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You'd better own next year's computer

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 22 / 28
Date: July 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Having played most of the Colin McCrea versions on the PC, I had high hopes for Dirt and even pre-ordered it...a rarity for me. I should have waited. My 6 month old Dell (a Core 2 Duo) meets the recommended system requirements and far exceeds the minimum, yet the game runs like utter [...]. This system runs virtually anything else out there at a high res (even the dreaded Flight Sim X). Yet on Dirt, anything above 640 x 480 is choppy, with anything near the top res acting like a slide show. Controls are nearly as bad; cars zig-zag uncontrollably at the slightest movement, even with the "supported" Logitech MOMO wheel and pedals. The Logitech Rumble Pad isn't even supported out of the box and requires manual setup. They assume you have an Xbox 360 gamepad, indicating this is a sloppy port of the 360 version. I'm not alone in these problems; check out the Codemasters forums before you buy and try the demo. 90% of the posts gripe about performance, some point to sound card issues and claim disabling the sound card helps. Yeah, that's what I want to do. Everything else aside, it has the makings of graphic marvel. I have the slide show to prove it.

Good game...but...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: December 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Good game, great graphics. It does run a little choppy on my Core 2 6800/NVIDIA 7950 GT system, but with a 8600 GTS card runs very nice at 1280x720.

The problem I have with the game is it installs StarForce verification drivers on your PC. These drivers are incompatible with a PC with Blu-Ray playback (PowerDVD). The drivers basically disable Blu-Ray playback on your system. I wrote CodeMasters about it. And guess what? They didn't seem to care (surprise, surprise).

I like the graphics and game. But I can't forgive a company that installs software on your system which disables other software from working properly.

Eye candy with Arcade Physics

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: March 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

DiRT is great to look at, fun to play, but ultimately it falls short of being a racing simulator. The hardware requirements are very serious if you desire all of the bells and whistles. My P4 3.0 GHz / ATI x1950 GT rig was literally crawling at 1024x768 Ultra (under 1 fps). Race 07 WTCC was made in 2007 and I can run that with full details at 1024x768 and still maintain 40-55 fps thanks to the automatic frame rate maintainer. My reference to Race 07 WTCC is a hint that I will be making further comparisons between DiRT and Race 07 / GTR2.

The menu interface in DiRT is cumbersome and annoying. It screams "console port" because it appears to be designed for players with short attention spans. A simple menu system would have sufficed, but nonetheless the system in DiRT works flawlessly albeit clustered.

The sound effects are rather lackluster. The Impreza did not feel like it was modeled after a Subaru WRX STI with the Boxer H4. The engine revs sounded weak and numb. I had to look at the tachometer or shift lights each time because the engine sound was too vague. Tire squeels, gravel roads, mud roads, etc... did not sound like the real thing. Launching the STI is usually the coolest part in real life but in DiRT, I'm greeted with a vague squeel and the engine just sort of hums at the redline.

The lack of "free play" is a major drawback. As soon as you leave a designated zone of a course, it rests and plops your car back into the course. With Race 07 and GTR2, you CAN stray off the course (well off the course) to do some limited exploring. Again, the automatic reset makes DiRT feel like a cheap console port.

The steering and brakes seem to be designed for a console controller. The steering is so linear that it felt like I was driving a slot car. There wasn't any body roll. The brakes are also too sensitive. Granted, the WRC cars have outstanding brakes, but this amount of sensitivity just screams poor modeling. In Race 07 WTCC, the Formula 3000 / GP2 cars have very grabby brakes and that is expected due to the intense grip from the tires and the light chassis. The WRC cars are supposed to be streetable cars that drive on loose mud. There's no way an Evo IX or STI could "stop on a dime" like it does in DiRT.

I mainly wanted to find a racing simulator that accurately models AWD cars. GTR2 does a fantastic job with RWD GT-spec cars, while Race 07 WTCC includes an updated suite of graphics, cars, tracks, and physics and includes Front-wheel drive cars. In both GTR2 and Race 07, I can get a good sensation of speed in certain cars and the engines SCREAM when you get near redline. There's a real clutch in those games, and the cars handle more realistically.

Overall, I feel that DiRT is a fun "arcade" racing game that falls flat in realism and that is probably expected from some players. I give this game 3/5 stars overall, but it deserves a 4/5 for fun factor because lets face it, it's an enjoyable game! Not many gamers are used to GTR2 and Race 07. If you read my reviews of GTR2 and Race 07, you will find me criticizing the realism because it still lacks that certain "feel" to make it cross over into a true simulation.

Playing in the DIRT is Fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: June 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I only play PC games, not consoles. Still, I haven't owned a racing game since Nascar III. This is the first racer to interest me since then. Dirt is absolutely beautiful! The physics are a bit weak, but it's a joy to play. I'd much rather play this kind of racer than the "simulator" types where you get burdened with car setup details out your tailpipe. The demo was great and can wet your wistle. The full version is also cheaper than the console versions if you decide to pick it up. Plus, it includes more vehicle types and tracks. The coolest looking vehicles are the racing rigs, IMO. 4-thumbs up from me.

Tighten Those Harnesses

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This isn't one of those drop the hammer and hang on racing games. You must use some finesse to accel at this game. I wouldn't advise using anything but a wheel for control. Being able to gradually power up is essential to getting through the turns fast, and blipping the throttle over the jumps to set the car for the landing. All make for a challenging experience.

I was worried after reading some of the reviews. So I downloaded the demo what a blast. I haven't had so much fun since SODA Off Road Racing.

I believe to have what I would guess to be an average PC (AMD 64 X2 3800+, 1GB Ram) and the game runs good. Online could be a nightmare I haven't exploried there.

The concept of dirt racing is thrilling to me. I would have really liked to see some active dirt physics. If the track would wear in (and out) determend by where and how the cars run during the race that would put it over the top. I'm not sure if it's just the demo but the AI is a bit weak. But super fun.

Good Graphics, bad everything else.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: July 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Play the demo before you do anything you'll regret-- such as buying this garbage game.

Great to look at, but if cars really drove anything like in DiRt... anywhere within 50 feet of a road would be unsafe.

Also, this game doesn't make use of the mouse, which is disrespectful to PC gamers and flat out annoying; you don't have the option to enable it.

(If anyone's interested in the performance, I get an awesome frame rate with everything maxed, a 1280 x 1024 resolution, while running on an 8800ts. The beautiful graphics make me long for a good racing game, which this is anything but. )

Edit: Playing with a keyboard is next impossible, and I find the game barely even has the keyboard in mind; it's vastly improved, but still not that great, when played with a 360 controller.

DiRT, not CoNCReTe

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've driven through a good portion of the game and I've enjoyed it for the most part. The graphics are the best that I've seen in any game, but they're definitely taxing my 8800GTS 640MB. Matched with my E6600 and 3GB DDR2-800 RAM, this game runs at 1680x1050 on Ultra settings in XP pretty well. I get 23fps on average with my 8800 at stock speeds and 30fps with it overclocked a bit.

If the game ran any faster, it wouldn't be as detailed. I'd much rather the game be too detailed and future-resistant than not detailed enough and age quickly. You can easily turn down settings if a game is running too slow on an aging computer, but you can never add detail that isn't there to begin with. I'm glad that DiRT is graphically detailed much more than most computers can smoothly support.

The cars definitely have unique handling and there is a learning curve, but it's fun once you get the hang of it. Most of the races are in fact on dirt, so the cars are going to be sliding around a lot more than expected (and it's easy to fly off the road if you're going too fast). There are some tracks on blacktop and the difference in traction is very noticeable--you can take turns a lot quicker and the tires squeal. I've been playing this game with a Logitech RumblePad 2 and while it's fun enough, I'm going to get a Logitech MOMO steering wheel and pedal set to get a little bit more control over it (and hopefully crash less).

The game is easy once you get used to controlling the cars and run on Rookie/Clubman difficulties, but you'll be much more challenged when you go above that.

The damage modeling is good but it could be better. Although, the rally cars are basically steel tubing, so it would be hard to improve very much. I still enjoy smashing into something and then running over my front bumper as it falls off or watching my hood fly off, along with the scraps of debris that remain at the accident site.

All in all, this is a pretty good game, one of the best racing games that I've played. The only significant negative that I can find is the multiplayer. It's a joke. You can't play with any other players on the same track; you can only individually race on your own track instances and try to get the best time. That's not much multiplayer, so that was a let down, and good enough to take one star away.

I own next year's computer now!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: September 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

and it runs Dirt like a dream... stellar frame rates and purely fluid motion at the highest detail possible with all the special effects turned on... well worth all the expensive upgrades required to run it well...

my system is a Compaq Presario 8000 with the following specifications:

3GHZ Intel Pentium 4 single core CPU
800MHZ FSB with Hyper Threading
2GB Kingston Hyper X single channel DDR RAM (upgraded from 512MB RAM)
512MB VisionTek ATI Radeon HD2600XT 8X AGP video card (upgraded from 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 8X AGP video card)
Sound Blaster Audigy 4 sound card (upgraded from Sound Blaster Audigy 1 sound card)
430W Thermaltake Purepower PSU (upgraded from 250W PSU)
Windows Vista Home Premium (upgraded from Windows XP Professional)

in other words, I could still spend alot more, and have much better specs!

I spent $[...] on my system in early 2003 and $[...] on upgrades in late 2007... not mentioned in my upgrades was a new Thermaltake Purepower 430W PSU to power the new video card (upgraded from a Bestec 250 W PSU)... not too bad a deal, all things considered... you do get what you pay for...

it's a real tragedy that Colin McRae himself didn't live long enough to see how many people would enjoy what has now become his final game, once enough people with system specs like mine become the majority instead of the minority... I see absolutely nothing wrong with this game running it at 1024 X 768 X 32 with 85HZ refresh (my monitor won't support a higher refresh)... I'd quote my exact frame rates too, but I don't have FRAPS installed yet... but I can still tell that I'm getting an extremely good solid frame rate without a single trace of slowdown whatsoever though...

I play alot of racing games, and this is by far the best one that I've played yet... and I can hardly wait to see what all the new games that actually use all the features and special effects that my new video card is capable of will look like, whenever some are finally released soon... Dirt only requires a Direct X9 card with Shader Model 3 support, and my new card is a Direct X10 card with Shader Model 4 support... so just imagine what the future holds... I'm already blown away by Dirt, and it doesn't even use a single new feature or special effect from the new generation of video cards that are only just now coming out right now...

so if you haven't started upgrading already, get ready to do it or buy a new system before this holiday season is over, or you will be missing out on all the new games like this that will be coming out from now on... the future has arrived, and Dirt barely even scratches the surface of it...

A racing game with photo realistic graphics and some fun gameplay.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First of all let me show you my specs to give you an idea of what you will need to run this game at ultra settings.Dual core 3.4Ghz cpu,3GB Ram,Asus 8800gts 640MB Video card,Dvd rom drive,.With these specs i am able to run this game at ultra high settings and do not have a bit of slow down while playing it.As for the gameplay it is pretty standard fair,you compete in a bunch of different races and try to beat the other cars to the finish and get the best time,thats it.This being said any racing fan will love this game because it handles well,even with the keyboard controls.As for the online part of this game you try to get the best time while doing laps around the tracks and then your score is posted among hundreds of other drivers.Other than the amazing graphics this game will not blow you away with anything new but you will have a good time playing it.

Great game -- But has Starforce

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game. Yes you need a monster of a PC to run it well; but if you do, the game is amazing. 1920x1080 runs smooth with maxed settings on a 8800 GTX SLI on a QX6700@2.92Ghz - on a 46" HDTV.

But keep in mind that the game has starforce v4.7. This isn't as bad as the dreaded v3.0. But it's still starforce. You've been warned.

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