swaaye on 10/9/2009 at 00:44

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me agrees. It's better than DIRT 1, IMO. I like that it has snow, for one.

Aja on 10/9/2009 at 01:49

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I see people on the internet whining about the Dirt 2 demo. TOO ESPN, TOO EXTREEEEME, they say. I wonder if these people have played Gran Turismo or Forza. Sure, those racing games are classy, but they're also sterile. From what I played of Dirt 2, I was really impressed with the lengths to which Codemasters went in order to make the player feel as though they're part of a living community. Sure, it's a bit too arcadey for my tastes, but I think I'd trade the sim aspects for the feeling of being an actual race driver, and not just a guy who does laps against the computer.

Thirith on 10/9/2009 at 06:40

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I enjoyed DIRT a lot (minus the obnoxious voice work in the menus), but I'm not a hardcore rally/racing gamer. I'm definitely looking forward to DIRT 2, although it's a shame that they seem to have reduced the number of actual rally events where you basically race against the clock. I always preferred those to the head-to-head events.

inselaffe on 10/9/2009 at 10:13

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Richard Burns Rally again, yes. Only realistic one there is.

Not hard to find at all: (http://www.sold-out.co.uk/productSoldOut.asp?pid=244&productLabelID=1)

(http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/633280/Richard-Burns-Rally/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0)

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000C97156/ref=s9_simy_gw_s1_p63_t3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=10H5QN8D0GGSM3542FNF&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294)

The only thing about rbr is that it seems slightly unpolished.
Smoke / water spray / other particles come inside the car (i don't know why - maybe it needs to be volumetric? But in rally championship (see below) they manage it fine).

Also there is only very rudimentary cockpit cameras. You can get one by using the camera hack but they are not so detailed or amazing. No working dials either. Hopefully this can be modded as the hud ones are quite distracting. Also no driver hands on wheel, but a lot of games and sims now dont bother with that either, sadly. Overall, the game feels unpolished in certain aspects, but is very deep in what matters.

Definately don't get dirt or other cmr games, they are quite, quite bad. The handling of them is completely strange. My friend bought both dirt and grid and I really don't know how to describe it. The speed at which you could go around corners and were meant to go was completely unpredictable. This is not a problem with it being arcade, as even with arcade games you get a feel for how fast it let's you go normally.
Cmr 2 is actually reasonably good, but still, of games of that era i would recommend mobil 1 rally championship a hell of a lot more.

Dunno about console ones but they will be suitably arcadish.


Also i would highly recommend Mobil One Rally Championship.

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mobil-Rally-Championship-PC-CD/dp/B0000CFU5F/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1252576139&sr=1-1)

(http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/116864/Mobil-1-Rally-Championship/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0)

(http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/922896/Mobil-1-Rally-Championship/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0)

Not the most realistic handling in the world (though you can tweak it) but certainly the most realistic "feel" of a whole rally game.

This is because the damage is so well done and deep. You can lose your lights in night stages - genuinely scary, and lost gears and so forth. Richard burns rally has this too of course but to a less extent - at least i think you cannot lost lights (and in rbr you cannot turn them on / off manually which is crap).

Also rally championship (also known perhaps as rally championship 2000 outside of uk) is the only rally game with actual, full length stages rather than just "inspired" ones. The stages in this game are immense.

So, overall, I would say that game gives the best "feel" of a rally event and rbr gives the best physics.

Another game I can recommend is rally trophy. Talk about later if you are interested - old style rally - semi-realistic (and better with physics mod).

Any more questions just ask, cheers.



edit:



Yes, you do really, although you can get them for reasonably cheap. Well actually, you can still have fun with an analogue pad - i raced gpl and maybe rbr (can't remember) with one, but getting a wheel makes it a lot lot better, and i don't even have the best wheel.

Certainly a wheel allows you to left foot brake which helps, however for some reason (at least in gpl) to me left foot braking seems somehow cheating as they would not have driven those cars that way. In rally though (at least modern rally) it is staple.
If you get the full version of rbr there is a nice rally school that should help you improve your driving and give you a bit more of an understanding of the pace to go :)

swaaye on 10/9/2009 at 19:20

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How many of you have tried Rallisport Challenge 2? Just out of curiousity. Lots of recommendations and only one that mentions this game. It's maybe the best reason to own a Xbox 1, IMO. :)

I don't go after strict "realism" in racers because I frankly don't really believe in a video game matching up at all to real life driving. Forza 2 was one of the most forgettable racing games I've ever played. Enough of that sterile racing for me.

BTW, I saw GRID mentioned earlier and I must express that I hated that game. I couldn't get into it and for some reason it was extremely difficult for me. It was just a smattering of various racing styles with fancy collisions. I've really lost interest in circuit racing too so that's part of my dislike of it.

Actually one of the most interesting racers in recent years for me was Test Drive Unlimited. Drive around the entire island of Oahu. Go to car dealers. Do some "missions". Very pretty too.