DIRT: Colin McRae Off-Road 360 info

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:09 pm

Oh yeah. I won't say it's on par with GTR2 or NR2003 or any of the great PC sims, but it's great for a console. It was "there" enough for me to feel the car better, but not so pronounced that it made it more difficult or stick out like a sore thumb. I remember thinking several times "that was nice" but never "ok I need to shut this off", which is a sweet spot for me. Enough to notice it (I frequently don't) but not enough to be distracting.

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:29 pm

Terry, I read on another forum somewhere that are a lot of settings for the wheel in the demo. There was also a link to some settings that a lot of guys were raving about and how much better it made the game as far as driving with the wheel goes. I will see if I can find it and post it up.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:29 pm

TCrouch wrote:I don't know if XBox Live "scoreboard chasing" will be enough for me to want to play it more, no idea. If it's possible to set up a DSP rally where you can spend a week perfecting your time, though, I imagine a lot of guys on the fence will take the plunge.

So glad you enjoyed the demo, Terry. As to the above, DChaps set up a little DSP offline rally challenge once with the last McRae game, and while I really enjoyed looking at the freinds list leadeboards and trying to outdo the best times over and over (much like in the old, PGR2 Nordschlie fe challenge), PK had a very compelling negative position on the idea of being able to do a stage over and over to 'get it right.' The gist of it is that in Rally it's all about the one-and-done type of thing; one chance to get it right, for better or worse, and then it's off to the next stage. This adds a ton of 'worry-wart' factor to each stage you run, lowering your chance of taking too much risk, but then, that's the fun of it: how much risk are you willing to take, how hard are you trying to push (especially on the long, high-speed stretches of a high-speed stage), how on the edge are you willing to go, because you know that one bad mistake could kill the whole thing, since there are no second chances.

I don't know what to expect with this one's online mode. Last time, you could set up a room, and take a rally made up of a series of stages you put together and saved offline, and then run them through. Even though you couldn't adjust the car setup online at all (including tires, which is just absurd, and don't forget car setups in McRae are extremely simplified), we had some incredibly fun, tight rallies. I just don't get how this 100-man thing is going to function. Can't get my head around it.

And finally: damn, but your reports, Terry, are really pushing me to get the wheel. I have to find a suitable support that will work with me on the couch (I have very specific space issues), and it's a bit bulkier to store away than I'd like, but this game even more than Forza is really making me want that thing, especially as I hear more about how well it seems to be inplemented. Having it for Forza as well will just be icing on the cake. Hmm.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:58 pm

Between this and Forza it will more than justify the cost to me...at least I bought mine 6 months ago simply because it existed, so not much justification is needed.

I didn't see any settings in the game, but I didn't look very hard. It seems to be very sensitive, which I tend to like, especially in a dirt game where you'll be countersteering and jockeying the wheel around a lot. I don't want to spin it 150 degrees if I can crank up the sensitivity and spin it 60 degrees instead. It makes quick movements of the wheel even more detrimental, but that's how I tend to set my games up. It did pretty well for me on defaults. Took me maybe half a lap to really get a grip on it.

PK, thanks for the tip on rally brakes. Makes more sense now, almost a sprint car-style "pitch it and hang on" mentality, which I can certainly adapt to

. I'll take that approach next time and see.

Zeppo, I'd prefer the one-and-done rally, honestly, but didn't think it was an option. Kind of like a real race online, where you don't have do-overs (unless PK is inebriated, where we usually have a couple). I'd much prefer a single shot run to multiple runs, but didn't even think it was possible. If it is, or even if it's simply a gentleman's agreement, then that's more enjoyable from my point of view.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Fri May 25, 2007 2:42 pm

Zeppo wrote:And finally: damn, but your reports, Terry, are really pushing me to get the wheel. I have to find a suitable support that will work with me on the couch (I have very specific space issues), and it's a bit bulkier to store away than I'd like, but this game even more than Forza is really making me want that thing, especially as I hear more about how well it seems to be inplemented. Having it for Forza as well will just be icing on the cake. Hmm.

Here's one more thing to push you toward getting the wheel ... a $20 price drop:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3159848

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Fri May 25, 2007 3:17 pm

yea the price drop is nice, but its still 119 all the time at Sams and they have an awesome return policy. So if it ever breaks, take that sucker back.

As more and more of us chime in after the demo this game is sounding like it may be the real deal for us online. Sure, no voice and all that sucks, but its competition and the idea of just not being able to hang it on the line is so cool. I mean imagine doing a Hill Climb and being able to set it up so that if you go off, well you are done. No resetting of the car or anything. Now that sounds fun to me.

And when we get the urge to rub fenders, Forza it is. Man what a summer this might be

Hey Terry, I found these settings on the net. Give them a try, might be a good starting point.

Force Feedback
Force - "on"
Force Strength - all the way to the right
Friction Strength - all the way to the right
Effect Strength - two clicks away from full

Wheel Advanced
Steering Deadzone - 5%
Steering Saturation - 100%
Accelerator Pedal Deadzone - 35%
Accelerator Pedal Saturation - 100%
Brake Pedal Deadzone - 55%
Brake Pedal Saturation - 80%

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:01 pm

TCrouch wrote:The crossover race was fun as hell, but I haven't been able to win that yet. Closest I've come is like 1 second off.

The buggies...oh, the buggies.

Seeing that makes me feel better about my performance! I won the buggy race and rally stage easily, but McRae puts me away every time. There is quite a rush when you're finishing the first lap and can see you're hanging right on McRae's bumper. Of course that's where I try to find that extra half second and end up losing 2.5 instead.

And the buggies have me completely hooked as well, but I can't wait to see how they have the CORR trucks modeled. Those should allow for some really awesome, tail completely out racing.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:20 pm

Colin is tough to beat but it's not that hard. I ran a 1:10 and 1:07 to beat him. I also beat him running a 1:10 and 1:09. I think there's a little rubberband AI.

After playing this game, I think Codies made a huge mistake not allowing for online play. Here's what they should have done. In the rally cross, they should have set-up like tournament tree and have you race against another driver. Rally racing should be set-up where you have a group of players and they all go off in "virtual" intervals. And have a one-and-done setting to it. The buggies should've accomodated 6 or 8 other players. I think there are trucks in this game as well, which would have been a blast.

Back to impressions. You can clearly feel how good the driving model in this game is versus Forza. Correct me if I'm wrong but Forza still used the center pivot model. When I was driving I felt like the whole car turned instead of the steering. In DIRT, it feels "right". Hard to explain but I can feel the backend of the car slide in the rally mode. On the rally cross, I can guide the front of my car without feeling like the middle of it is pulling me off my line.

I just hope they don't screw with the final version of the game and it feels different from the demo.

DIRT is just plain fun. I can't wait for the full game.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:21 pm

Dave wrote:
TCrouch wrote:The crossover race was fun as hell, but I haven't been able to win that yet. Closest I've come is like 1 second off.

The buggies...oh, the buggies.
Seeing that makes me feel better about my performance! I won the buggy race and rally stage easily, but McRae puts me away every time. There is quite a rush when you're finishing the first lap and can see you're hanging right on McRae's bumper. Of course that's where I try to find that extra half second and end up losing 2.5 instead.

And the buggies have me completely hooked as well, but I can't wait to see how they have the CORR trucks modeled. Those should allow for some really awesome, tail completely out racing.

I'm just the opposite. I beat the hill climb with ease, bested Colin on the crossover after a few tries, but have a hell of a time with buggy race. The audio and rumble don't appear to be giving me any feedback as to when I'm in that magic zone of grip that Terry talked about. And because I'm not getting the grip I need the AI drivers are spinning me around all the time because I'm in their way. The only way I've had any luck at all with the buggies is in the 3rd person camera where I can see when the other drivers are about to spin me out (again and again) so I can try to avoid it. But I hate 3rd person view in racing games so right now I'm not having fun with the buggies at all.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:30 pm

Yeah, I should have said I only tried the crossover twice. First time I was like 5 seconds back, second time I was 1 second back. I had no trouble zipping by the entire field in the buggies on the first shot, and won the hillclimb on the first try despite sending it off a cliff once.

But considering the AI driver is giving me a tough time AT ALL on Amateur, that really means that I'll probably have fits against the Expert drivers or whatever they are when the final comes out. I'm eager to see.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:51 pm

Anybody interested in a time trial league with the demo? Just use the honor code and post a score. Or if we wanted to be on the up-and-up take a screen shot of your time. We do one class a week until the game comes out.

Since the buggies are easy to get ahead of the field you really wouldn't have to worry that much. All you have to do is punch it past the first couple of cars and not get your wheels tied up on the first turn.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:55 pm

The last time I did the buggy race, I did get spun out right at the start, but it only took me a tiny bit to catch back up and walk past them after a turn or two. I'm probably more aggressive against the AI than I would be against people, but I sort of enjoy the bumping and grinding that goes on with the buggies. At this level of AI difficulty, I seem to be able to catch up to all but the lead guy pretty easily, even after going off track.

One thing about the McRae games I've always noticed is that the AI times for the rally stages are very inconsistent. That is, on some stages I feel like I drove not so great, but won by a big margin, while on other stages I feel like I drove very well but can't seem to beat the top few times. I found this in ToCA, too, and it's more obvious there since there is a field of cars out on the track, but even within one series, from track to track I found the relative competitiveness of the other cars to be all over the map. Part of it may well be me, and some courses that I am better at than others, but this inconsistency has always been a bit of a bug up my butt about the McRae games. I just always love the process of actually running the stages in McRae, so it's not such a huge deal, but I wonder if we're seeing some of that effect here in the demo.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri May 25, 2007 5:20 pm

Finally checked out the demo. Ran a quick buggy race. All I can say is I've finally seen a game that looks like that Motostorm target vid from E3 a couple of years ago. This game looks stunning. It obviously plays well too since it's made by the Codies.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sat May 26, 2007 2:34 am

Does anyone else have a "grainy" film on the screen that makes the hood of cars look streaky? Tough to explain.

Just missed the WR on the buggies by .02. Doh!

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sat May 26, 2007 11:28 am

Now this is what next gen should look like!

All I can saw is WOW! Finally tried the demo last night and really liked it. Not sure why, but the dune buggies are so much easier than the other cars. The rally race was the hardest for me, followed by the cross race (my favorite) and then the buggies. The buggies are a little annoying, as the AI will get right on top of you and your wheels will lock up with theirs causing spin after spin. All in all, this is a must buy for me now.

Anyone know why there is noone riding with you in the rally race calling out directions? Seems odd that they would leave this out? Or is this a different type of race?

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sat May 26, 2007 11:49 am

JackB1 wrote:Anyone know why there is noone riding with you in the rally race calling out directions? Seems odd that they would leave this out? Or is this a different type of race?

I'm going with the "because it is the demo" line of reasoning since the speech volume option is there and Pastrana says that "Christian pulled the short straw to be your co-driver on these races."

After looking around the Dirt website, it looks like the buggies in the demo are the low-powered version. The top-tier buggies are going to be insane!

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sat May 26, 2007 11:50 am

Its just the demo, full game has some American wanker barking out clear and precise instructions. Oh Nicky i miss you.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sat May 26, 2007 12:09 pm

Dave wrote:
JackB1 wrote:Anyone know why there is noone riding with you in the rally race calling out directions? Seems odd that they would leave this out? Or is this a different type of race?
I'm going with the "because it is the demo" line of reasoning since the speech volume option is there and Pastrana says that "Christian pulled the short straw to be your co-driver on these races."

I think it's because it's a hill climb, not a proper rally stage.

And I too will miss Nicky Grist and his unique 'mits-i-BOO-shi.' I wonder if they will have different languages for the co-driver. If I get sick of whoever the yank is at default, it'd be nice to try a French or German guy.

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Sat May 26, 2007 3:05 pm

I too think there is no co-pilot for the hill climb because its a hill climb. Watch the Pikes Peak event (its usually always on espn or some channel) and these guys don't use co-pilots. Of course they know the hill like the back of their hand so obviously that helps.

I am so excited for this game. I almost forgot Forza comes out in 3 days LOL

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sat May 26, 2007 6:37 pm

The sense of speed in DIRT is fantastic. It's probably unrealistic but it's sure fun.

Just played some more of the Forza demo and it plays slow and somewhat boring.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Sat May 26, 2007 6:46 pm

played this today. loved the "driver view" esp on the 'dirt' track. It was fun just rolling the thing in that view.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sat May 26, 2007 9:47 pm

what camera view are most of you guys using? does anyone else like the 2nd cockpit view where you see out the side window too?

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sat May 26, 2007 10:59 pm

JackB1 wrote:what camera view are most of you guys using? does anyone else like the 2nd cockpit view where you see out the side window too?

Can't decide, they are both so awesome. It may end up being something that is up to each specific car for me. I love how in the wider one, the 'helmet cam,' the 'look behind' button just snaps your view to make the mirror the focus. Slick!

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sun May 27, 2007 12:21 pm

JackB1 wrote:what camera view are most of you guys using? does anyone else like the 2nd cockpit view where you see out the side window too?

I use the hood cam. I have a hard time with the two cockpit views in the rally and rally cross stages. It's hard for me to get my line and set my speed through cornors.

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Sun May 27, 2007 12:30 pm

I am faster with the hood cam, but its so much more fun with the cockpit cams. Not to mention more realistic. I did manage to win the CrossOver race in the cockpit cam. Prior to that I could only do it with the hood cam.