Rally games vs Road/circuit racing games: A debate on which is more challenging

Hello gentlemen.

I have been playing a lot of Dirt 2 lately. It's a fun game. While playing it, I couldn't help but wonder if the cars in this game are more difficult to control than the ones in a full on road/circuit racing sim such as iRacing?

The more I play Dirt 2, the more I have an appreciation for real Rally drivers. Seriously these cars are a ***** to drive! The Ford Escort MkII and the Ford RS200 in particular are extremely difficult to push hard around the track. I'm getting a little better at driving them but can't help but think that if I can drive these cars I can drive *ANYTHING*.

Which brings us to iRacing. Lots of people have said iRacing is the pinnacle of sims and driving its cars are among the most challenging in any sim/game ever. I have read this claim numerous times. I am subscribed to iRacing, but have only driven the Mazda MX5 so I can't really validate this claim.

But let's take the higher license class cars for example. The Williams F1, the Ford Mustang, the Corvette and the Lotus '79 have been said to be cars that are very difficult to drive fast. Honestly though, are those cars REALLY harder to drive than the rally cars found in Dirt 2? In fact, can any car in iRacing match the Ford Escort MkII in Dirt 2 in terms of difficulty and instability? I honestly cannot see any iRacing car being as tail happy as that car. It is extremely prone to spinning out. If you so much as graze an object or barely collide with another vehicle, you will be facing the opposite direction before you can say "Oh s***!!".

The other challenge with rallying is obviously racing on dirt as opposed to pavement. This difference changes the dynamic of driving in such a significant way. Not to mention the narrowness of the tracks in rally games and the many trackside objects that lay along the side of the road. If I never see another palm tree or boulder in my life it will be too soon lol. Because of the dirt aspect of rallying, counter-steering extremely quickly is a MUST! Is there any car in iRacing that requires counter-steering the way a rally car does? I wonder.

Rally racing games are such a different animal to road racing sims. I like both but when I stepped into the world of Dirt 2, it was instantly apparent to me just how more challenging it feels to drive rally cars than road circuit ones.

I would like to get your opinions on this matter. Does anyone else here agree or disagree? Anyone here play both Dirt 2 and iRacing, and can offer a thorough comparison between the two in terms of sheer challenge and difficulty? Which kind of car do you feel is harder to maintain control with? Which kind of car requires most of the utmost precision and care in both steering and throttle control?

And which do you personally find more rewarding and fun to drive?
 
Meh Dirt 2. You should try Richard Burns Rally, and the Group B cars, or Escorts or the brilliant Volvo 242 there.


F1600 in netKar Pro, and now the Vintage, are tricky to drive and very rewarding. I don't play iRacing, but I think there's a F1600 equivalent there.
 
Loool, Senad has summed it up nicely.
Rally driving (in a good Sim) is a great challenge but good fun. If you are finding Dirt 2 difficult, there is a whole new world of challenge awaiting you in Richard Burns Rally. :rolleyes: :cool:
 
I have to disagree with the idea that Dirt 2 is more difficult. I am a big fan of Dirt 2 and have spent a lot of time playing it, though i found it was quite easy and forgiving. The Mazda Mx-5 in iRacing is one of the easiest cars to drive in the sim. If you had said Richard Burns Rally then i would say that game requires a huge ammount of skill and concentration, but personally i think that to generally drive most of the cars in Dirt 2 require less skill than cars in iracing iRacing.
 
I have to disagree with the idea that Dirt 2 is more difficult. I am a big fan of Dirt 2 and have spent a lot of time playing it, though i found it was quite easy and forgiving. The Mazda Mx-5 in iRacing is one of the easiest cars to drive in the sim. If you had said Richard Burns Rally then i would say that game requires a huge ammount of skill and concentration, but personally i think that to generally drive most of the cars in Dirt 2 require less skill than cars in iracing iRacing.

Good point Ryan. I will give RBR a gander one of these days and see if I can make a better cumparision :)
 
This thread is laughable.
Why?

The main difference for me between rally and racetrack driving games (be they an arcade or sim) is that in rallying its you against the course/clock. With racing games its you on a track against a grid full of opponents. Totally different driving styles are required.

Unless you are road racing on tracks like Monaco, Macau, Toronto etc, you also have some room to allow for your driving errors. With rally, you are genrally travelling at high speed and one mistake finds you over a cliff, in to a tree, in the woods etc.

Two different disciplines, each where their own levels of difficulty IMO.
 
Saul,

If you're referring to Kev Ascher's post, he isn't comparing DIRT2 to iRacing, he's stating it as a question.....

Dirt 2 as challenging as iRacing?
Dirt 2 is an arcade racer my friend, Richard Burns Rally is ten times as challenging and rewarding :)

The thread is about the challenge of road/circuit racing -vs- rallying. We're not comparing rally games head-to-head against iRacing, they are just being used as an example of one discipline against another.

To some, DIRT2 or DIRT3 may be as much of a challenge as iRacing. If you think DIRT2 and 3 are easy, then all well and good, but it doesn't mean that someone who finds them a challenge is wrong. I personally find DIRT2 and 3 easier than iRacing, as they are arcade rally games, but they offer a challenge you don't get in iRacing (or rFactor, NetKar, GTR2, LFS etc) as you are rallying and not circuit racing. This is the only comparison I am seeing, not folks trying to claim that DIRT2 has car physics the equal of iRacing.

I find a Rubik's cube more of a challenge than iRacing. I would never compare it directly to iRacing, just that I find it more challenging. I have completed laps/races in iRacing, but never completed a Rubik's cube, lol.
 
There is no comparisons to be made guys...

Rally is all about beating the clock, dodging trees and such... Most cars are not very difficult to drive because they are FWD/AWD... It's just difficult to stay on track... Dealing with things you can't predict and such... Other than that, you just try to complete the stages without damaging the car... Of course, Group B stick shift cars are another subject ! :p

By the way, DIRT is rubbish ;)

Road racing on the other hand is all about, well, racing... You have to keep in mind that you have other drivers around you, you need to stay clean, you also can't predict what the guy in front or behind you might do... You have to look after you tyres and your fuel, watch for any debris on the track and such... You have to know what all flags mean and follow the rules...

It's totally different !
 
As daz has already said its two very different disciplines that require different skills, its like comparing apple to oranges. Its also a bit like that comparing oval racing to road. Those who have no knowledge of oval racing will tell you its boring and just guys going round in circles. Different kinds of racing require different skills so its hard to compare one to the other. As for the DIRT series I like it and have all the games on my HDD, they are not as completely arcade as some make out in my opinion.
 
Sorry if I didn't make my original post clear enough. But the topic was to debate on which is more challenging, Rally games vs Road games in sims. In the OP, he compares Dirt 2 to iRacing. That I found funny, because as Kevin said in his post "Dirt 2 is an arcade racer..." It's not a sim. I fully agree, RBR would be a much better title to compare difficulty with.. If we're talking sims..

In real life however, I'd say Rally and Road/Street racing would be equally as challenging yet very different. Simply because in both cases, the drivers are pushing their cars to their limits, and in both cases the consequence of driver error can be fatal..

The OP also said; "In fact, can any car in iRacing match the Ford Escort MkII in Dirt 2 in terms of difficulty and instability?" Which was where my comment of suggesting trying the Riley DP, or even the Skippy came from.
 
Do you think this thread would have caused as much of a fuss had the OP put the word rFactor instead of iRacing?

:D

If the two titles he has played are DIRT 2 and iRacing, then they are the two he is going to compare. I don't think its about whether one is better than the other in terms of graphics, physics, damage model, force feedback etc. etc.

Simply he finds some cars in the rally game difficult to handle and wondered if there were cars in iRacing that offered a similar challenge. Which then leads to his subject of Rally Games -vs- Road Racing Games/Sims and which is more challenging.

Why he is told to compare iRacing to RBR instead, I'm not sure. He wasn't asking which was the best rallying game/sim.
 
No disrespect intended, but the use of a subjective term like "more difficult" or "harder" is inherently flawed. What I mean by that is simply what may be hard for one may be easy for the next.

Without disputing the games mentioned by quality, similarity, etc, I'll try to stick to what I think is the topic - Is it harder to race track or rally games? Speaking only for myself, I say rally is harder. First, track based games strive for reality nowadays and typically use real world tracks. Being a race fan, I am familiar with a number of them. Even if it's an "artists conception" of the track and not a carbon copy a la iRacing, I know what to expect. I know I can keep it floored around Daytona, and if it's a pre-2011 rendition, that there'll be a helacious bumpy part mid corner. I know I can take T9 full out on Suzuka, but need to be ready to stuff the brakes on the hairpin coming up. I know those bloody cement corners in Nurburgring LOOK like you can zip through them, but the transition from tarmac to concrete is too upseting to do so. But rally? Umm...here's a dirt path through the woods. Go down it and try not to hit anything. It's point to point so there's no "learn by repeated lap" technique available. Just pin it, and when you see a turn, umm...turn. Oh yeah, but you can't just turn, you have to set the car up with a countersteer away then hard turn towards to break the car loose and pile in the corner sideways. Don't forget to use the front wheels to pull the car through and around the corner (That's my biggest problem, using FWD/AWD cars). I could go on, but you get my point.

For me, even if I got into rally and got good at it, rallying is too far from my race personality for me to excel at. I'm more of a technical robotic racer. Approaching the corner controlled, turning in controlled, getting on the gas controlled, saving tires and making slight adjustments as the tires come up and then go away. Keeping cool after a wiggle or bump from another car. In my short rally career (DIRT games, Gran Turismo 2 (I think)) there's a small bit of the technical aspect, but it seemed to be more of who's got the biggest pair. Who's going to fling their car into the corner the fastest, who's going to keep it wide open during a 45 degree yaw slide, who's going to skim a tree close enough to identify it by bark pattern... it's just not who I am as a sim racer. Put me on an ATV IRL and I'll blow your doors off, but I just can't translate that into games.
 

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