Dakar 18 (PS4, XOne, PC) - Release date September 25 2018

[doblocruiser]

Happy to report completing the Dakar on Competitor with a truck today. On toward Legend (eventually)!

Do it on Legend! It makes the damage system a lot more brutal and it even gives you more reason to secu

Started a new Dakar career on Legend. After finishing day 2 at Peru the standings were a bit baffling. I basically made a shambles of the stage as usual in the Peru dunes and finished 1st with a total time of over an hour. Almost every AI entrant was pummeled with penalties, most with 2 hours worth.

You're using a truck? If so, the AI isn't that strong, even on legend.

 

[cjr3559]

You're using a truck? If so, the AI isn't that strong, even on legend.

Yep, a truck. I tried using a car on Competitive and it was a disaster. Too fast and I just can’t get the flow of pacenotes at that speed (yet). Once I finish Legend with a truck I’ll try the car again. Maybe the SxS too, though which is faster, the car or SxS?

Can’t even imagine using a bike or quad without a codriver...

 

[die996]

After extensive testing, these are the times to complete the entire Dakar Rally:

· Bikes = 515 minutes
· Cars = 521 minutes
· UTVs = 577 minutes
· Trucks = 585 minutes
· Quads = 616 minutes

The stage times are rather consistent, the difference between classes is always the same percentage more or less.

PS: I always do the navigation myself. I've done quite a few stages while listening to podcasts or some other stuff. It's not that hard to check the CAP and the distance every 3-4 seconds.

 

[doblocruiser]

Yep, a truck. I tried using a car on Competitive and it was a disaster. Too fast and I just can’t get the flow of pacenotes at that speed (yet). Once I finish Legend with a truck I’ll try the car again. Maybe the SxS too, though which is faster, the car or SxS?

Can’t even imagine using a bike or quad without a codriver...

With the trucks indeed you have some more time. I found it a nice expérience as well. Cars are faster than SxS and the long needs real care in those rocky and bumpy stages.

Bike and quad are do-able, just reduce speed and adapt reading pacenotes yourself . You can always try it out in quickrace

 

[PzR Slim]

Just completed the game for the first time. Car, competitor difficulty, won by just over two hours. What a great experience, really enjoyable. Gonna do the two DLC rallies and then decide if I'll go for legendary difficulty or choose a different vehicle.

 

[Scaff]

Ruta 40 full stage 1.

 

[doblocruiser]

Ruta 40 full stage 1.

What did you think of the technical rocky part?

 

[Scaff]

What did you think of the technical rocky part?

That I'm glad I first tried it on rookie!

The Hilux was a bit of a mess at the end, but it's an excellent piece of DLC.

 

[cjr3559]

Standings after Dakar stage 4 on Legend difficulty. Um yeah. Finished stage 4 in last place. Appears some AI fixes are in order..

 

[die996]

Standings after Dakar stage 4 on Legend difficulty. Um yeah. Finished stage 4 in last place. Appears some AI fixes are in order..

How much time did you need to complete the 4th day? I can do it in around 48-49 minutes no problem.

 

[cjr3559]

How much time did you need to complete the 4th day? I can do it in around 48-49 minutes no problem.

Don’t remember exactly, probably a little over an hour. After stage 5 I’ve got nearly a 4 hour lead on the AI. Somewhere in the last update something changed massively.

 

[die996]

Don’t remember exactly, probably a little over an hour.

At that pace, on legend difficulty, it'd be somewhat understandable for you to finish last. I am not a very quick driver (corners and all that) but I got the whole navigation side of things dialed in, where do you think are you losing like 10-15 minutes on my time? Genuinely interested.

 

[cjr3559]

At that pace, on legend difficulty, it'd be somewhat understandable for you to finish last. I am not a very quick driver (corners and all that) but I got the whole navigation side of things dialed in, where do you think are you losing like 10-15 minutes on my time? Genuinely interested.

Beleive me I’ve got no issues finishing last, but it seems off to be 1st in the overall standings after such a terrible stage.

Stage 4 I wound up turning the wrong direction on the final stretch which probably added 5+ minutes. And there are still a few times where I make a navigational error and catch myself in the dunes which costs a couple minutes here and there to get back on course.

Not to mention I’m already kind of deliberate in my navigating, but it’s getting easier with each play through.

I really do love this game, but the AI is really wonky.

 

[Pfei]

Beleive me I’ve got no issues finishing last, but it seems off to be 1st in the overall standings after such a terrible stage.

Stage 4 I wound up turning the wrong direction on the final stretch which probably added 5+ minutes. And there are still a few times where I make a navigational error and catch myself in the dunes which costs a couple minutes here and there to get back on course.

Not to mention I’m already kind of deliberate in my navigating, but it’s getting easier with each play through.

I really do love this game, but the AI is really wonky.

The latest update that made AI open to penalties has wonked the AI times. The devs are aware and it will be fixed in an update.

 

[Scaff]

Ruta stage 2

 

[cjr3559]

I may have the worst AI luck known to man.

Today I finished stage 6 just fine, decent finish no issues. After stage 6 I have a five hour lead over the AI on Legend difficulty.

So I felt pumped up tackle the epically long stage 7. But about a third though I had a pesky AI on my tail. Then he bumps me entering a 30km speed zone and gives me a speeding penalty. No big deal. THEN on one of the next several speed zones he plows directly into me. No, we’ll say he just drove right over me, not only giving me a speed penalty, but smashing me into a house totaling my vehicle. Come on..

Well, the game will have to take a time out until I get this latest annoyance event behind me.

 

[cjr3559]

Went back to it today, much better outcome. I could hear the AI creeping up behind so I just let him pass before another disaster ensued. Finished stage 7 in 4th place seven minutes behind. Still have a 5 hour overall lead. On Legend!

 

[Pfei]

Went back to it today, much better outcome. I could hear the AI creeping up behind so I just let him pass before another disaster ensued. Finished stage 7 in 4th place seven minutes behind. Still have a 5 hour overall lead. On Legend!

The Sentinel was supposed to be coming in an update. I hope we don't have to wait until Dakar 19 for that.

 

[cjr3559]

Did half a stage yesterday of Ruta 40 (awesome DLC btw) with the SxS. Didn’t get to try the vehicle much and didn’t know a whole lot about it, so I did some internet searching and now realize it’s basically a souped up UTV/ATV.

I’ll try it again next time I play this week, but does this thing have a low and high gear like the truck?

 

[die996]

I’ll try it again next time I play this week, but does this thing have a low and high gear like the truck?

The Polaris only uses the high-low gears as a way to control how much engine braking it has, I guess the devs decided to skip that.

 

[cjr3559]

Another game crash yesterday. This time right near the end of Stage 10 approximately 5-10km from the end. I’m going to start posting each instance so I can keep track. All in all, it’s crashed about 6 times.

 

[tunaphis]

Can't find a lot of info on stuttering/mini freezes on ps pro but atm they are making it unplayable.All patches updated,tried different ps settings,went down to 1080p but still bad.Dunes are better than bushes,rio's with tracks being the worst.Hasn't crashed once yet but I need a fix,Emailed BigMoon no reply. Thanks. (tv is a uhd Samsung,Firmware updated).

 

[Scaff]

Update 2.01 has sneaked out, bringing online ranking (that doesn't seem to be working yet).

 

[wolfsburgraz]

I finally picked this up for Xbox, I'm looking forward to getting into it this weekend. Between the game download and DLC it was around 65 GB, and the update Scaff mentioned was around another 8 GB. That sure took a while to get on my terribad internet!

 

[cjr3559]

Finally got around to achieving this. Wasn’t as difficult as I would have thought. There were a few tense moments, but all you’ve got to do is keep the vehicle in one piece. Otherwise the AI performance is kind of laughable. I’m not even fast but managed to win by nearly 9 hours. I think my total time was 11-12 hours with a truck.

On to the Dakar Series! 👍

 

[Mike-ZENKAI]

Was waiting for a nice discount to buy Dakar 2018, since the reviews where not too good. Now own it since a couple of days and I really like it. Physics are a bit special but the navigation imho makes the game something special.
Quite intens to drive through the dunes while keeping it in one piece without missing any waypoints for 40 minutes.

One question, I play with DS4 and while braking from high speed the car is totally uncontrollable. And usually end up at least 90 degrees the wrong way. Any options to improve this?

 

[doblocruiser]

Was waiting for a nice discount to buy Dakar 2018, since the reviews where not too good. Now own it since a couple of days and I really like it. Physics are a bit special but the navigation imho makes the game something special.
Quite intens to drive through the dunes while keeping it in one piece without missing any waypoints for 40 minutes.

One question, I play with DS4 and while braking from high speed the car is totally uncontrollable. And usually end up at least 90 degrees the wrong way. Any options to improve this?

You can try to reduce the sensitivity of the steering to about 35 degrees. That should help a bit. Also don't apply the brakes at once but brake in short sets. This could help as well. Not all cars suffer from this issue equally but the 3008DKR is quite famous for it

 

[Mike-ZENKAI]

@doblocruiser, thanks, will try that.

Only been driving the Toyota with Ten Brinke uptill now.

And what about treasure hunt? Around the mark on chart I can't find a thing?

 

[doblocruiser]

@doblocruiser, thanks, will try that.

Only been driving the Toyota with Ten Brinke uptill now.

And what about treasure hunt? Around the mark on chart I can't find a thing?

The treasure Hunt isn't accurate and you'll need to search in a large radius. Mostly there is something that stands out. Village, outpost, cilo etc

 

[cjr3559]

Got through stage 3 of Ruta 40 today. Man, I really do like this game. This DLC is great. I would say it’s my favorite game of everything I got in 2018. Still have the treasure hunts to do, so there’s some major replay value here. Not to mention free running the enormous maps for kicks. For instance, ‘where does this road actually go?’