[Official] DiRT 2

[houlty]

i ended up getting this, and once i look past the glitz and glammer (including the panful menu system), i actually do enjoy the game...

i would say though that there has been moments when framerate has dropped for a couple of seonds here and there, although i do have the ps3 version so i've come to (unfortunately) expect that on multiplatform games.

[evoman91]

Can anyone sign into dirtnet yet?

[JMann Veteran]

(including the panful menu system), i actually do enjoy the game...

Think yourself lucky, I consider the DiRT 2 menu system a joy to use compared to NFS Shift. :p

[jonmoseley8]

Can anyone sign into dirtnet yet?

I am at college at the moment so I cannot check but according to the Codemasters Racing Studios Network Programmer, the PS3 DiRTNET is down with no ETA of it going back up, and the X360 DiRTNET will be Shutting Down soon because of some infinite loads.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/sho...ad.php?t=379091

They really needed a Public or Private (CodeM) Beta Test so they could of diagnosed these issues earlier.

[Kushan]

I very much doubt that they threw it up without any testing, what's more likely is that the bugs are due to heavy loads, which are much harder to simulate.

[Infinione]

I got Dirt 2 on release day, and I think it's an awesome game!

I'm just a casual gamer with too much other stuff to do in my life, so it's perfect for me.

It looks absolutely stunning, it sounds brilliant, it's hard enough to provide a challenge but not so hard you get frustrated.

It's FUN. Yes, bloody. good. fun! When you tap the handbrake button, and execute a fast flowing powerslide round a hairpin, it's exhilarating! I haven't had so much fun playing a driving game for a long time. I can have a quick play for 15 minutes and get a buzz, or I can (and have) spent hours playing in one session without realising the time going by. To me that's the sign of a great game.

Grid was really very good, but just too hard (especially the drift races). I thought the graphics were awesome, and I loved the flashback option, so I'm elated it's been added to Dirt 2.

I bought Need for Speed Shift a couple of days ago, and although I haven't had much time on it as I'd like, I really haven't felt as compelled to stay up late to play it, or to do the "just one more race" thing. To me, it's nowhere near as good as Dirt 2. I will give it a bit more time, as I have another week to decide if I want to return it, but I have a feeling it'll be going back. There's too much I immediately noticed I don't like. The sound of the tyres screeching is one glaring annoyance - it sounds so unrealistic, and doesnt vary. Bad stuff. The handling doesnt feel right either, but I know i should give it more time. And to the person that said it has a better sense of speed than Dirt, well, I have to disagree. I'm still in that Audi A3 as my first car, but it feels slooooow! I guess I need to get some better and faster cars before making my final judgement.

Trouble is, I have Dirt 2 to play, and I'm itching to get another session on it!

So, IMO, Dirt 2 is the perfect driving game for casual gamers with even the slightest interest in rallying (well, off road driving at any rate).

[jonmoseley8]

Just found this on Codemasters forums:

X360 DiRTNET

Status: Booting up soon

Quazal, our third party service provider, would like to bring the X360 DiRTNET online to gather some specific data relating to the database. We will be leaving the DiRTNET server online for several hours until we start seeing the players getting infinite loads. I apologise in advance for the disruption this will cause, but if we're going to make progress with this issue then we need to run some more tests.

PS3 DiRTNET

Status: Booting up soon

Quazal have completed the work on the PS3 DiRTNET. Unfortunately, we found some corruption that required a database rollback - we may have lost a few of the most recent entries from the tournament. If you took part but now have no entry - don't worry, it'll still count towards the achievement. Please let me know via forum PM if you get any crashes or see any strange pieces of news once the server is back online.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/sho...ad.php?t=379091

[+Mystic MVC]

Haven't been able to play at save file at my friends for weeks but this week is looking to be different. Should be able to head over there on Tuesday! The anticipation of not being able to play now is worse than when I was waiting for the game to come out. :D

[+Mystic MVC]

Yes finally got to play Dirt again today! I love the in car view because it is so accurate, but I'm extremely inexperienced in it which makes the wall and I good friends...:p

[san.W10]

online magazine

http://software.intel.com/sites/billboard/...aline-issue-04/

good read.

atleast they are 'saying' that they're optimizing the game for PC.

[+Mystic MVC]

Just cleared 50% of all the events tonight. For the most part I have been racing on Savage which I find quite bipolar at times. Certain events are insanely easy on Savage, while others like certain rally events are near impossible.

[carmatic]

what do the launch of windows 7 and dirt 2 have in common? directx 11:

[morphen]

what do the launch of windows 7 and dirt 2 have in common? directx 11:

GOD DAMN! I'm getting a HD5870 for sure :D

[Remysaus]

Jesus, and I thought it looked good on the 360. amazing tech :D

[san.W10]

still not impressed with water effects

[+Mystic MVC]

Well, the PC version looks good but better crowds and flags wouldn't be worth it unless the water effects were REALLY good. In that second Youtube link posted, in the middle of the video it looks like there is some Indy racer car in there which I have never seen.

[san.W10]

i dont get the "crowd" thing here.

if it was GTA, then i'd be very interested :p

but wth does so much of pixel crowd has to do with racing game?

they could have spent more time in creating realistic water effects & some tarmac rally stages than this crowd crap.

its just resource wasting effects.

[san.W10]

another best looking PC game of the year award?

:D

HQ (1920x1200 resolution) @ "Shots" => http://www.dirt2game.com/#/uk/visuals/

Source

[carmatic]

the water effects... they are relying on tesselation of a flat surface, as in stretching it up and down.... it can only go so far to simulate water, anything more will need to use particle effects and textures... it really does look like they still have some ways to go, doesnt it

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I just played the PC demo and I have to say, I'm very impressed with the gameplay as well as the graphics. I have everything set to high with my HD 4870 and I averaged 55 FPS (min 45 FPS) in the benchmark @ 1680x1050.

You can get it here: http://www.codemasters.com/downloads/details.php?id=39424

[Zain Adeel]

same here.. the graphics are awesome..

the water is beautiful if turned all the way up..

im playing it on full and get around 45 to 60 fps..

its awesome..

on the gameplay end.. well ill give it a 7/10

it feels arcadish... but car slips alot and wheel doesnt turn alot.. i mean.. i didnt like the gameplay much..

NFS shift had the most realistic gameplay ..

well i loved it still

some tracks are made beautiful

but i miss the tarmac tracks of japan in old colin mcray games..

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Does anyone know if the game runs in DX10 mode? I see two folders, "dx9" and "dx11", in C:\Program Files (x86)\Codemasters\DiRT2 Demo. I assume that means there is no real DX10 support for the game. If I remember correctly, I read an article that said some DX11 effects could be achieved with DX10 hardware. In any case, I definitely noticed some DX10-like features (soft edges for smoke/dirt particles) in the demo.

[solardog]

Dangit, no PC yet? Maybe I should read the thread more thoroughly before asking. I think Ive been here before. I should search. Oh crap, just tell me already!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Dangit, no PC yet? Maybe I should read the thread more thoroughly before asking. I think Ive been here before. I should search. Oh crap, just tell me already!

It's already available on Steam for $39.99 USD (Europe only). It should be available everywhere else on the 8th of December.

[solardog]

It's already available on Steam for $39.99 USD (Europe only). It should be available everywhere else on the 8th of December.

Thank you very much, sir.