DiRT Rally DiRT Rally out on Steam Early Access

[Alex Franchini]

Codemasters has surprised everyone with today's launch of Dirt Rally on Steam, under the Early Access label.

Judging from the official Steam Announcement, Dirt Rally features at launch (which is right now) 17 cars and 36 stages taken from 3 different locations (Monte Carlo, Acropolis and Wales).

SEE ALSO: Brand New Community Made DiRT Rally Videos

As you can see from the announcement, one of the biggest bullet points is "Simulation Handling". While we still haven't tried it yet, Codemasters definitely seems to be aiming for a more unforgiving driving model, with a "brand new model that simulates everything from the way the surface of the road behaves to limited slip differentials." Exactly how sim-like it will be remains to be seen, but it's indeed a good start.

Dirt Rally will also feature asynchronous events, team management providing improved repair times, league support.

Dirt Rally is currently in Early Access and available for the price of 26,99€, and it's going to receive new content in the form of cars, tracks and features for free.

Are you surprised as well by the Codies' announcement? Let us know your opinion in the comments!

 

[timson72]

That they all of a sudden adapt the Early Access philosophy doesn't mean that the company is interested to hear your feedback / opinion. In the past they have ignored valuable feedback over and over again and I am very skeptical that this now at once has changed over night.

You can say your are interested to hear feedback but acting upon it is a totally different thing. The early access hype train worked great for PCars and Assetto Corsa and it's a good idea to follow this strategy.

But lets see what the outcome is. Will monitor it closely that's for sure

i dont think they have the luxury of a big budget anymore,so i think they will listen to the fans this time especially the hardcore rally fans,also the feel and handling is a million miles away from anything gone before.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

i dont think they have the luxury of a big budget anymore

Jep and when budgets are tight companies all of a sudden seem to remember that they have paying customers.

Codemasters should thank <insert higher power> that they have such a loyal fanbase.

 

[Ville-Samuli Mutanen]

When you put steering saturation to 50% it's much better, If you haven't notice already

From where? O_O

@Msportdan Yeah, I agree with you. Hard isn't equal for proper simulation but atm this is the hardest rally game I've driven so far. Mostly because of its unresponsive steering. Could be some setup issue or the MMOS controller lacking support.

 

[Quas]

Simulation handling


Would be a first for Codemasters, adonbilivit.

 

[Tomi]

@Ville-Samuli Mutanen maybe I was too hasty. I didn't remember to change steering rotation from logitech profiler to about 540 - 640 degrees. But that setting is under advansed controller settings or something like that.

Ps. I change pre rendered frames to 1 under Nvidia control panel just in case

 

[Mike85]

Mod-edit: http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/dirt-rally-videos.104624/

 

[Fabio Rodrigues]

Yeah, I agree with you. Hard isn't equal for proper simulation but atm this is the hardest rally game I've driven so far. Mostly because of its unresponsive steering. Could be some setup issue or the MMOS controller lacking support.

It's a long shot, but I believe Codemasters games used to have input lag issues if v-sync wasn't turned on... might be worth a try if it isn't.

 

[Patrik Marek]

this could be very interesting if they deliver more realisim
dones't have to be RBR, but something more realistic then Dirt3 would be great.

but I would especially prefer longer - more realistic -stages, then driving physics per say. I always really liked the old RAC Rallye, not becasue of the driving (that much) but bacuase it had that 20 minutes stages, damage was carried over from stage to stage until service zone, service zone only repaired what time they had for ..etc

 

[Paap Muru]

Don't know if it was a glitch or it's designed like that but I managed to stall my engine.
But I managed to keep on going cos the road went down hill.

 

[vee10]

If the amount of interest on the interweb is anything to go by, there is a still a market and a fanbase for a approximation at least of proper rallying, with realistic handling, no flashbacks, damage implemented correctly to some degree and also decent length stages. Why this was lost on developers for a while is anyone's guess.

 

[jimortality]

If the amount of interest on the interweb is anything to go by, there is a still a market and a fanbase for a approximation at least of proper rallying, with realistic handling, no flashbacks, damage implemented correctly to some degree and also decent length stages. Why this was lost on developers for a while is anyone's guess.

Let me know when you've bought it and what you think Paul, it's all about you mate so no pressure lol

 

[gamer19]

EuroGamer is quite favorable.
Interesting stuff to read. Check out that video review!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-04-27-dirt-rally-could-well-be-codemasters-first-real-sim

There's no mistaking that this is anything other than a simulation - and I don't think you've been able to say that of a rally game since 2004's much-loved Richard Burns Rally. Even that's not quite good enough for Coleman, though. "I haven't aimed at Richard Burns Rally and say I want to make a game as revered as Richard Burns is," he says. "However, my personal feeling and the feeling of a number of rally drivers I've spoken to who've had experience of Richard Burns Rally out of the box - I'm not talking about the modded version - certainly it's too hard. It's a simulation that goes beyond what is real, and if rally cars fully drove like that, there wouldn't be many rally drivers left in the world because they'd all be wrapped around trees."

Wow. There's no rewind feature anymore ?!? WTH?

 

[MentalTM]

bought and downloading now

 

[woz9us]

Bought and currently downloading. For all the hours of enjoyment I have gotten from the DiRT series, how could I not? Came as a massive shock and I can't wait to give this a try.

 

[Stelios]

Well i just tried it, triple screen support isnt excellent, its like RRRE, bareable.
My custom DD wheel doesnt want to play nice, but somehow got it to work with 270degrees of rotation... i can even feel each piece of gravel to the ffb... seems good but there is some lag in the ffb...i think.

Other than that, you can tell there are proper physics under the hood and not BS, tracks are REALLY well made... have to test more.

They surely have something going on there... cant wait when my wheel is supported...

 

[Łukasz Demolin]

Added the Eurogamer vid to the RaceTube.

All your "bought and downloading" comments are sooo tempting. And despite all their kerfuffles (think DiRT3 takin ages to leave GFWL) I always enjoyed the Codie-made games, from the first CMR and early TOCAs, RaceDrivers, even DiRTs (bar the first one). And the vids make it look really good. My poor 27 euros are aching to leave my wallet!

 

[TwilightZone]

just downloaded.....ran a few stages.....the night time stage was a lot of fun.....think this has a lot of potential. looking forward to the future updates...........;-)

 

[Ville-Samuli Mutanen]

Been driving a few hours now and I think its time to write some first impressions. Keep in mind that I've been driving only on gravel and with modern WRC cars.

Good:
- Really immersive looking environment
- Sounds pretty solid
- Love the way you have to use weight transfer to turn the car
- Some really nice looking stages
- Surface feels good

Bad:
- Force feedback is just.. ..bad
- Steering is so unresponsive that the car is always "all over the place"
- FOV is way too wide even when its set to 0.1
- Physics lacks dynamic feel
- Too much grip
- Lack of functions like Clutch, h-shifter, Brake w/o reverse, manual wipers, proper car setup, proper replay controls, etc...
- UI is not very PC-friendly
- Still a long way for a seriously taken sim software

Anyway, I can see what they try to achieve and can see some potential in this title. Let's hope Codemasters doesn't treat us like idiots with giving us the Dirt 4.

Onboard video: http://www.racedepartment.com/media...-look-dirt-rally-from-codemasters-60fps.8922/

 

[Thomas Alderton]

I seriously hope this is nothing like a dirt game and actually has something close to RBR. I was reading something somewhere on the internet and that the main developer of this is a rally fanatic and has real rally experience and is using that to make this game as realistic as possible. And on that note the developer (I think his name was Coleman?) said that the RBR mod was unrealistic and said that if rally cars did drive like that then there would be no more rally drivers as they would be dead.
They also mentioned details of actually how everything from surface to handling has been remade from scratch and that now the surface has a density and a slip pattern.
It has high potential and has seriously made me quietly excited but with 2 titles on the way 1 of which I'll discard (WRC5) and Loeb EVO.
The Rally world of games needs a new sim for rallying as RBR is very dated now and mods can only do so much.
I'm hoping for the best and the game seems very well optimized. I do not own this yet but certainly have got close to.

 

[Tomi]

Lack of functions like Clutch, h-shifter

There is. Just drove Lancia Fulvia with manual gears. Love it