![]() Moving on to a series of quick lessons, DiRT 4 rapidly brings you up to speed on how the world of rally works - something which is much needed if you've never played a rally game before, as off road racing is a rather different beast. As we mentioned before, with DiRT 4 treading the line between authentic arcade handling and realistic simulation, the game has a host of assists that can be turned on or off, including two totally different types of overall handling - either "simulation" or "gamer", which will affect how much your car drifts, and how easy it is to spin. With a helpful, yet concise tutorial to play through when you first get behind the wheel, the first short race effectively works as a trial of sorts of your abilities, after which the game will recommend a difficulty level to you. It wasn’t ready for our hands-on, but it’s emblematic of the focus on getting everyone and anyone into the addictiveness of rally – and, seeing how impressive Dirt 4 was even with our limited play time, that’s a worthwhile pursuit.Before we get properly started, we should give credit where it's due - if you're new to the world of DiRT, Codemasters have done a pretty incredible job of ensuring everyone can find their footing here. Like the Colin McRae games of old, players will also be able to make use of a rally school to hone their skills before stepping into the big leagues. There’ll be multiplayer, too, though we weren’t able to try it, while new feeder series will make an appearance, with the likes of Cross Karts on offer – alongside historic cars and new courses in Spain, Montenegro, France and elsewhere. We gave it a go and it’s the sort of fun that could see an evening disappear. The ever-popular Landrush mode will return – in which crazily powerful buggies race around short tracks over huge bumps – with more adherence to the real sport. Starting to nail it on ‘gamer’ mode? Time for the next level.Īs if that wasn’t all enough, Dirt 4 will also come with more vehicles, tracks and race modes than ever before. Playing in the Australian outback, there was a real sense of achievement in improving lines through corners and shaving seconds off the time – not by blind luck or a button-mashing, but by feathering the throttle and tweaking my response to the pace notes.ĭriving aids can also be tweaked and turned up, down or off completely in the settings menu, making the learning curve even more addictive. On any mode Dirt 4 isn’t easy: it requires you to make an effort to understand the road, to improve your control inputs – and it’s all the more rewarding for it. The differences between each level can be subtle or sharp, depending on your skills, but it means that Dirt 4 should deliver for both committed speed demons and casual off-roaders. Simulation is pretty tricky and, used with a steering wheel setup, feels properly involving.īesides handling settings, there are also difficulty modes – from ‘gamer’ to ‘pro’ – that adjust various driving aids. Both use the same simulation engine, but normal makes things much more accessible. Handling, for example, can be set to ‘normal’ or ‘simulation’ – and the difference is tangible. Unlike Dirt Rally, which basically required all players to spend hours getting good enough to come close to AI competitors, Dirt 4 puts that choice in players’ hands. There’s no way of learning Your Stage routes it’s simply about living on the edge and testing your reactions.įor those with really, really good reactions, there’s plenty to challenge, too. It also means a much closer-to-life rally experience.Ĭurrent World Rally Championship driver Kris Meeke, who helped develop the game, reckons it puts a lot more importance on the pace notes that you’re given by your co-driver – and, in the demos we played, that was very much the case. Why is it exciting? For one thing, it means no more waiting for DLC – something that’s frustrated a lot of Dirt Rally fans. Sadly, we were only able to try it with one location – Australia – and the tweak options were limited, but the suggestion seems to be that more parameters will be there in the finished game, including aspects such as elevation. Select a country, tweak settings – including length, complexity and weather – and hit generate: the game will deliver a completely unique road for you to hurtle down. It’s called Your Stage and, while it’s not quite a course designer, it does mean that Dirt 4 ships with potentially infinite track variations. ![]() While we’re talking about involving fans, Dirt 4 packs another feature that – with a little work – could be a really neat addition.
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