DIRT 4
Codemasters’ classic rally series is back on track
We’re in Hell. Or rather, we’re on Hell, the Norwegian rallycross track. Squeezed into a Playseat, we thump our Thrustmaster wheel and swear repeatedly. This Norwegian circuit epitomises Dirt 4: there are tight hairpins where braking is a must; long straights to open up the throttle; and a curvy chicane that’s satisfyingly smooth once the rhythm of rallycross is mastered. Up until we click with the game, however, we’ll be in hell a little longer, and it’s time to start a swear jar. Like Dirt Rally, which returned the racing series to its purist roots, Dirt 4 played on Simulation mode is a beast. It’s a twitch-racer’s paradise of hard-braking, powersliding, and fidgety controls as you wrestle your car around beautifully constructed circuits.
Sitting at the starting line, holding the handbrake on i, revving the engine, and waiting for the lights to go green, we can feel our knuckles tightening around the steering wheel. Our fingers hover over the flappy gear paddles in anticipation. It’s tense; one wrong move and we’ll be chasing the pack. The lights turn green, and we flick off i, hit the gas, and start clicking through the gears… few racers feel this responsive, this real.
We’re currently playing career mode, touring the world in the rallycross championship. A mix of circuit racing and rallying, we need to keep adjusting our racing style to maintain a narrow lead over our AI rivals. Circuit sections demand tight braking and
“CLICKING THROUGH THE GEARS… FEW RACERS FEEL THIS RESPONSIVE.”
control, while rally corners layered with gravel are a powerslider’s paradise. The new physics tech means the layers of sand disperse and slide realistically under the car’s tyres. Overpower the car into a bend and you’ll spin like a whirling dervish into the siding. Such a move causes realistic damage that affects how the car handles. A blown tyre makes our car stagger across the track like a 3am drunk, prematurely ending the race… And that’s more money in the swear jar.
CASUAL CORNER
After four hours of racing in Dirt 4’s Simulation mode our swear jar has bankrupted us, so it’s time to switch things over and experience Dirt 4’s new Gamer mode – the racing equivalent of turning on aim assist. It means newcomers to Dirt can experience the pleasures of rallying without the pain of wrangling a supercar out of successive spins.
“We’re trying to make sure it’s as accessible as it can be without compromising either end of the spectrum,” says Codemasters’ chief games designer Paul Coleman as we switch modes. “Traditionally we’ve picked a side. Dirt 3 was very much a simcade game, Dirt Rally was very much the other end of the spectrum; an uncompromising representation of rally as a sport. This really brings together both of those cohorts and many people in-between.”
The reintroduction of Dirt 3’s Land Rush seems the best fit for Gamer mode. It’s the closest Dirt 4 gets to Sega-esque arcade rallying. Mud sprays over the screen as we push our 4x4 truck over countless humps and up and around banked corners of piled sand. Even in Gamer mode Dirt 4 puts up a fight; the AI aggressively swarms our car, waiting for a mistake – one badly taken corner and a win will be out of reach.
The desire to appeal to more people than just returning Dirt Rally fans stretches to the Your Stage track generator, “a brain fart by me,” quips Coleman. It enables you to create procedural tracks by spamming r. Each track can be saved and shared on RaceNet, to be rated and ranked by other players. Your Stage will come into its own when used competitively to even the playing field, even among hardened Dirters. Coleman explains: “Everyone will be going in blind. The challenge is how quickly can you drive that stage without seeing it, and not how many hours you’ve you put in learning every corner – everyone is in the same boat.”
Testing Your Stage out, we create a simple track in Australia. It takes seconds. We hit r again and again to keep creating until we land on an eye-catching route. On the track you wouldn’t know this was created moments earlier. Graphically it’s the same quality as pre-made tracks, with no clear repetition, and the pacenote cue placement is tighter than on our first look (OPM #134).
“It feels like a long time since, as a studio, we’ve innovated like this,” says Coleman as we push pause on our race day. What’s exciting about this entry in the Dirt series is, for maybe the first time, it’s a game everyone can enjoy. A racer you can tailor to your ability; it could be the most complete Dirt. The more you put in, the more you’re going to get out.
We end our time with Dirt 4 with a swear jar Tom Jones would be proud of, but we’re keen to start a new kitty. We’ve been to Hell and back, but we loved every perfectly timed minute.
“AI AGGRESSIVELY SWARMS OUR CAR – ONE BAD CORNER AND A WIN WILL BE OUT OF REACH.”