DiRT 4 Review – Brum, Brum, Brum

Brum, Brum, Brum, as I sit there holding my Xbox One Controller for Windows 10, as I get my hands down and DiRTY with DiRT 4. Developed and Published by Codemasters, the creators of the awesome micro game, ‘Micro Machines’ and best of all, it’s a UK Based company, Oh YEAH!

This is not my first dabble in the rally game genre, I actually had a bash at DiRT 3 and rather enjoyed it, but I would have to go back many years before I played a rally game before DiRT 3 the game in question was SEGA RALLY on the SEGA Saturn. A game that I played for hours upon hours and totally loved it, even though the graphics and physics were nowhere near as good as today’s games, for me it was the bee’s knees.

Let’s bring this back on track and about DiRT 4, Brum, Brum, Brum, yes that’s me pretending to drive, now when you start the game you have two options of driving style, a dumbed down version of simulation, meaning not simulation, which Codemasters call Gamer Mode or the right choice Simulation Mode. Gamer is classed as “Have Fun” more like win, win, win as this option make the game easy, but they are right it is fun, but lacks competition. Simulation is where the game shines through, feel the weight of the car you are driving, its physics and much more. I decided to test this myself and popped outside, my car is damn heavy, so yep, you differently can feel the weight on these cars, as I do not have a driving license, for reasons, well there are enough dumb people on the road, there is no reason to add another, I have no way of telling you how the car handles, but when my partner drivers, it handles like a bitch. So based on what I have learned in the real world and put into work in the digital world, I do see and understand what simulation offers, a bloody challenge.

Now there is one simulation that I do not like or understand, have you ever been in a can with a total dim wit? likes to show off, drives very fast, ignores the highway code, tries to impress young girls with his questionable skills, you know the type, the type that rest of the world call twats. I have, when I was young and impressionable, I was also dumb and immature, minus the immature that’s me now, well the car did not handle that well, turning was a joke and bumps turned into jumps and it was really easy to lose traction and cause a crash, lucky for me I never been in one, but there were some close calls.

If you lucky enough, you might have had the chance to experience what it is really like to be in a Rally Racing Car, with an experienced driver that knows the cars tolerances and what it can do, this is what you get when playing DiRT 4 simulation mode, to a degree, you learn to be the experienced driver in game.

The simulation does not stop with cars and tracks, Oh No, you also have team management mode, money earnt within championship races can be spent on facilities and staff, which also allows you to buy new parts for your precious vehicle. Bring in sponsors, which give you free money, we all love money, right? well the better you perform in a race the more you get, and visa versa, having a sponsor also allows car repairs to become cheaper during championship races.Building your team is a great idea, but it’s boring, I hate menus, would have loved this to be more interactive, more fun, more intuitive.

I love sponsors when running Invision Community, they either love you or hate you, well hate is the wrong word to use, more like, not impressed, this is the same with DiRT 4, impress a sponsor get more money, un-impress a sponsor, get less money, so what you learn here, is do well, or face consequences of your actions.

Though your actions can be avoided if you learn, and this can be done by learning to drive professionally or as best as you can through the DirtFish Rally School which is open and ready to teach you the skills you need to become a great rally driver, something I went straight into from the very start, so I can make sure I am good and ready for everything the game chucks at me.

A car always needs to be serviced right, that’s what my partner always says, and every bloody year we do something like that, but in this, you can do this with your car to fine tune, how you want your car to perform. You can fine tune the cars alignment, brakes, differential, gears, damping, and springs, this was way too much for my little mind to comprehend at first, but I soon started to dabble in it and I still messed up, I guess this will take me a little longer, or as my partner would say, much longer.

If you are already good or believe you are GODS GIFT RALLY RACING then head on over and join the FIA World RallyCross Championship and bloody well prove it. You will get a huge selection of cars to chose from, over 50 from a shitty Ford up to a classy Audi, I almost forgot to mention some classics as well, like the MINI. Do not worry about your car being pimped out like Ford owners do in the UK, adding spoilers, mufflers, LED lights, Trims, and all the other crap, your car will look perfect, just like real racing cars driven by real racing drivers. Personally, I don’t know why UK vehicle owners do this to their cars, from Ford to Peugeot and over to Volkswagon, all I can think of, for a reason, TO MUCH BLOODY MONEY.

OK, that’s enough complaining about UK car owners, that are somewhat crazy, let’s move to some fun aspects of DiRT 4, YOUR STAGE, create your own stage, share your own stage, play your stage, complete your stage and be the best, this option allows for a bucket load of tracks to be created, making this game never ending to a degree, you might just get bored. I loved this, I was creating stages more than I was playing the main game for some reason, only because I was able to make them as easy as I wanted or as hard as I wanted the tracks to be, then test my skills against my friends.

Want some more fun? test out JOYRIDE, steal a car and go as fast as you can without crashing while having the police chasing after you, wait that’s wrong, JOYRIDE, just have fun, bashing into stuff, getting high scores, getting the best time, it’s a free-play zone for you to simply relax and have some fun, it’s totally wicked. There was one activity that I went back to over and over again to improve my performance, and that was driving around, while bashing into boxes, yes bashing into boxes, might sound stupid, but trust me, its fun, and it can get addictive as you try to get a better score and gain the elusive gold medal.

If you are fed up with racing, why not check out LANDRUSH, it’s a bit like the USA before it got colonized, you find some land, then make it yours and build your own town for your team. I really need to stop talking rubbish, even though adding some sort of feature like that may sound like fun, it’s just not possible, LANDRUSH is simply a way to get into those awesome Pro Buggies, Trucks and Karts and race around dirt ridden short race tracks, what fun.

Not all games, have this feature, don’t know why, but they don’t, the feature I am on about is damage, yes you can gain damage to your car, and yes you will need to pay to repair, so take some pride your precious car, learn to drive and respect her or fork out some monies to repair her.

Now, let’s get into to what PC Gamer want to know, Graphic Options, I have made this simple and have taken some screenshots to show you, see below;

Game preferences, you can control the likes of Field of View, camera shake and much more see image below;

There is also plenty of option available for sound control see image below;

We then have the final option, video mode, chance resolution, vsync and a few other options see image below;

** all images were taken when first started the review.

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