It's here!
The game arrived today, and I've had some time to install and play it for a bit.
Compared to DiRT2 there are a few things missing; no more 'X-games' stuff, no more 'Paddock menu', no Raids and raid class cars. So far so good as most of these annoyed me in the previous game!
The third installment is much more focussed on rallying and Rallycross (Though the trucks and buggies are still there) with rallycars from the sixties, seventies, eighties, Group B, S2000 and WRC.
All of the previous ares and tracks have been replaced with new locations like Kenya, Finland, Aspen (Snow!) and the US. Weather is now dynamic and in single stages can be chosen before the race.
A new event is the Gymkhana, well known from Ken Block's Youtube video clips. Looks like it will be a fun intermission but not as easy as Ken makes it look.
What's also new is an added bit of realism! Compared to #2 it is a bit harder to get in to (At least with all driver aids off.) and it now pays off even more to drive clean and avoid crashes. Still loads of fun when you get it right though! I think I spun more in the first two hours than I ever did in DiRT2.
Bugs found: Somehow it won't save my steering wheel settings and I've had the odd CTD. The default steering wheel settings have a deadzone on all axis of 20% which made me drive like I was drunk. Setting it to 0% fixed that. The co-driver is hard to hear on default settings, lowering the engine sounds helped with that.
On to a few screenshots, which have only been resized and the black bars on the top and bottom have been cut off. The graphics are maxed out, but if you have a DirectX 11 compatible video card you can set the 'post-processing effects' a bit higher.
Mitsubishi Evo X in the USA:
Same car in Kenya:
Rallycross in Aspen:
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