Exercise 1, set 3

Here white have sacrificed a rook for a bishop and a pawn.



The solution says: 2...Qd8, but a better move is 2...Raf8.
This is shown as a less good sideline in the solution.

If we continue with 2...Raf8 we could get following continuation: 3.Bxa6 Rxb7 4.Qxb7+ Rf7 5.Qxc6:



White has a passed pawn, but black can counter attack with ...f4.
According to Stockfish 13 the position is equal.

How realistic are above better moves for a human player?

Or is the suggested solution the path most players would take?

I'm not sure if I had played 2...Raf8, but at least it looks more logical to me then 2...Qd8.

Nice find! Looks like they overlooked the drawing resources in the position.

I agree with you that 2...Raf8 is the more human like reaction.  Trying to defend against white's passed pawns is a losing proposition. But seeing the rook sac to secure the draw is more of a human ability; engines still are slow to realize fortress-like perpetual checks. Could be the authors did a quick engine check, early engines would look at Qd8 as maybe not the best, but not a complete dud either?

Actually white has 3 passed pawns! But with best defends by Black it's still a draw.

I would never find Raf8 in that position... not OTB anyway. I would see the weak a pawns and come up with Qd8 though.