DiRT Rally 2.0 DiRT 2.0 Dev Insight 3: Rising to the Top

[Paul Jeffrey]

Another new, and very short 'dev insight' video has been released for DiRT Rally 2.0.

To be perfectly honest the video isn't that much to write home about.. or right to our readers at RD about either come to mention it, but it does come with some nice new screenshots of the game, so I thought it probably worthwhile to throw a few words together.

By now I'm sure we are all aware that DiRT 2.0 is a thing, and will be released in early 2019 (February 26th to be precise). Unlike its very popular predecessor DiRT Rally, a game that frankly no-one had a clue about until it dropped on Steam Early Access all of a sudden, Codemasters have very much taken a different route to market with the new release - following the more traditional and well worn path of announcing the title far in advance, and using the following months to keep pushing out a steady stream of new information and game footage to keep fans on the edge of their seats.

Now when Codies first confirmed they would be running a series of 'Developer Insights' videos I admit my curiosity was peaked. I've always enjoyed having a look behind the curtain so to speak, and like many of us I'm very curious to see more of the game in action prior to getting my hands on a copy directly. Sadly, the insight series isn't quite as in depth as I would of liked (the latest video being less than one minute in length), but I am pleased to report it comes with some new screenshots of cars I enjoy set to feature in the title - including a rather pleasing Colin McRae spec Subaru Impreza WRC and the lovely Lancia Stratos HF...

A feast for the eyes? Oh yes...

DiRT Rally 2.0 will release February 26th 2019.

If you want to discussion the game with our passionate community, and read about the latest news, check out the RaceDepartment DiRT Rally 2.0 Sub Forum for a great place to pick up mods, catch the latest news and chat about the game with our community. Give it a go, just keep it DiRTy!

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[KittX]

#NoVolvo940NoBuy

 

[cmtr]

0:31 Does that really look realistic? Dude cant follow the corner but have to do tiny flicks in a robotic perfect sequence. I dont know. Looks gamey.

Maybe the in-game steering animation is a bit slow to catch movements (90% of you will probably play with it turned off anyway) but it's a FWD car. That kind of steering movement is basically what you do all the time in an FWD.

 

[Metla]

What I'm getting from this thread is I should buy WRC 7?

 

[tunaphis]

@ Metla. I've tried (oh I've tried) to see the WRC series as a decent game but no,It just can't get there.The game just doesn't draw you in imo like a CM's effort.It's a shame more developers don't understand how a pure stage rally game would impact the sim racing community.I blame the FIA (a non-profit org.) for stifling developers who wish to enter this category.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Warthog?

Yes, but no.

They were bought (or, 'acquired' as it's often called) by Gizmondo in 2004 shortly after the release of RBR, and they worked exclusively on the Gizmondo, until Gizmondo went bankrupt.
The key-staff started a new studio, got bought by TT and renamed.
All the movie -> LEGO games these days, like the Harry Potter, Ninjago, etc. are made by TT Fusion, which is the company that was started by many of the former Warthog guys.
Quite fitting really, as the last released games from Warthog was a couple of Animaniacs games.

 

[daandw]

#NoPriusNoBuy

 

[ShredatorFIN]

What I'm getting from this thread is I should buy WRC 7?

Stages are the best in any rally game. Physics, pretty good. At least you can make big controlled powerdrifts and it feels intuitive, unlike Dirt 4. Surprisingly simmy physics, considering WRC series before 7 never was simmy. FFB not greatest, sound pretty meh too

Make sure you have Spring enabled in your profiler/driver, if you test WRC7. The mediocre FFB becomes downright broken, if you don't have it

@ Metla. I've tried (oh I've tried) to see the WRC series as a decent game but no,It just can't get there.

WRC as a series is trash, but WRC7 is better than the others. It's clearly more simulator-esque than WRC 6, that already tried to steer away from the series arcade roots.

They also made the stages narrower and more dangerous than WRC6, they are quite tough stages. Tougher than the ones in Dirt Rally

FFB is kind of meh, that's my only true gripe. Especially lack of SAT, it's just so weird. Physics feel fine (for a modern rally car, that they are), you feel grip loss and road details from FFB but the wheel doesn't self-align in some situations where you think it should

 

[KittX]

Stages are the best in any rally game.

Well, I can't say it so surely. Finland isn't either visual representation of Finland, or Finnish stages in general. DR's Finland was spot on. Although visuals still are off a bit.

The more I look at D4 now, the more I feel what a wasted opportunity it was - IMO the graphics there is much better than DR or even previews of DR2 so far. Finally there was no annoying blur, and the colors & lighting seem better even that DR2 currently. The weather effects were spot on - there was proper effect of cloud shadow, when you can go half the stage in shadow, and everything is grey-ish and blue-ish, less direct light or less direct shadows, then the sun comes and everything looks totally different. Even current-gen circuit sims don't have that much of difference. And if they have - it's whole track is changing the lighting, while in D4 you could see how the shadow is coming and covering the terrain progressively. The puddle mapping was really great, especially tarmac one looked way more realistic then current racing sims, again.
Then there was a really great carreer mode and ability to paint your car whatever you want.
From what I've seen so far, none of that was migrated to DR2, well apart from puddle maps. If only the physics or stage design were good, eh

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Well, I can't say it so surely. Finland isn't either visual representation of Finland, or Finnish stages in general. DR's Finland was spot on. Although visuals still are off a bit.

Well yes the Finland stages are a bit letdown, and visually off indeed. But most of them are amazing, narrow, dangerous, with varying scenery. And how can someone not love the 23 KM Polish stage.

Dirt 4 is wasted opportunity indeed, the rally physics... Stage generator didn't have nearly enough tiles though, but as a concept I'm kind of disappointed they abandoned it, instead building on it. Graphics and sounds were good, RX and Landrush was good even physics wise. It was just the rallying that was horrible

 

[theravenousbeast]

There was a podcast with Coleman I listened a while back and from what I understood while they were happy with the track generator it took too much manpower to create even the "few" tiles they did. He felt that this was the best they could manage the generator considering Codemasters' standards of graphics and today's available hardware for the end users. He thinks it might come back in the future when they figure out how to make it more computer-generated rather than the usual design work.

 

[KittX]

There was a podcast with Coleman I listened a while back and from what I understood while they were happy with the track generator it took too much manpower to create even the "few" tiles they did. He felt that this was the best they could manage the generator considering Codemasters' standards of graphics and today's available hardware for the end users. He thinks it might come back in the future when they figure out how to make it more computer-generated rather than the usual design work.

I might sound a big mouth about this, but the time the designers need to make entire new long stages to be really good, probably would equal the time to make tiles better.
Most of D4's features tho I'm really missing the weather and graphics, because well I'm not particularily all for graphics guy, and it was not that different from DR or DR2, but the lighting and all the colors and details were just so natural, and the sun effects too, you just felt "there". From what I saw so far DR2 looks really good, but it's more the DR look, the postprocess effects and colors, it is more cinematic but less natural. And the skydomes to me look like they're from Dutch Skies library, which may not be the case, but very similar look. I really hope they will be dynamic, but from what I've seen so far they aren't.

 

[bogani]

I might sound a big mouth about this, but the time the designers need to make entire new long stages to be really good, probably would equal the time to make tiles better.
Most of D4's features tho I'm really missing the weather and graphics, because well I'm not particularily all for graphics guy, and it was not that different from DR or DR2, but the lighting and all the colors and details were just so natural, and the sun effects too, you just felt "there". From what I saw so far DR2 looks really good, but it's more the DR look, the postprocess effects and colors, it is more cinematic but less natural. And the skydomes to me look like they're from Dutch Skies library, which may not be the case, but very similar look. I really hope they will be dynamic, but from what I've seen so far they aren't.

There are lots of people who prefer DR graphics over Dirt 4, as well as the other way around. It's seems to divide people.
While I like the better lighting of D4 I can also appreciate the slightly more washed out color palette of DR. In DR you also get the feeling of looking through a wind screen while in D4 it's so clean you don't really notice it.

Another thing I noticed while doing triple screen in both titles is that the peripheral tree line you see is much smoother in DR compared to D4. In D4 it almost becomes a distraction as it looks so rough. No idea why it is like that.

 

[KittX]

There are lots of people who prefer DR graphics over Dirt 4, as well as the other way around. It's seems to divide people.
While I like the better lighting of D4 I can also appreciate the slightly more washed out color palette of DR. In DR you also get the feeling of looking through a wind screen while in D4 it's so clean you don't really notice it.

Another thing I noticed while doing triple screen in both titles is that the peripheral tree line you see is much smoother in DR compared to D4. In D4 it almost becomes a distraction as it looks so rough. No idea why it is like that.

I agree about colors, though the washed out colors in DR are a little too much.
The distraction thingy is actually nothing wrong about I think. If you drive through a narrow forest road on a sunny day, you'll experience something similar. Little shadows everywhere on everything, sun glimmering through the trees, high contrast between illuminated parts of terrain and shaded ones. Only the shadows are a bit dimmer, not that dark, but overall it's very distractive. The AA of shadows though in D4 is quite weak, that makes everything a little more glimmering than it should. And I think overall excessive blur and post-processing is applied exactly to eliminate this problem, which most likely is a limitation of an engine. Still, I prefer D4 approach to this better.

 

[theravenousbeast]

I'm delighted that they actually managed to get rid of that feeling on tarmac for Dirt Rally 2. It was there when we started testing the handling prototype but after new builds based on feedback it feels very good, even on tarmac.

So what happened @bogani ? Tarmac looks pretty much like it was in 4. I didn't mind it in 4, just curious.

 

[bogani]

So what happened @bogani ? Tarmac looks pretty much like it was in 4. I didn't mind it in 4, just curious.

The only explanation I have is that the roads in Spain are very different from the tarmac stage we ran the tests on. Without saying too much we tested on a pretty flat stage from 'ze' Dirt Rally. See what I did there
The flowing Spanish road with lots of camber seems to have an impact of how it feels i guess.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

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