missed calls and BUSTED encounters reset it. |
| Route risk | Wangan Run: bold route branches pay +10–20%. Hazard branches cost windows, not score. |
| Burn calls | Night Recon: a clean call on BURN pays +50%. |
Every stage ends in a Stage Report — a themed magazine debrief with position, time, accuracy, note breakdown and a performance timeline.
| Mode | What it is |
|---|---|
| Quick Stage | One stage, any era/difficulty. The fastest way to play. |
| Career Mode | The three-era campaign with team management, staff, tuning and rivals (S. Laurent, C. MacRae, M. Grönholm, K. Rovanperä). |
| Daily / Weekly | Recurring challenge stages with fixed conditions. |
| Multiplayer | P2P co-driver duels — see MULTIPLAYER_README.md. |
| Training School / Tutorial | Guided learning for the notation and the loop. |
| Recce & Call-Back | Watch a stage once and write your own shorthand; run it blind calling from your own notes. The real co-driver skill. |
| Tuning Garage | 25+ parameters; the engineer's rabbit hole (and an achievement). |
| Note Editor / Custom Track | Build your own stages and notes. |
| Signature Stages | The special modes above (Killer B, Wangan Run, Night Recon, Road Call). |
| Story | Narrative career beats and team drama. |
Ten are tracked and saved locally. The two hidden-depth ones are marked.
Eight achievements are tied to the signature modes — one per gimmick personality (strain control, clean getaways, fire management, book reading). They unlock the same way as the base ten and save locally.