Colin McRae DIRT 2?

So I tried the demo on XBL and loved the feel of it. I think the best way to describe it, is it feels like Sega Rally did on the Saturn/Arcade, more so then Segas own effort a couple of years or so ago. Even DIRT had Codemasters 'on rails' feel which GRID did too, but this one thankfully doesn't. It just feels right.

When I saw it in the shops I grabbed it straight away, without reading any reviews. Thus far, I'm having a blast, I like the different events, and even though is got the same range of stuff it feels a lot more considered than DIRT, which felt like they were throwing in everything and the kitchen sink.

Oh, and the graphics. So drool worthy. I've sat through pretty much every single replay of every race so far... absolutely incredible. I wasn't entirely sure how much they would top DIRT by, but its quite a considerable margin.

The amount of concentration needed for high speed rally driving seems to be a lot more than road driving... or is it just me? One slight slip and boom, over the rocks on the right, flip the car roll off the cliff. Ah shit.

Anyway, I'm surprised there isn't a thread about this yet...

Drats you beat me to making a thread about it but I wasn't gonna make one till I went picked it up later today. I loved the first Dirt(which I still need to finish). When I heard they were making a second one I was ecstatic. The handling felt great in the demo so I can't wait to dive into the Career mode. I also agree with you tikgnat it does take more concentration in rally driving.

The demo felt like Dirt 1 to me, which I loved but felt the cars were a little slippery. The actual game feels way better to me, I almost didn't buy the game because of the demo.

Once my friend decided to get it I had to as well. Team racing online was the main factor., 4 on 4 where you get points based on position. Online has been a blast other than a few r-word.orgs that smash through everyone. It almost penalizes you for driving well since theres only cosmetic damage. Using the Ice Cream Truck jingle as I pass people is awsome though.

I've been playing the crap out of Tour mode. Sticking to one area until I've exhausted the races. I just made it to rank 30, have finished all of the X-Games events and did the Colin McRae tribute event. Theres a video tribute/highlight that unlocks after finishing said event. It was pretty bitter sweet to watch, knowing we've lost one of the world's finest drivers.

Not sure about the amercanization of the game. It's fine for me but kind of disses the old school of Rally racing. They've also lost some of the vehicle types from Dirt 1. I really miss the Hill Climb and long, foresty Rally events. Most Rally seems to open, but then I've not done much actual Rally racing.

The cars do tend to stick to the tarmac roads very well, you can whip around any turn.

Also seeing others times might get the better of me. I've become super competative when I see a time of mine beaten latley.

Heh, I've not been online yet, I've only levelled up to what? 11? 12? I've been playing on serious and generally finished most races fairly easily, I should crank it up a level.

What kind of standard is online? Will my 'serious' level do?

I still need to get the first DiRT, but I can't find it anywhere, and I've been to lots of Gamestops and the like looking for it.

Last updated March 10th
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You should do really well. If you can time it to get that slight speed boost off the line then you'll be fine. If you're like me and can only get the timing down 10% of the time then you should wait a few seconds. The start of the races ends up becoming a massive pile, I just wait and then drive around them. If you get stuck in the pack you're going to end up getting screwed by some random ass that just charges full speed into the turns, you'll eventually get away from them since they end up spinning themselves out a lot. If you play just the point to point timed events then collisions are turned off.

People are marked online with 3 color coded skulls. Green means a safe driver, you don't hit any cars or wreck against any track objects (its tied to an achievement as well that can be gained in a few private Jam Session races). I've never seen a Green driver in the Ranked races, its impossible if you're playing a game with collisions. Yellow is middle of the line, you don't really hit other drivers but you might hit some walls here and there. Red means you're a fucktard, you spin people out a lot and smash through anything that might be in your way. Sometimes people are given red for just being poor drivers. We had two reds, one was just a damn r-word.org while the other just lost control a lot. I felt pretty bad since the 2nd red was leading the whole race, we came to the final turn and he went a little wide. I lost grip and slid into his front fender and spun him out. I had to send him a message saying I was sorry for taking his win.

I've been playing on Casual, I failed miserably at the demo so I started there and never switched. I've had to drop to easy to beat a Pastrana challenge (I'm very inconsistent with hairpins, some times I nail them other times I slide way out and loose so much speed) and for the All-Star class truck/buggy raide events. I probably should move the difficulty up for Rally events. Even at All-Star I win by 20 or so seconds. Its wierd since I finished Dirt 1 at the medium and medium-hard levels, never drooping below the middle difficulty. I could win the truck, buggy and Raid events on the Hardest setting but they're my weakest events here.

Dirt wasn't a great seller, and its a game thats very easy to go back to. I doubt it ever had much trade-in value and is a game most people tend to hold onto. You could always use thier website to check for stock at stores, they list both new and used.

Alright so I've finally had a chance to play the game and WOW. The graphics and gameplay are amazing. My only gripe is the computer ramming you and forcing you to spin out. Other then that I'm making my way through the career and soon will be going online to face against other players.

LOL I do that to the CPU, classic high speed pursuit takedown!

Anyway, I went online, and got kicked from my second jam session, which irked me.

So I went on ranked, and first race averaged 2nd place (helped by the fact a lot of the other players either wrecked or dropped) and then basically came middle of the field.

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna spend more time on ranked, I like how they sort of randomly generate race events.

Multiplayer had me playing for 3 hours straight, I usaully don't play games for longer than an hour at a time. The very short intervals between races kept me and a friend playing, saying it was our last race several times. It has the best set up for muliplayer in a racing game that I've played.

I just wish damage was more than cosmetic. I would have wrecked out several times but it would get rid of most of the cock farmers who just slam through turns.

I just picked it up yesterday myself. Love the game, although the menu system is a bit clunky and I don't care for the fact that the vehicles swerve and fish-tail way too much. Other than that, it's awesome.

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