Dirt 2 Demo Impressions

[ExtremeGamer]

It's up on XBox Live.

[VDusen04]

I tried to download this but it said I had to be an XBox Gold member. Will there be a time where silver members may download it as well?

[Flawless]

The physics and handling are better. Didn't notice the feeling of a central pivot (that and the floaty handling killed a purchase of the original for me). There's more weight and momentum. I was getting into some huge slides without having to rely on the handbrake. It still could be better, but it's a nice improvement over the first game. Lighting is phenomenal and the menus are incredibly slick. This might be a purchase.

[JMD]

Awesome game. One of the best racers I've played, and I've played them all.

[Kruza]

I managed to play a little of the DiRT 2 demo yesterday. Played both events, but I want to make some observations while playing the Trailblazer event racing in the Mitsubishi Eclipse GT.

The handling in DiRT 2 to me seems like a cross between SEGA Rally 2 and Colin McRae Rally 05. What I mean is that this game on the surface represents "arcadish" (is that a word? Eh, who cares) style of play which makes the game accessible to a casual players, but also includes some simulation elements within for more serious players who enjoy rally racing and want to master the controls and other intricacies of the game.

For an example, sustaining drifts through countersteering in DiRT 2 is very forgiving in a sense that it's easy to maintain a large drift angle without spinning the car around. Yet in order to achieve the fastest possible lap/race times (specifically the times achieved on Extreme and Hardcore difficulty levels), a user will have to drive more sim-like, which means keeping tight lines inside without hitting walls/barriers/trackside objects on kinks, hit the apex on every high-speed and medium-speed bend while limiting drifts to the smallest possible angle when navigating around them, master the Scandinavian Flick technique, plus master the use of the handbrake to quickly whip the tail of the car around to negotiate tight hairpins.

Love the puddle-splash-on-windshield effects. Looks cool and it definitely hinders visibility for a couple seconds.

My only big gripes about this game is the lack of pace notes and some kind of co-driver or assistant who call out the kinks and degree of bends (high speed, hairpin, etc.), road hazards and other stuff (crest, tree, boulder, ditch, etc.) just ahead on the road that the driver is about to encounter while racing on the rally course. In my opinion DiRT 2 cannot hope to be a top-quality rally racing game without these things. But maybe these things will be in the full game and it's just this demo which is lacking them. Regardless, I hope this part of the game is being addressed as it's important to have these things when it comes to rally racing. And I really want to use the Fanatec wheel on this game once I get this game. Hopefully this wheel is supported.

Kruza

[rufusone]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kruza

I managed to play a little of the DiRT 2 demo yesterday. Played both events, but I want to make some observations while playing the Trailblazer event racing in the Mitsubishi Eclipse GT. The handling in DiRT 2 to me seems like a cross between SEGA Rally 2 and Colin McRae Rally 05. What I mean is that this game on the surface represents "arcadish" (is that a word? Eh, who cares) style of play which makes the game accessible to a casual players, but also includes some simulation elements within for more serious players who enjoy rally racing and want to master the controls and other intricacies of the game. For an example, sustaining drifts through countersteering in DiRT 2 is very forgiving in a sense that it's easy to maintain a large drift angle without spinning the car around. Yet in order to achieve the fastest possible lap/race times (specifically the times achieved on Extreme and Hardcore difficulty levels), a user will have to drive more sim-like, which means keeping tight lines inside without hitting walls/barriers/trackside objects on kinks, hit the apex on every high-speed and medium-speed bend while limiting drifts to the smallest possible angle when navigating around them, master the Scandinavian Flick technique, plus master the use of the handbrake to quickly whip the tail of the car around to negotiate tight hairpins. Love the puddle-splash-on-windshield effects. Looks cool and it definitely hinders visibility for a couple seconds. My only big gripes about this game is the lack of pace notes and some kind of co-driver or assistant who call out the kinks and degree of bends (high speed, hairpin, etc.), road hazards and other stuff (crest, tree, boulder, ditch, etc.) just ahead on the road that the driver is about to encounter while racing on the rally course. In my opinion DiRT 2 cannot hope to be a top-quality rally racing game without these things. But maybe these things will be in the full game and it's just this demo which is lacking them. Regardless, I hope this part of the game is being addressed as it's important to have these things when it comes to rally racing. And I really want to use the Fanatec wheel on this game once I get this game. Hopefully this wheel is supported. Kruza

I dont understand the puddle splash's, all I see is when I'm in the driver seat is when going through water it just sprays white around the winshield, where do you get puddle splash's on winshield? I have set view to driver view and I see nothing on windshield even going through water, etc. XBox 360 demo

[cfiore]

I must be a total moron, I cannot for the life of me find the Dirt 2 demo on PSN. Can anyone help me out and tell me exactly where they found it? I know it is up on XBL and is supposed to be up on PSN also????

Thanks!!!

[Flawless]

Quote: Originally Posted by cfiore

I must be a total moron, I cannot for the life of me find the Dirt 2 demo on PSN. Can anyone help me out and tell me exactly where they found it? I know it is up on XBL and is supposed to be up on PSN also???? Thanks!!!

For some reason it's only up on the Euro PSN Store, probably going to have until next Thursday for it to hit the U.S. PSN Store.

[lnin0]

I wish they would just go back to the CMR2 feel -hands down the game that hit every sweet spot. Imagine 2 with these graphics...ohlala. Codies have improved the feel over Dirt1 but the tarmac is still a major weak spot in all their titles. I fear for F1.

Using the wheel in Dirt 1 made a night/day difference so at some point I need to pull that out and give it another go. Although not enough of a difference to make the tarmac feel believable..but on the dirt it was very nice.

Graphics look fantastic and seemed to be fun enough but still short of great - at least from the demo. Not pleased that they have stripped even more of the WRC modes from the game and concentrating more on "Xtreme" junk. I could do without the pyrotechnics.

[videobastard]

I had a lot fun with this demo and the graphics look amazing. Not a day one purchase for me but when its comes down to about $39.99 i would definately pick this up.