Damn it Eurogamer’s Martin Robinson. You’re making it really hard to wait until this goes on sale.
Given their “Essential” rating.
Launch trailer.
Seems stingy
There’s a fairly slim number of stages, with just six environments
and I’m not a huge fan of stages from the first Dirt Rally such as Sweden and Germany being part of a paid season pass.
Still, I’ll pick it up when VR arrives. :)
In the end I sprung for the Deluxe Edition since GreenManGaming were giving me 24% off either choice, so “early access” here we go. Geez, can you sure feel the surface degradation when you are running a stage after 140-ish other cars have driven over it. Difference between a lightly and heavily degraded surface is pretty stark, as you’d probably expect, and boy can you feel the ruts in the gravel sometimes. Argentina is already bumpy enough in the ol’ Lancia Fulvia before adding some heavy surface degradation on top.
Initial impressions so far are that if you loved DiRT Rally then you probably cannot go wrong with DiRT Rally 2.0. Also, the optional Hardcore Damage doesn’t screw about at all, and I love it! Almost like a horror game when you are going flat-out in an R5 down a narrow, bendy, sandy Polish lane flanked by trees. We’ll see how it holds up after a few days of playing it, but I can see myself sinking hours into this akin to DiRT Rally.
The only reason I haven’t purchased it yet it my computer is terrible and can barely play Dirt Rally 1. Should I ever get a new computer, this will be a day 1 purchase!
How does this play with a controller?
As much as I liked Dirt Rally 1, I can’t buy (or have space for) a wheel now.
You should try DiRT Rally 1 with a controller, since you already have it. It plays really well with a controller. They use the vibration in the controller really well, and the controls feel really intuitive as to controlling the cars.
Yeah, I tried it. I was wondering about this one since it seems the handling has changed and might require more finesse?
Well, I wasn’t going to spend the $60 this month, but thanks to that Deluxe Edition deal, here we are. Looking forward to pulling the wheel out this evening.
Damn you @robc04 that price is extremely tempting, I had planned on waiting much longer but this is breaking my will.
From what I’ve heard from other people it plays pretty well on controller, so if you enjoyed DiRT Rally on controller then DiRT Rally 2.0 should be similarly enjoyable. Probably easier to get into than the original DiRT Rally due to the additional assist options available too.
Certainly seemed just as playable as DiRT Rally was on controller during the one stage I did for curiosity’s sake.
Aaaaand I’ve purchased the deluxe edition thanks to the tip off on the GMG sale. Happy to support these guys & gals since love the series!
About the game:
What settings are you using for a 6600k with 1080 (regular) video card? The game has no FPS counter or auto-configuration so hard to know what will work well. Non-stuttering 60fps is pretty key for a rally sim IMO. I’m currently using the high preset at 1080p and 60hz though the tearing on my 120hz OLED TV is pretty brutal sometimes. So far seems like a better trade off than a questionable frame rate at 120hz
I’d forgotten how puke-inducing the in-car view can be. I know it’s a bit of a cheat, but thank the gods for the chase views.
Also time to go get the thrustmaster wheel / pedal set out of the upstairs closet! Family won’t be too thrilled to see it cluttering up the den but the road feel vs controller is likely worth it (at least it sure was for Dirt 1.0, etc).
// first kind of serious issue //
You have to be on-line for some varieties of career mode & the race-net servers haven’t been too stable so far. I was in the middle of a rally and was kicked back to the main menu as a result. This kind of sucks & don’t see why it is implemented since rally isn’t primarily a simulataneous vs mode anyways.
//
Diego
Follow-up:
The game was getting around 90 FPS on high at 1080p on my rig. The ultra preset resulted in 50ish FPS (too low IMO). So I’m currently trying high with vsync on & so far looks nearly locked to 60fps. Good enough.
The Steam FPS counter wasn’t working in-game so I used the GeForce Experience counter (which I’d forgotten about since I usually don’t use GFE).
Diego
Just like riding a bike!
Holy freaking crap I’m blown away by how good this is. I thought it would be a marginal upgrade from the previous one, but this is a hugeeeee upgrade. The feedback from the cars is so much better. I’m using a gamepad and I felt like I could control the car way better than the previous game.
The lighting engine is freaking insane and so far the tracks I’ve tried which is only a few are super fun. I was just whipping around Poland and holy crap you get going fast. I can’t believe people actually really do that outside of a game. I hit a tree and my door popped open. :)
So if you are worried about playing with a gamepad I would say it’s even better than the first one. I actually think you could pull super times if you are good at it. It just feels spot on. Can’t wait until they start rolling out the old tracks. :)
FYI for settings I’m running it on high. I have an I7 7700 and a 1070TI and it’s cranking out around 90ish FPS at 1920x 1080. I have a 144hz monitor that supports freesync. With the Nvidia support for that which was added a month or so ago, I get zero tearing with vsynch off. I really am super happy that I didn’t pony up for a gsynch monitor when I bought it a couple of months ago.
BUY THIS GAME… And buy the deluxe edition for 60 bucks on GMG. Once all the tracks are added there is a crazy amount of content.
A day later and still satisfied with my purchase. While the wheel FFB could do with some improvements in my opinion, everything else has been pretty superb. All the cars feels different and unique to drive in their own subtle, or sometimes not so subtle, ways. The AWD Group B rally cars have to be the cream of the crop and are crazy to drive, somehow they are even better than in DiRT Rally. That feeling when the Peugeot 205 T16’s turbo kicks in…
Looking forwards to seeing how Sweden will drive in DiRT Rally 2.0 with the addition of surface degradation, tire choice and such when it is implemented into the game. If it is anything like the jump between gravel between DiRT Rally and 2.0 then it should be amazing.
What is the campaign structure like? Is it the same as the first game? You do tournaments in random locations, and as you finish them your driver levels up and the next tournament random location is tougher (meaning you’re trying to get tougher times to win against AI opponents’ times).
Booooo no snow tracks
I’m quite relieved about no snow tracks. The addition of Sweden in the original DiRT Rally is finally what got me to stop playing the game. It’s nice to hear that this one starts with no Sweden snow tracks either. They will be added later in DLC, and hopefully I can just not buy that DLC and completely avoid them.