Getting down and dirty with Dirt 2

[Lorini]

It's out (or at least it's at my local Best Buy). Post impressions, impressive times, multiplayer requests, etc!

[flyinj]

Gamespot loved it:

www.gamespot.com/xbox360/driving/dirt2/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review

As did Eurogamer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/colin-mcrae-dirt-2-review

As will I when I pick it up after work

[LesJarvis]

As will I when I...download it from Steam in three months.

Godammit.

[spiffy]

As will I when.. the PC version comes out in a few months so as to use my wheel.

[marxeil]

As will I when.. the PC version comes out in a few months so as to use my wheel.
Codemaster's racers hate wheels.

[spiffy]

Toca3 felt good with a wheel.. I agree both Dirt and Grid are probably not as easy to handle with a wheel, even with linearity and settings adjusted, as a pad. But that said, playing the Dirt2 demo with a pad, even as well as it controlled (esp. in comparison to the first one), didn't feel nearly as immersive as Dirt1 on my PC in my immediate test session comparison.

So I guess what I'm saying is that, for any driving game with any sort of subtley at all, having perfect control is less important than the feeling of having a real wheel in my hands. Even if the opposite really ought to be true.

[Union Carbide]

So far, it's more difficult than Dirt 1 was. I suspect it's the preponderance of wheel to wheel races, they were always my weak point in the last game.

[Eduardo X]

What are these wheel to wheel races? Racing with other cars next to you?

[Union Carbide]

Yeah, wheel to wheel = multiple cars on the track at once. Most racing in the real world is wheel to wheel.

Some of the events have a LOT of contact in them.

Cool stuff so far:
Rallies are stagger started, just like real life, although the interval is considerably shorter.
It's possible to encounter other cars crashed on the stage, not necessarily out of the best line, and your co-driver calls them.
Splits are given to you live as they happen, which was a little confusing at first. I thought I was darting up and down the places.

There are two pacenote call styles used: Simple (easy/medium/hard/hairpin turns) and Technical (turns called 1-6 and hairpin). There's a lot more landmarks called than in Dirt 1.

[Eduardo X]

Dammit. I loved in... some Colin MacRae game, knowing instantly how fast to go around a turn just from the number. Like 1 was "don't slow down", 2 was "let off the gas," 3 was "brake a little," and so on.
Now I am so damn tempted to get this. I actually have a day free on Sunday!

[Union Carbide]

other way around, actually (6 is fastest)

[Lorini]

Dammit. I loved in... some Colin MacRae game, knowing instantly how fast to go around a turn just from the number. Like 1 was "don't slow down", 2 was "let off the gas," 3 was "brake a little," and so on.
Now I am so damn tempted to get this. I actually have a day free on Sunday!

Is there a Fry's in Chicago? If so, you can get it on sale today from there, or use the Fry's ad to get it price matched at Best Buy. Just sayin :)

[Lorini]

Also guys, is there any way I can play my own music in Dirt 2? Their music is awful.

[Rock8man]

Also guys, is there any way I can play my own music in Dirt 2? Their music is awful.

You can always switch music through the dashboard on the 360. Just press the guide button, go to the media tab and play whatever music you want through there. You can use that to play music off your computer, if you have one sharing your music (Go to Media Sharing in Windows Media Player on Windows XP, and allow the 360 access to your music). If you don't want to do it that way, you could also rip music to your hard drive.

[spiffy]

other way around, actually (6 is fastest)

I thought they were simply calling out what gear (and therefore speed) to be at.

[interman]

I'm liking it so far, but the controls took some getting used to, having been playing a lot of Forza 2 lately. Made it to level 13 or so. Fun achievements. Just waiting for some friends to pick it up, so this weekend is going to be racing heavy for sure.

[Martal]

I thought they were simply calling out what gear (and therefore speed) to be at.

Exactly, and you aint gonna be in 6th if you slow down

[Union Carbide]

I got to level 20 in the Pro Tour, and level 5 in multiplayer last night.

Observations:
The first Malaysia rally stage can kiss my ass. I have yet to get above 4th in it (on Serious difficulty). I just can't figure this one out.
Utah is the new Pike's Peak. Not as long (it's 5.5 miles or so), but has a similar feel.
The cars you get in the demo are the lowest, least tuned cars in the full game. As you rise in ranks, you upgrade the cars with Pro then All Star performance packages to match the rank you're racing in.

Multiplayer:
I'm going to hold off doing any of the wheel to wheel races in multiplayer until the retards get tired of the game in 2-3 days. I got a negative rating from a guy last night who couldn't hold the racing line, kept going off course and then swerving back on and into me, then sent me a message afterwards with the text of "U RETART". Good times.
The rest of my multiplayer races were rally/trailblazer. Too bad there's not any skill matching. One other guy and I were fighting for first, with our times usually within 3 seconds of each other. The rest of the field was about 10s behind us.

[Tim James]

Codemaster's racers hate wheels.Thank you for this tip, I had been wondering if it was just me and whether I was safe to write them off. I hope they figure it out for their F1 game.

Also, if I ever die and someone makes a tribute video about me, don't let them make the HD version an unlockable in a console game. Thanks.

[GreasyPig]

Multiplayer:
I'm going to hold off doing any of the wheel to wheel races in multiplayer until the retards get tired of the game in 2-3 days. I got a negative rating from a guy last night who couldn't hold the racing line, kept going off course and then swerving back on and into me, then sent me a message afterwards with the text of "U RETART". Good times.
The rest of my multiplayer races were rally/trailblazer. Too bad there's not any skill matching. One other guy and I were fighting for first, with our times usually within 3 seconds of each other. The rest of the field was about 10s behind us.

MP landrush is pretty brutal right now. Though it's still fun just to hold back and watch the retards smack into each other. Some of the wrecks are crazy.

[dgallina]

You guys were right.

I managed to resist buying a copy for all of two days after reading more great reviews and playing a friend's game.

Still think some cars are floaty & pivot too quickly around their centers, but have to admit that the game play is fun and there is *lots* of variety. More real rally would be nice, but even the stupid truck races are fun this time (at least compared to my Dirt 1 experience).

Looking forward to trying on-line once I get some practice.

Diego

[Union Carbide]

Good News, everybody! Class B cars are in the game, but they are award cars earned for hitting various milestones in the career.

[Eduardo X]

I have the flu. I also have $10 worth of gift cards to Target. There is a Game Crazy about 6 blocks from me. Target is about 2-3 miles, and also across the interstate. There are no bike paths to Target, and I probably wouldn't make it, seeing as how weak I am.

So how the fuck am I supposed to get this for cheap? How can I keep resisting?

[FoRmaT]

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/yellow%20cab.jpg

[Rock8man]

A taxi is pretty expensive here in the U.S. Format. He said "for cheap".

Your best bet is probably for someone to go get it for you. A friend who can do you a favor perhaps? Or a relative?

[FoRmaT]

Hmmm, are six blocks about one or two kilometers? I think that distance x2 would cost around €10 or so here where I live.

[Citiznmatt]

So if I'm looking for a quality rally racer for the Xbox 360, is this the way to go? Or should I track down a copy of the first Dirt (which is listed as $70/b new on Amazon, wtf?)

[FoRmaT]

In the vein of the question above, are people still playing Test Drive Unlimited? I got it cheap for the PC, but my old computer is too weak to play this right, so I think I'd like to get it for the 360 if it's still being played.

[Eduardo X]

Hmmm, are six blocks about one or two kilometers? I think that distance x2 would cost around €10 or so here where I live.
It's about 1.5 kilometers.

I could walk it, but... flu. I could bike it too, but flu.

I HAVE DECIDED! I will do all the schoolwork that I should be doing instead. Dammit.

[Rock8man]

Format: The last time I fired up Test Drive Unlimited (which was about 3 weeks ago I think), there were indeed people driving around Oahu just like I was. So I guess people are still playing it over Xbox Live.

Citiznmatt: Dirt is around $20 new if you can find it at Gamestop or your local Best Buy or Target. I'd recommend it. It is a great game. I don't know about DiRT 2 yet, maybe Union Carbide has now played enough that he can do a recommendation between the two.

[spiffy]

Is that taxi unlockable?

[FoRmaT]

Nice to hear that, Rock8man. I'll get this, then!

[Nengjanggo]

Quick question - I get the impression from what people are saying that your navigator gives you feedback on how fast you should approach the turns... does this mean that memorizing the courses is less important than it is in other racing games? I enjoy driving in games, but I'm not a huge fan of memorizing courses. Of course I like the feeling of getting better as I learn the course more, but I also like being able to try a new course and being relatively competent at it from the get-go. So is this possible in Dirt 2?

[Rock8man]

Quick question - I get the impression from what people are saying that your navigator gives you feedback on how fast you should approach the turns... does this mean that memorizing the courses is less important than it is in other racing games? I enjoy driving in games, but I'm not a huge fan of memorizing courses. Of course I like the feeling of getting better as I learn the course more, but I also like being able to try a new course and being relatively competent at it from the get-go. So is this possible in Dirt 2?

I don't have Dirt 2, and the one course like that in the demo doesn't have the navigator calling out turns, which makes it really tough to do. However, we know from reviews and Union Carbide's accounts that there are indeed rally events in which you have a navigator.

I can tell you how that worked for me in Dirt 1. In that game, I could get through all the rally courses the first time through, because of the navigator calling out the turns. This was on the second highest difficulty. I always knew when to slow down and when I could cut across a shortcut, and when I had to be careful of a rock, etc. However, on the highest difficulty, I had to repeat the course over and over again to finally get the time, usually on the third or fourth try, because in those cases with such tight times required that I know the course much more intimately than just what I knew from my navigator's calls.

So for Dirt 1, the answer was: yes, you can rely solely on the navigator and not have to learn the course yourself, as long as you didn't play on the highest difficulty.

[spiffy]

You get pretty dependant on those calls over a while. I could swear that on the third or fourth tier there was a track that, in the middle of the course, the navigator would call a left instead of a right-- and even though visually I could tell where the road led I would still always wrap myself around a tree straight ahead from sheer indecision on what to trust.

[Lorini]

Instant replay makes course memorization not as important anyway.

[Union Carbide]

Instant replay doesn't exist at the highest difficulty.

Re: pace notes: If you've never played a rally game before, the pace notes aren't going to help you. Here's an example from the real world, Petter Solberg/Phil Mills in WRC Rally Poland 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IiUFQjNo2Q

[Nengjanggo]

Instant replay doesn't exist at the highest difficulty.

Re: pace notes: If you've never played a rally game before, the pace notes aren't going to help you. Here's an example from the real world, Petter Solberg/Phil Mills in WRC Rally Poland 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IiUFQjNo2Q

Jesus, is that game really like that?

[Union Carbide]

It can be. There are notes that are being given that aren't used in Dirt 2.

What's interesting about that video is that this is the first year that Poland was in the WRC, so very few people had pacenotes from previous events to go off of. You can hear Petter give note corrections in a couple of places. This happens in every event, but it's more common here because the stage is new.

[interman]

Fuck the finish line death traps. Seriously.

[TurinTur]

Quick question - I get the impression from what people are saying that your navigator gives you feedback on how fast you should approach the turns... does this mean that memorizing the courses is less important than it is in other racing games? I enjoy driving in games, but I'm not a huge fan of memorizing courses. Of course I like the feeling of getting better as I learn the course more, but I also like being able to try a new course and being relatively competent at it from the get-go. So is this possible in Dirt 2?

Uhh... all the rally games have that. The old Collin McRae games, Rally Championship, etc. It's not something new in Dirt 2.

[Clay]

Speaking of pace notes, this in-car interview with Colin McRae is awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWWsyVMHK6g

[Eduardo X]

It's about 1.5 kilometers.

I could walk it, but... flu. I could bike it too, but flu.

I HAVE DECIDED! I will do all the schoolwork that I should be doing instead. Dammit.

I am so weak.

I'm not level 5. It's fun stuff! Though online, the land rushes are too chaotic to be fun. Some people just want to crash into you, not beat you.

[Nengjanggo]

Uhh... all the rally games have that. The old Collin McRae games, Rally Championship, etc. It's not something new in Dirt 2.

Its kind of sad that all of those games had to rip off codemasters' innovations.

[Jose Liz]

Really enjoying this. Absurdly good graphics, too. Didn't think you could have improved on Dirt much.

[rei]

Is the same Dave Mirra that did BMX?

[jabroni]

Yeah. He's been rallying for a couple years now. Not really setting the world on fire but not embarrassing himself either.

[CSL]

I traded in Fallout 3 at Futureshop yesterday to grab this for a mere $30 and the game has been excellent throughout. I'd probably suggest it being the best of the Codemasters 360 games made so far, though I'm somewhat disappointed that the simish elements of rally racing from the first game have been removed (the structure between stages, repairing damage between stages, and the fact that that the damage model has been significantly simplified)

[Eduardo X]

I traded in Fallout 3 at Futureshop yesterday to grab this for a mere $30 and the game has been excellent throughout. I'd probably suggest it being the best of the Codemasters 360 games made so far, though I'm somewhat disappointed that the simish elements of rally racing from the first game have been removed (the structure between stages, repairing damage between stages, and the fact that that the damage model has been significantly simplified)

I guess the rally stages mode is unlocked further in the game. The damage, though, is really simplified.

[tiohn]

Goddamn it. I caved and bought this anyway. I can't pass on a rally game, even if it's not a rally game.

[Rock8man]

After spending extensive time with this game this weekend, here's the math I've come up with:

- Menus/Xtreme Attitude is very annoying. Dirt's menu was sublime in comparison.
- I loved Dirt's Career pyramid much more than Dirt 2's location based events.
- They're definitely a little too generous with the damage model this time around.
- Difficulty is more uneven. Sometimes I have to repeat an event for 2 hours to finally win (on Extreme) but other times I win an event on Extreme the first time. The first Dirt's difficulty was a lot more streamlined.

+ Physics have gotten better, more interesting.
+ I love the dashboard view, love the mud/water splashing on the windshield blocking my view, love that the track designer generally don't put any deadly turns right after splashing my windshield with mud and water.
+ Love some of the new modes, like the one in which you have to break bright yellow cartoony looking barriers along the track.
+ Love the fact that nearly all the locales feel like fresh new places compared to Dirt. For example, Croatia is not like Spain from Dirt 1, it feels like a combination of Spain and England from Dirt 1. Places like Malaysia feel completely fresh. There's just so much virtual terrain they've made once again for players to enjoy.

Overall, I'm having a blast, despite my misgivings about the whole X-games/Xtreme Woooooh! Attitude-thing. So I bought the game (using the Keep It option at Gamefly).

The fall racing game season is off to a wonderful start! Now hopefully NFS: Shift, Forza 3, Blur, Split/Second and others will also live up to expectations.

[spiffy]

Hold up, there's a dash cam? The demo only had a hood cam or head cam.

[Rock8man]

It's the same as the demo. I just meant "the view in which I can see the dashboard". Sorry for the confusion.

[tiohn]

Don't tell anyone, but I like this a whole lot more than I liked the demo. I was having fun, but not loving it, until I unlocked the WRX STI, and then it hit the sweet spot for me. That car is just insane.

Oh, and I'm completely terrible at anything non-rally-like, but really like the redo thing, although I don't understand why they start that replay in such a stupid camera angle every time.

Here's hoping for some hill climbs and the Stratos as DLC.

[Rock8man]

So is anyone else besides me playing from the inside-the-car view? One thing I really liked in GRID was that they rewarded you for locking the view to that view, since it does make the game harder. The hover-cam above and behind your car makes the game the easiest, since you can see turns coming from farther away. The hood-cam provides a first person view and the most visibility. And the view from inside the car features things like mud and water and cracked windshields blocking your view, so it's by far the hardest view to play from.

It was nice that GRID rewarded me for playing in that view.

That said, I have to admit, even I can't play in that view in Malaysia. All the Malaysian tracks have a LOT of water and mud puddles. There's so much splashing of the windshield in those, I finally had to admit defeat and switch to a hood-cam so that I could see the course better.

Also: does it seem like the AI drivers get some kind of performance boost? When playing on Extreme difficulty, it seems like AI cars always get a head start, even though we all start at the same starting line. This was especially pronounced in the buggy race, where I bought a buggy with a much better acceleration and top speed rating than what the AI had in a one-on-one battle. And yet, the AI always gets a huge head start coming out of the gate, and seems to have a better acceleration and top speed on the straightaways. I compensate for that by being better at the turns, (and setting myself up to accelerate earlier out of turns) but it's still very frustrating to watch an apparently inferior buggy blow me away on the straightaways.

Am I doing something wrong perhaps? Are the tires on my buggy spinning or something? Am I not supposed to be flooring it all the way down on a straightaway?

[rrmorton]

I'm really enjoying this game, both single (level 12, Serious difficulty) and multi (level 3). Man, do I suck online. Maybe I'll try the inside-the-car view once I learn the tracks a bit better. Then I could use some of those unlockable toys like the dangling avatar.

I'm surprised that some folks are dinging Dirt 2 for the "XtReMe" factor when it really doesn't strike me as that bad. It's got a little faux attitude but it's not grating and in-yo'-face! about it. I think the presentation is actually pretty cool and the 3D menu system with the crowds, the trailer, the TV, the map, the achievement strips, etc. is really creative and technically impressive. Plus it's got The Walkmen and The Stone Roses on the soundtrack so it's not all generic rock. Then again, I didn't play the original so I'm not likely to be as bothered by a Price-of-Persia-style change in tone.

[Union Carbide]

Rock8man: It annoys me that we're roughly equal in times, yet you can win in Hardcore but I can't :(

Re in car view: I refuse to use it in rallycross, because the opponents drive like assholes and my windshield usually is impossible to see out of after the first turn. Also, I want to know how the hell my windshield shatters when I get rearended.

Annoyance of the weekend: Apparently everyone at the datacenter that supports Dirtnet were on vacation, as tournaments and ghost downloads went offline friday night and never came back. I need to download a TomChick ghost so I can humiliate him AND get an achievement at the same time!

[Rock8man]

Just a correction: I play mostly on Extreme, not Hardcore. It gives me one do-over during a race, which I can't imagine not having. I do sometimes have to dip down to Savage difficulty though. There are some rally races where it takes way too long to perfect a run enough to get Extreme-worthy times, so I finally capitulated and started running some races on Savage instead.

Right now the money I've earned in the game is about two thirds from Extreme, one thirds from Savage, but Savage is catching up quickly as I move further into the game.

Also Union Carbide: How do you check race times, etc for people on your friends list? Is it only in the trailer under "My Stuff" (which wasn't working because of Dirtnet being down)? Isn't there a way to check right after a race anymore, like in Dirt Classic?

[Eduardo X]

Am I the only one with a PS3 version? I'd love to have some friends to compare times against.

[Union Carbide]

Also Union Carbide: How do you check race times, etc for people on your friends list? Is it only in the trailer under "My Stuff" (which wasn't working because of Dirtnet being down)? Isn't there a way to check right after a race anymore, like in Dirt Classic?

It's under Time Trials, actually. You'll only set leaderboard times for races you don't use rewinds in, though I think a reset of your car won't affect the time.

[Rock8man]

It's under Time Trials, actually.

Ah ok. I think I remember seeing Time Trials. It's a menu option under each location. I never thought to select that.

[Eduardo X]

I never realized that people like to play hard in Croatia.

[Rock8man]

Dave Mirra really loves this track. Which was fine when he said that about the first track. But when he said that about every single track I've raced him on, it starts to lose all meaning. Dave Mirra must be like the Jose Liz of Raid racing. He loves every track!

[Rock8man]

I did the Asian X-games last night. I hadn't done any courses in China yet, and the second event in the X-games was a trailblazer event in China. When I first experienced trailblazer in the demo, I thought it was a really bad idea. Do the rally racing without the pace notes? What kind of stupid-ass idea is that?

Well, let me just eat my words. The course I did in China is one of the fastest paced, break-neck speed, adrenaline-inducing, lip-biting excitement I've experienced in a long time in a racing game. Not knowing what was coming around the next bend was part of that excitement. I've noticed they usually have a trailblazer even before a rally event. In other words, the trailblazers really are meant to be played blind, where you don't know what the course looks like yet, and with no pace notes to help me, it induced this feeling of vertigo in my stomach as I flew on the track, practically a hair-breadth away from plunging into a rice-patty and river in the valley below.

It was just sublime. The racing team at Codemasters are absolute masters at their craft. Kudos to you guys. You're geniuses. This game is absolutely fucking brilliant.

Union Carbide: You're already done with World Tour mode? Jeez, that's a fast pace! According to the game, I'm about 25% through the campaign at Level 20.

[tiohn]

Why do half of the people in the game sound like they have colds? When Dave "Jose Liz" Mirra tells me how much he loves this track, I want to offer him some Nyquil and suggest that he stay home for a day or two.

[Union Carbide]

Union Carbide: You're already done with World Tour mode? Jeez, that's a fast pace! According to the game, I'm about 25% through the campaign at Level 20.

I think it says I'm done with World Tour mode because I've actually completed the big championship events in each discipline. I actually still have several unfinished events in the game.

Also, if you liked the trailblazer event in China, wait until you get Utah at lvl 25.

[Eduardo X]

Wasn't the Pike's Peak Hillclimb in Dirt basically a Trailblazer event?

I was so good at that track after spending like a month perfecting it.

[Rock8man]

I just loaded up the game to be greeted with the EXPN (fake) magazine within the game that says this:

NEW WHEELS
The BMW Z4 M Coupe has some high-profile admirers in the off-road world, but the latest is MonkeyBunker.

X GAMES LATEST
Pastrana: "MonkeyBunker could be an all-time great" after X Games Europe victory.

X GAMES LATEST
"Sky's the limit" for MonkeyBunker after X Games Asia triumph, says Block.

WTF MonkeyBunker?!? This magazine used to tell me things about my own progress in the game.

[Union Carbide]

I just loaded up the game to be greeted with the EXPN (fake) magazine within the game that says this:

MonkeyBunker

MonkeyBunker

MONKEYBUNKER!

WTF MonkeyBunker?!? This magazine used to tell me things about my own progress in the game.

I guess you're just old news, chump!


Actually, that means that Dirtnet's back online. You can go look at it in the "News" section, which is outside, move right from "My Rides" any time you want, and expn mag will get redone I think every time you race.

[Union Carbide]

OK this is awesome:
In Time Trial (and multiplayer Jam Session) you can have any combination of course and cars that you want, so you can take the ultra-fast Trailblazer pro cars into, say, Battersea Air. Sure, there'll be parts strewn all over the place by the end of the race, but it'll be FUN.

Also, I won a downhill trailblazer at Utah by 0.04s tonight, total nailbiter all the way.

Rock8man, I tried to invite you to the game I was playing but it wouldn't let me for some reason. I'd like to get together for multiplayer Jam Session because I think it's the only way I'm going to get the "cautious" impact rating, since you get penalized when other dickheads crash into you.

[CSL]

If you are up for some multiplayer hit me up as well. I got Rock8man on my friendslist as well and have a few other people on my list, so we might get a good sized group going.

[Juste]

I'm game for some multi as well. Haven't had much time with the game yet, only up to about level 8 singleplayer and 4 multiplayer but it's fantastic fun!

[Union Carbide]

Yay Dirtnet's down again, probably for the weekend. No tournaments or ghosts.

[interman]

Good thing I picked up the ghost achievement a couple of days ago. Now I just have two more tourneys to attend and it'll be 1k'd.

[Kryten]

LTTP thanks to the shitty PAL release date and so I'll apologise if this is covered elsewhere in the thread, but bugger me the pace note system is occasionally fucked beyond the point of being useful on some stages (in particular the first rally stage in China). So goddamn frustrating when your co-driver calls a corner when you're halfway through the apex or even worse, not at all.

But, that said I'm enjoying the this immensely and am only about 15% through - I'm over the XTREME presentation but it's not completely killing the game for me.

[tiohn]

LTTP thanks to the shitty PAL release date and so I'll apologise if this is covered elsewhere in the thread, but bugger me the pace note system is occasionally fucked beyond the point of being useful on some stages (in particular the first rally stage in China). So goddamn frustrating when your co-driver calls a corner when you're halfway through the apex or even worse, not at all.


I'm having the same problem to the point of treating all of the rally stages like trailblazers, which has killed a lot of my hard-won enthusiasm for the game since the note pacing doesn't seem to improve after China.

[Union Carbide]

China's the worst of the lot, there are a couple corners that aren't called until you're at them, as you've noted. I think the scot has a better pace there, actually, but I won't swear to it.

Also, I can totally see a producer at codemasters handwaving the deferral of the inevitable bug that was written by QA with "Eh, sometimes co-drivers make mistakes!"

Dirt and CMR04 both had a couple of dodgy calls in their pace notes as well.

[interman]

I actually played most of the game with no audio at all. I was listening to podcasts most of the time, and just played it like any other racing game. Guess I'm just that awesome.

[frank austin]

I got a copy of this last night and stayed up waaaaaay past my bedtime. I'll hold off on any of my other impressions for now, but if anyone is looking for more multiplayer buddies, add me on Live. (same name as here) I'm looking to get a lot of this game in over the next few days.

[Eduardo X]

I'm having the same problem to the point of treating all of the rally stages like trailblazers, which has killed a lot of my hard-won enthusiasm for the game since the note pacing doesn't seem to improve after China.

I thought it was just me. It's like the game doesn't expect you to go as fast as you do... which is weird, because due to the terrible note calling, I can never win because I'm being so cautious around the corners.

[frank austin]

I thought it was just me. It's like the game doesn't expect you to go as fast as you do... which is weird, because due to the terrible note calling, I can never win because I'm being so cautious around the corners.

I was having this problem a bit last night. Some stages seem to have a really messed up cadence, where some calls are perfectly fine and others come at very confusing moments. Eventually I'd just memorize the course and have to tune out the note calls. Rally stages are by far my weakest event, which is kind of a bummer because they were the one I was most anticipating. (I find most of the truck/buggy races to be boring.)

It took me quite a while to get used to the tremendous amounts of oversteer every car seems to have with default settings, as well. I know I'm just not terribly good at the game yet, but I was still surprised at how many times my rear wheels slipped away from me. I got a bit better at it as the night went on.

I don't recall from the car settings, is the downforce adjustable? Man, I hate working weekends.

[merryprankster]

Man, I hate working weekends.

Me too. :(

[Union Carbide]

Yes, downforce is adjustable.

[merryprankster]

I have a wheel controls question. I've been playing the demo and am starting to get into it more. The only issue I have is that on my wheel the stick seems to be push to downshift and pull to upshift. This is directly opposite to how I play GT5p and the way my mind works. In thre demo I can't find anyway to reverse this in options....changing the bumpers doesn't help. I was wondering if this was adjustable in the full game.

[Union Carbide]

I was wondering if this was adjustable in the full game.

I'm pretty sure the buttons on the 360 version are fully customizable, unsure about the rest (but would assume so).

[Rock8man]

I finished off my last Pro race in the Dirt 2 yesterday, and did my first All-Star race: The X-Games America.

Holy shit the All-Star versions of the cars are so fast! This is going to take some getting used to!

Union Carbide: I know you invited me to a multiplayer game yesterday, so you probably know the answer to this: how does multiplayer handle the Rookie/Pro/All-Star races? Does it start you off at Rookie then you have to work your way up as you level up in multiplayer? Or does it let you do any of them? If it's the latter, do people online just basically stick to All-Star cars then? If so, I'll have to get used to driving these tracks on these super-fast tracks before I go online.

Another question: How do I download a ghost and beat it? I can't find that functionality anywhere. Is that under multiplayer somewhere? I haven't looked there yet.

[Union Carbide]

Multiplayer uses the Pro versions of the default vehicles, plus any of the unlock vehicles you may have. It can be interesting going back to all-star cars after an extended online session.

To download a ghost, you go to "Time Trials" and start a race. You will automatically get the #1 ghost from the leaderboard (if available), and your personal best. You can also select up to 3 ghosts from the leaderboard.

[Rock8man]

Thanks! And if multiplayer has Pro vehicles, then maybe now is the time I should start exploring multiplayer. I have to admit I like the multi-vehicle races in Dirt 2 a LOT more than I did in Dirt 1. I suspect it's because Dirt 1's framerate used to dip significantly when there were a lot of vehicles on the screen at once, but only subtly, so the effect was that multi-vehicle races never "felt" right.

[dgallina]

Anybody have advice on beating Jayde Talor in the Morocco throw-down?

I've completed all the other rookie events last night, but just can't seem to win at this one....

Diego

[Rock8man]

Sorry, the throw-downs don't stick around once you beat them, so you're going to have to remind me what that one was all about. Some kind of timed run? Rally? Trailblazer? I do remember having a tough time with that one, but I can't remember what it was.

[Kryten]

Spoilers (I guess), but the tribute to Colin Mcrae was very nicely done and had me a little emotional by the time it was done. GJ Codies, you managed to undo some of the damage caused by the rest of the games presentation.

[dgallina]

Sorry, the throw-downs don't stick around once you beat them, so you're going to have to remind me what that one was all about. Some kind of timed run? Rally? Trailblazer? I do remember having a tough time with that one, but I can't remember what it was.

It's a timed run on one of the Morocco rally stages.

Thanks,
Diego

[Rock8man]

Well obviously, the easy way out is to play at a lower difficulty level and finish it that way. I'm assuming that's out. What really helps me with timed runs in any rally stage is getting good at the sections of the course where you're supposed to be really booking it. In other words, don't try to get your gains in time from the areas with lots of turns that are hairpin turns, and 2s and sometimes even 3s. Most of the biggest gains come from learning to drive through the 6s and 5s and sometimes 4s with a minimum loss of speed. That makes it pretty challenging, because one little mistake on those sections can mean instant death, but that also makes it extra fun, right? :)

Plus it helps if you have at least one instant replay so one mistake can be undone. I'm not sure which difficulty you're playing on. Unfortunately difficulty is also tied to the time you need to win, so if you're trying to beat the hardcore time, then there's no way of doing that and to get an instant replay at the same time.

[frank austin]

It's a timed run on one of the Morocco rally stages.

Thanks,
Diego

Have you been tweaking your car at all? I struggled in general at first until I started doing this.

[Adam Sensoy]

Gamefly sent this, so despite my trepidation, I will be trying it out this week and reporting in!

[dgallina]

Good points, thanks to both of you.

I did finish it on easy difficulty, but figured I was missing something obvious since this race seemed *much* harder than the others so far.

I have tweaked the cars in the past, yes. Haven't been doing that as much lately because most of the cars don't seem to have sufficiently granular handling models. On some of them, moving any one setting one block over results in a radical change rather than a more gradual one. Will maybe take some re-balancing of the other settings to compensate.

Diego

[rowe33]

After reading Tom's Crispy review I'm kind of disappointed I don't get to hear MY name repeated endlessly. Kelly's not listed under Guy or Girl names...a travesty!

[Kryten]

Hey Kelly, you're not missing out on much.

[merryprankster]

After having to work both this weekend and last, I've decided it's new game time! My question is how much of this game is Morrocco like awesomeness, and how much is the somewhat less awesome dirt oval like stuff? Is it moslty these Morrocco like road coarses with the occasional track thrown in?

Edit: sorry if this has been discussed earlier or somewhere else, but I'm very tired and just feel like being lazy instead of searching for my answer.

[Rock8man]

I'd say it's about 50/50 merry.

Croatia, Morocco, China, Utah, Malaysia concentrate mostly on what you're thinking of as the awesomeness, while Baja, Japan, London, LA focus almost exclusively on the dirt oval like stuff. There's some crossover, but it evens out.

I actually ended up enjoying the dirt oval stuff more than I thought I would. I certainly enjoyed it more than in the original Dirt.

[merryprankster]

Cool...that sounds OK to me. Thanks for the info Rock8.

[Rock8man]

Are the dirt.net servers ever up? I tried again last night, and they were down again.

[Union Carbide]

They were just up for like a second, then I restarted my 360 and they were down again. I want to get that last goddamn tournament for the achievement, then I only have 3 to go, I think.

Edit: woot, went outside to the News section, and kept attempting to connect to DirtNet by checking the current tournament until I connected. Did a multiplayer race, and got my achievement. Also, my skills have eroded in the week I've been playing Shift, I did terribly.

All I have left for 100% now is to win the last 10% of the career races, get level 30 in multiplayer, and get the cautious impact rating. That last one's going to suck unless I can get some of you jerks to play friends-only jam session races.

Edit 2: Kryten and I both got With Great Honor (cautious impact rating) tonight. It took 5 total races, 3 landrush and 2 raid. Just make sure you enable impact ratings in the Jam Session menu.

[Enidigm]

Holy.. this game is hard. Why do they make gravel in Europe out of used ball bearings again?

I feel like i never have control because of oversteering and trying to wrestle the controller. Sometimes just making a turn - any turn - causes a kind of oscillation that i can't correct completely until i run into a wall or some other barrier to straighten me out.

[Union Carbide]

Holy.. this game is hard. Why do they make gravel in Europe out of used ball bearings again?

I feel like i never have control because of oversteering and trying to wrestle the controller. Sometimes just making a turn - any turn - causes a kind of oscillation that i can't correct completely until i run into a wall or some other barrier to straighten me out.

Let off the accelerator and stop trying to correct your steering.

Also, if you think that the gravel in europe is bad, you should try the pea gravel in australia :) Not that you can in Dirt2, but still.

[dgallina]

Driving at the edge of control is the nature of a rally sim. You largely have to steer with the accelerator and brake.

[Union Carbide]

Yay, I just broke lvl 30 in multiplayer, completing the last achievement in the game.

[spiffy]

Finally got around to puchasing the full game on steam.. I had played out the demo on the 360, but I just couldn't get the hang of manual shifting with a pad, and the sticks just don't do driving justice. With a brand new PC wheel, control is great and driving just feels natural with the screen up close.

Once again, I'm peeved at Codemasters for only allowing TrackIR usage in the cockpit but not the hoodcam.. I'm peeved they think the cockpit again needs to cover up half your playable onscreen area (guys I get it, you spent all this time and money modelling all these pretty interiors, but I just can't see the frikkin road) and I'm peeved they again omitted a dashboard cam that could have made up for it. It's especially frustrating to poke around their xml files and see the dash cam and trackIR functionality is all in there but remains unused, but unlike Dirt1 I can't seem to hack anything to enable trackIR in other views or easily push the cam forward with deciphering code.

My girlfriend is on this warpath where she's convinced wifi bubbles are going to give up brain tumors, and now anything that needs a connection to run is at the mercy of her shutting the router off. So this constant connection to Microsoft Live bullshit on a game I bought off steam is really goddamn annoying. I don't want to have to constantly sign in, and have my profile and saves be net-based. I had to restart my profile twice because it couldn't save my progress, and even more irritatingly the game forces you to watch Travis Jerkface redneck his way through extreme montages without giving you the benefit of skipping them. And as much as I like "The Rat" by the Walkmen I hate every other annoying track in this game. Dirt1 was streamlined and enjoyable in it's interface.

That said, the driving model and handling is much better than the first game. It still doesn't feel as real as RBR, mostly in it's halfhearted interaction with detritus and obstacles, but at least now there's actual inertia and no super-brakes.

I'm so far very unimpressed by the sparsity of actual rallying courses, these urban gamey industrial tracks are clearly made up, which is very sad. I hope the more traditional stuff is still in there. But I'm generally having a good time whilst driving and that's what matters.

[Rock8man]

I'm so far very unimpressed by the sparsity of actual rallying courses, these urban gamey industrial tracks are clearly made up, which is very sad. I hope the more traditional stuff is still in there. But I'm generally having a good time whilst driving and that's what matters.

Yeah, I covered this in a post just a few posts up. It's about even:


I'd say it's about 50/50 merry.

Croatia, Morocco, China, Utah, Malaysia concentrate mostly on what you're thinking of as the awesomeness, while Baja, Japan, London, LA focus almost exclusively on the dirt oval like stuff. There's some crossover, but it evens out.

I actually ended up enjoying the dirt oval stuff more than I thought I would. I certainly enjoyed it more than in the original Dirt.

I'm also currently replaying Dirt 2 on the PC these days. I'd just planned to check it out to see if the graphics are all that different with DirectX 11 on my new PC with a ATI HD5850 with graphics pumped up to maximum (they're not different, it looks pretty much like the 360 game), but I ended up playing it a lot more than I'd planned to. Right now I'm about in the middle of the campaign again.

This time around I'm actually trying all of the cars instead of just the one with the best stats, and I gotta say, some of the cars are way better than their stats seem to indicate.

Also, I love the cockpit view even more now that I've played NFS: Shift. Dirt 2 really gets the cockpit view right, but in a different way than Shift did. Unlike the first time when I played through the game on the 360, I don't change my view to outside the cockpit when dirt clogs the windshield, or the windshield breaks, or I'm in a car where more than half the view is taken up by the cockpit. Making a hard-and-fast-rule never to switch out of cockpit view no matter how restricted the view gets has actually made the game a lot more fun for me.

[spiffy]

Making a hard-and-fast-rule never to switch out of cockpit view no matter how restricted the view gets has actually made the game a lot more fun for me.

I'd agree with that if there a car on planet earth that actually gave you such a constricted view.. but there isn't. It's actually less realistic to play with cockpit on than with the hoodcam (unless you have an eighty inch screen, are sitting 3 feet way from it, with your eyeline placed one third from the top). Gah! It makes me so angry.

[Rock8man]

Obviously it will vary for everyone, but I'm actually enjoying the cockpit view a lot on my 4:3 ratio 19 inch monitor. Yes, I do put my face almost right up next to it to see what's going on, especially in some cars, but it's made the game much more intense. The funny part about being 4:3 ratio is that I now get to see even more of the interior of the car than I did on the 360 where I played in 16:9. Now I get to see my hand as it changes gears, and I get to see even more of the roof of the car, and nearly my whole steering wheel. It should have made the game worse, but somehow it's made it better for me, I don't know why.

[spiffy]

It should have made the game worse, but somehow it's made it better for me, I don't know why.

I understand, it's the feeling of immersion, the impression that you're actually there doing it, and the realistic limitations and considerations that come with that.. rather than suspended in a game controlling an RC car. It's why I can't play a flight sim without the cockpit on, even though half the time you have to lead a target hidden by your plane nose. The entire problem here is not allowing you to adjust FOV, camera or seat position.. something flight sims have come to understand is essential.

[Pogo]

I don't get why they went through the trouble of all the details in the cockpit view.

When driving a car, you see a hint of your left mirror, the top of your steering wheel and your gauges. Granted, your ability to turn your head to look is almost involuntary when actually driving a car, so I suppose the way they have it makes sense for users without TrackIR, but there should be a second cockpit view that's closer up for those with the IR system.

[spiffy]

I've since found two people who are in the process of modding the cameras just the way I like 'em. So far the only one to make available for download is the subaru head pack, for only a few cars, but both are hoping to get through all the cars eventaully. It's so much better for driving. Try it out!

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/dirt-2-game-pc-1313/402836-subaru-head-cam-pack-v1-0-a.html (http://community.codemasters.com/forum/dirt-2-game-pc-1313/402836-subaru-head-cam-pack-v1-0-a.html)

http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?p=965353#post965353 (http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/showthread.php?p=965353#post965353)

[Pogo]

Yeah that's exactly how it should look, just catching the top of the wheel and gauges.

[Rock8man]

I understand, it's the feeling of immersion, the impression that you're actually there doing it, and the realistic limitations and considerations that come with that.. rather than suspended in a game controlling an RC car. It's why I can't play a flight sim without the cockpit on, even though half the time you have to lead a target hidden by your plane nose.

I just want to clarify, I wasn't talking about playing in cockpit view vs not playing in cockpit view. I was talking about playing in cockpit view in 16:9 ratio vs playing in cockpit view in 4:3 ratio, where the only thing the latter adds is my ability to see the ceiling of the car in the upper part of the screen and more of the steering wheel and gear shifting hand in the lower part of the car. I don't know why that would add so much to the experience.

I tried that mod by the way, and predictably, I hate it. It makes it more "realistic", sure, but it also makes it so that I might as well be driving any car. I can hardly see anything in the cockpit anymore, and the cockpit loses all its flavor and excitement. At least for me. Obviously YMMV.

But you're right, I wish they'd include FOV and seat adjustment settings. That way I can have what I want (the way it currently is), and you can have what you want (a more zoomed in view so that you're only looking out of the windshield and can't see much of the cockpit).

[spiffy]

but it also makes it so that I might as well be driving any car. I can hardly see anything in the cockpit anymore, and the cockpit loses all its flavor and excitement. .

Well, that's really interesting. For me, having initial pre-race camera shots, replay cameras, rewind montages, etc is enough visual feedback to show me my car both inside and out enough so that I feel like I'm in a particular vehicle without needing to also see it during a race. As long as the camera is setup so that I 'feel' like I'm in the particular car, I really don't need to see every feature if it's not directly helping me drive better/realistically.

I really did assume that cam setup was pure vanity and to justify all the research by the devs, but you're proof people want those cockpits in all their glory. Like you say, giving us choice is the only way to make us all happy!

[Pogo]

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3334/

This is 50% off for PC for this weekend (that's $20!)

[Alistair]

I've never played any kind of driving game - but I'm having a blast with GTA IV. Is this newb friendly? I tried the demo and the menu made me want to stab myself :(

[sinfony]

Dirt 1 doesn't have stab-inducing menus, and is still really good.

[Pogo]

The menus aren't bad, they just take a little bit to figure out how to get to where you want to go.

And the racing is where it's at.

I just want more people to get this so that there's a better possibility of getting Qt3 peeps playing together.

[spiffy]

The driving in Dirt2 is significantly better than D1, and like pogo says the menus aren't bad, its' the presentation that's obnoxious. Now that I'm deep into it, I'm having a blast, and there are more rally-type stages than I thought there was initially. Between racing games I generally gravitate back to RBR, but I can see Dirt2 become my go-to game of choice from here on out.

I also tried multiplayer today, and was blown away by how fun it was. When there was a full lineup of people it got pretty messy at the first few hard turns, but overall it was competitive and tight.

[McKnight]

I wasn't sure whether to resurrect this thread or the GRID (http://quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=45197&highlight=dirt) thread but figured it wouldn't matter.

So there's a ridiculous bargain on Steam right now for the Codemasters racing pack and of course I bought it. (I mention how much my wallet hates the bargain thread? I've nearly bought more games in my few months on Qt3 then I have in my entire life) And it left me with a big choice. Play Dirt 2 or GRID? I know both are good but I only have the bandwidth for one of them.

So help me decide people Dirt 2 or GRID? (There's also FUEL and Toca 3, but I'm not sure of the quality of either of those games)

[Rock8man]

I'd say start with GRID, and Dirt 1, which is also part of the deal. There is no overlap between Dirt 1 and Dirt 2. Both games feature completely different courses, and the first Dirt is a very enjoyable game. In fact, you'll miss it a little when you finally switch to Dirt 2, because you'll miss the menus and presentation.

As for GRID, well, as long as you haven't played NFS: Shift yet, I think you'll really enjoy that as well.

The only caveat to my recommendation: I haven't tried Dirt 1 and GRID on the PC. I only know the 360 versions, so I assume you'll have a similar experience on the PC.

With Dirt 2, I've played it on both 360 and PC, and the experience was virtually identical.

[Tim James]

I had written this game off after trying to play GRID with my wheel, but got it for free with my video card and tried it out. The Codemasters physics and feel aren't too bad driving around on the dirt. It's not as glorious as Richard Burns Racing but I'll probably tool around with it for a few more hours. I just wish it had more rally stages and they had more road camber to them.

[Paul_cze]

I hated DIRT 1 on the PC 3 years ago because it crawled like shit.

I loved GRID (spent 2 weeks on demo alone, then a month on full game).

Few weeks ago I bought DIRT 2 on D2D (8 pounds or so) and liked it a lot - so much that I decided to give DIRT 1 another change (with better PC and all that) and bought it on steam 2 weeks ago (9 euros).

And...I like DIRT 1 even more than 2. Graphically it is very similar (in some courses it feels even better looking), controls are great, menus are better and most importantly there are classic european rally courses..so DIRT 1 is the racing game I play now.The fact that it runs perfectly (constant 60fps in max details@1920*1200) helps - three years ago I had 15fps in lowest details (that was on good old ati X1900XT).

But all three of them are pretty great.

edit - and holy shit that sale is great. I am almost : ) angry I own all of them except FUEL.

Ah well, guess I will get FUEL too, even if it sucks, the huge world might be worth it for 3 euros.

[rei]

while the steam copy of dirt says it's not win7 compatible, i find using the 'nrv-DiRT12' nocd works best. the 1.21 nocd crashes for me. i had to make another copy of the workermap4core.xml to replace workermap8core.xml in order to get dirt 1 to work on my i7.

[McKnight]

while the steam copy of dirt says it's not win7 compatible, i find using the 'nrv-DiRT12' nocd works best. the 1.21 nocd crashes for me. i had to make another copy of the workermap4core.xml to replace workermap8core.xml in order to get dirt 1 to work on my i7.

Hmm... I'm running with an i5 core, I wonder if I'll have to do the same? Still I think I'll install Dirt 1 and play around with it for a bit, then maybe GRID next month. Leave Dirt 2 on the side for a little while unless of course I fall in love with 1 and need more Dirt on my computer. Does anyone know if they are 360 pad compatible?

Oh and no love for Toca3 then?

[spiffy]

Oh and no love for Toca3 then?

Toca3 was fine for it's time, but if you have Grid and any of the Dirt games, you've pretty much covered everything available in it. Not to mention it's much longer in the tooth graphically.

[Bandersnatch]

Does anyone know if they are 360 pad compatible?

Only tried DiRT 2 and FUEL so far and both have worked with the 360 pad without any setup.

[Fugitive]

TOCA 3 still has some other interesting stuff like the shifter karts, winged sprint cars, and lower-tier open wheel races. The physics seemed a bit off, but it's a nice sampling of a very wide variety of racing types.

[Union Carbide]

Yeah IMHO TOCA3 holds up, it's got a lot of really oddball vehicle types in it. In addition to the ones mentioned above, it's got monster trucks, semis, baja beetles and all kinds of goofy shit in it. Bonus: Nicky Grist calls the pacenotes on all the rally stages, just like the oldschool Colin McRae games.

[marxeil]

I'm really enjoying Dirt2. One thing though, I'm using a gamepad (thrustmaster if it makes any difference) and the steering feels a little bit "digital". Is it possible to set steering to be less sensitive? I don't know what all the dead zone things are.

[jabroni]

I'm happy with how Dirt 2 feels with a wheel (G25), which is not usually one of Codemasters' strong points. Grid is pretty crappy with it, though, which makes me worry about how Dirt 1 will drive with it. Dirt 2 feels pretty lacking in the rally department.

[marxeil]

I'm happy with how Dirt 2 feels with a wheel (G25), which is not usually one of Codemasters' strong points. Grid is pretty crappy with it, though, which makes me worry about how Dirt 1 will drive with it. Dirt 2 feels pretty lacking in the rally department.
I tried my momo and surprisingly it worked pretty well.

[Tim James]

This was probably already mentioned, but my only major concern with the game (other than a dearth of rally stages and road camber, like I mentioned) is its ratio of racing to menus and loading screens and other fluff. Going to the circuits with multiple legs seems to help a bit.

I also get a funny bug where my view starts locked to the rear, and my rear view button makes it look ahead. After a few restarts I usually press the right buttons to make it go away somehow.

[Tim James]

Finally finished up with the game. The rally world tour was perfect for me -- five long stages back to back. If they had made another five long ones for another world tour, it would have been awesome.

I also liked the Colin McRae Challenge because it gave me an excuse to use the old Ford Escort.

The only other event I enjoyed was trailblazer because of the high speeds, especially with the open wheel car, but I crashed a lot there. I didn't like how when you did a full crash the replay system started you at the end, and you had to sloooowly rewind to get to a point where you could recover. Stupid Codemasters, although I can't complain about too much else from them except for the load times.

[rei]

Anyone have intermittent freeze on exit with DiRT 2 for Windows? Running DX11 Steam version in Win7x64.