Hereafter we shall focus on the physics of rapid granular flows in one dimension [14,12,13], which in spite of its apparent simplicity shares many features with the physics of higher dimensions. We compare results of MD simulations of the Hard Rods model with those of the inelastic lattice gas model, and show that the latter reproduces many features of the real one-dimensional gas, in the homogeneous and, more remarkably, in the inhomogeneous regime.