DiRT Rally Review by IdioTech & Pikes Peak Previews

On the 27th of April, Codemasters released an early access version of their new Dirt Series title called “Dirt Rally”. while expecting an arcade based racer, the development team surprised us with a project that leaned more towards the sim side of rally games.

BsNismo pointed out an extensive review of the current (early access) version, performed by games reviewer IdioTech. He evaluates the current state of the development, looking at the graphics, sound, physics and gameplay. Overall, and considering the early stage of development, Dirt Rally is already more than impressive, and huge fun. This project might even change the Sim Racing community view towards Codemasters game titles.

 

Furthermore, Codemasters also revealed the first Dirt Rally previews screenshots of the famous American Pikes Peak hill climb track. Codemasters stated that the track will be added to Dirt Rally in the upcoming update. Chief Games Designer Paul Coleman, also revealed some more details regarding the coming update.

“We’ve got things feeling right as far as the Force Feedback is concerned, but it has taken a complete rewrite to get us to this point. Next we are going to get it in the hands of some rally drivers to get their feedback (pardon the pun). We are also working on the in-game calibration, configuration and options screens to give you more control over how the wheel feels.

Pikes Peak is really coming together now. It’s such a different challenge tearing up the hill with no co-driver giving you instructions. You really have to learn the route and there is plenty to learn. From a simulation angle we’ve improved the way we model the Aerodynamics. The Hillclimb cars have some extreme wing setups and this extra component of the simulation has given us plenty to layer back into the rally cars you are already driving, we’ll be getting on the case with that as soon as we can.

Another key element of Pikes Peak is the change in altitude. The difference in air pressure has a huge impact on the power the engine can produce and how much downforce is created by those big wings. Power loss with altitude is something we already simulate (you may have noticed a difference in car performance between Wales and Greece) but in Pikes Peak you actually get to feel the power drop as you climb. 

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2015 will be the year of the rally simulators ( or games) with projects such as Codemasters Dirt Rally, Milestone’s Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, and Kylotonn Games WRC 5 in the pipeline. You can purchase the Early Access version on the dedicated DiRT Rally Steam page for €26,99.

Official Webpage – www.dirtgame.com