DiRT Rally Now Dirt Rally is out of Early Access - is it complete?

[Large Style]

I've refrained from purchasing this (and any other) game while in early access, as I don't like paying for an incomplete game / WIP. Now it's officially been taken out of EA, is it actually a complete game?

I've heard many good things of the game in general, but I recall when Assetto Corsa came out of EA and it was apparently missing basic elements such as a flag system, hence why I have doubts over supposed claims of EA titles being complete upon a "full" release. Does DR now offer much content of cars, locations, and stages? Does it therefore offer good value for money? Have CM announced any future plans for this game?

EDIT: I've just read the sticky regarding car and track content - so things look good there. So I guess now I'd have to ask if not only does it seem complete, but also are there any bugs or optimisation issues present - as in anything that should or shouldn't be present in a full release?

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

well, the german translation of the some of the written text in the user interface is dreadful.



other than that it is a great game and at least on my rather old machine (2010) runs smoothly in medium specs. It is great fun, offers enough variety and already has attracted many painters to deliver first class skins. with my g27 the input is fine, one could argue a bit about some more feel on tarmac. some of the pacenotes in german are still a little off and one would love to have more than 3 rally cross tracks. the online leagues are fun, though, so overall: very very good

 

[poet]

GTx660 runs it well at med-high, this is Codies after all, they know this engine backwards.

Sounds (some of the best ever in a sim imo) , courses and cars are all good.

Like Eckhart I'd like to see more WRX tracks, and only 1 hillclimb (2 variants of Pikes) with similar slim hillclimb car pickings isn't great.

But this is a "Rally" game after all.
Good spread of rally cars and the courses range from the tough to the downright terrifying (Wales in the Dark with Rain is about as Hardcore a Rally experience as you'll get in a sim.).

Yes it is a complete game, but there's room for more content if they wish to add it later.

 

[vee10]

I have had Dirt Rally for a while and refrained from firing it up until version 1.0 landed, I managed to have a few drives last night very enjoyable and polished (early access done right).

My only complaint is a lack of content, there are endless rally cars from all the era's that have been driven in real life and yet in the game there are only a few in each section. And my favorite class, the kit cars only has two the Seat & the 306 which is disappointing.

Is any more due to be released or is that it?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Nope, I don't think there will be any more stages or cars - Release for consoles, then DiRT Rally 2 or maybe World Rallycross - The Game?

The amount of cars are because of licensing though, there is a reason why it's called Hyundai Rally ^^,

 

[Ryan Soucy]

As *complete* as modern games are nowadays. How many patches have Pcars, AC and SCE had so far?

I think the early user experience has been really great. It wasn't long before the game was playable with championships and upgrades and all that jazz. The devs have been pretty cool. I'm not crazy about the reallllllllllly long Elite level events (10 stages, a lot of stage repetition). As for stage length and variety, it's on par with every rally game after Rally Championship 2000 (which was far away the best). The new snow stages are very good. The banks are soft and spit up a clowd of snow in front if you graze one. Pretty authentic.

 

[tpw]

I reckon the DR early access was a triumph. The game is fantastic and pretty feature complete as far as the initial goals they set out, but I get the feeling that any features currently not in the game are not going to be in this version of the game. e.g. Rally school or practice areas, more realistic damage, external only replays etc. I'd love to be proven wrong though

 

[Skazz]

I reckon the DR early access was a triumph. The game is fantastic and pretty feature complete as far as the initial goals they set out, but I get the feeling that any features currently not in the game are not going to be in this version of the game. e.g. Rally school or practice areas, more realistic damage, external only replays etc. I'd love to be proven wrong though

If you look at just how big the step was from Codemasters' comfort zone to DiRT Rally, and the desire to sell it to a console audience, then I'd say all remaining focus must go on content to compete directly with Sebastian Loeb Rally, not on improving the sim-elements further.

And that's fine by me. I'd much rather Codies do well with this and then make more sim-centric choices in future games than spend time adding features which will only appeal to a tiny part of their potential audience. They've come a long way as it is.

 

[Large Style]

Thanks for the comments and discussion (so far). Coffees all-round! Looks like people are generally happy with the game, but it seems a slight lack of content to be a common issue / concern.

Ole - out of curiosity, why do you think there won't be any more tracks in the future? Surely in this day and age of post launch systems they could add track packs - although hopefully as free updates and not DLC!

Also, general question - does this game have any kind of modding support - be it official or unofficial? Maybe it can go down the RBR route and have content added in the future.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

I have a couple of Milestone rally games (makers of SLR) and I think DR is worth the purchase. I can't imagine Loeb will be enough of a step up to surpass it. (Although I hear there will be DLC where where you compete to run 3rd in the WTCC...) I am hesitant to delete WRC3 from my HD b/c the non-championship challenges were very fun. But I honestly haven't played it more than twice since DR was announced in April/May. I should just delete it.

As for content. I have a vague feeling that there will be more free content. Can't say why I feel this and can't imagine what it will be. Maybe another hill climb. That's the most barren part of the game. I would rather see them spin the RX into its own game and add content there.

Maybe they should go the Raceroom route and have a basic rally game with a little of all 3 at a reduced price, but then add-ons that add the hill climbs and RX separately (also at less than full price).

 

[tpw]

Maybe they should go the Raceroom route and have a basic rally game with a little of all 3 at a reduced price, but then add-ons that add the hill climbs and RX separately (also at less than full price).

Not sure about that one, R3Es pricing structure is probably its most unappealing aspect.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

Not sure about that one, R3Es pricing structure is probably its most unappealing aspect.

Too true. But I have bought a DTM experience b/c it was an all-in-one product. I would never, ever, never, ever ask a company to sell cars and tracks one at a time. That's idiotic, IMO.

But... what if for $30, you get 12 cars across 5 classes, 6 rally locations full of stages, 1 hillclimb and 3 cars, and 3 RX tracks and 3 cars. Championship modes and multiplayer in each.

For $15, you can get 5 more hills to climb and 5 or 6 more car classes (and maybe the Escudo or Tacoma) and the ability to race any rally car on the hills.

For $20, you get the rest of the RX tracks, more cars, GRC cars and tracks and maybe a RX Lite car (or the ability to race any car on the RX tracks.

Just thinking creatively. I'm fine with what's there so far. I have more miles to go...

 

[tpw]

Ah, I see what you're getting at now. I agree with the concept of selling additional content for DR, just not in the expensive and confusing way that R3E does it.