Best Sim for Dakar

[RaceDriver_34]

Currently the 2021 edition of the Rally Dakar is running.

Does anyone know a good game where you can experience it yourself? I know the Dakar 18 game but the car physics aren´t great...

Is there any other game out there?

 

[cupra_abf]

Short answer...no. There is absolutely nothing that properly captures rally raid racing aside from Dakar 18 as far as I know.

There is a few hobby projects, but none of them look remotely as good as Dakar 18 in any aspect.

Dakar 18 is the only proper rally raid game so far. The physics are meh - in some vehicles, at certain speeds, and in certain terrain, it feels surprisingly decent. But a lot of times its not.

The game is like that in pretty much every aspect. For example, at times, it looks really pretty. But at other times, it looks like a PS3 game. The whole game feels like a proof-of-concept that majorly lacks polishing. It's a shame, it had potential. And the developer showed willingness to update and improve the game. But the trouble with their old publisher killed their post-release support plans, they really got screwed over.

The one part that makes Dakar 18 worth it is navigation. The roadbook is great and very much based on the real one. You can (and will) get lost. It's pretty darn amazing.

So if you want a Dakar-like experience right now, Dakar 18 is basically your only decent option, even with it's at times wonky physics. It's not a game you play because of the physics, it's a game you play for the rally raid experience.

However, Dakar 21 was officially announced a couple of days ago. It should be interesting. The developer of Dakar 18 got to keep the code and license, and found a new publisher. The new publisher is the same one behind Spintires/Mudrunner, and it's been confirmed that the Dakar devs got some help by the Spintires devs. In general, focus during development has apparently been on the physics that have been redone from scratch. The game is supposed to release in late 21/early 22 and has been in development since February or so of 2019, so nearly 3 years of development time by the time it gets released. Content wise, Dakar 21 will include both the 2020 and 2021 edition of the rally - considering a majority of the stages was new for this year, that should give the game plenty of variety.

Dakar 21 definitely has potential. I know the game is going to get tons of crap in the online community, but whatever. There is literally zero chance of a major studio like Codemasters developing a rally raid game. It's quite a niche. We should be glad that anyone is giving it a try at all, and Bigmoon actually tries to capture the experience by sticking to the real roadbook and navigation. They appear to be listening to the stuff that has been criticized about Dakar 18. And getting some help from the Spintires/Mud-/Snowrunner team could really be a good thing for the physics side of things.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I know the game is going to get tons of crap in the online community, but whatever.

That's what the board of Codies thought about DiRT Rally 1 as well, and how many things about manager-games after the awful unlicensed German-made management games in the early 10's. Or how many of the (again German-made) shovelware-simulator games are actually viewed.

However, when a proper game is made, like Euro Truck Sim 2 (or ATS), DiRT Rally 1 or Motorsport Manager, then it gets praise. Just compare the reaction to e.g F1 2020 and NASCAR Heat 5. One studio actually made progress in both driving feel and features, the other just made new liveries.

If they manage to make Dakar 21 (or what it ends up being called) better in terms of driving, both when it comes to it being believable, but also when it comes to terrain etc. it will be praised!

 

[cupra_abf]

If they manage to make Dakar 21 (or what it ends up being called) better in terms of driving, both when it comes to it being believable, but also when it comes to terrain etc. it will be praised!

I understand where you're coming from, and I hope you're right.

Sorry for being kinda cynical about it. Dakar 18 got a lot of crap, including from people on this site. It wasn't a great game, but it's a lot better than it was made out to be. I actually didn't get it for a long time, both due to all the bad comments, as well as due to me not wanting to throw money at the publisher that screwed the devs over. But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it when I finally got it (for like, 5 bucks).

I've dreamed of a proper Dakar game since I was a kid. It's one of my favorite events, but I honestly didn't expect it to ever happen. I was so sad when Fuel turned from Dakar (in early WIP footage) to Mad Max. But Dakar 18 proofed that it works as a game. Its unique and really something that hasn't been done before.

I guess part of the problem is that it truly is a niche product. Some of the criticism I've seen makes it extremely obvious that people don't know the real Dakar well. It's kinda funny when you see someone complain about the game not being realistic enough, while at the same time criticizing stuff that's actually done well. I guess to some of those people, it's also simply not obvious that there really isn't any alternative. Dirt Rally, WRC, it's just completely different. Even Baja (a fairly fun game IMO) is fairly different and does not give you a proper rally raid experience.

Of course it would be wonderful to get a Dakar game made by Codemasters or something like that. But it's not gonna happen, especially not if the Bigmoon games don't do well. Those are going to be as good as it gets for the near future, so hopefully the new publisher, the extra time they took to release the next title, and the cooperation with the Spintires team help Dakar 21 to be a solid product. The potential is there, Dakar 18 at least showed that!