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Great game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you enjoy the Colin Mcrae series this is right up your alley, made by Codemasters as well..the main difference being that DIRT includes many more types of racing than just rally. Trophy trucks, buggies, huge Baja-type trucks, semis, classic rally cars. The menu does seem a bit like a console port with Travis Pastrana constantly nagging/congratulating you..but the racing action itself is a blast.
As for system demands, the game runs great on my Dual-core X2 1.8Mhz, 2GB, Geforce 7900 GTO.

Gift for nephew

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My nephew loves it. Once they were able to get the software running. Word to the wise, pay attention to the specs needed to run this game. It may take more than your computer has in order to run it. Once they got some upgrades for the computer, it apparently runs ok!

Fun, but with performance issues :-(

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is extremely fun (great sense of speed!), but unfortunately, the game has performance issues, even on a "monster" system like mine: eVGA 780i, Q6600 @3.6 GHz, 2x Nvidia 8800 Ultra's, 2GB Kingston Hyper-X RAM @ 800 MHz clk 3-3-3-10-2T, Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer, Win XP Pro, etc. The frame-rate is extremely jumpy, and at times will just pause for a few micro-seconds when more than one car is on-screen, no matter what resolution/graphics settings--such a shame, as this heavily detracts from otherwise awesome presentation. Get the Xbox 360 or PS3 version instead.

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.

Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Terrific game. Run this on my laptop with medium graphic settings and I am still blown away with the visual representaion. Game play is smooth, and has a nice arcade feel to it which I like. Only gripe is my x-box style controller makes the vehicle control a little twitchy at times....but hey its a game so I can deal with it...if you have the extra money would recommend a wheel and pedal setup....but don't let that stop you from buying this game. Terrific game.

DiRT

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is quite fun to play. Had some trouble, but easily got the patch at the games website. Had to buy a new video card, too. Very graphic intense game!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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