DiRT 4 Sim Discussion Monday - DiRT Series

Paul Jeffrey

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Sim Discussion Monday - DiRT Series 1.jpg

From the old Colin McRae series right the way through to the latest DiRT 4 release, we fancy a bit of a DiRTy discussion...

The DiRT franchise of games has taken many forms over the years, crashing onto the scene back in 1998 with the epic Colin McRae Rally for PlayStation 1 and PC. Maximising the popularity of the spectacular Scottish rally champion of 1995, CMR would very quickly establish itself as one of the classic racing games of its generation, setting the scene for a long running series of rally based titles (of varying quality) from Codemasters over the following years.

2017 has seen the latest fruits of that early partnership with the rebranded DiRT series getting its fourth instalment, taking the game a little bit closer to its roots with a more traditional rally stage focussed theme.

So with the very many different flavours of the DiRT series (and its ancestors), let's have ourselves a nice big discussion!

Mondays be like...

Sim Discussion Monday - DiRT Series 4.jpg
Sim Discussion Monday - DiRT Series 3.jpg
Sim Discussion Monday - DiRT Series 2.jpg
 
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I really enjoy the Dirt series (and dabble with Toca and Grid as well) and have learned a lot about gaming over the years as features were implemented (rewind in Grid went to D2 and 3; proliferation of online, etc).
I appreciate Codemasters for limiting their use of Dirt DLC- D3 had car and track packs and their F1 games have DLC, but most Dirt games have avoided that, and I appreciate the commitment to doing it old school.
I like the varied locations and am looking up the real roads that were in Dirt 1as a little research project (last time Australia was in a Dirt game).
Thoughts- D1 had all sorts of vehicles (CORR trucks, big rigs, cargo haulers) and tracks, a championship mode to manage car damage and a career mode for money making. EXCELLENT game design, physics left lots of room for improvement. Tuning with real statistics. One-on-one special stages are the BEST
D2- I enjoyed some arcade elements and really enjoyed the map interface of races. Introduced Trailblazer. Limited content, especially in Rally. Any car on any track in single player is still a treat, no mod needed. Simplified tuning. Rewind reduces challenge and commitment, but I have to hit that button immediately. No damage repair or championships. No hillclimb :(
D3- So much content. Such poor design. EIGHT (8) rally tracks in each location, decades worth of cars, and gymkhana as well. Lots of content but without depth of spirit. Longer rewind time further reduces commitment. No damage repair or championships. Simplified tuning. Choosing cars by sponsor team? REALLY? I just want to drive an RS200, choose Team Osiris or Falken Tire or whatever.
Return of Head to Head special stages! Still no hillclimb :(
Enjoyed seeing free drive area
Showdown- I knew what I was buying and still enjoy it occasionally. Not quite a real destruction derby, but fun. Block smashes are fun. TWO free drive areas.
Dirt Rally- Original Dirt Championship mode turned into an entire game. Wow. Serious commitment level physics. Amazing tracks and real tuning. Sharing tunes on Steam Workshop was wonderfully educational There are hillclimbs besides Pikes Peak, you know? Brutally difficult RX on two tracks (and if you are REALLY good you can unlock a third. Yeah!??) Real world locations masterfully crafted.
No more rewind. Penalties for even restarting. Can't choose a track to play, only a country.
D4- Rally philosophy for the masses. Why use real tracks? You never know the track in rally driving, so they will have the computer make it for you. Added Landrush and made RX...still difficult.
I enjoy the incorporation of Grid style team management with sponsors, parts, and crew upgrades. There is more to racing than driving.

What I wish for in my fantasy is a mod-able Dirt game, put out by Codemasters and made for mods, like the later games in the Civ series. The track generator in D4 is a great way of getting constant new tracks, but there are ways to add tracks and cars (rFactor, Asset and RBR show us) to games that don't break the game engine. It's called a mod community.
Is this a financial problem? Philosophy? Something else? I see that Civ has 1000s more players than Dirt, but AC and rFactor have commercially made this work, and they are small scale efforts similar in scale to Codemasters as a studio (AFAIK). Any insights why there is not mod support? Seems like a great solution to the same problem that the D4 track generator tries to solve- new content that players love.
 
Still happy with DIRT Rally and hasn't tried DIRT 4 yet. A bit off topic too; as i recall it i liked Rally Trophy by Bugbear a lot. Since it's not available on Steam i'd be happy to buy the disc if anyone wants to clean their shelves ;)
 
Dirt4 = understeer simulator 2017

If Dirt 4 oversteers or understeers just depends of the DOR in the wheel-setup. With 900° it certainly understeers, with 450° you get a hell of oversteer and 540° seems perfectly fine for me. Codemasters have this problem with Dirt Rally and F1 as well, so nothing new.

My counter is >60 hours in Dirt 4 and >150 hours with Dirt Rally. The physics are better in Dirt 4 IMO, but the stages are more challenging and diversified in Dirt Rally plus the VR-support.
 
My guess why the stages feel so bland in Dirt 4. It's because i remember seeing a still from the trailer that showed an octagon shape for the track tiles on a computer screen. So the road on a tile mostly ends at either 90°, 45° or 0°. A tile may consist of 2 corners or a hairpin and a 90° turn, or ... But it will always end at 0°, 45° or 90°. This, i believe, makes it "feel" so bland. ( If you play dirt 4 and get to know the tiles. You actually start to see where you did a 45° or 90° tile )
In a next game they should add more sides to the tiles and the tiles smaller. No more tiles with 2 (or 3) corners. But this will make the scenery system harder and possibly more prone to weird stuff and glitches.
 
Where to get this mod? And does it get me VAC banned?

If that works, might be interested in taking a look at Dirt 4 again. Although wish Codepasters would do their job themselves and deploy official fix. As the game never really delivered on their promise of simulation.

no vac ban don't worry, i use it since day one.
Ask Anton, all is written on youtube, or ask Koly


you know even RPFE modders have asked to Anton how mod the physics on DIrt 4 !!
But he's the only one who can.
Dirt 4 is so good now ( like and better than dirt rally) look video on Wales (upload maybe tomorrow)

With this physics, i forget tiles repetition !


And they will never change like that, cause they can't admit they are bad.
 

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