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| Source // MobyGames |
It has been too long since this 1001 list has had an entry for rallying, but is there any better series to pick or games to start with than Colin McRae: DiRT?
Thanks to the board game Rallyman, and its upcoming DIRT remake, I've been hot on rallying. I guess I was lukewarm on it before - always enjoyed it, but not enough to follow along. Now, though? Hot.
Over the years, through bundles and deals, my Steam library has welcomed some of the later entries in this DiRT series. I started with DiRT3 and loved it. I went to DiRT: Showdown and hated it. I dove into DiRT Rally and DiRT Rally 2.0, but really wasn't any good at actual simulated rally racing, preferring the more arcadey side of things, so bought DiRT4 on the cheap and thoroughly enjoyed that too.
I don't think this PC meets the minimum specs for DIRT5 (now with a capital 'I') sadly, so what better time to go back to the PlayStation 3 for the DiRT that kicked all this off?
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| Source // MobyGames |
Fun Times
You don't really expect the muddy, gravelly death-around-ever-corner sport of rallying to fit smooth, floating-in-a-blank-void graphical menus, but that's what you get with Colin McRae: DiRT. You don't expect to be shown around by Travis Pastrana, either, but he's the one welcoming you to the many varied events of this game, and not Colin himself.
In a spooky coincidence, McRae died the same week as the PlayStation 3 port of DiRT was released, making this title the transition between the PlayStation games we know and love, and the modern series that has brought offroad racing to new audiences.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Along the way are traditional rally stages, point to point races through the countrysides you've come to expect from a rally game, and a whole load more that you perhaps never knew existed. Buggy racing. Truck racing. Truck hillclimbing. Rallycross. If it's got wheels and goes predominantly offroad, there's a chance it finds a home in DiRT.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Each race, no matter what vehicle you're in, tasks you with learning how to command a vehicle over surfaces that shouldn't really be raced on. The handling of these cars and trucks can feel like nothing else you've driven before.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Even after completing DiRT3 and DiRT4, swaying side to side, crashing, rolling over and dying was pretty much the norm for me, to the point where I was almost ready to throw in the towel and complain about the handling and the physics and it feeling just wrong.
Instead of cars gripping to the road, they would alarmingly slide all over the place. I know the irony here. Rally doesn't really do grip. It's about sliding and flying over loose surfaces, yes, but DiRT felt awful.
Until I cycled through the cameras to put it on helmet cam...
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Suddenly, as if by magic, rallying made sense. The change in perspective now stuck me in the mind of a rally driver, not a video gamer, and the results were coming my way. I was still crashing, yes - welcome to rallying - but I was enjoying those crashes. You can even hear the change when your windscreen falls out, the sound effects of the engine and tyres on the road getting louder.
The graphics are a little blurry, a little bloomy, a little muddy... I suppose I should have expected that really - since when has rallying ever been slick and high def? Nah, chuck a load of dirt on the screen, yeah, that'll do it. You can see where you're going, more or less, though a track map and the always happier than you co-driver will help you out too.
And I was helped by the difficulty levels, yes. Like many games now, you're rewarded more for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, but cars you purchase can be used in multiple events, and I haven't yet run out of money to pay for a vehicle I do need.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Frustrations
I really don't want to write any frustrations because I have spent so much time with the series, and plan to spend much more time with DiRT itself, but I simply cannot ignore the repetitive nature of these games.
There are a handful of events that will have you race all kinds of vehicles - that's cool. But those events take place on just a couple of tracks. Head to head races, where you compete on crossover tracks against a single opponent, over a single lap, are great spectacles to watch. There are, like, four circuits here.
Rallycross, a hectic race across mixed tarmac and mud circuits, where if you finish without damage you've done something wrong, are also fantastic events. But again, there are so few circuits that you run the risk of getting bored with them.
And if you came here for pure rallying itself, you may be disappointed simply because of how much non-rallying there is. I don't think any of the rally stages here have real-life counterparts (though the Rallycross courses do), and while they each have their own local flavour, looks, feels and so on, they seem a bit devoid of life.
It's as though you're just going through the motions, participating in events because they are there, not because they inspire you, necessarily.
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| Source // MobyGames |
But the damage models are lovely. Even the track barriers and the like deform when you crash into them. I wouldn't advise that, though.
Final Word
Whether I'm bored of the track or not, I want to play more DiRT because it speaks to me. I'm not the best at it, or any of the series really, but the fact that it welcomes people in and rewards them with a variety of things to do is great.
I'm already starting to tire of seeing the same tracks, but I'm also inspired to bring them to the tabletop for Rallyman: DIRT, which is just begging for some Colin McRae: DiRT crossover content on name alone.
But what if you're not a tabletop gamer or a rally fan. Is there something in DiRT for you? Ehh, probably not. Well, maybe, actually. If you liked MotorStorm, but for some reason wanted it to be regulated by a sporting body, then DiRT might have you covered. Or if you live next to Knockhill and want to see the Rallycross circuit layout in a video game, perhaps? Can't imagine the list of people who want that is very long, though.
I played but never bought the Colin McRae games of old, and came late to the DiRT series too, but I still found myself playing them for tens of hours, and intend to play much more of this one as well, but I don't expect many folks to rush out and dig this one up for a race or two.
Fun Facts
The game features online multiplayer of up to 100 players on a single rally stage... all playing solo and submitting their times to a leaderboard. Not really online multiplayer, that, is it?
Colin McRae: DiRT, developed by Codemasters, first released in 2007.
Version played: PlayStation 3, 2007.