Codemasters DiRT Rally 2.0 versus DiRT 4

[Daehawk]

Dirt 4 is 99 cents on fanatical right now.

[Rumpy]

I'm nearly done with this, finishing up the Rally portion of the Tri-Crown event, so this is my final assessment.

They should have subtitled it Dirt 4: Fun Not Included. They took out nearly everything I liked about Dirt by making it a more serious game. I came to the Dirt series because it didn't seem to take itself too seriously. I liked the aspect of Xtreme sports and really missed it in Dirt 4. Improving the physics is one thing, but it shouldn't come at a detriment of everything else. Some cars just handle so badly, and I don't mean that in the sense of not being able to handle them in general, because some cars handle quite good with the new physics system, but some seem to have a mind of their own and become undriveable even when you're being careful with them. There seems to be one sole axis per car as they'll often spin in place and they seem especially attracted to fences. The focus is on Rallying, which you can really tell when it's easily the longest campaign of the game, but I don't remember Dirt 3 being quite this way, which felt like it was more equally divided, and I actually prefer the Rallycross and Truck portions of this game. Tonally, it feels like a completely different game, without the spirit of previous Dirt releases.

I've been having a real struggle with the game, from technical issues to getting into the mood because the feel of this game is just so drab.

[Kasey Chang]

You need to mess with the suspension settings to make the RWD cars more stable for the surface you're driving on, and be ready to adopt a different driving style for the different surfaces. AWD cars can dive into a corner yet be able to claw back into a proper driving line for the maximum speed exit. RWD or FWD vehicles can't do that. On some of the RWD cars the rear wheels "push" too much that you don't have the front traction to manage it. So you need to HARDEN UP the rear suspension to force LESS traction while soften up the front to achieve a balance you can control. Once you can enter the corner properly, play with the front and rear settings. Also need to practice Scandinavian flick where you deliberately upset the car to get the rear wheel loose and so on. The ultimate would probably be where simple braking would allow you to loosen the rear wheels so you drift around the corner.

I kinda agree and I kinda don't regarding which part of the game is fun. If you want more short-track bumper-grinding races, you'll probably get more kick out of Gravel game instead of Dirt 4.

[disarm]

It's kind of funny that you mention missing the "extreme sports feel" and missing the spirit of earlier games. The original Dirt was a pretty hardcore, unforgiving rally game that didn't have any of the 'attitude' that started in Dirt2. It also focused very heavily on solo rally stages, with only a few rallycross and rally raid events. I actually enjoyed the original much more than Dirt2 because the AI for other drivers could be very frustrating. The later stages left very little margin for error in order to win, but the AI cars would often mess you up despite running your own otherwise perfect race. I quit playing the series after 2 because they seemed to steer away from much of what I enjoyed...tense, challenging rally stages that relied entirely on your own skill to set the fastest time.

If the newer games have gone back to the original point-to-point rally focus, maybe I should check the series out again...

[Rumpy]

Ok, fair enough. I guess that means I prefer the feel from Dirt 2 and 3. I never played Dirt 1 or 2. Coming off Dirt 3 and having really enjoyed it, I guess I expected a much more fun experience. Thing is, I do like Rally to a certain extent, but this was so dull. It needed more tiles, hazards and varied scenery. Perhaps they should go back to the handcrafted stages.

Kasey, yeah but given that the previous game had a much different focus and that you could just jump in and not worry about that stuff and then expect that someone should have to in Dirt 4 is a pretty big shift, fundamentally speaking, and it's a bit much to ask. And the technical issues I've been facing have made me want to spend the least amount of time with it. Case in point, I wanted to play Dirt, not Dirt Rally. This feels like it leaned too much towards Dirt Rally. Thanks for the Gravel recommendation. I'll check it out.

[Kasey Chang]

Different people expect different things from the game. I agree that Dirt 4 did tone down much of the Gymkhana stuff and concentrated more on rallying, but still have rallycross and stadium trucks. But I personally *hate* gymkhana stuff, as it's not my driving style, so I enjoy Dirt 4 a lot more than Dirt 3 (which I did enjoy, but I barely pass the Gymkhana bits).

Just a note on Gravel... Change your car settings to get an advantage over AI cars.

[Rumpy]

Oh, I didn't care much for the Gymkhana stuff. That's one thing I surely didn't miss. But even with the existence of the Stadium Trucks and Rallycross, it felt like they had been demoted, with Rally getting more prominence. At least with Dirt 3, I felt it had an overall more consistent experience and everything had an equal role.

[Rumpy]

Finally done with this one. The final stages seemed to be trolling me. I have a hard time understanding how I could have a car that loses power immediately after a repair session, but yeah, it would happen. And the annoying thing is, it's a persistent status, which means it stays with you over multiple stages. So, I'd have lack of power making a difficult stages even worse.

[Alefroth]

Maybe Dirt 5 is more of what you wanted out of Dirt 4. It appears to have left the hard core point to point rally to the Rally series.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, it looks like it. I always thought that once they had Dirt Rally, that they'd have the more serious stuff there and make this the more casual game.

[Kasey Chang]

FWIW, I've put up a few videos on Gravel on my Youtube Channel and linked them on Steam, so it's in my activities feed.