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!

 

[thewarmer]

Only just seen this one , very glad they have dropped all the Dirt series baggage like Ken block & all that menu voice over crap.

I am all for a stripped down back to basics Rally game or Sim.

You already have the youtube bloggers banging on about its to hard or lacking next gen garbage & eye candy.

Correct me if I am wrong but are not Codies now been sold through Bandai Namco the very same corp that is also handling Pcars distribution think I saw their name on the next gen F1 2015 games .

Every one & their dog is jumping on the early access band wagon these days has it as been pointed out can lead as we have seen a vast amount of hype & sales.

So this is only a PC game & at this moment in time we seem to be in the pound seats when it come to Sim style titles .

The PC still seems to be the choice format for racing games over Console
I will be keeping a very close eye on this & await more real player based player feedback that can be found on sites like this & other Sim related forums.
Please keep the feedback coming .

 

[Richard Eriksson]

Bought it. It's really good, even this early. Being a former real life rally driver i like to give kudos to codies on the rwd feel. Feels very close to real life behaviour. Can't say for the 4WD 2010's and Group B cars as obviously no one would let me near one of those in real life

But they feel good.

We should actually applaud this as a community, because this is the descendant of RBR we have been waiting for i think. It is a proper sim with proper handling, finally!

Also, and this will spur some flaming i guess, but handling is MORE real than RBR ever was. RBR fans often make the mistake of believing "uncontrollable" = realistic. It's not...

This is much closer, in my experience. Still needs a lot of work in the FFB department however. It feels really dull at times on my GT3 wheel, and road feel is weak.

But i am really surprised by the direction chosen.

And as always with Codemasters (the one thing you can count on), the code is actually OPTIMIZED.

 

[ThugUK]

Downloaded it and using the DK2.
Looks brilliant but have a slight issue... Why is it that everything is massive, like I am a 4 foot tall infant? I can hardly see over the bonnet.

 

[Anthony Simmons]

Also, and this will spur some flaming i guess, but handling is MORE real than RBR ever was. RBR fans often make the mistake of believing "uncontrollable" = realistic. It's not...

This is much closer, in my experience. Still needs a lot of work in the FFB department however. It feels really dull at times on my GT3 wheel, and road feel is weak.

But i am really surprised by the direction chosen.

And as always with Codemasters (the one thing you can count on), the code is actually OPTIMIZED.

Unfortunately that's how the iRacing (and hell most other sim communities) act as well. If it's not difficult or doesn't feel like it has zero grip it can't be realistic. I love iRacing but hate how un-planted I feel to the road.

Try the FFB fixes in another thread in this sub forum I've had pretty good results with them and it helped quite a bit.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Bought it. It's really good, even this early. Being a former real life rally driver i like to give kudos to codies on the rwd feel. Feels very close to real life behaviour. Can't say for the 4WD 2010's and Group B cars as obviously no one would let me near one of those in real life

But they feel good.

We should actually applaud this as a community, because this is the descendant of RBR we have been waiting for i think. It is a proper sim with proper handling, finally!

Also, and this will spur some flaming i guess, but handling is MORE real than RBR ever was. RBR fans often make the mistake of believing "uncontrollable" = realistic. It's not...

This is much closer, in my experience. Still needs a lot of work in the FFB department however. It feels really dull at times on my GT3 wheel, and road feel is weak.

But i am really surprised by the direction chosen.

And as always with Codemasters (the one thing you can count on), the code is actually OPTIMIZED.

Cool. But is it really all that hard to break traction in rally cars. Even our old RWD Volvo 740 break traction easy on gravel roads and require some throttle modulation at least. I can´t do it in An audi Quattro 90 stomping on the throttle with no regard of torque not a single car I have to modulate on acceleration.

Which cars do you find feel best in Dirt rally based on your experience?

RBR is totally controllable to me. You can take corners at very high speeds in that sim if you are smooth on the controls but the latter don´t feel that important here.

 

[Dazmaniac]

I hope everyone who has purchased the EA for DiRT RALLY and is giving good constructive feedback on this forum is also doing the same on the CM forums on Steam.

After all, that is the point of EA isn't it? You buy in to the BETA (a bit like Kickstarter) and help the Dev's make the game better. Not just sit back and let things unfold and then be annoyed when next build sees no changes to the things you can see are not right.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

Cool. But is it really all that hard to break traction in rally cars. Even our old RWD Volvo 740 break traction easy on gravel roads and require some throttle modulation at least. I can´t do it in An audi Quattro 90 stomping on the throttle with no regard of torque not a single car I have to modulate on acceleration.

Which cars do you find feel best in Dirt rally based on your experience?

RBR is totally controllable to me. You can take corners at very high speeds in that sim if you are smooth on the controls but the latter don´t feel that important here.

Have you checked controller settings or deadzones? Because i can for sure spin myself out good in the Quattro Grp. B For the 4WDs like Grp B. they however pull back on line nicely (as a real 4WD would).

As for the trusty old 740s breaking traction easily, they are notorious. Worse than the 240s actually. Light rear, massive engine weight and a very sloppy differential, makes for some great action moments, especially in winter

The best feel so far has got to be the Escort MK2. I've rallied one in real life for several years and this is close. The power band feels real enough to me and the traction is spot on. All the 70s class cars is really good.

As for breaking traction generally, it is not that hard in real life no, but you rarely have that nervous behaviour like in RBR. Usually you have semi-locking diffs, that produce gradual traction, as well as more push (understeer) to level out if you need to. You mostly have turn in hard and let go off the throttle to unsettle, then hit it as you found the line.

The power on technique is rather unpredictable as opposed to flick and loose throttle (more spins or push understeer)...

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

looks fantastic with massive amount of detail (smoking chimneys!), tracks are really good and have a nice length, the ffb is non-existent in my g27, feels like mushy soup all the way, the arrow pointers are a feeble joke and i have yet to manage to turn them off. oh yes, and the german co-driver sounds like he is sitting plush at home and drinking tea, no atmosphere at all. good to see all the ken block junk gone, though. still far away from the joys of cmr04 and cmr2005, but fun to play.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

I don´t have any deadzones first thing I removed.. I tried the 70s car I hadn´t tried them before. On gravel greece good fun and almost feel good think maybe the most fun of them all.. Still hard to break traction. Tried monte carlo on a track with a lot of ice and snow and yes still just floor it 100 %. If I spin the tires I can´t really feel it and it don´t risk getting the car out of line in any way at all. I am not exhaggerating I am just flooring it like crazy out of hairpins.

Also on tarmac and on ice the steering input get so direct it´s crazy. Feels a bit like in a slot car tires have no slip at all either 100 % grip all the time or they loose grip and you get understeer until you get 100 % grip again.

I currently have linearity set at 0 and run 400 degrees. It don´t feel that bad for gravel but for tarmac and ice the steering input feel way to direct like on a keyboard.

 

[Patrik Marek]

I dont like codemaster to release a game calling it a sim without a minimun ffb. But yeah hate me. Since yesterday codemaster is the greatest and 2 days ago they were sh*t. I'll wait to forgive their sh*tty games till they show me something for real, no some smoke and wheel vibration. But thats me, thats all.

ever heard of early access ?
look at where Arma3 started, Assetto Corsa ..etc

it's crazy what some people expect from game that was just announced

why would you tweak FFB, if you physics code isn't finished yet?

 

[Kazumi]

Bought it. It's really good, even this early. Being a former real life rally driver i like to give kudos to codies on the rwd feel. Feels very close to real life behaviour. Can't say for the 4WD 2010's and Group B cars as obviously no one would let me near one of those in real life

But they feel good.

We should actually applaud this as a community, because this is the descendant of RBR we have been waiting for i think. It is a proper sim with proper handling, finally!

Also, and this will spur some flaming i guess, but handling is MORE real than RBR ever was. RBR fans often make the mistake of believing "uncontrollable" = realistic. It's not...

But it's perfectly controllable even if you break "traction" at 100kph. If you know what to do. That's the whole point of a simulation.

Add information if you refer to the unmodified game or specific mods, otherwise you might risk sounding like a complete fool. Public RWD mods have been a so-so experience to me.

If you prefer semi-sims I have no issue with that personally. I try to enjoy games for what they are.

Nonetheless is an enjoyable experience, the graphics are immersive, the sounds are good and realistic. The physics need some tweaking indeed, but I really have fun driving (which is the point of playing pc games, isn't it?).

I think so . Still I think they should work on FFB and some other things.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

ever heard of early access ?
look at where Arma3 started, Assetto Corsa ..etc

it's crazy what some people expect from game that was just announced

why would you tweak FFB, if you physics code isn't finished yet?

I feel old when it´s crazy to expect a game to be ready when released

I do understand what you are saying but in the old days you could never sell alpha code like this. But I do understand people buying it being from the old days and be shocked at what stage it is at.

If anybody wonder it´s not nowhere near ready for primetime

 

[Trimaz]

While us sim racers are happy with the new Codemasters release, the arcade casuals on Steam are getting very vocal. I hope these Need For Speed kiddies don't make Codemasters change what they have started with this one.

 

[AndrewBo]

@Trimaz
I was a *NfS* Speed kid back then. Way back... Now I am here. There is nothing wrong with players, that like Arcade racing. So, if we don't get *veryvocal* in here, all is good.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Very pleasantly suprised. My only sim since three years is rF2 and I have to say I expected a lot less from this title even though some people praised it as Codies F1 series is...
I havent tried a lot. Tarmac felt a bit weird with the super direct steering, but Greece with the Group B Peugeot is a lot of fun. I changed a few things in the setup (shorter Gear, more oversteer) and it came alive. I can imagine FFB will feel still a bit dull on most wheels, but with the CSW V2 I have some nice weight and a bit of detail in the wheel. Honestly not being used to pace notes, driving a group B car I had to focus so much I didnt notice the not so great FFB as it was good enough to get the job done after I tried some settings I found online.
I already had a few nice moments sliding through the faster corners, but low speed is still a bit awkward.
Greece and Group B is nice. Tried the 2010 Mini a bit, but was not my style lots of grip and not so much power. Tarmac didnt feel that great, but all in all a pleasant surprise especially that you can work with weight transfer mid corner to get the balance you want etc. that was something I absolutely didnt expect.

P.S. Disclaimer: never tried RBR only WRC3 and a few past Dirt titles. On the race side I use mainly rF2, a bit of AC. In the past Race07 and rF1

 

[Kazumi]

While us sim racers are happy with the new Codemasters release, the arcade casuals on Steam are getting very vocal. I hope these Need For Speed kiddies don't make Codemasters change what they have started with this one.

Can you tell us what they complains are?

I think if you make driving as easy as in some semi-sims, the problem is people suddenly push the car even more, which in turn makes it harder to control in the end. In real Rally evens you know you don't have to push 1000% to be the fastest. Often a "slow" feeling driving style gets good and constant results. Probably not too different in track racing.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

especially that you can work with weight transfer mid corner to get the balance you want etc. that was something I absolutely didnt expect.

Whaat? I'm still unable to see, feel and notice this. I also went to a much softer, more oversteering setup, trying to force it, but the car still feel flat, without much movement and weight transfer! What am I doing wrong?

 

[Anthony Simmons]

A lot of them want the 'Rewind' feature from the Dirt 1-3 games...

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The eternal struggle of Codemasters, they can never do it good as there is always one side of the spectrum complaining.

Lets hope they are sitting this early access out and keep going in this sim direction and we finally have a new rally game again.

The gymkhana people have Dirt 2 and 3 to play with. Let us have this for once.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

For the first time in my life, I'm actually getting quite "invested" in an Early Access, game. I really want a good functioning rally sim again, hopefully with a good multiplayer-system as well. I gotta take good time to both test and give feedback on this, not that I believe my little voice actually will care for Codemasters, but hey, you gotta try something! RBR is 10 years old!