Its no secret I adore DC Rivals, its my favourite coaster ever, but I haven’t had the chance to ride the worlds best ie Steel Vengence, Fury325 etc. 

I hear a lot of major enthusiasts talk about how good DC rivals looks but few have ridden it because its so far away for them. 
 

Im just wanting to know from you here who have done the states/japan/europe etc. How does rivals stack up? Is it actually in that league? Thanks 

Is it in that league? Yes. Is it better than Steel Vengeance? No. It does give Fury 325 a run for its money however taller doesn't always mean better. The feeling of the wind on your face at over 150km/h is great though. I feel the biggest weakness with Rivals is the helix is kinda tame as to how it could have been. It is the one spot that feels not as good as it could have been.

Having recently been to Florida and did the parks around that area (inc BGT), I rate Rivals lower than Velocicoaster but higher than Iron Gwazi. A lot of the yanks are staying that VC/IG are/is the best coaster at the moment.

Rivals/Taipan has better restraints than Velocicoaster, but only slightly; Velocicoaster doesn't have the seatbelts, but the seats and trains are a little more narrow/cramped than the Mack trains.

I feel like a lot of the ride experience for me was lost on Gwazi due to the restraints (belt under a T-bar which I got stapled under).

DCR/ST/VC you're only restrained at your waist, so when you're going through -ve G's your upper body and legs etc are floating, whereas on Gwazi your lower body is kinda just stuck in the same place.

I'm hoping to convince the wife to go to Cedar Point so that I can try out SteVe, but if the restraints are like IG then I'm not all that hopeful.

Yeah perhaps the weak point of RMCs is their restraints, they are all like that except for New Texas Giant which has Gerstlauer trains.

FWIW Nagashima Spaland is a bit closer to Aus and Hakugei is better than Steve IMO.