DiRT Rally 2.0 DiRT Rally 2.0 - Codemasters Masterpiece

Paul Jeffrey

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DiRT Rally 2.0 – Codemasters Greatest Achievement yet?


Following on from the surprisingly impressive DiRT Rally of 2015, Codemasters have plenty of expectation resting on their shoulders for the new game – and they have seriously delivered.

The wait for a true successor to the fabled Richard Burns Rally has been a long and often frustrating journey for rally fans, with many pretenders stepping into the ring only to be seemingly knocked straight back out again, including it has to be said Codemasters themselves - although the original DiRT Rally was certainly the closest yet to dethroning the widely acclaimed king of rally games.

Despite lacking an official World Rally Championship licence, and initially shipping without some of the more popular content from the original title, DiRT Rally 2.0 immediately comes out of the starting gates with plenty of headline grabbing new features and goodies, over and above the original title and even introducing things that have yet to be seen within the rally game genre.

Dropping the well-intentioned but poorly executed stage generator from Dirt 4, Codemasters have instead switched their attentions to developing deformable surfaces within this new release – introducing a crucial element of the real world category into the simulation and opening up a significant aspect of strategy and tyre management that was so starkly missing from the first title.

Codemasters have done stage deformation very, very well, adding to DiRT Rally 2.0 a significant increase into the depth and richness of the driving experience, whilst also increasing the useful playability of the game. With this new feature active on all locations within the title, in theory each pass of the same stage can present a wholly different driving experience, depending on the conditions of the roads and weather at the time of departure, as well as your running order in the rally itself. Start further back; expect to encounter a less than ideal road surface when out on stage.

This aspect alone makes DiRT Rally 2.0 worth the price of entry for me, and is one of the single biggest improvements Codemasters have made to any of their racing game franchise in the last 10 years. It’s that good.

The feel of the road under your wheels, and the way the car reacts to those different road surfaces, is improved considerably over the original game – itself a step above the competition in the rally game marketplace. Codemasters have clearly spent much time fine-tuning the car reaction to different racing surfaces, and these details shine through clearly when strapped into your virtual car of choice.

While we talk about cars, DiRT 2.0 does a very respectable job of presenting a nicely entertaining selection of vehicles right from the very off – with various different classes of car represented in the game more than making up for the lack of a modern WRC licence. Returning once again are the Group B monsters from the 1980’s, however Codemasters have attempted to mix things up a little by sprinkling a wide variety of different cars into the sim – so lovers of modern machinery still have something to enjoy thanks to the R5 class – featuring such beauties as the Skoda Fabia and VW Golf amongst others, while those of us with longer memories get a bonus with plenty of historic content – the ultimate king of which has to be the 90’s Group N era and the stunning Subaru Imprezza of Colin McRae, still iconic some 24 years after the great Scotsman took to the stages of the world in that wonderful car.

Traditional point-to-point rally cars aside, DiRT Rally 2.0 also does a very good job of representing the FIA World Rally cross category of racing – with plenty of content from the main series and various support categories available to do battle over what appear to be significantly updated and improved rally cross stages. More of which are set to come in future DLC packs for the game.

DiRT Rally 2.0 Full Car List

This category really has stepped up over the original DiRT Rally in almost every way, now offering a very convincing and visually stunning experience for players to enjoy. WRX has impressed me the most this time around, really stepping up in every aspect to present a very, very enjoyable representation of the category within DiRT Rally 2.0.

Moving on to the driving experience itself, I need to talk about wheel support for a little while – boring I know, but worth a few moments of your time.

I am using the SimCube OSW Direct Drive wheel for this test, and it needs to be noted that this isn’t a supported device out of the box, so some fun and games need to be had in order to get it working and producing force feedback within the sim. Plenty of google searching and overwriting of internal game files later, the wheel is now a functioning device within DiRT Rally! However, although “working” and producing force feedback, at least at this early stage I’ve been left very underwhelmed by the level of detail the force feedback is producing through my wheel. Ok, I’m getting some weight in the wheel, and the absolutely major hits and jolts are registering, but the very fine detail and the small things that communicate from the road surface to the car just aren’t present at the moment, which has frankly left me feeling a little bit disappointed.

The surface detail just doesn't feel present in the game, leaving me the impression of driving over smooth surfaces no matter what car I choose. I suspect this is specific to my own wheel, however increasingly I'm hearing of others with similar experiences, using different wheels, so that could be something to keep an eye out for as more and more people gain access to the title. What I will say however, is that the physics do feel more convincing than DR1, with more of a weight transfer feel than the previous release, and generally just stepping up the feeling over and above the original release.

DiRT 2.0 Supported Peripherals

Now to be fair I’m hearing plenty from the community about how they feel the handling of DR2.0 has improved over previous games, so I’m left wondering if it is more down to my own wheel configuration, coupled with the fact OSW isn’t supported out of the box, that is leaving me with a numb ffb experience from the title. With this in mind, during my review I am going to deliberately step away from further ffb and handling discussions, as I can’t be sure exactly which parameters are affecting my experience at this stage. I will say however, with the OSW patch and my current settings, for a driver at my (low) level of skill, the handling and feedback experience is ok, if a little "flat", although it certainly doesnt reach the heights achieved by so much else within the game…

… and those heights are very high indeed.

DiRT Rally 2.0 is shaping up to be the thing that pretty much every sim racer has been wanting to see since the glory days of Richard Burns Rally back 2004, small issues aside – hard-core, visually stunning, plenty of gameplay depth, audibly outstanding and with enough detail to present a game that you just want to keep heading back to for more and more punishment out on the stages.

Oh, and it finally has good mouse support to !

As for a career mode, DiRT 2.0 does play around with this idea, but somehow feels like it hasn’t quite gone far enough to capture the imagination over longer periods of time. Here you can hire and fire people for your team, however as a long time doubter of the usefulness of career mode style gameplay features, the lack of any depth in this department isn’t something that will keep me awake at night – anything that delays going out on stage – the actual core of the game – is best kept to a minimum in my opinion, and is a sideshow at best. It’s also worth pointing out that all cars and stages are accessible from the off, so no need for any long grinding through the game to get that car / rally combo you’ve been wanting to try.. Thankfully.

DiRT Rally 2.0 does some things very well, and some things can on occasion feel a little bit under loved, almost as if the studio have been that keen to make the action on stage as best as it can be, leaving the stuff on the edges of the driving experience a little bit behind the main gameplay itself. Frankly, this is something that is very easy to overlook, as the good things within this title are just exceptional, and more than make up for any of the small annoyances here and there.

Does DiRT Rally 2.0 deserve the unofficial crown as king of all rally Sims past and present? I think so, and by quite a margin.

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 share your 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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cant believe removed my video thread on dirt rally 2.0 because im not a premium member. :rolleyes:
That's absolutely not the reason.
The reasons are:
1. Videos are supposed to be uploaded into the RD video section
2. your thread only promoted your yt channel and nothing else
3. Point 2 underlined by the fact that you didn't answer even one single question or comment in that thread and just continued to spam video links
4. The fact that you first spam the forums to promote your channel and then hijack another thread with a completely off topic post which only is a public bash with a false assumption shows that you're an idiot
 
Hi,

I'm not sure if I should post it here or in the "DR 2.0 - out now" thread, but since most of the conversation was here I think it's more appropiate to do it here.

I would like to thank @Martin Fiala and @MarkR and last but not least @Paul Jeffrey for spending their valuable time trying to convince everybody that DR 2.0 is more than recent game and it's really worth buying and play now (before the much anticpated FFB / Racenet patch).

It was kind of "emotional rollercoaster" for me after the release of DR 2.0. I'm really big fan of DR1 and I was hoping for DR 2.0 to be the descent successor of one of my favourite games ever (in may 30+ years history of gaming). DR1 was the game that caught me in to simracing - I started it playing on pad, then moved to T150, T300 and now I'm Fanatec + Simlab Rig simracer... well... that escalted quickly..

And this the anti-hype after the release.. all these rumors about broken FFB and all the suspicions about the honesty of YouTubers and people who do the reviews for most influential simracing site... Well... I was kind of devasted...

But what changed my I attitude was the posts of Martin and Mark who were trying to convince people like me, people who were hesitating, people who wanted DR2.0 to be the game at least as good as DR1 and people who didn't want to be fooled (again) by marketing campaigns of income driven capitalist corporation, convince them that if they loved DR1 they will love DR2.0 too...
And I'm really, really happy that they (and few others) did their best to share the good news "DIRT RALLY 2.0 is the Masterpiece!"

Moreover I'm sure it would be even better for me if I hadn't spent first couple of hours focusing on what information about the road I'm missing (becouse of the "broken FFB") and how much my fun is diminished becouse of that. The moment I decided to switch from concentrating on the problems (problems of other people as it turned out) to having as much fun as I can from the game I really like was the moment when I was lost to world...
I've already spent something like 15+ hours playing DR2.0 (mostly last weekend) and I can feel that there is much more to come. I think I'm not going to play iRacing nor AC for at least next couple of weeks (months?) - of course excluding rides with my fellow rider @Ken Bell :)

Maybe ACC would be able to take me away from the wilderness of rally tracks straight into the GT world...? But there is one thing that I'm sure of: I'm going to be very careful who I'm going to believe when I will decide if this game is worth the time to spend (I've already spend the money... ;-))

So guys... Thank you again! You've done amazing job and I really appreciate the fun I'm having thanks to you.

BTW - Sorry for my English, as you can guess it's not my primiary language. I'm living about 200 km from to Łęczna County (I guess I'm going there for my next vacation - maybe not the best place from the six locations in DR2.0, but definetly the closest one xD).
 
  • Deleted member 197115

Steam rating slid from Mostly Positive to Mixed, not a word from Codies on upcoming patch. :(
 
I had no idea I'm actually persuading someone, I don't think I'm trying to ;)

I'm living about 200 km from to Łęczna County (I guess I'm going there for my next vacation - maybe not the best place from the six locations in DR2.0, but definetly the closest one xD).

Just be aware that while the stages use names from around Łęczna, they are technically not physically located there, they are located a fair way up north from there. The Zaróbka stage is actually the Baranowo stage from Rally Poland, and the Jezioro Rotcze stage is actually the Stare Juchy stage (with the rest of the stages being either reversed versions of these two stages or their portions.

This seems to apply to all the stages in DR2, apparently part of how they are able to get away with featuring real life stages in the game.
 
Hi,

I'm not sure if I should post it here or in the "DR 2.0 - out now" thread, but since most of the conversation was here I think it's more appropiate to do it here.

I would like to thank @Martin Fiala and @MarkR and last but not least @Paul Jeffrey for spending their valuable time trying to convince everybody that DR 2.0 is more than recent game and it's really worth buying and play now (before the much anticpated FFB / Racenet patch).

It was kind of "emotional rollercoaster" for me after the release of DR 2.0. I'm really big fan of DR1 and I was hoping for DR 2.0 to be the descent successor of one of my favourite games ever (in may 30+ years history of gaming). DR1 was the game that caught me in to simracing - I started it playing on pad, then moved to T150, T300 and now I'm Fanatec + Simlab Rig simracer... well... that escalted quickly..

And this the anti-hype after the release.. all these rumors about broken FFB and all the suspicions about the honesty of YouTubers and people who do the reviews for most influential simracing site... Well... I was kind of devasted...

But what changed my I attitude was the posts of Martin and Mark who were trying to convince people like me, people who were hesitating, people who wanted DR2.0 to be the game at least as good as DR1 and people who didn't want to be fooled (again) by marketing campaigns of income driven capitalist corporation, convince them that if they loved DR1 they will love DR2.0 too...
And I'm really, really happy that they (and few others) did their best to share the good news "DIRT RALLY 2.0 is the Masterpiece!"

Moreover I'm sure it would be even better for me if I hadn't spent first couple of hours focusing on what information about the road I'm missing (becouse of the "broken FFB") and how much my fun is diminished becouse of that. The moment I decided to switch from concentrating on the problems (problems of other people as it turned out) to having as much fun as I can from the game I really like was the moment when I was lost to world...
I've already spent something like 15+ hours playing DR2.0 (mostly last weekend) and I can feel that there is much more to come. I think I'm not going to play iRacing nor AC for at least next couple of weeks (months?) - of course excluding rides with my fellow rider @Ken Bell :)

Maybe ACC would be able to take me away from the wilderness of rally tracks straight into the GT world...? But there is one thing that I'm sure of: I'm going to be very careful who I'm going to believe when I will decide if this game is worth the time to spend (I've already spend the money... ;-))

So guys... Thank you again! You've done amazing job and I really appreciate the fun I'm having thanks to you.

BTW - Sorry for my English, as you can guess it's not my primiary language. I'm living about 200 km from to Łęczna County (I guess I'm going there for my next vacation - maybe not the best place from the six locations in DR2.0, but definetly the closest one xD).
What I really love about DR 2.0 and what I didn't find yet anywhere else (RBR is a bit too old for me yet, sorry):
Coming with 180 kp/h closer to a hairpin on wet gravel and you really have to brake down to even 25 kp/h sometimes, pull the handbrake, let the wheel run into opposite lock and make a veeeeerrryyyy slow but continuous drift with about 15% of throttle. Doing the whole drift below 40 kp/h and only when straight again put the foot down and go back to speed.
I really feel like "going fast and dangerous" in DR 2 and the SAT is brilliant imo.
Only thing confusing me is that you don't feel anything from the deep ruts on the gravel. I'm sure a real wheel would shake a bit left and right when going over them...
 
Coming with 180 kp/h closer to a hairpin on wet gravel and you really have to brake down to even 25 kp/h sometimes, pull the handbrake, let the wheel run into opposite lock and make a veeeeerrryyyy slow but continuous drift with about 15% of throttle. Doing the whole drift below 40 kp/h and only when straight again put the foot down and go back to speed.
(I still maintain that SLRE makes this feel even better, especially in Wales on mud ;) )
 
With games that may be important to me, I'm a late adopter. Maybe in some months, with some patches, some extra content included... That way my first impression won't be so bad. No hurry for me. I have Dirt Rally 1 to play.
 
So I think the softlock issues are really just visual (for me, at least). The soft lock is where it is supposed to be on the wheel and the cars seem to respond as they should, it's just that the virtual wheel is stuck at 540 degrees for some reason. But the workaround for that is fairly simple and identical to the original Dirt Rally - turn off driver hands...

As for the cars that use 1080 degrees, the Alpine seems to be one of them. The Abarth seems to be using slightly less according to where it's soft lock is, maybe something like 1050 (I believe I did see a figure like that mentioned somewhere a while back).
 
So I think the softlock issues are really just visual (for me, at least). The soft lock is where it is supposed to be on the wheel and the cars seem to respond as they should, it's just that the virtual wheel is stuck at 540 degrees for some reason. But the workaround for that is fairly simple and identical to the original Dirt Rally - turn off driver hands...

As for the cars that use 1080 degrees, the Alpine seems to be one of them. The Abarth seems to be using slightly less according to where it's soft lock is, maybe something like 1050 (I believe I did see a figure like that mentioned somewhere a while back).

Is every cars virtual wheel stuck at 540 for you? What happens if you turn soft lock off and use 900 for all cars? Is the virtual wheel still only rotating 540?
 
@bogani So yeah, it seems that if I turn off soft lock, the cars use the full rotation as set on the wheel while the virtual wheel animation is out of sync unless I turn off driver hands or unless I set the wheel to 540 degrees.
 

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