DiRT 4 Review: The Generator Generation

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

DiRT 4 Review: The Generator Generation

This article was published by Brendan Rorrison (@Brend) on June 20th, 2017 in the DiRT 4 category.

 

[Lukanyon]

Awesome review!
I loved playing DiRT 3 and DiRT Rally, and I will buy this one too as soon as I finish Horizon: Zero Dawn.

 

[FLX1981]

Frankly speaking, I find the car models much less appealing than the landscapes. While the graphics in the surrounding areas are nothing special indeed, the cars look very much last gen compared to DriveClub, Forza and GTS. Especially those flat materials and the lights.

 

[Brend]

Frankly speaking, I find the car models much less appealing than the landscapes. While the graphics in the surrounding areas are nothing special indeed, the cars look very much last gen compared to DriveClub, Forza and GTS. Especially those flat materials and the lights.

Compared to other outright rally titles they look the best in my opinion. Especially if we're looking at games that run at 60FPS.

In the overall racing genre though - definitely nothing special.

 

[dolande]

I've played GT (since 3), AC and Pcars but never a DIRT game, will this be a better buy now than Rally?

 

[GTP_federsch]

I've played GT (since 3), AC and Pcars but never a DIRT game, will this be a better buy now than Rally?

So, do Assetto cover your taste? Then Dirt Rally without any doubt, at least un console.

Cheers!

 

[Techy]

I've played GT (since 3), AC and Pcars but never a DIRT game, will this be a better buy now than Rally?

Dirt Rally is harder than Dirt 4. Not that Dirt 4 is cake-walk with Simulation handling. Just that Rally is more unforgiving.

 

[Sturdy]

Dirt Rally is harder than Dirt 4. Not that Dirt 4 is cake-walk with Simulation handling. Just that Rally is more unforgiving.

There's a youtube channel I watch of a sim racer, when he initially did playthroughs of Dirt Rally on Steam early access (and my later experiences matched this), over a whole series of videos he was fighting hard to consistently place above 5th even in the lower championships. It took a lot of practice to get faster and be competitive. However this made it tense and rewarding to play, and you were really pleased to get 4th, and fighting for a championship over 4 or 5 locations meant you'd take that 3rd place as it put you ahead of a competitor who'd had an issue and so on.

Watching his first play of Dirt 4, he won every stage by several seconds, immediately. Obviously this was on sim physics, no aids etc. and on the highest difficulty he was allowed to use (the hardest is locked at the start).

Despite what Codies said, Dirt 4 doesn't seem to have taken a great deal from Dirt Rally, which is a shame, as really, if Dirt Rally had a track generator (that produced decent tracks) that's really all the Rally game I'd need!

 

[RaceFuchs]

It's a sad thing there is no better PS4 Pro support... the game still sticks with 1080p. I'm sure you can do better with this hardware.

 

[manofsteel]

A fair review. Agree with most of it.

I occasionally get frame rate/tearing issues on standard rally, especially when there are quick successive 1/2 lefts and rights and the camera is swaying about. It's as though it can't shift the scenery quick enough. And that is while using bonnet cam.

Land Rush with the buggies on Nevada is just terrible. There's no way there should be any loss in frame rate or any tearing. There are games that do much more, with more track-side scenery and activities, and with a more populated grid that run better.

And I play on PS4 Pro, with Boost Mode activated.

 

[Speedster911]

It's a sad thing there is no better PS4 Pro support... the game still sticks with 1080p. I'm sure you can do better with this hardware.

Higher resolution will not magically make the game look better. It's in the detail levels and that can only be changed by the devs in future games!

 

[Brend]

A fair review. Agree with most of it.

I occasionally get frame rate/tearing issues on standard rally, especially when there are quick successive 1/2 lefts and rights and the camera is swaying about. It's as though it can't shift the scenery quick enough. And that is while using bonnet cam.

Land Rush with the buggies on Nevada is just terrible. There's no way there should be any loss in frame rate or any tearing. There are games that do much more, with more track-side scenery and activities, and with a more populated grid that run better.

And I play on PS4 Pro, with Boost Mode activated.

Thanks. 👍

Yeah, Nevada is absolutely mental with the drops at times. It actually feels unplayable in a pack when you get to each corner.

Got to be some wasted memory or something going on, it's hardly the busiest track on the roster.

 

[Speedster911]

A fair review. Agree with most of it.

I occasionally get frame rate/tearing issues on standard rally, especially when there are quick successive 1/2 lefts and rights and the camera is swaying about. It's as though it can't shift the scenery quick enough. And that is while using bonnet cam.

Land Rush with the buggies on Nevada is just terrible. There's no way there should be any loss in frame rate or any tearing. There are games that do much more, with more track-side scenery and activities, and with a more populated grid that run better.

And I play on PS4 Pro, with Boost Mode activated.

Well, that's just swell. I happen to remember screen tearing/frame hiccup on rare occasions in DR as well.

 

[Lukanyon]

Higher resolution will not magically make the game look better.

With supersampling, yes, it will.

 

[deththrasher]

It's a sad thing there is no better PS4 Pro support... the game still sticks with 1080p. I'm sure you can do better with this hardware.

This is why "pro" consoles are a bad idea imo, it's up to the developers giving a **** to actually make use of the power. where as on PC it's up to you, the consumer how you want the game to look and perform.

Dirt 4 is a pretty big step down from Rally in a lot of ways, but I'm still enjoying it.

Higher resolution will not magically make the game look better. It's in the detail levels and that can only be changed by the devs in future games!

Higher resolution always looks better, dude.

 

[Techy]

There's a youtube channel I watch of a sim racer, when he initially did playthroughs of Dirt Rally on Steam early access (and my later experiences matched this), over a whole series of videos he was fighting hard to consistently place above 5th even in the lower championships. It took a lot of practice to get faster and be competitive. However this made it tense and rewarding to play, and you were really pleased to get 4th, and fighting for a championship over 4 or 5 locations meant you'd take that 3rd place as it put you ahead of a competitor who'd had an issue and so on.

Watching his first play of Dirt 4, he won every stage by several seconds, immediately. Obviously this was on sim physics, no aids etc. and on the highest difficulty he was allowed to use (the hardest is locked at the start).

Despite what Codies said, Dirt 4 doesn't seem to have taken a great deal from Dirt Rally, which is a shame, as really, if Dirt Rally had a track generator (that produced decent tracks) that's really all the Rally game I'd need!

Hmm do you know the youtube channel?

Interestingly I play with a controller with little to no aids in Demanding difficulty. there are a couple of times where it was tough to keep up, but this was mostly the Landrush cars and the faster rally cars with RWD. there was one championship in the Ford RS Cosworth and i consistently won with 30-40 seconds lead.

 

[RaceFuchs]

And I play on PS4 Pro, with Boost Mode activated.

Just to clear this up: boost mode won't do anything if a game has pro support. And Dirt 4 does, although it's a rather disappointing one with standard resolution.

 

[Speedster911]

With supersampling, yes, it will.

Let me reiterate - it will not give the game richer detail levels - the objects and models will look the same. You'll just be looking at a sharper picture overall. So yes, your image will look very clean and crisp but not necessarily more pleasing to the eye. Kind of like 60 fps COD Vs 30 fps GOW. You can guess which looks better, even if you view it on a 4K TV.

 

[Lukanyon]

Let me reiterate - it will not give the game richer detail levels - the objects and models will look the same. You'll just be looking at a sharper picture overall. So yes, your image will look very clean and crisp but not necessarily more pleasing to the eye. Kind of like 60 fps COD Vs 30 fps GOW. You can guess which looks better, even if you view it on a 4K TV.

Agreed.
Frankly speaking I had better expectations regarding graphics for DiRT 4, because DiRT Rally for me looks identical to DiRT 3, but at 60fps.
If I'm not mistaking, DiRT Rally uses Ego 3.0 and DiRT 4 uses 4.0, right?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Dirt Rally is harder than Dirt 4. Not that Dirt 4 is cake-walk with Simulation handling. Just that Rally is more unforgiving.

I found Dirt Rally to be riduculously easy at times. It was far too easy to catch the car if you made an error.

 

[Speedster911]

Agreed.
Frankly speaking I had better expectations regarding graphics for DiRT 4, because DiRT Rally for me looks identical to DiRT 3, but at 60fps.
If I'm not mistaking, DiRT Rally uses Ego 3.0 and DiRT 4 uses 4.0, right?

Actually, Dirt 3 was better looking than DR in some aspects - it may not be as clean looking, but the rich detail levels on all the stages were really impressive. You don't see 'detail levels' as rich in DR or D4.

I found Dirt Rally to be riduculously easy at times. It was far too easy to catch the car if you made an error.

What... really?! What settings were you using? Difficulty and/or assists etc?

 

[Corsa]

Not worried about how pretty or obsolete it looks...
Talk physics, handling...
I have the T150, did you find yours worked well?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

What... really?! What settings were you using? Difficulty and/or assists etc?

All assists off. Difficulty varied depending on the championship I was running.

 

[Brend]

Not worried about how pretty or obsolete it looks...
Talk physics, handling...
I have the T150, did you find yours worked well?

Yep, it was pretty good. Worked well but sometimes I felt like there was a slight disconnect between the road and the car. Probably something that could be fixed by some tweaks in the settings though.

Experience is definitely fun with the T150.

I go into the driving physics in the final 3rd of the review. 👍

 

[Speedster911]

Yep, it was pretty good. Worked well but sometimes I felt like there was a slight disconnect between the road and the car. Probably something that could be fixed by some tweaks in the settings though.

Experience is definitely fun with the T150.

I go into the driving physics in the final 3rd of the review. 👍

They mentioned the "disconnect with the road" part in a review I saw on YT recently. In fact, by now I've seen nearly half a dozen reviews that all say even the sim handling model in D4 is significantly less nuanced and unforgiving than Dirt Rally.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

I've played Dirt 4 for about a week now but I already feel like I preferred Dirt Rally, the course creator is a nice idea but it should be in the game alongside other stages not instead of. I feel like I've learnt all the stages already, even those I haven't driven on because the corners are so repetitive, they're not as challenging as the last game either. Maybe it will grow on me once leagues are added but I'm not convinced.

 

[CarreraGT]

Agreed. The stage generator is nice but it doesn't take long to become familiar with the various configurations. Aside from that, the game definitely doesn't play as well as Dirt Rally. The one thing they have definitely improved is the cars' sense of weight and aero. If you could transfer those two aspects and the stage generator to Dirt Rally, you would have the perfect rally sim. Also the US and Spanish rallies are boring. Too wide and too fast, Monte Carlo in Dirt Rally was epic!