Colin McRae: DiRT 2: Preview

Simulators (and just arcade racing) come out very rarely these days. Of the latest projects, only FUEL comes to mind, surprising only with the incredible size of the gaming territory, and Need for Speed: Shift. The reason lies not at all in the crisis raging outside the window, the consequences of which Kai’s colleague has been reflecting on lately, but in the banal satiation of the public with insipid “rides” (thanks to Need for Speed: Undercover, which made a huge contribution to this process). Everyone looks for ways out of a dead end in their own way. Some revive old, long-forgotten brands (Test Drive Unlimited), others add extreme elements to racing (Pure). Studios with more than 10 employees are certainly trying to create a game on a universal scale (just remember the same FUEL and Undercover), sometimes receiving inedible semi-finished products.

Roll-in history

This is essentially what happened with Dirt, which became Codemasters just a beta test of Race Driver: GRID. Meanwhile, the series Colin McRae Rally I’ve been waiting for a change for a long time. After the third part, it became clear that the name of the famous racer alone will not go far. The developers, having released the first series of “dirty rides” in 2007, replaced the rally championships with a collection of races that included a bunch of tournaments in cars of different classes. The ultimate goal was clear: to cover as many popular racing disciplines as possible, but in the end the authors went little further than blind copying ToCa Race Driver. In addition, unjustified brakes, heavy doses of “blur” spilled without any measure on the roads, and frankly weak multiplayer spoiled the whole impression. But in the case of Dirt 2, it looks like this won’t happen. At least judging by the information available at the moment.

Dirt 2 – this is more of Slottiocasino.uk an off-road race, diluted with mind-blowing stunts and jumps, than the usual rally. Naturally, there will be no complete abandonment of racing on specialized tracks, but the main part of my career will have to be driven on dirt roads. The number of competitions, of which there were already quite a few in the first series, will increase. The player will have to travel along the roads of almost all continents. Well, except, perhaps, Antarctica. The most interesting thing is the “Race of Champions” – a sporting event that attracts the best drivers in the world. Competitors are divided into pairs and compete with each other on circular tracks of the same length. The duration of the race is two laps, and the racers must drive on both the inner and outer sides of the track, which equalizes the chances of both participants. We will cover the kilometers in several cars: from small cars to cross-country buggies. However, those who like to build strategies in the “Race of Champions” have no room for maneuver – the winner moves further along the tournament “ladder”, and the loser leaves the race.

Stars & Cars

It is also known that there will definitely be races with famous extreme athletes. They agreed to participate in the game Ken Block (Ken Block), Tanner Faust (Tanner Foust), Dave Mirra (Dave Mirra) and of course, Travis Pastrana (Travis Pastrana), who "worked" as a guide in the first Dirt. It will be possible to compete with the stars in skill in a regular career, and not just as a bonus for performing some tricks.

No matter how smart the computer is, racing with a live opponent is much more fun. This is where the experience of the same Race Driver: GRID comes in handy, which perfectly combined an exciting single-player career and multiplayer mode. From now on, all cars and tracks from the “single” will be available for online races. The repeat function will also move from GRID. At low difficulty levels, it will be possible to stop the race at any time and “rewind” time, in order, for example, to avoid a collision or a serious accident. However, you cannot use this time machine endlessly – the number of “flashbacks” is strictly limited. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you skip poles, trees and other obstacles past the bumper.

The authors completely changed the physics of the game. Now, depending on power, weight and cross-country ability, each car on the road will feel differently. Thus, the squat Subaru Impreza WRX STI will take a sharp turn, almost without slowing down, and the SUV, repeating the same trick, risks rolling over onto its roof. All these innovations are made possible by realistic weight transfer to all four wheels. That is, if previously the body did not affect the ride in any way, now you will need to study the features of the route and even the road surface. Otherwise, there is a high risk of ending up with your wheels upside down on a tight turn. After all, the system calculates the behavior of your “iron horse” in real time.

But the main advantage Dirt 2 – this is definitely a realistic picture. To the engine EGO Engine third generation, they added a new system of dynamic lighting and rendering of relief details and the entire environment. We also seriously worked on the effects of water and dirt flying away when the car moves. And, of course, we should not forget that Dirt 2 will be one of the first projects to use Shader Model 5.0 And DirectX 11.