DiRT Rally "traps" in level/track design

[Kaftan]

In order to make the game more challenging and discourage drivers from taking unrealistic shortcuts through corners, codemasters have put a lot of "traps" in to the tracks. Concrete blocks on the inside or outside of corners, big stones at strategic places you'll always hit until you memorize where they are, to hidden collision boxes in what might look like a small bush.

I dont think codemasters made the right choice in doing this because:

-In real rally, you would actually remove such dangerous obstacles, see FIA safety regulations et.c
-RBR, the perfect rally game, didnt have it
-It encourages memorizing tracks and a hotlapping apporach which goes against the spirit of rally driving
-Its really ****ing annoying!

What do you think?

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

i can't complain, these objects seem to do their job quite well. what gets at me is hitting a spectator/marshall/journalist. Some of these are placed at "strategic" points as well ...

 

[Palo Samo]

It's a video game

 

[Kaftan]

It's a game, yes. But it is a realistic rally simulator, which means that we have a reasonable right to expect them to design reasonably realistic tracks and keeping the difficulty fair to the player.

i can't complain, these objects seem to do their job quite well. what gets at me is hitting a spectator/marshall/journalist. Some of these are placed at "strategic" points as well ...

That the exact same thing Im talking about. Some kind of thing placed where the devs know you'll hit it the first couple of times you drive the track.

I made a montage to really highlight what Im talking about:

 

[Palo Samo]

Maybe the boulder was there when Codies were taking pictures... But in fairness, there should be a caution command regarding this obstacle.
Realistic rally simulator? That's a bold statement

 

[Charly7478i]

Totally agree!!!

In addition to what you say:
1) cars on the side of the road in Monte Carlo !! horrific!
2) The AI is awful, the third car reaches 1 hour from first !!! if you drive them 10 Km / h you arrive at the same podium !!!! lousy!!
3) Only 6 rallies !!! and no one said anything about this !!!
4) 12 stages for Rally that's the best but ... are repeated up to 4 times the same stage !!!!! evil....
5) end of each stages .... seems a little game for a child under 2 years .... totally unrealistic.
6) They have a lot of cars ..... but to use them you have to run 150,000 hours provided in the same stages again and again ...

A simulator is seriously RBR or GP4.

Fully sorry to spend my money on this game.

 

[Montago]

That the exact same thing Im talking about. Some kind of thing placed where the devs know you'll hit it the first couple of times you drive the track.

Your Co-driver EXPLICITLY tells you to take that crest/jump in the left side...
There's a similar boulder in the greek tracks, while driving downhill on a track i can't remember the name of... again the co-driver says you should take it on the left.

During the WHOLE game you are told "DO NOT CUT" ...

By forcing everyone to drive the same road without cheating, it's possible to compare times against each other.

and yes, there's a few spectator hitboxes that are too big, especially in Monte Carlo in the hairpins, but the game is all about staying on the road anyway

 

[Montago]

6) They have a lot of cars ..... but to use them you have to run 150,000 hours provided in the same stages again and again ...

Fully sorry to spend my money on this game.

Well... if you want to grind money, go race some Stage1 of pikes peak in Elite difficulty.. you get like 100.000 just for one stage.. but remember to abandon the first run to get all the bonus.

Other than that, you'll earn money pretty fast by just taking daily and weekly online races,along with custom rallies..

When you understand how to drive, it's no problem to earn podium in elite and masters difficulty and earn a ton of money..

If all you want is to drive a specific car, then you could just drive the non-career custom rallies ?

 

[Kaftan]

Your Co-driver EXPLICITLY tells you to take that crest/jump in the left side... There's a similar boulder in the greek tracks, while driving downhill on a track i can't remember the name of... again the co-driver says you should take it on the left.

During the WHOLE game you are told "DO NOT CUT" ...

1. The warning you get from the co-driver is nowhere near specific, or clear enough to communicate what is awaiting you on the other side of the crest. I can guarantee you 99% off all players including professional rally drivers will hit that rock the first times they drive that stage.

2. Rally-ending obstacles merit a "double caution" or "tripple caution" warning. These are not in the game, but they should be if the devs create stages that are this dangerous.

3. It's bad/lazy game design. It used to be fairly normal that game developers would put 'traps' in their games that would kill the player and force him to reload. Like how all adventure games from Sierra had objects you could click on that would do nothing except instantly kill the player. It is the most idiotic and frustrating way you can add difficulty to a game and it is deeply unfair to the players.

 

[LibranRabbit]

1. The warning you get from the co-driver is nowhere near specific, or clear enough to communicate what is awaiting you on the other side of the crest. I can guarantee you 99% off all players including professional rally drivers will hit that rock the first times they drive that stage.

2. Rally-ending obstacles merit a "double caution" or "tripple caution" warning. These are not in the game, but they should be if the devs create stages that are this dangerous.

3. It's bad/lazy game design. It used to be fairly normal that game developers would put 'traps' in their games that would kill the player and force him to reload. Like how all adventure games from Sierra had objects you could click on that would do nothing except instantly kill the player. It is the most idiotic and frustrating way you can add difficulty to a game and it is deeply unfair to the players.

Has not anyone heard of Recce? Performing Recce and you would note it.

 

[Kaftan]

The game has no recce run feature, and you are not able to customize the pacenotes. Doing what I think you suggest; running every stage in time trial and memorizing the stage before driving it is completely against the spirit of rally, IMO.