merseyxshore

I went from Logitech to Fanatec this summer and I'm so glad I did. I had my G920 for about 2 years, I loved it and I still think it's an amazing entry level setup. Stepping up to a Fanatec Clubsport v2.5 was just night and day though, especially for rallying. I play circuit sims like ACC and PC2, but my main thing is rallying, and the geared G920 would tend to get really notchy under heavy turning. The Fanatec is just butter smooth the whole time, and there is an in-wheel tuning menu with 5 save slots, so you can adjust you FFB, vibration, wheel weight and steering angle on the fly and save it for a specific game. I've got 5 separate wheel setting slots for PC2, ACC, DR2, WRC 9 and F1. And as above, a good rig is essential to get the most out of your gear. However, I know guys who use a G25 clamped to a desk and a wooden kitchen chair who are alien-levels of fast, so it depends what you want and what you like! I'm not the quickest ever, but I live for the immersion.

Yeah definitely, I mean, take the semi-fictional version of the UK in FH4 as an example, there's so much potential. The map is 52 square miles, with smooth tarmac, rough concrete, gravel, mud, grass, elevation changes, varying weather etc. Imagine that, with Dirt Rally physics and constantly changing stages. I reckon that this is the answer to the procedurally generated stage problem. With a 50+ square mile area to play with, Codies could release new routes and stages periodically. You could have endurance events of 25 mile stages, or host a whole event of 2min stages just on the airfield. I'd love to see tactical elements like managing your damage on the road section drives between stages. I know that the Forza games have the full Microsoft might behind them for the likes of the Horizon games and almost certainly have more allocated funds than Dirt Rally titles, but something like this should be possible on current PCs/Series X/PS5 surely? I made a joke somewhere, maybe on a different forum, that the new Dirt Rally should be the above idea but the location should be Los Santos cause Take 2 own Rockstar haha. The Rally Of Meth Valley! @PJTierney pass this on to the Dirt powers that be plz haha

With regards to stages, I’d love to see some longer stages, more varied locations and better tarmac design and feel. I’ve definitely mentioned this before, but I would love to see open areas similar to DirtFish, the practice area in WRC or rallycross circuits used to make events of shorter, technical stages using cones and hay bales etc. Even better would be the ability to create your own stages and events in these open areas. I still think an open world rally game would be the perfect evolution, especially for a game-as-service kinda thing. Different surfaces, different weather seasons, tactical road sections between stages, and endless possibilities for stage variations that could come out periodically.

Who's got some juicy deetz on Dirt Rally 3??

With Codemasters now being taken over by Take2, who also own Rockstar, it got me thinking, imagine Dirt Rally 3 used an open world location…Los Santos from GTA5. Single venue events at the airport, city centre tarmac stages, meth gravel stages in the desert, twisty mountain stages up Mt. Chiliad… In all seriousness though, an open world setting isn’t the worst idea for a hardcore rally sim. Take the Forza Horizon 4 map for example. Endless possibilities for stages amongst the open roads, twisty tarmac lanes, tight urban sections, forest gravel and quarry lanes. Hay bales, cones, pylons, barriers and tyres could be used to make endless stages out of the given area, along with the possibility of user created stages with a generated pacenotes system. Using FH4’s map as an example, there could easily be incredible 30 mile stages created out of that environment. With an open world you could even have road sections between stages, where you have to drive carefully and avoid damaging the car or wearing the tyres, like on a real event. A huge open world on next-gen hardware, with realistic structured events, changing weather and legit physics would be incredible. This could also work into a more long-term or subscription style game, a style which seems to be gaining more and more traction and could work well at the dawn of a new generation of console; the open world could gradually expand, using a solid base game as a foundation. Or not, I dunno.

I've reported this, along with my own suggestions, direct to KT via their website contact form!

PC3 is such a mind-boggler. What is the point of it? Less content, less features, dumbed down gameplay, and in some cases inferior visuals. They were onto such a winner with PC2. I know it had it's flaws, but I would have paid the full price all over again for a PC2 with the issues fixed and increased gamepad friendliness for newcomers. They had the market absolutely cornered as THE simulator on consoles, with great sales to boot, then they switched gears and we ended up with something that looks like Juiced on Playstation 2 while trading on an established sim brand name. And surprise surprise, it flopped.

Ok, so I’ve found somewhere I can send a longer form message to the devs. I’ve put the following list together of bugs and suggestions. It will probably go nowhere, but I think this game is SO close to being one of the greats that it’s worth a try. If anyone has any other bugs or suggestions please let me know and I’ll add them in. Bugs: My game freezes after a stage when using my Fanatec Clubsport v2.5, ironically with the Fanatec wheel endlessly spinning in the corner. This happens around 50% of the time after I complete a stage, and is making Season mode unplayable. The game is very dark, and there seems to be no in-game brightness slider The gear ratios seem extremely short, even for rally cars. There seems to be no scenario where you can use any other gear ratios than the ‘long’ settings. Using the ‘short’ ratios, the car struggles to reach 60mph! Some players are reporting a delay in shift time. Suggestions: Fix clubs. Allow fully customisable cross-platform events, inviting players and decent search function to find the kinds of events you’re looking for. Also, these events need to be in the form of an actual rally! Sticking with the same car through an event, accumulated times, damage to be fixed at service parks etc are all part of rallying and absolutely have to part of the multiplayer experience. Robust multiplayer and community building is the key to ensuring a game lives beyond the first few months of release. Codemasters were heading in the right direction with their cross-platform Clubs system in Dirt Rally 2.0, but didn’t manage to live up to it’s potential. You’ve got a chance to beat them to it! Add custom events and championships to single player and multiplayer. We should be able to create our own rallies out of the available stages, and our own seasons or championships out of the available rallies. It’s really frustrating not to have this, as it’s usually a given in motorsport games and especially rally games. Give players the option in the above custom events and championships to run the bonus/historic cars, along with the regular ‘season’ mode. The bonus cars are almost pointless in the game’s current state, which is a shame because they’re a lot of fun. These rallies all have amateur classes outside of the WRC-specific classes, so it would enhance the realism rather than taking away. Some cars would be a single-model competition due to lack of cars in a similar class, for example the Escort or the Stratos, but this could be interesting as a level playing field. Use the training area! It’s a blast to just hoon around, but you’re missing a trick not making some fun competitive stages out of this great location. You could have a whole rally of short super-special stages all within the training area. This would be amazing for the Clubs. Also, and I know this might be getting a bit far fetched now, but it would be a great place to have players mark out their own stages and share them etc

Took me a while to get into WRC 8, but once I did I absolutely loved it. I've now got 9 installed but I'm waiting for my new Fanatec handbrake before I launch into it. Can't wait! I see a lot of WRC vs DR type debates, but for me they're perfectly separate. WRC covers the top level FIA aspect, DR games cover the more amateur clubman side of the sport, and for me they both cover their respective bases very well. I also had no idea how many gamers have driven current-gen WRC and R5 cars! They must have done anyway, to be such an authority on their handling...

P-51, Spitfire (or maybe Hurricane? and Douglas Destroyer

Yeah that is annoying. Also annoying that you can't drive a single rally or create your own event, it's single stage or season only. No clubs or leagues option either, but that should be fixed in WRC 9

Anything else coming in 1.16? And is that going to be the last update, or is it going to go up to a fitting 2.0?

Update dropping tomorrow it seems!

Shouldn't the Group B 4WD cars not be able to use the handbrake other than for launch? I think doing handbrake turns in those cars would have made the diff explode or something...

I wrote off WRC 8 when it came out as it just felt and looked alien after playing DR2 for so long. However, a mate convinced me to have another go. After having a good mess around with my wheel settings and the field of view (dash cam works best), I'm now absolutely loving it. The stage design is incredible. The narrow German stages alone are worth putting the time in for. I would urge anyone to go back to it and find the sweet spot, it's really worth it. I can't wait til Codies get their hands on the licence, these stages with Codemasters visuals and diverse car lineup will be unreal. Excited for WRC 9 and the safe knowledge that my rallying addiction is fully covered between DR2 and WRC until the next Dirt Rally comes out.

Can we get more surprises in the monitors, please?

Is this a clue to the surprise??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tCELnwOj0o

This is a huge part of club and national level rallying, I absolutely welcome a bunch of single-venue events with tight stages around bales and tyres etc. Circuits and open areas like Dirtfish would be perfect for short 'spectator stage' style events, super special stages or even some kind of create-your-own-stage type feature.

Yes this is one of the things I had in mind! A great watch on Amazon Prime if anyone's got that.

I've definitely mentioned something like this in a similar thread before, but I would love to see more use of open spaces such as Dirtfish, or even of the RX tracks to make single venue short stage events, or even super-special stages. Single-venue rallying is quite popular in the UK, with one area being used for a whole event and the route being changed using obstacles, cones, bales, pylons etc. Basically a less whacky version of the Time challenges at Dirtfish from Dirt 4, but with pace notes etc. I always found those events to be really fun. Rallycross circuits, along with the paddock area etc could be used to make numerous short stages. Just seems like a good way to bring in more stages and events with less drain on resources.