Lawrence of Dakar Desert Rally

Over a century ago, the First World War (the Great War) was being fought in many parts of the world. The British, with a vast empire to control and influence, were fighting in thousands of strategic locations in exchange for raw materials to fuel their industrialization. The Suez Canal was one of the most important for the British Empire, and control of the Red Sea was seen as a key point, but without the possibility of moving troops from the continent, they had to resort to other stratagems.

History is written by the victors

Those old muds led to today’s mess, and a large part of why history is the way it is comes from the fact that the British heavily influenced the independence movements on the Arabian Peninsula, turning those wealthy descendants into Oxford students, Cambridge master’s graduates, and Premier League team owners. To dive a bit deeper into this topic, you can check out the movie referenced in the title.

After decades of isolation, Arabia has decided to open up to the world in its own way. They seek to promote the country and the desert as a unique and exceptional vacation destination. T.E. Lawrence once said that what he liked most about the desert was that it was clean, and it seems so as it swallows the Dakar caravan every year.

It’s clean

As the mythical challenge it is, the Dakar has had its virtual recreations. In this generation, with the Saudi government funding the project, we have this second attempt to virtually recreate the Dakar, and since the game has already been on the market for two years, I won’t analyze it per se, but rather share some of my impressions—which are not the usual ones—after going through several marathon stages in the sands of the kingdom.

To me, Dakar Desert Rally is a simulator disguised as a game, played with a controller, away from the cockpit, seeking alternative experiences far from traditional competition. Navigation and adventure are part of this cross-country rally raid that offers a magnificent setting for captivating, self-explanatory visuals. I love the desert, in that regard I’m a bit like Lawrence, although I totally understand why those who live there might think it’s a dump because:

There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing

The game has been gradually polished over these two years, only to be finally abandoned by Saber Porto under the command of Embracer Group. It’s a shame because, despite all the issues (random crashes, menu bugs, ridiculous rewards, graphic glitches, incomplete saves, events locked to absurd levels, crashes, bugs, senseless progression, broken AI, debatable optimization, roadbook errors, out-of-sync co-driver, crashes, bugs, insufficient instructions, fast travel modes, tiny waypoints when rejoining tracks, crashes, bugs, stuttering, no VR, etc…) which are A LOT, the game offers incredible elements that no one else has replicated to this day.

First, it’s worth clarifying that although I play it with a controller, on the highest difficulty level, it feels like pure simulation. Driving is extremely demanding, and vehicles react credibly to the terrain. Anyone who’s ridden a bike or driven a car on loose sand knows how unpredictable and tough it is. There’s no margin for error in control, and speeds are low. On top of the challenging driving, damage is constant due to the brutal environment and the bumpy roads, dune jumps, or rocky sections. Any damage is magnified, just like in real life, making it a true feat to complete a Dakar stage without repairs.

Age doesn’t matter. Times do

The game’s flagship feature is the three Dakar editions: 2020, 2021, 2022. To access them, we’ll need to level up in other preparatory events, which takes more time than desired. But once we unlock the 36 main stages of these events, we’ll see the full potential of this development. Each stage takes between 30 minutes and over an hour to complete, covering accelerated segments from 350 km to over 500, demanding maximum focus to understand the roadbook, interpret the co-driver’s instructions (who merely reads the book loosely), and decide whether to follow them literally or improvise—which is often necessary.

Each Dakar stage (or preparatory ones) features a faithful recreation of the course, rendering an unusual amount of detail with stunning environments. The graphics engine shines with the blend of objects and draw distances. Stages are full of light, with proper sun evolution and shadows cast across buildings, dunes, and mountains. There are all kinds of structures, and some stages include inhabited areas where you must reduce your speed to 90, 50, or 30 km/h to avoid costly penalties. Not everything is perfect—there are artifacts, glitches, or occasional stuttering—but these are already on the problem list.

If I come back, it’s to win

Stages become a mix of delight and suffering, sometimes both at once. The biggest issues often come with dunes, presenting blind peaks that may hide 100-meter drops, ending your race instantly. Dunes might be the main danger, but there are constant hazards of all kinds: rocks, boulders, trees, side jumps, etc. Penalties for exceeding 170 km/h in co-driver-equipped vehicles also matter, especially since the broken AI faces no penalties and ignores real physics entirely.

Avoiding “the machine” during races is another tense situation, as you don’t exist to them. They follow their path to the limit. Programmed to follow a route regardless of what happens. The AI doesn’t get penalized, repaired, or obstructed; you’ll see them stop in turns or even crash into each other without affecting their placement. We must ignore them and treat them as scenery. The true spirit is racing “against ourselves” in a time-trial style.

The fun lies in reading—or “knowing how to read”—the roadbook with enough anticipation to rely solely on ourselves. The iconography should be simple enough to learn in just a few stages. I personally use these three tricks:

• Solid line: gravel road
• Dashed line with MOY: visible tracks from other vehicles on the sand
• Dashed line without MOY and degrees: off-road navigation

You have signs like DZ for speed-regulated zones, and other signs for bumps, humps, inclines, water, etc. All of them are easy to learn with a bit of experience.

One of the game’s most delightful features is the recreation of entire zones—square kilometers of terrain where the stages unfold, and where you can get endlessly lost. To grasp the vastness of it all, there’s a free mode to explore, though there aren’t any notable rewards for finding objects, making it a curiosity more than anything else.

We still have thousands and thousands of kilometers to cover

This recreation of various parts of Saudi Arabia is quite impressive, covering everything from the Red Sea coast to the Empty Quarter in the east. In the USA DLC, there’s something similar with major national parks, but I never purchased it, so I can’t comment on that. The shift in desert landscapes is noticeable and affects the nature of each event, as does the weather, depending on the time of year. Some stages will have you racing through snow, water, or storms. It might seem a bit dramatic, but anyone who’s lived through such weather in the wild knows the deal.

As I wrap up this piece—which serves no other purpose than to encourage you to try it again and get lost in that hour of disconnection each stage offers—I must say I’m thoroughly enjoying it, without demanding too much from it, even when its bugs and crashes leave me looking like an idiot. That’s how it is, and that’s how it stayed. What it does well, it does *really* well, and I don’t remember anyone doing anything quite like this on such a scale. That deserves credit for the Saber Porto team, though it’s a shame the lack of love (read: resources) left it just short of a final score.

• Dakar Desert Rally

PS: Just in case, I noticed a significant drop in crashes after verifying system files. Start a terminal (cmd) as administrator and run:

• DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

• sfc /scannow