DiRT Rally 2.0 General Discussion

[Jtheripper]

As many here, I got Dirt 2.0 thanks to Ps Plus. I'm really enjoying the game (not using the wheel because it's a DFGT..), way better in handling than Dirt 1. Now, I still have a lot to do with the base content, but are DLCs worth it? I was considering buying the year pass, so i can have the locations and the CMR pack.

For me for sure it's worth it, you get all the dr1 rallies and the new cmr rally too, doubling your content, plus interesting fun and older rally cars.
The handling etc make the old tracks worth it for me at least. Using a g29 btw, and it's mostly great for me, in cockpit view. Lots of fun.
Can't say much about controller feel though, and 3rd person play as i don't use that.

 

[MrCrynox]

For me for sure it's worth it, you get all the dr1 rallies and the new cmr rally too, doubling your content, plus interesting fun and older rally cars.
The handling etc make the old tracks worth it for me at least. Using a g29 btw, and it's mostly great for me, in cockpit view. Lots of fun.
Can't say much about controller feel though, and 3rd person play as i don't use that.

Definitely worth it. Controller feel is perfect:tup:

 

[John G]

Played a bit more today. Despite a dnf at Argentina still finished 1st for the open championship and bought myself the escort with the proceeds. The handling i feel is still not perfect and I'm having to drive round some of the physics quirks, it's still way too easy to roll or flip the car, and there's too many stages that are just full of tight 1 and 2 grade corners, but I'm finding my way through the stages a little easier.

Do any cars unlock with progress or is dlc the only way to get them (or at least, some of them). There wasn't a huge choice to buy (i only have the base game from ps+)

 

[Pearl Jam]

Played a bit more today. Despite a dnf at Argentina still finished 1st for the open championship and bought myself the escort with the proceeds. The handling i feel is still not perfect and I'm having to drive round some of the physics quirks, it's still way too easy to roll or flip the car, and there's too many stages that are just full of tight 1 and 2 grade corners, but I'm finding my way through the stages a little easier.

Do any cars unlock with progress or is dlc the only way to get them (or at least, some of them). There wasn't a huge choice to buy (i only have the base game from ps+)

i bought the one year pass from the store for £14.99, which has season 1,2,3 and 4 plus the Colin Mcrae pack, seemed a bargain to add to the free base game off PS+

 

[panjandrum]

As I've progressed slightly (I probably won't really progress much, for example I doubt I'll do any of the Rallycross events and TBH I have little interest in FWD or AWD rally cars, so mostly I'll just create my own custom events and enjoy the cars I want to drive on the stages I want to drive them on). I found that the Alpine A110 seemed wrong on Tarmac - extremely ungainly for a rear-engined car - then I looked at the suspension setup and saw that the spring and sway bar rates looked like they had it setup for a front-engined RWD car. I softened the front and stiffened the rear and suddenly it felt a lot more like what my RL experience in rear-engined cars would suggest it should. Now note, I've never driven an Alpine A110, it's always possible that it did have some bizarre setup like that, but I really doubt it. That setup *should* have made the front very stiff and poundy and prone to understeer and the rear extremely soft and floppy and hard to control and prone to exaggerating the pendulum effect, which is indeed what I felt on Tarmac. I hadn't noticed this on the dirt stages all that much, but now that I've tweaked it a bit I'm liking that config better on dirt as well.

And speaking of idiosyncrasies, I just yesterday realized that there appears to be no way to reset my "progress!" Who builds a game like that? Thank goodness it's not a game I really care about. All I've been doing is screwing around, playing with settings and completely goofing off; Retiring from entire events when I don't have time to complete something or simply decide I don't feel like driving a particular car or learn a new stage. I managed to accidentally buy a second Stratos because I didn't realize they provided one in my garage, etc. That's pretty much the way I play every game - spend some time learning how things work and getting everything tweaked exactly how I want, and then I start over on my actual play-through. But apparently there's no way to do this! Have the devs ever even played a video game before? Unbelievable! Maybe a bit too much of this going on during the development process:

But, still glad I bought it. The stages and cars that are fun (for me) are really enjoyable. So glad that they have a few vintage options in there, it's what sold me on the title and I'll spend 99% of my time.

 

[fernandito]

It is very probable that the alpine sported springs configuration like that for gravel, like the Porche R-GT which is also rear engine and I was surprised to see that too. But going real life which is what I used to do in the beginning with this game don't work well eventually despite the initial good impression. Imo, in this game what induces that extra-snapping rear effect usually is the default wheel geometry configuration in most cases. All cars that have more camber in the front than rear (front engine cars mostly) have that effect 2x upped. Add some positive toe and more camber on the rear, and you should see the effect lessened to an extent even on the alpine with stiffer front suspensions than in the rear. Then it is all wheel and right foot because power-understeer becomes priority under that geometry setup. Easen on corner entry understeer with more rear brake bias, even 50/50 (on a rwd car), and loosen both power diff and coast two clicks.

I mean it seems best way to proceed with setups in this game passes by making very slight changes for every car regardless the config looks odd to our eyes compared to real counterparts, with the Lancia Delta being the exception to the rule.

 

[tunaphis]

"I just yesterday realized that there appears to be no way to reset my "progress!"
Delete game data via console settings was the normal way when no in game reset was available though with this anti-pirate online save only who knows.

 

[Pearl Jam]

Can’t get used to the handling, the vague steering and lift off oversteer is really killing my enjoyment of this, I realise it’s a tough sim but no matter what I try, I can’t find a wheel setting that I can work with.

 

[panjandrum]

It is very probable that the alpine sported springs configuration like that for gravel, like the Porche R-GT which is also rear engine and I was surprised to see that too. But going real life which is what I used to do in the beginning with this game don't work well eventually despite the initial good impression. Imo, in this game what induces that extra-snapping rear effect usually is the default wheel geometry configuration in most cases. All cars that have more camber in the front than rear (front engine cars mostly) have that effect 2x upped. Add some positive toe and more camber on the rear, and you should see the effect lessened to an extent even on the alpine with stiffer front suspensions than in the rear. Then it is all wheel and right foot because power-understeer becomes priority under that geometry setup. Easen on corner entry understeer with more rear brake bias, even 50/50 (on a rwd car), and loosen both power diff and coast two clicks.

Yeah, that's always something to wonder about in these SIMs, did they set it up wrong and then just tweak the code until they thought it felt right, but from a fundamentally incorrect setup? Or heck, is it just a UI problem? I remember that GT5 or GT6, can't remember, had the weight distribution of the Alpine A110 at 50/50, which was just plain wrong. But did you try to fix it, or not? Was what you were seeing on screen even accurate? Who knows...

 

[tunaphis]

Dirt Rally was tough,2.0 got toned down imo.
The default settings can be far from ideal on some cars leading to strange handling.

 

[panjandrum]

Can’t get used to the handling, the vague steering and lift off oversteer is really killing my enjoyment of this, I realise it’s a tough sim but no matter what I try, I can’t find a wheel setting that I can work with.

Are you on PC? If so, google for Dirt Rally 2.0 FFB Fix - you edit a file to add a lot more FFB and it makes a huge difference. It was almost impossible for me to tell what that heck my car was doing before I put that tweak in place because the FFB was just way too vague. The key setting to actual "chassis feel," such as it is in this title, is the Self Aligning Torque. Unfortunately it's also largely responsible for wheel-weight, so the more feel you want the heavier your wheel has to be. On my T500 I have decent feel after the tweak - for example steering lightens nicely over crests and I can easily feel when the rear starts to swing around, etc. Both Wheel Friction and Tire Friction appear to do absolutely nothing, or nearly nothing (even with all other effects off I can't tell what those are doing, if anything). Suspension is important as well, and is responsible for much of the FFB. The bottom Steering Center Force is supposedly completely fake; just "pull the wheel towards center all the time for no reason". Turning it off is what I've usually seen suggested and it definitely feels best to me that way.

 

[kartman21]

OK so I'm not alone, too bad you can't get a FFB fix for PS4 users, I finally gave up this game

 

[Pearl Jam]

Are you on PC? If so, google for Dirt Rally 2.0 FFB Fix - you edit a file to add a lot more FFB and it makes a huge difference. It was almost impossible for me to tell what that heck my car was doing before I put that tweak in place because the FFB was just way too vague. The key setting to actual "chassis feel," such as it is in this title, is the Self Aligning Torque. Unfortunately it's also largely responsible for wheel-weight, so the more feel you want the heavier your wheel has to be. On my T500 I have decent feel after the tweak - for example steering lightens nicely over crests and I can easily feel when the rear starts to swing around, etc. Both Wheel Friction and Tire Friction appear to do absolutely nothing, or nearly nothing (even with all other effects off I can't tell what those are doing, if anything). Suspension is important as well, and is responsible for much of the FFB. The bottom Steering Center Force is supposedly completely fake; just "pull the wheel towards center all the time for no reason". Turning it off is what I've usually seen suggested and it definitely feels best to me that way.

PS4 user, thanks for the reply though

 

[John G]

OK so I'm not alone, too bad you can't get a FFB fix for PS4 users, I finally gave up this game

What settings are you using? Is it all surfaces that feel bad or just tarmac?
Ive managed to get it playable with a combination of reducing the steering sensitivity, a mid SAT, and high tyre and suspension force. I just have to accept I'll get nothing on tarmac stages.

Maybe you will just have to use a controller, it's apparently good! Crazy for a 'sim'

 

[panjandrum]

Well, for those having trouble with the FFB and not on PC you could try testing each setting and making sure you don't have any setting turned on that is actually just deadening the feel: even after reading the guides and watching a couple videos about it, what I ended up doing was going through and turning down every FFB setting except ONE all the way down and then seeing what that one setting did. Then trying the next one, etc. I did this on a dirt track with lots of bumps, groves, banking etc. It took a while but I was easily able to figure out which settings actually did something, and which setting did nothing at all or just added "dead weight" to the wheel that actually reduced the effectiveness of other FFB. Then I tried it on tarmac to see if things were different there (no, at least so far I've not found a setting that did something significantly different on tarmac as opposed to dirt).

So you might try that method as each wheel *might* react differently to these settings and thus what works for me might not work for others. I see some people use high tire force, but that really did nothing for me whatsoever. I mean it just didn't seem to produce anything other than "make my wheel feel a bit more dead". In then end I am using only Self Aligning Torque and Suspension and a little bit of Collision (not necessary but fun). All my other settings (that I could change) are at 0 and/or off since all they did was defeat what I wanted to feel.

 

[kartman21]

What settings are you using? Is it all surfaces that feel bad or just tarmac?
Ive managed to get it playable with a combination of reducing the steering sensitivity, a mid SAT, and high tyre and suspension force. I just have to accept I'll get nothing on tarmac stages.

Maybe you will just have to use a controller, it's apparently good! Crazy for a 'sim'

Well, Ive try different surfaces, and different setups, I've try to replicate the same setup that I have on DR1 that suits me well, it was better, but I don't get any fun or enjoyment with this or something natural, yes suspension force was getting all better, but not that great
The point of having a game is having fun right ? I don't want to spent my after work time to work again on this :-)

@panjandrum thanks for the tips, and yeah dead feeling in the wheel is exactly what I feel, disconnected, I will try if I boot the game again

I will try again, later, but for the moment I leave it (I own the game as long as I have my PS+ membership), driving with a controller ?! mehhh ! yes in GTA 5 :-P

 

[TypeRDC5]

Finally got to play DR 2.0 now it is on ps plus.

The standard locations are nowhere near as good as DR 1.
Physics are better overall but i would say this has made the game easier than DR1.

It's good enough to consider the season pass but I'm not so happy paying for content I have already purchased before. Also have no interest in Rallycross so I am only talking about the rally content.

 

[ColinNZ]

I'm having a ball playing this, even though I suck at this game. The FFB seems to be working s it should on my G29, and I'll be sad to leave it behind when I return to work on Tuesday. One of my favourite PS+ games to date.

 

[breyzipp]

Anyone else on Xbox has gotten a lot of server connection issues the last couple of weeks?

Right now I can’t even start a daily race event...

 

[ColinNZ]

Anyone else on Xbox has gotten a lot of server connection issues the last couple of weeks?

Right now I can’t even start a daily race event...

It's been the same on PS4 at times. I assumed it was the influx of PS+ players.

 

[Hasnain282]

Yeah Racenet has been up and down the past few weeks

 

[stpatty]

These servers are something else.

 

[SPhilli911]

Yup, my connection drops quite often lately in this game. Even for things like simply trying to repair my cars in the garage.

Really hope they eventually drop the racenet connection entirely, at least for career and the garage.

 

[MrCrynox]

Yup, my connection drops quite often lately in this game. Even for things like simply trying to repair my cars in the garage.

Really hope they eventually drop the racenet connection entirely, at least for career and the garage.

For me it's a bit of a game breaker, it puts me off playing. The other night I had to leave it for 5 minutes after finishing a stage for it to communicate. Utterly crap design decision and utterly crap of CM to not have enough/stable servers to support their game.

 

[SPhilli911]

For me it's a bit of a game breaker, it puts me off playing. The other night I had to leave it for 5 minutes after finishing a stage for it to communicate. Utterly crap design decision and utterly crap of CM to not have enough/stable servers to support their game.

What I do if it fails to upload data/communicate with server at the end of a race is disconnect the internet entirely (on PS4, just turn off the network and back on again). I've found that the game will not disconnect and it actually helps upload faster so I can move on to the next race. Otherwise it spins and keeps failing to connect.

Before this week my connection was perfectly fine, save for a few drops here and there with the game. It really is a bummer, for sure.

 

[Jtheripper]

What I do if it fails to upload data/communicate with server at the end of a race is disconnect the internet entirely (on PS4, just turn off the network and back on again). I've found that the game will not disconnect and it actually helps upload faster so I can move on to the next race. Otherwise it spins and keeps failing to connect.

Before this week my connection was perfectly fine, save for a few drops here and there with the game. It really is a bummer, for sure.

Maybe also it's worse with the covid lockdown and the fact dr2 is free on psplus now, making them overloaded, i don't know.

I certainly don't like the online aspect of the singleplayer game being mandatory.

 

[FrankieStail]

They’ve updated the servers in the last few days and touch wood, all seems to be running perfectly well at all times of the day now.
Anyone who’ve been put off by racenet should give it another chance.

 

[Jtheripper]

Been update on a few other things too, including sound. Just tried the game now again with the alpine and it does seem more like the engine sound has volume, as in 3d space feel and reverb from the cockpit.

Feels even better than i remember, just need a few settings adjustments and adapt your driving to the car. And not assume we are all expert racers maybe, and need slow down instead of thinking we can go full blast anywhere.

Edit: also i seem to notice the shifting with my g29 shifter seems less finicky, it always has been pretty easy to miss a shift if not perfectly pressed clutch or trying shift or pressing the throttle too early.
Same in f1 2018, hope they update it aswell if it's not my imagination. A little frustrating at times, although sometimes i don't miss a shift for a while if really focused but then it keeps miss shifting if i have the slightest lesser than perfect timing.

Maybe it's a little more optimized too at the start of a stage when in cockpit looking left right.

Edit2: Also even though i don't have wrc8 for now, the same people said the same thing about wrc7, being a better sim, and i guess ill have to agree to disagree until at least i try for myself wrc8 but from what I've seen it doesn't look like it to me. Far from it and the opposite, especially on tarmac. A jewel for me dr2 on a g29, oh well, good for me at least.
Im not an expert on each car but just the basic feelings and controls are far more sim to me on dr2, but i do focus more on older cars, haven't tried for really long the most modern ones, but i did try them, and felt good too, and less arcadey. with each car having subtle differences even if just the same model but of following years for example.

When i say not assume we are so good racers well i don't mean to assume all others are not, but I'm not for sure.

But i know how a car's inertia isn't so easy to keep in control once a slide has started, if you don't correct it right away.
Did feel this with a mustang 5.0 manual at least in real.

Modern rally cars seem of course a league apart and perform really well, and im sure id be surprised, and i am when i see videos of them, pretty crazy efficient machines, but still. Ok enough bla bla from me.
Tired today, maybe I'm rambling nonsense lol. Too much coffee and chocolate to try not waste my day haha, with the tiredness makes me feel like drunk a little. Cheers guys.
Still love many more or less sim style games, even mudrunner, f1 2018, nh3, pc2, ac, bike sims..., and i feel lucky to have so many like these on console nowadays, and that work so well on a g29 too.

What i know for sure is that i love it and it's so much fun on a g29.
Oh it be fun if the crowd reacted when you almost hit them hehe, as it is now they are fearless lol, makes them feel like mannequins.
Edit 3 i think hehe. I admit the most modern cars like r5 even in dr2 aren't my favorites for sure, and have less feel maybe. Even in wrc7 i prefer r2 to the full spec wrc cars, feels more real, less arcadey, even in dr2.

I like the 4 wheel drive though too, up to like 2007 focus is best for me, the r5 2015+ depends also on which car but not as much for sure up to now.
Edit 99 lol: see im so tired i didn't notice my updates about wrc8 should have been in wrc8 thread hay, was in reply to posts there, oh well, maybe ill copy this there tomorrow.

Edit: just tried more the r5 cars and well they are alot of fun too. Just need get used to the faster handling. Was on tarmac and feels great to me on a g29..

 

[FrankieStail]

I know what you mean with full manual gear change in dr2. I’ve found it helps to lower saturation down to 50 or so, no more missed shifts.

Regarding sound I do think Codemasters are second to none, I’m impressed they managed to update sound on a couple of the cars so late in the day to correct engine note.
I look forward to what they’re able to do with ps5s new audio chip as good sound adds so much immersion to a sim.

Regarding wrc8, while it’s def better in all areas than 7, at least on standard PS4 the frame rate can be jarring on tight stages with lots going on like Argentina, while on more flowing open stages to my eyes runs much smoother than 7 ever did.
Also I never get the feeling of suspension working the same as I do in Dr2 although I’d agree it’s still much better on tarmac than dr2.
Get it on a sale though and I’d say it’s still worth having.

 

[Jtheripper]

I know what you mean with full manual gear change in dr2. I’ve found it helps to lower saturation down to 50 or so, no more missed shifts.

Regarding sound I do think Codemasters are second to none, I’m impressed they managed to update sound on a couple of the cars so late in the day to correct engine note.
I look forward to what they’re able to do with ps5s new audio chip as good sound adds so much immersion to a sim.

Regarding wrc8, while it’s def better in all areas than 7, at least on standard PS4 the frame rate can be jarring on tight stages with lots going on like Argentina, while on more flowing open stages to my eyes runs much smoother than 7 ever did.
Also I never get the feeling of suspension working the same as I do in Dr2 although I’d agree it’s still much better on tarmac than dr2.
Get it on a sale though and I’d say it’s still worth having.

Yes they optimize their games just barely enough. If you use hood view in wrc7 for example it can be tiring to the eye, especially with the headlights on.

Glad to hear 8 is a little better for that.

Yeah im sure ill try 8 when i see a good deal. Ill be surprised for sure if it is better on tarmac though cause for me wrc7 is arcade in it's too simple controls made for a controller and effective grip with wrc2 and wrc full spec cars, and acceleration etc.

Yes i did change the clutch settings to help already, but it seems better now after the last patch. Or maybe because i tried f1 2018 recently and it's maybe worse there with the old f1s with clutch manual gears.

Love the sound in dr2 too.

Edit: oups i forgot to ask if anyone know about the dlc rx cars, are some similar in specs to full modern wrc cars? With near 380hp and same weight about.

Cause i noticed the dlc rx they say you can use them on any rally stage, but not the rx already in the base game, plus most seem to be like 500, 600hp or more.

I was just wondering so i can try out a similar to wrc modern car like in wrc7, but in dr2 on rally stages. I can't see the specs of the dlc cars on psn.

Also since you seem to have wrc8, can you tell if it has better wheel support and implementation, with no lag feel, and not needing to keep the controller plugged in?
That's on ps4 though..

Edit2: also wrc7 has simpler physics which is easy to see in the landing of jumps and in crashes etc. And even wrc8 in videos with the users wheel movement showing, there's not much constant need for adjustments on the steering and still seems simpler in control and handling, maybe it's just the modern cars being so smooth and stable i don't know but still even the physics in hits and crashes seem also lesser.

Also when I say seems too effective in wrc it's mostly on tarmac incidentally.