Customer Reviews

Dirt

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Good game, great graphics. It does run a little choppy on my Core 2 6800/NVIDIA 7950 GT system, but with a 8600 GTS card runs very nice at 1280x720.

The problem I have with the game is it installs StarForce verification drivers on your PC. These drivers are incompatible with a PC with Blu-Ray playback (PowerDVD). The drivers basically disable Blu-Ray playback on your system. I wrote CodeMasters about it. And guess what? They didn't seem to care (surprise, surprise).

I like the graphics and game. But I can't forgive a company that installs software on your system which disables other software from working properly.

DiRT is great to look at, fun to play, but ultimately it falls short of being a racing simulator. The hardware requirements are very serious if you desire all of the bells and whistles. My P4 3.0 GHz / ATI x1950 GT rig was literally crawling at 1024x768 Ultra (under 1 fps). Race 07 WTCC was made in 2007 and I can run that with full details at 1024x768 and still maintain 40-55 fps thanks to the automatic frame rate maintainer. My reference to Race 07 WTCC is a hint that I will be making further comparisons between DiRT and Race 07 / GTR2.

The menu interface in DiRT is cumbersome and annoying. It screams "console port" because it appears to be designed for players with short attention spans. A simple menu system would have sufficed, but nonetheless the system in DiRT works flawlessly albeit clustered.

The sound effects are rather lackluster. The Impreza did not feel like it was modeled after a Subaru WRX STI with the Boxer H4. The engine revs sounded weak and numb. I had to look at the tachometer or shift lights each time because the engine sound was too vague. Tire squeels, gravel roads, mud roads, etc... did not sound like the real thing. Launching the STI is usually the coolest part in real life but in DiRT, I'm greeted with a vague squeel and the engine just sort of hums at the redline.

The lack of "free play" is a major drawback. As soon as you leave a designated zone of a course, it rests and plops your car back into the course. With Race 07 and GTR2, you CAN stray off the course (well off the course) to do some limited exploring. Again, the automatic reset makes DiRT feel like a cheap console port.

The steering and brakes seem to be designed for a console controller. The steering is so linear that it felt like I was driving a slot car. There wasn't any body roll. The brakes are also too sensitive. Granted, the WRC cars have outstanding brakes, but this amount of sensitivity just screams poor modeling. In Race 07 WTCC, the Formula 3000 / GP2 cars have very grabby brakes and that is expected due to the intense grip from the tires and the light chassis. The WRC cars are supposed to be streetable cars that drive on loose mud. There's no way an Evo IX or STI could "stop on a dime" like it does in DiRT.

I mainly wanted to find a racing simulator that accurately models AWD cars. GTR2 does a fantastic job with RWD GT-spec cars, while Race 07 WTCC includes an updated suite of graphics, cars, tracks, and physics and includes Front-wheel drive cars. In both GTR2 and Race 07, I can get a good sensation of speed in certain cars and the engines SCREAM when you get near redline. There's a real clutch in those games, and the cars handle more realistically.

Overall, I feel that DiRT is a fun "arcade" racing game that falls flat in realism and that is probably expected from some players. I give this game 3/5 stars overall, but it deserves a 4/5 for fun factor because lets face it, it's an enjoyable game! Not many gamers are used to GTR2 and Race 07. If you read my reviews of GTR2 and Race 07, you will find me criticizing the realism because it still lacks that certain "feel" to make it cross over into a true simulation.

Having played most of the Colin McCrea versions on the PC, I had high hopes for Dirt and even pre-ordered it...a rarity for me. I should have waited. My 6 month old Dell (a Core 2 Duo) meets the recommended system requirements and far exceeds the minimum, yet the game runs like utter [...]. This system runs virtually anything else out there at a high res (even the dreaded Flight Sim X). Yet on Dirt, anything above 640 x 480 is choppy, with anything near the top res acting like a slide show. Controls are nearly as bad; cars zig-zag uncontrollably at the slightest movement, even with the "supported" Logitech MOMO wheel and pedals. The Logitech Rumble Pad isn't even supported out of the box and requires manual setup. They assume you have an Xbox 360 gamepad, indicating this is a sloppy port of the 360 version. I'm not alone in these problems; check out the Codemasters forums before you buy and try the demo. 90% of the posts gripe about performance, some point to sound card issues and claim disabling the sound card helps. Yeah, that's what I want to do. Everything else aside, it has the makings of graphic marvel. I have the slide show to prove it.

I only play PC games, not consoles. Still, I haven't owned a racing game since Nascar III. This is the first racer to interest me since then. Dirt is absolutely beautiful! The physics are a bit weak, but it's a joy to play. I'd much rather play this kind of racer than the "simulator" types where you get burdened with car setup details out your tailpipe. The demo was great and can wet your wistle. The full version is also cheaper than the console versions if you decide to pick it up. Plus, it includes more vehicle types and tracks. The coolest looking vehicles are the racing rigs, IMO. 4-thumbs up from me.

This isn't one of those drop the hammer and hang on racing games. You must use some finesse to accel at this game. I wouldn't advise using anything but a wheel for control. Being able to gradually power up is essential to getting through the turns fast, and blipping the throttle over the jumps to set the car for the landing. All make for a challenging experience.

I was worried after reading some of the reviews. So I downloaded the demo what a blast. I haven't had so much fun since SODA Off Road Racing.

I believe to have what I would guess to be an average PC (AMD 64 X2 3800+, 1GB Ram) and the game runs good. Online could be a nightmare I haven't exploried there.

The concept of dirt racing is thrilling to me. I would have really liked to see some active dirt physics. If the track would wear in (and out) determend by where and how the cars run during the race that would put it over the top. I'm not sure if it's just the demo but the AI is a bit weak. But super fun.

I'm not the world's foremost authority on racing, so that means I'm largely unable to comment on the in-depth technical aspects of how well or poorly a piece of software emulates this type of activity. However, I do enjoy a good video game, especially racing simulations. In my humble opinion, DiRT certainly qualifies -- it's just flat-out, good old-fashioned and wholesome fun, and it's probably one of the most unique racing games that I've ever played. There's just something really enjoyable about being allowed to chaotically bounce around muddy terrain or drive large SUVs and semis up and down slippery slopes, where one wrong move will send you precariously over the edge. When do I get a chance to do that in the real world?

Variety is the spice of life of course, so DiRT isn't lacking in that category -- you'll spend just as much time racing on ordinary pavement using souped-up racecars as you will participating in exotic off-road adventures. Naturally, this would all be a waste of time if the graphics in a game such as this weren't convincing, but that's something you definitely don't have to worry about -- the visuals in DiRT are spectacular, provided that you configure the game to run at a decent screen resolution and detail level. The realism is so intense sometimes and the vehicles are rendered so beautifully that it almost seems like you could reach out and touch them. And it certainly doesn't stop there -- you'll experience very lush, very dense wooded environments as well as an assortment of other thoughtfully-designed tracks; vehicle damage that results in broken windshields and parts flying off; and exciting replays with various camera angles that let you observe your entire race from multiple vantage points.

It is true that when this game was originally released, some people found its recommended system requirements to be a bit too steep. To be sure, DiRT was probably designed to impress and to resist obsolescence, requiring a fairly high-end PC to enjoy all of its bells and whistles. But in my opinion, now that we've reached 2009, this game and the hardware that can fully bring it to life is probably within the reach of the average gamer with a comfortable budget. I admit, back when I initially tried out the demo, even I had trouble with it -- at the time, I only had a GeForce 8600 GTS graphics card, and the game struggled almost hopelessly at high resolutions and/or maximum detail levels. But ever since I upgraded, I've finally been able to enjoy all of DiRT's glorious eye-candy (and I never had a problem getting it to run under Windows Vista).

Sure, there are some criticisms I could bring to light. The lack of mouse support while navigating the menus, for example, strikes me as being a rather odd and silly omission. But DiRT just has so much going for it that I can fairly easily overlook something like that. I especially like the game's career mode -- nothing overly complicated, just a hierarchical tree of races that you have to progress through, without getting bogged down with too many details. I've made a lot of progress so far -- in fact, I've almost reached the top.

In summary, I am definitely very glad I picked up this title. Next on my wish list: GRID, which is published by the same company. How can I not look forward to it? (And bring on DiRT 2!)

Have fun!

EDIT/UPDATE: Well, I've finally run into problems with this game. I've encountered a bug which has resulted in my saved profile to become corrupt. However, after I installed the patch that is supposed to fix the issue, the game refuses to run. I don't know if this is all Vista related, but I'm disappointed in the fact that this has happened. I'm also not crazy about the fact that if I want to unlock the cheat codes, I have to pay for them. I suppose I am grateful for the fact that I did make a lot of progress in career mode with this game, so I do feel that for the most part, I got my money's worth. And I suppose I could contact tech-support to see if they can offer any advice (or I could reinstall it). But this headache that I've run into is something that I wanted to mention.

I've driven through a good portion of the game and I've enjoyed it for the most part. The graphics are the best that I've seen in any game, but they're definitely taxing my 8800GTS 640MB. Matched with my E6600 and 3GB DDR2-800 RAM, this game runs at 1680x1050 on Ultra settings in XP pretty well. I get 23fps on average with my 8800 at stock speeds and 30fps with it overclocked a bit.

If the game ran any faster, it wouldn't be as detailed. I'd much rather the game be too detailed and future-resistant than not detailed enough and age quickly. You can easily turn down settings if a game is running too slow on an aging computer, but you can never add detail that isn't there to begin with. I'm glad that DiRT is graphically detailed much more than most computers can smoothly support.

The cars definitely have unique handling and there is a learning curve, but it's fun once you get the hang of it. Most of the races are in fact on dirt, so the cars are going to be sliding around a lot more than expected (and it's easy to fly off the road if you're going too fast). There are some tracks on blacktop and the difference in traction is very noticeable--you can take turns a lot quicker and the tires squeal. I've been playing this game with a Logitech RumblePad 2 and while it's fun enough, I'm going to get a Logitech MOMO steering wheel and pedal set to get a little bit more control over it (and hopefully crash less).

The game is easy once you get used to controlling the cars and run on Rookie/Clubman difficulties, but you'll be much more challenged when you go above that.

The damage modeling is good but it could be better. Although, the rally cars are basically steel tubing, so it would be hard to improve very much. I still enjoy smashing into something and then running over my front bumper as it falls off or watching my hood fly off, along with the scraps of debris that remain at the accident site.

All in all, this is a pretty good game, one of the best racing games that I've played. The only significant negative that I can find is the multiplayer. It's a joke. You can't play with any other players on the same track; you can only individually race on your own track instances and try to get the best time. That's not much multiplayer, so that was a let down, and good enough to take one star away.

My nephew loves it. Once they were able to get the software running. Word to the wise, pay attention to the specs needed to run this game. It may take more than your computer has in order to run it. Once they got some upgrades for the computer, it apparently runs ok!

First of all let me show you my specs to give you an idea of what you will need to run this game at ultra settings.Dual core 3.4Ghz cpu,3GB Ram,Asus 8800gts 640MB Video card,Dvd rom drive,.With these specs i am able to run this game at ultra high settings and do not have a bit of slow down while playing it.As for the gameplay it is pretty standard fair,you compete in a bunch of different races and try to beat the other cars to the finish and get the best time,thats it.This being said any racing fan will love this game because it handles well,even with the keyboard controls.As for the online part of this game you try to get the best time while doing laps around the tracks and then your score is posted among hundreds of other drivers.Other than the amazing graphics this game will not blow you away with anything new but you will have a good time playing it.

This is a great game. Yes you need a monster of a PC to run it well; but if you do, the game is amazing. 1920x1080 runs smooth with maxed settings on a 8800 GTX SLI on a QX6700@2.92Ghz - on a 46" HDTV.

But keep in mind that the game has starforce v4.7. This isn't as bad as the dreaded v3.0. But it's still starforce. You've been warned.