Dirt Rally 2.0
Dirt Rally 2.0 at it’s most basic form offers you two options: Rally or Rally Cross. Being a fan of the mad balls to the wall close action of Rally Cross I decided that that would be my intro to the world of Dirt Rally 2.0.
Being an absolute nutter, my first try out I turned on simulation damage.
This was going to be a very steep learning curve.
Coming straight off Forza Horizon 4, I was still in that distinctive driving style where mistakes can be rewound and damage is cosmetic. So when I got a bit too argy-bargy on the first lap I ended up parking in a concrete barrier. race over.
Try and try again is the mantra of any racing sim, so that’s what I did. There was still a bit of the old argy-bargy, but I had out of necessity, become a much more thoughtful driver, though it was all for naught as on the fast sweeping back curved straight I both heard and felt my rear tire blow out putting me into a high-speed spin and rendering my car drivable but as useless as having Jeremy Clarkson on your pit crew.
I turned simulation damage off.
The learning curve was still a massive hill climb.
But it was also immensely fun.
And I would have been quite happy just to have Rally Cross, but no game with a Colin McRae pedigree would focus on just Rally Cross and forget it’s roots, so of course, I hung up (temporarily) my pack racing mentality and tried out some pure rally, starting in Hawkes Bay.
Talk about another steep learning curve. But again, after many (many, many) mistakes when you finally nail a corner or in time an entire stage, the feeling of being almost God-like in your driving makes it all worthwhile.
And just so you know how much attention to rallying Codemasters have taken, think about this, rally surfaces do not consist of just grave, tarmac and mud, there is medium gravel, and heavy gravel, rough asphalt, and smooth asphalt, and that’s not even thinking about the drastic changes time of day or weather can have on your cars handling.
This attention to detail beings a steep learning curve but also a deeper more addictive gameplay, and some stunning graphics too boot.
Colin McRae’s signature rally game has been through many changes, and not just the name. Some renditions have been far too arcady, but this new game is firmly rooted in the titular value of any decent Colin McRae game, and that is practice brings reward.
A shit tonne of practice.
Rating: G Suitable for general audiences.
GEEKERY rating:
