Era: two of five
1987-2016 · Production cars, then a kit, then a compact weekend
Two eras, one page. The game ships these as separate rulesets: Group A 1987-1992, Group A on the 2,500-unit rule 1993-1996, then the World Rally Car in four windows to 2016. The sport changed more between 1996 and 2004 than the headline class name suggests.
The answer to Group B was to make the top class a production car again, and to make the production run enormous.
Group A required 5,000 identical road cars built in twelve consecutive months, cut to 2,500 from 1993. Evolution variants were homologated as extensions of the type, typically in runs of around 500. Turbo inlet restrictors held power near 300 hp for the whole decade, and were tightened from 38 mm to 34 mm for 1995, a bigger cut than the teams had expected. With power converged, the era was decided by chassis, reliability, tyres and service logistics, which is a management game's natural material.
It was also the last time the public could buy the car. The homologation specials of this decade, Integrale Evoluzione, Escort RS Cosworth, Celica GT-Four RC and the Lancer Evolution line, existed because the rulebook demanded a production run, and they are why the era's road cars are collectable now.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1987 | Group A becomes the top class after the Group B ban. 5,000-unit homologation. Group N, the near-showroom class, gets its own FIA cup and becomes the cheap way in. |
| 1990 | The RAC Rally takes pace notes for the first time. It had run its forest stages blind on a secret route until then. |
| 1993 | Homologation cut to 2,500 units. For the first time, every round counts toward both championships. |
| 1994-96 | Calendar rotation: 10 rounds, then 8, then 9, with demoted events sent to the FIA 2-Litre World Cup instead. |
| 1995 | Restrictor cut 38 mm to 34 mm. Two nominated cars per make now score. Toyota is caught with a restrictor bypass: the season's points annulled and a twelve-month ban. |
| 1996 | The Safari finally adopts the special-stage format, and servicing cars from helicopters is banned. |
The 1997 formula killed the homologation special, and with it the reason a rally car had to be a car anyone could buy.
A World Rally Car was a 2.0-litre turbo with a 34 mm restrictor, four-wheel drive, a 1,230 kg minimum and a nominal 300 hp. The change that mattered was underneath: the base model needed only a 2,500-unit production run, and the rally-specific parts (turbo, four-wheel drive, suspension) were homologated as a kit of 20 sets. No turbocharged four-wheel-drive road car was required at all. That is why front-drive shopping hatchbacks suddenly became world-championship bases, and it pulled a long list of manufacturers in.
The rulebook still produced absurdities. A 4.0 m minimum length meant Peugeot's 3.83 m 206 was illegal, so Peugeot built 4,000 numbered 206 Grand Tourisme road cars with extended bumpers purely to legalise the rally car.
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1997 | World Rally Car formula introduced, partially replacing Group A. Calendar jumps to 14 rounds. Points 10-6-4-3-2-1. |
| 2003 | Points widen to 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight. |
| early 2000s | The cloverleaf format arrives: every stage loops from one central service park, with strictly timed service visits, commonly 15, 40 and 45 minutes, and penalties for overrunning. Roadside service ends. Competitive distance settles near 300-350 km across roughly 15-25 stages, with a Thursday shakedown. |
| 2004 | SupeRally debuts at the Acropolis: a crew retiring during a leg may restart the next day under time penalties. Restarters are not classified in 2004-05. |
| 2004 | Gravel crews banned on gravel events; from 2005 they are an asphalt-only tool. |
| 2006 | Restarters are classified. Cost-cutting rules mandate mechanical front and rear differentials and ban active suspension and water injection. |
| 2008 | Pirelli becomes the sole control-tyre supplier for all classes. Mousse and other anti-deflation devices are banned; punctures return as a competitive factor and tyre strategy largely disappears. |
| 2010 | Points change to 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. |
| 2011 | Supply reopens with two authorised suppliers. New-generation cars: Super 2000 chassis with a 1.6-litre direct-injection turbo kit, 33 mm restrictor. The Power Stage arrives at Rally Sweden, paying 3-2-1 on the final televised stage. |
| 2012-14 | Road order for the first day is set by a qualifying stage and a running-order pick. |
| 2013 | R5 replaces Super 2000 as the customer class: 1.6 turbo, 32 mm restrictor, and an FIA maximum customer price of €180,000 race-ready. It becomes the biggest customer-car market the sport has had. |
| 2015 | Road order moves to championship order on Friday, which is where it stays. |
Six rulesets cover this span, because six things genuinely changed. What the player feels, in order:
None of these are year checks in the simulation. They are fields on a ruleset, each with the date and the source written next to it in the code. The service-regime change alone rewrites how a damaged car is recovered, how long a rebuild takes between events, and whether a mid-leg tyre change is a decision you own or one the rulebook has taken away.
This is the stretch where a small team can become a real one. The customer ladder appears and gets cheaper to climb: Group N below Group A, then Super 2000, then R5 with a capped price and a global rental market. It is also the stretch where the sport gets tidier. Shorter events, fixed service, control tyres, and a manager who was thriving on chaos in 1985 has to learn a different job.