28.4.2016

“…by far the best simulation of rally driving as a sport that the gaming world has ever seen.”DiRT Rally is the latest in Codemasters’ specialist rally racing series, and the first new DiRT game since 2012. More recently, the publishers released a particularly shiny version of Colin McRae Rally for PC in 2013, which received very mixed reviews. I personally enjoyed this most recent game, and was thrilled to have the chance to play DiRT Rally during its early access stages and now upon its final release. To describe my experience with the game in short, this is about as close to the experience of the real thing as you can get.I am no expert on rally driving as a sport,but I understand the basic concept enough to enjoy a game based around it. If you are not familiar with it yourself, it is essentially a form of timed, off-road racing in which a driver and a navigator attempt to complete complex courses as quickly as possible. It requires superb driving ability, well-trained reactions and huge attention to detail in order to do it successfully and safely. Emulating this intensity accurately in video game form has been an endeavour of Codemasters for years now; since 1998. It is fantastic to say then that they have surpassed themselves in their latest and greatest attempt.The game hits you quickly with its striking realism, showing a great understanding of what fans of the sport and gamers alike will want to see. Every vehicle, both inside and out, has been meticulously designed to an incredible level of accuracy. Driving in first person is an amazing experience as a result, especially in some of the classic cars which the game features. Realistic damage is also a pleasure to experience. Whilst the aim is of course to keep your car intact, the fine details which appear for each knock you take are awesome. The tracks are incredibly carefully modelled as well, not only in the sense of making them location-accurate, but even in the way that dirt and dust looks and moves as you drive through it. The lighting effects are strikingly impressive to top all of this off too. DiRT Rally, simply put, looks fantastic.The actual driving experience is as difficult as you might expect from a technical sports emulation. If you follow the clear instructions of your AI companion, you stand a far greater chance than you do alone, however more help would have been nice here. Again, I am not a big follower of rally driving, and so some of the instructions being shouted at me do not entirely make sense. The game does not do a huge amount to explain what certain calls mean, but there are at least some graphical prompts to help out if you need them. Nevertheless, as good as you may be at other racing games, DiRT Rally is difficult on a whole other level, and you will almost certainly take some time before you become good at it.If you do happen to be a natural at tackling tight corners and listening well to instructions, the game does plenty to vary the challenged you will face. Intelligent weather systems dramatically affect the difficulty of courses and the way in which you should handle certain features of them. Beyond this however, the very composure of the track has been considered by the developers, meaning accuracy in the attention to detail put into every course is unmatched by any other racing sim on the market. It is impressive to see that the figures for hard and soft grain surfaces make genuine differences to the driving experience as well. Even a novice to the sport can witness the distinct differences that these track composures make in the game.When you are off the track the game doesn’t stop with the detail. Career mode allows you to purchase a car, make personalised modifications and upgrades to it, and then hire your ideal team of staff to take along to competitions. If you ever wanted to experience the professional side of the sport, this is very much your chance to do so. The fine tuning options are vast, and once again make a genuine difference to your racing experience. Between races, you can decide what repairs you need to make too, which are limited based on time available and the training of your engineering staff. This underlines how important your off-track decisions can be to your on-track success. As a package, DiRT Rally really works hard to round of your experience.If you are a fan of racing games who wants something a little bit different to try, DiRT Rally may well be for you. It has immense levels of detail that any petrol head will easily be able to appreciate, and it offers a greater challenge through its unique racing style than many other driving games can simulate. Rally fans in particular however will appreciate this game a lot. It is by far the best simulation of rally driving as a sport that the gaming world has ever seen. The experts at Codemasters have surpassed themselves with this release, and after their years of efforts they deserve great praise for doing so.The Good:Impeccable design offers incredible visual detail in every aspect of the game.A highly accurate albeit challenging form of driving game experience.A near-perfect simulation of rally driving, from controls to track textures.Intelligent weather effects and detailed track compositions vary gameplay.Location-accurate track settings make the game even more immersive.Career mode is very detailed, from car customisation to hiring of staff.The ultimate rally package to come out of years of efforts by Codemasters.The Bad:Non-rally fans may not understand some co-driver callouts.Some driving game fans may find the challenge of the game very heavy.

11.4.2016

i think the best way to describe this game is not that its a new generation console game at all - moreover a retro game specced up to 2016. in this respect i mean this game harks back to the days when games were actually fun and involved absolutely no help whatsoever in getting anywhere. to play you have to work at it. you wont get any chances and if you spin off or in the case of this game hit a tree doing 100 after taking off badly on a jump (which i did!) that will be it for the season. no second chances. fin. just a nice big repair bill at the end from your cash you have earned completing the first few stages. very much rogue esqe. you can restart a stage (if you havnt written the car off)

15.4.2016

Awesome sim and easily the best rally title in years. Yes, I said that.The cars feel nice to drive in my opinion (and I only play with a joypad.) The tracks are beautifully detailed and massively fun to drive, especially the Rally Finland with its fast paced, manic, bumpy surfaces and the sudden crests, dips, adverse cambers and flat out sections.The lack of cars and tracks is a bit of a worry but hopefully these can be expanded via updates. It doesn't really matter anyway because you forget about all that while having too much fun playing the actual game. Which is how it should be!Here is a game which requires patience and skill to master, especially if you are not used to sim racers.

5.4.2016

Best Rally game i have ever played absolutely brilliant . There seem's to be an issue with force feedback being to weak on the ps4 using Thrustmaster wheels , Here's a set up guide of thrustmasters facebook page , I've tried the settings and it has helped it does feel better .DiRT RALLY on PlayStation 4 & Xbox One TIPS:Force Feedback settings Thrustmaster Wheels.About the Rotation Angle, in OPTIONS / CONTROLS / ADVANCED WHEEL SETTINGSTo optimize the gameplay, we recommend you to:Step 1) Access to CALIBRATE DEVICE and calibrate the steering wheel:# 1080° for T150, T300 & T500 wheels# 900° for TX WheelsStep 2) Activate SOFT LOCK option.Once the process is completed,

25.5.2016

As a big fan of the Colin McRae series years ago ive been hoping for something as playable coming out on PS4 and its finally arrived. This is so similar in feel to the original PS games that you'll absolutely love it after a couple of hours play. As usual there's a learning curve regarding handling and it'll take some people longer than others to grasp the 'feel' but after a while it'll all just click and suddenly you'll be hitting perfect apex's and timing hairpins with precision. Its a tough game, which is a good thing in my opinion. All games lose their magic once you feel that you've mastered it and this will take a while to master and even then its still a total blast just flying (literally in Finland!)

8.4.2016

An excellent game, first impressions are very good its a true return to form for the searies it captures the essence of the sport of rallying better than any game i have played in a long time.The recent trend of bringing more simulation style racing games to console with the likes of Project cars and Sebastian loab rally evo is carried on here, the handling model is much more realistic than previous Dirt games the good things ive herd about the PC version have made it over to console.The gameplay is fairly similar to that of Sebastian loab rally evo in that they are both more of a simulation than WRC 5 however this is more challenging than the loab game as it does not have the safety net of

6.4.2016

This is by far the best rally game I've ever played and I've played most of them over the years. After recently playing WRC 5 and Sebastien Loeb, which are both good games, this one stands head and shoulders above both of them. It just feels right, like you're really driving a rally car, something which the other two didn't quite have. A lot of reviewers are saying that it's very hard and unforgiving, which is true, but don't let that put you off because whereas other games are frustrating in that department, if you make a mistake in this game, you genuinely feel like it's your error, and not because the developers haven't quite got the handling aspect right, As long as you take it easy,

12.5.2016

When I first started playing this game I thought it was too easy, I thought I wasted my money but although the handling is really easy with the controller the terrain is what makes this game difficult, the game balances all the gameplay aspects to make you want to keep playing it, I want to unlock more cars so I am playing a lot but I enjoy playing it though, even although its sunny outside and I could go out for a drive anywhere I want I prefer to sit in the dark indoors pretending to be driving out in the country. Its a really good game, I like the sense of travelling it brings and obviously I like the feeling of being a good driver and at times it is better than real driving because you are

28.4.2016

Ok so if your a fan of Ken Block, Gymkhana and all the other rubbish of the past few games, you'll more than likely hate this game. IT'S NOT AN EASY GAME, it's not pick up and play and be good at it within 30 minutes, while the controls are easy enough to learn, it's a hard game,it's supposed to be hard it's a simulation of rally driving. If you remember the old Colin MacRae games then your in for a treat gone are the silliness of the last few Ken Block guzzling lots of Monster energy drinks versions this game has 3 types of event Rally of course, Hill climb and rally across. There are several class of cars spanning the present day going back to the 60's. There are even kit cars in the game for goodness sake.

11.4.2016

After being thoroughly disappointed by Sebastian Leob rally, I have been perked up with the console release of Dirt Rally. Well, what to say about this game.Is it perfect? No.Is it very good? Yes.Pros.Great graphics and great choice of cars. The stages themselves are very well represented (I especially like the German stages around the Baumholder military training area, complete with car wrecking 'Hinklestein' obstacles. Likewise, the rally of Wales is also well represented and sufficiently tricky enough to make you concentrate.Looks like there could be some good potential for DLC add ons.Great sounds and decent interior views.Cons.No tyre choice? Why can't I choose my own tyres?

2.5.2019

Overall a great Rally game with car handling feeling believable. I am very disappointed CodeMasters didn’t continue in this vane. Unfortunately Dirt 4 took a huge arcade step backwards in a somewhat cynical attempt by CodeMasters to reach a wider audience and make more money. The reason why Dirt Rally was successful was it’s commitment to realism. CodeMasters then used that success to try and cash in with Dirt 4 instead of giving the fans of Dirt something even more realistic. Dirt Rally 2.0 is another example of cynicism by not only watering down realism but charging for DLC! Monte and Sweden DLC should have been in the original release and the stages should be new not updated spruced up versions of the stages in Dirt Rally!Isn’t the aim of a software house to make money I hear you ask?

10.4.2016

Don't let the halfway house graphics or the poor FFB on the wheel (presumably fixable on a future patch) put you off what is by a country mile the best rallying game currently available.The handling physics are spot on, as are the engine noises including popping and banging exhausts as you heel and toe back to first gear sliding into another hairpin.......all good grin inducing stuff!.....Yes, it's difficult. Anyone looking for a quick 20 minute hit before dinner should look elsewhere. This one requires a few hours at a time, and moments between stages cross legged on the floor in the hope that meditation will allow the required levels of concentration to complete a stage without binning it into a snow bank,

1.5.2016

I bought this game being a big fan of the Colin McRae series since the 1st DiRT. I was very excited to see what the new version had to offer; and I wasn't disappointed. Its ultra-realism has you leaning on the edge of your seat, making every single race a seriously intense experience. The graphics are very impressive, as well as the sounds of this game: everything from the car noises to the instructions given to you sound authentic and realistic.However, if you're the type of gamer who loves NFS/Burnout/fun, fast-car games, get ready for one of the most difficult rally games ever made. This is a huge step-up from DiRT 3. I had to restart pretty much every single race I did at least 3 times when I first started playing,

19.4.2016

having read the numerous online reviews about the difficulty of this game I was a little apprehensive about buying this game. however, I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. at the beginning I was so frustrated with this game. I spent the whole time spinning and crashing and finishing last pretty much every time trial. I decided to sell this game. but, then after 1 week of playing for about 1-2 hours in the evening the penny seemed to drop all of a sudden. at last I had control of the cars and was winning the time trials. the game became a pleasure to play.then I decided to buy a G29 wheel and pedal set up and spent the next week learning to drive the cars all over again.

8.4.2016

At present this is the best racer Ive played on this gens consoles, If you like rally and like difficulty you will love this game!Its hard but with practise you can master a stage, I love the fact thats its more sim than arcade as completing a stage with a good time gives much better satisfaction than a game holding your hand around a track.Turn off assists, you don't really need them, but if you feels you do fair enough. I turned off the likes of ABS and traction control, the only two I use is clutch override (not got a clue what it does) and launch control at the start (some kind of hand break manual/auto assist at the start line)Not tried all the stages yet but I like the length of the stages,

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