Dirt Rally 2.0 is a very competent rally simulator when viewed in isolation. However, when compared to its predecessor and its vastly superior force feedback implementation it loses its allure.
It’s been three years since the soft reboot of Codemasters’ Dirt series of rally games with Dirt Rally and two years since its most recent entry in the form of Dirt 4. In an effort surely to confuse some, Codemasters recently released Dirt Rally 2.0 as a direct successor to Dirt Rally rather than the more arcade style Dirt 4. Number confusion aside I was eager to find out just how much has changed since 2016’s excellent Dirt Rally. I was a big fan of the original and whilst it was a pain, at times, to play on a pad the payoff was worth it. It was one of those games that, if you put in the time and effort you were rewarded handsomely.
In the intervening years, and being a big sim racing fan, I’d acquired a wheel and some pedals as well as a wheel-stand to use them with. More specifically a Thrustmaster TX and the rather fancy T3PA-Pro pedals. Given that, last time out, it was clear that Dirt Rally wanted you to use a wheel. I was keen, then, to see the difference and whether it made my rally driving any better. Whilst it didn’t necessarily improve my driving the extra challenge of using a wheel was clear. However, what also became apparent was how different the Force Feedback (FFB) was compared to Dirt Rally.
The original Dirt Rally had rather excellent FFB as you could feel the different surface types as you traversed a stage. You could feel where the grip was and wasn’t and really showed why a wheel was the best tool for the job. Unfortunately, it seems, Dirt Rally 2.0 has taken Dirt 4’s FFB model which is best described as Jell-O. Whilst there’s resistance in the turns and the new degradation model for the stages can be felt in sudden tugs on the wheel as you hit ruts in the road, the overall feeling is of disconnection.
Overall the handling model is excellent, every car has weight and balancing and transferring that weight is the key to fast, smooth runs and by extension, quick times. However, this feeling of disconnection to the surfaces often leads to over-corrections and an awkward, uneasy feeling of dread as you zoom through a stage unsure of what the car is doing underneath you. When compared to the pad, whose support is vastly improved from Dirt Rally, you suddenly start to feel what you’re missing as suddenly there are nuanced rumbles during a stage. It feels like a huge backward step for the franchise and hopefully a patch or two will bring things back on course. As things stand, however, you may find using the wheel an oddly unrewarding experience.
The changes from Dirt Rally don’t end with the backwards step on the FFB. Whilst career mode has mostly stayed the same albeit with My Team taking some healthy donations from Dirt 4 the locations haven’t. We are now treated to stages from Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Poland and Spain. Personally I’m saddened that the challenging snow stages of Sweden are no more and whilst the new locations add challenges of their own nothing compares to snow or black ice. That being said, Argentina is a gruelling new addition and hurtling through it’s rock-sided stages is a seat of your pants experience. Still it would be nice to have a snow rally to replace the ones we’ve lost in the base game and whilst Monte Carlo is available it, along with Germany, are paid-for DLC unless you have a Season Pass.
As you progress through the career you’ll need to hire and fire your engineers to benefit from their specialities. Damage to your car carries on through from rally to rally so it’s important to keep them in tip-top condition. There are also upgrades to unlock and engine development that you can employ all in an effort to get quicker stage times and hopefully, some wins. Another, very welcome addition, is that of tyre compounds. It’s an extra layer of strategy which can make or break a stage. Whilst it is relatively simplistic as you choose between soft, medium and hard compounds, their impact is noticeable. The softer the compound the less durable however they are the quickest and so it’s often a trade-off depending on your relative position in the rally. You may decide to use the soft compound for one stage in the hope of getting a good lead knowing that the next stage before service, and the opportunity to change tyres, will be slower. Alternatively you might decide to play it safe and go with the medium compound knowing you get decent speed and grip as well durability.
Returning from Dirt Rally is Rally Cross and with it the official license. In career mode this is reflected by racing around the official locations such as Spain’s Catalunya circuit and so forth. In freeplay you can participate in the official series and the ability to race against the AI representations of Petter Solberg et al. For me, the AI is overly aggressive should you opt to play it in freeplay as they’re more than happy to punt you off at a moments notice. It mostly results in frustrating and, quite frankly, rather aggravating races. Whilst I can’t be sure, it feels like making the AI ridiculously aggressive is how the game interprets difficulty. Unfortunately, whilst Rally Cross is retained, we lose the hill climb event and with it Pikes Peak alongside the ludicrous cars that go with it. Whilst we still have an abundance of cars to choose from, losing Pikes Peak and the hill-climb specials is noticable. It was the one event that really tested you and separated those who could read a course from those who couldn’t.
This was mostly because there was no co-driver but you also had to learn and memorise the course. In addition there was a need to garner a feel for each of the ferocious cars that specialised in taming the mountain. It may return in the second season of Dirt Rally 2.0’s DLC content but this, alongside other omissions, you start to see a game with a much more paired back base game than its forebear. Even multiplayer feels a little more stripped back as whilst there’s still the challenges in single player where you take on the community in isolation, what was the PvP section in Dirt Rally now resides in Freeplay. Under the heading of Custom Challenge, you can join or host open lobbies. At time of writing there were very few sessions running and fewer still that, once joined, actually started. This section also replaces the online leagues you could create in Dirt Rally and personally, I feel the game is poorer for this change. Sure, it was a bit cumbersome to maintain leagues online but they were fun and could be completed in your own time. Now it’s down to whether players feel like playing online and if the current situation is an indicator it suggests most players don’t care for the feature.
It’s not all doom and gloom however and the years and improvements to its graphics engine is noticeable especially on the Xbox One X. Whilst the HDR implementation leads to some areas being very dark indeed to the point where you’re using the force and hoping you’ve missed all the trees, overall Dirt Rally 2.0 is a very pretty game. Coupled with the exquisite soundtrack that is the rally cars themselves you do get a real sense of immersion in those spaces. Car models are equally as detailed as their environments and it’s nice to see a crowd that look like they’re enjoying themselves rather than the rather static cardboard cut-outs of before.
There’s plenty of replayability here and given its simulation foundation Dirt Rally 2.0 is a brutal game to learn. Like its predecessor, if you invest the time in learning and adapting you’ll be rewarded with a virtual rallying experience that is second only, in my opinion, to Dirt Rally and the classic Richard Burn’s Rally. There’s potential here and, if the FF issues can be resolved, I can safely say that Dirt Rally 2.0 could be the best rally simulation on any platform, ever. However, these issues coupled with the decision to move some content to being paid for is, for me, quite a detractor. As it is then, the original Dirt Rally sits above its sequel as to go-to rally game for console gamers however, if you do decide to pick up Dirt Rally 2.0 you’ll still have one heck of a time.
