Both are great fun to drive, though clearly simulation takes more work to get to grips with. The gamer handling model turns Dirt 4 into a super arcade racer where grip is endless, whilst the simulation models shifts everything the other direction so you. There are two handling modes to choose from, gamer and simulation. As expected it can be frustrating when they move you out of the way, but they manage to ride the fine line between racing hard and driving dangerously.Īt Dirt 4’s heart is a driving engine that is fun, responsive and as realistic as you want it to be. AI prescribe fairly strictly to the rubbin’s racin’ mantra in Dirt 4, and aren’t afraid of using their car to gain positions on the higher difficulty settings. Rallycross is similar, though cars are more traditional and tracks are a combination of tarmac and dirt, requiring a deft touch to get around quickly. Land Rush sees you racing large, heavy super trucks or quicksand buggies around twisty, bumpy dirt tracks with a spotter in your ear to call out other cars positioned on your left and right. It’s utterly exhilarating to come out the other side of a foggy stage unscathed, especially if you manage to keep your speed up. Fog patches can cause a seemingly clear road ahead to get lost in a thick, cloudy haze, reducing visibility to practically nothing. On a few occasions I’d start a run in the dry only to have it start raining during the stage, reducing the road, and my times, to mud. With five different regions available to drive in-from the open, red dirt tracks of Australia to the tight, tarmac laden cliffs of Spain-as well as an abundance of different weather conditions that can change during the course of a single run, it’s one of the purest forms of virtual rally driving I’ve experienced. The traditional, point to point rally stages are still my personal favourite and are all totally gorgeous to look at. Earning good finishes will earn you credits, which are used to hire new team members or buy new cars for your personal garage, allowing you to compete in events with your own team instead of working for someone else and handing over half your earnings to them at the end of an event. There are four different styles of racing-Rally, Land Rush, Rallycross and Historic Rally-each with various sub-classes of cars and differing rules. Your career starts out in the Rally class, driving slower FWD cars and work your way up the ranks, increasing your experience and driver level as you compete in and finish each event. From here you set out on your career, manage your team-choosing sponsors, managing staff etc-or look over your cars in your personal garage. The tutorials are a perfect introduction to the sport for anyone unfamiliar with it, and eventually give way to a sweeping menu that shows off the kind of presentation that you expect from an AAA racer. But with DiRT 4, not only is it clear that Codemasters learned a thing or two in the years since, but they’ve taken things a step further and produced a rally game that would be worthy of the Colin McRae name itself.ĭirt 4 asks you to create your driver first, before giving you a few lessons in how to steer a rally car. However, its tracks were repetitive, often using the same segments of road for different stages, and ended up missing some of the vibrancy that had become synonymous with the DiRT name. Its sim-like handling could be tamed through the use of assists, giving it accessibility to casual fans as well as satisfying hardcore racers like myself. With a returning focus towards the traditional point to point style, DiRT Rally won over core rally fans. Gone was the attitude and ‘hoonigan’ tag from previous years, replaced with a focused yet surprisingly deep driving experience. When Codemasters went the early access route with their previous rally title, DiRT Rally, they clearly learned a number of lessons along the way. It’s these kinds of little surprises that continue to excite me about Codemasters latest, Dirt 4, and takes the rally genre up to yet another level. A mechanical failure! The funny thing is, had I taken that corner easier, maybe it wouldn’t have broken and I could’ve finished the stage unscathed. I quickly learned that my right rear damper had failed. I had no more restarts available, so I had no choice but to ease the car home, ending up 8th for the stage. I could feel it in the car, the rear felt horrible over bumps and through left-hand corners. I was just shy of the halfway mark through the stage when, as the car rested itself back on the ground after topping a slight crest, I heard a sharp twang from the right rear.
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