This Week's Racing Game Deals: DiRT 4 Headlines PlayStation Europe's Summer Sale

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

This Week's Racing Game Deals: DiRT 4 Headlines PlayStation Europe's Summer Sale

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

 

[breyzipp]

That is quite early for Dirt 4 already, good deal for those interested! I bought it full price earlier this year and I really like the game (got Dirt Rally as well). Rallycross has been improved a LOT since Dirt Rally but still for the game having the official FIA WRX license you'd expect more tracks than just 5 out of 12 on the calendar...

Ooh yeah, it has some rally stages in it as well.

 

[Nielsen]

Even with DiRT 4 on sale, I struggle to see why I should buy it when still enjoying last year's DiRT Rally. The car lists are nearly identical, the real world stages from last year's game are gone and great locations have been replaced by new ones which on paper sound rather dull in comparison. Besides, I have read some complaints over DiRT 4 physics, such as more grip than DiRT Rally, which already was too grippy in my opinion.

Then there's the stage generator tool. Cool novelty feature but I still can't memorize most of the stages in DiRT Rally. Improved rally cross was arguably needed, but I very much prefer conventional rally stages. This discount is tempting but I just cannot convince myself.

 

[breyzipp]

Even with DiRT 4 on sale, I struggle to see why I should buy it when still enjoying last year's DiRT Rally. The car lists are nearly identical, the real world stages from last year's game are gone and great locations have been replaced by new ones which on paper sound rather dull in comparison. Besides, I have read some complaints over DiRT 4 physics, such as more grip than DiRT Rally, which already was too grippy in my opinion.

Then there's the stage generator tool. Cool novelty feature but I still can't memorize most of the stages in DiRT Rally. Improved rally cross was arguably needed, but I very much prefer conventional rally stages. This discount is tempting but I just cannot convince myself.

If you still play and enjoy Dirt Rally, by all means continue to do so. You have valid points on the real life stages (I absolutely adored Greece and miss it in Dirt 4) and the car list (Dirt 4 has a bunch more cars but I agree the majority are the same ones). And about the physics, I think for sim mode racing on a rig you are right since I have been seeing those complaints as well. But I think Codemasters is looking into those physics as well and might improve it in a future game update.

I play it on a controller in my sofa with all assists off and everything as realistic as possible (interior cameras etc) except I have gamer handling mode on, it just works better and feels more realistic for a controller IMO, otherwise I feel I'm more struggling with the input device than with the car itself. And I'm really having a lot of fun with the game that way. The game overall feels a lot more polished (not as "rough" as Dirt Rally) and I really like the extra bells and whistles from the DirtFish academy, the facilities and team, the sponsors, etc.

The racing itself also feels more smooth than in Dirt Rally, maybe it's comparable to what Forza Horizon is for Forza Motorsport. I haven't played it that much yet that the random stages become repetitive but I have seen some people (who play it extensively) mention just that. My favorite locations are Michigan, Australia and Wales. Sweden is ok (bumping into the snow barriers on the sides feels more realistic as in Dirt Rally) but I'm not so much a fan of the Spain location. I guess I'm just not much a fan of tarmac racing since I didn't like Germany in Dirt Rally that much either. Talking about tarmac racing, that aspect has seen a big improvement over Dirt Rally, for both rally stages and rallycross.

I'm a big fan of rallycross so that's one big improvement in that area, the looks of tracks like a muddy Lydden Hill in the soaking rain look great IMO and the sound effect of racing through puddles is absolutely ace (like so many sound effects in Dirt 4, Codemasters is really good in that department).

Landrush is a bit fun and fresh at first but comes boring and repetitive fast. Even with 3 locations in the game, they all have more or less the same "folded-U shape" as their main courses which is a bit sad. Certainly not a worthy replacement for the hillclimbs of Dirt Rally.

For controller gameplay or a rallygame that is a bit less sim and a bit more game (but still feels very realistic and overal great) I can highly recommend Dirt 4.