Jump to content
Codemasters Community

FlatOverCrest

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    132

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Posts posted by FlatOverCrest

  1. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    @AnwaanJiimiz

    It was my understanding that the next Dirt Rally entry would release before any potential Codemasters' WRC game. Hopefully whoever acquires Codemasters, leaves the rally team alone so that they can make the awesome sim-focused rally games that they want to. I would be very disappointed if they are forced to change the vision/direction of rally titles to incorporate EA filler. The only recent EA game that makes me feel like it was actually pretty great value is Star Wars Squadrons. The smartest thing EA could do would be to resource the rally team and let them do their thing. Sometimes things change for the better and sometimes for the worse. Only time will tell and none of us are forced to buy any of the games if we don't like them. I know I will be keeping a much closer eye on future titles if EA acquires them and may hold off on pre-orders if the direction of the games and the content is not crystal clear. As time goes on, even franchises/titles that were an instant pre-order are now becoming a wait-and-see for me. I think if EA acquires them, they might try and get Codemasters (or SMS again) involved in the Need For Speed games and I am not sure how I feel about that. My initial reaction/concern would be that members may be taken away from teams that are making titles that I care much more about like the CM Dirt Rally and CM WRC games. On the other hand, some people might speculate that a better NFS game may come out of it. My interest in NFS games is tiny in comparison to potential future CM Dirt Rally and CM WRC games though so I personally hope that does not happen.

  3. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    @RGgiac

    When I bought Dirt Rally 2.0, I had no idea there was a US location in the game and I would have still purchased it had it not included the American Rally GT cars or New England. I definitely didn't see an American flag on the game case nor did I expect to see one featured in the game. You make a good point with wanting what's best for the next game in an unselfish way. I want the best locations and stages for the next game, no matter where they are located. I get what you are saying and agree with that perspective (and I'm from the US). 

    However, I think that many Americans don't know about rally because it's just not as mainstream here as other forms of motorsport. I like that some US based rally content is featured in the game, because maybe it will get more young Americans interested in US rally. One location out of 13 seems like a reasonable amount in each game to me. The US market is certainly not tiny either with a population around 330 million people. 

    Microsoft is the most prominent sponsor featured on the current Toyota WRC cars. I think US involvement in rally is a good thing. Look at all of the tech companies that are US based. I think globally, rally could benefit from more US sponsorship and involvement. It's exciting to me to currently have an American driver and co-driver in the WRC as well.

    If you are playing Dirt Rally 2.0 on a computer, there's a good chance that a large portion of that technology originated from US based companies (MS Windows, AMD, Intel, Nvidia, Micron, Western Digital, Seagate, Cisco networking equipment, etc.) I have purchased hardware from most of these companies and I don't think any one of them had an american flag slapped on the product or packaging and they are all US-based companies. If you are playing on an Xbox, then there is a lot of American tech in that box. Many people know that most consoles are using an AMD CPU and GPU architecture. I think the only exception is the Nintendo switch which uses an Nvidia Tegra SoC. That means that most people gaming are using US based hardware to run their games.

    Surely you still want American brands in the next game like Ford. Opel was even owned by another American company, General Motors from 1929 to 2017. Would you not want those vehicles in the next game because of their American origins/heritage?

    I love diversity in gaming. Look at Automobilista (AMS) and Automobilista 2 (AMS2) by Reiza Studios. Those games are fantastic takes on Brazilian Motorsports. I am glad they exist and I think a muddy Brazilian rally could be awesome. I think it's fine and only natural to want content from your home country. I also agree with wanting the best locations and stages that we can get and not just ones that are from our home countries because that's where we live.

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
    • Agree 4

  4. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I really enjoy the Camaro and Mustang, along with the other Rally GT vehicles. I REALLY like New England as well. I'm not really sure why people are so against having US-based content in future Dirt Rally titles. Rally in America is actually pretty exciting. It may not yet be as well known or popular as it is in other parts of the world but it's good enough for Subaru Motorsports USA to run a full two car program each year and to have a complete Subaru US-based rally video series (Launch Control). The Vermont SportsCar Subaru's they are running in ARA (America Rally Association) are top level vehicles and are quite a bit more capable than even what is represented in Dirt Rally 2.0 with the JRM developed Subaru WRC STI NR4 vehicle. I would absolutely love to see VSC (Vermont SportsCar) vehicles featured in future Dirt Rally titles. The JRM Subarus are fantastic NR4 class vehicles and I am not trying to take away from those. It's just that the VSC Subaru's are OPEN class monsters that I would really love to drive in the next game. The DirtFish Rally School and Team O'Neil Rally School are also both US-based and I think those are rather good. DirtFish is also pretty involved with the WRC at the moment. I'm not saying that I want most locations to be US-based but some of the US rally locations look to be pretty fantastic and I wouldn't mind seeing more of those. I know some people will disagree but for fans of VSC and Launch Control, it seems pretty exciting. For anyone that is just hopping on the, "it's currently popular to dislike the US" train without researching, I encourage you to watch Launch Control and look into what Subaru Motorsport USA/VSC are doing if you haven't already. If you think either of those two things are not very good or are boring then we probably won't see eye-to-eye on the matter.

    • Thanks 1
    • Agree 3

  5. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I really appreciate people taking the time to respond to my post. This is part of the reason why I love this community so much. Some people may be wondering why I didn't just go to YouTube to get this type of information. When I did look at YouTube sim information/reviews, what I found was the majority of sim racers reviewing gear without using rally games as a consideration. Most of them are playing iRacing, AC, ACC, AMS 1&2, rFactor 1&2, PC2, etc. I enjoy playing off-road, rally, and circuit racers so if I invest in a sim setup, I want it to be great on all genres of racing games. Also realizing now that I didn't consider PC/console compatibility. Not sure I am going to find a high end wheel/pedal combo that works with all platforms (PC/XSX/PS5). If future Forza games launch on PC and run well, I will only need PC and PS5 compatibility. I will probably primarily play on PC but also want to be able to play future Forza and Gran Turismo games on console with the setup if needed. seems like most higher end DD wheels do not work on all three platforms. I'm not a sim only player and enjoy all sorts of racing games as long as they are well-made and fun. They have to be fun in the end because that's why I play games. I'm hoping even more people will post to help myself and others looking to make the leap to a wheel setup that is compatible and works well with all kinds of racing games. Thank you to everyone that has posted so far and to everyone that does in the future.

  6. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I was hoping that people that have played Dirt Rally 2.0 using direct drive wheels or belt/gear driven wheels would describe their experiences with each type. If people have played on both kinds, I would be interested to know how the experience is different from one to the other and any insight for people looking to make the leap to a wheel setup. I mostly play rally games but am also interested in a setup that can be used on iRacing, AC, ACC, AMS 1&2, rFactor 1&2, PC2, etc. I also need to be able to play RBR, the older Dirt games, Dirt Rally and various other older racing games on the setup. Please help.

  7. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    Cheer up mate. No reason to be sad. That just means they will take the time to do it right, give it the development time and proper launch that it deserves. That's not to say that I am not eagerly awaiting news and it's eventual release, because I am ecstatic about the possibilities.

    • Like 1
    • Agree 2

  8. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I don't suspect we will hear much, if anything at all, until the end of 2021. As much as I want a new Dirt Rally game, I want them to take their time and put the new console hardware and PC GPUs to work. Whenever they decide to release information on the next rally game, really hoping they decided to cut the cord on previous gen hardware and to wow us with a new engine, visuals and an updated physics model. If it's the same people on the team that made DR 2.0 then I am very optimistic about the next entry.

    • Sad 1
    • Agree 5

  9. Posted

    3 minutes ago, gk9147 said:

    When teaser or info come  for DR 3  :classic_sad:

    PJ said that this is the closest we are going to get for current information regarding the next Codemasters rally game:

    ttps://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/codemasters-gets-rights-to-official-wrc-game/

    Codemasters said: “We are committed to rally and the DiRT Rally team is already working on their next project ahead of the WRC agreement in 2023.”

    • Thanks 1
    • Agree 1

  10. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest
    Edit

    After seeing people's comments on longer stages versus variety of stages and keeping current locations in the next Dirt Rally game, I am rather torn. I think it would be amazing to have all of the current rally locations and stages moved over to the next Dirt Rally but only if that didn't prevent us from getting at least 6 new locations and new content like we did in the previous Dirt Rally 2.0 game. I thought I saw a map someone made in the past that showed how a longer stage had to be split up into the two current parent stages that we now have in DR 2.0 because of the game engine limitations not allowing for longer stages. It would be very cool if those could be combined in the next game to give us the longer stages or played in their current form. I just don't want to mostly be driving the same stages that were in the previous games without lots of new ones to go along with them. I definitely agree with having variety within locations and that stages should not necessarily look the same just because they are at that same regional location. Saying that, it would be cool to have stages added with a different asthetic and surface types/colors/textures for current locations. Even though I want longer 25+ km stages, it's not like every location added has to have the 25+ km stages. As someone mentioned earlier WRC 9 has some longer stages at various locations and I really want to see at least a few 25+ km stages in the next game. Imagine driving the entire Finland Ouninpohja stage. That would be epic.

    Also, imagine if we could get advanced pace notes like in this video. That would make the next game even more epic. Hopefully any locations that are converted to the next game/engine will abandon the mandatory smoke effects for all the locations that have that. Having fog or location specific weather that actually regularly occurs at locations in real life is great though as long as you can also drive under actual clear conditions.

    • Thanks 1

  11. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    36 minutes ago, Orangetuner said:

    Did you try Rally x in PC2? It was pretty satisfying on gamepad. If SMS improved upon the Rally x dirt physics from PC2 and focuses entirely on WRC I wouldn't be surprised if a WRC game by SMS is actually really decent. I remember one of the things people pointed out against in PC2 was that SMS stretched themselves too thin with all disciplines with their limited team. If they are assigned one discipline we could actually see them shine. 

    I'll re-install it and give it a try. I do remember doing some snow/ice races and they were unplayable on controller for me. I think I drove the Audi EKS RX car though on one of the RX tracks and that was decent. The problem for me is that the handling was all over the place in that game. I didn't like vehicle handling for asphalt or snow on controller at all. It was insanely twitchy or numb. I could never find a happy medium regardless of the controller settings I used. I even looked up settings guides for the game and still wasn't satisfied. PC2 and WRC 8 are two games that just aren't the best on controller for me. WRC 9 is an improvement but still wouldn't qualify for what I would consider great controller handling.

    If anyone has good PC2 controller settings that work for you, please PM me with them because I really want to like the game. I play on Xbox.

  12. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    6 minutes ago, Madhun1967 said:

    Yeah, i guess as we have no clue yet whats in store, but if tarmac isnt "fixed" for WRC title, then id rather they kept it all gravel sim............

    I fully agree that something needs to be done with the asphalt/tarmac handling and I am pretty certain they are aware of it's shortcomings in the Dirt Rally 2.0 game. Here's to hoping we get great asphalt/tarmac physics in future rally titles and maybe some improvements in gravel physics as well. The gravel handling in Dirt Rally 2.0 is really good but I would love to see them ditch the center pivot model and have the vehicles following the front wheels in a more realistic manner for car rotation.

  13. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I'm not looking for a quick fix for a title that should have plenty of development time. If they were going to do a quick fix, it should have been done for Dirt Rally 2.0 but that ship has sailed. I hope they take their time and do a great job on the asphalt handling and work on improving the physics overall for the next Dirt Rally and future CM WRC games. I hope team leads from the Rally team head up the WRC games and not SMS folks. I don't want Project Cars:Rally personally. I don't have anything against SMS, just think the Project Cars franchise at this point tries to tackle too many things and ends up being a master of none. I definitely think they are a better fit for the Grid franchise and could see them being successful at that. To me PC3 has worse visuals, worse sounds and worse performance on consoles than PC2 but 1000X better controller playability.

    • Agree 1

  14. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    20 minutes ago, Madhun1967 said:

    you ever play PC2 rally x ? That was great i thought ...................

    I own PC2 on Xbox and I could never get a controller setup that was any fun to play on. I couldn't enjoy that game with a controller to the point that I uninstalled it. I think I would need a wheel to enjoy PC2. Dirt Rally 2.0 is amazing on controller. Also, assuming that they would go the PC2 route when they clearly went a different direction with PC3 might not pan out. Other studios do asphalt physics better than Project Cars in my opinion. PC3 handles better on a controller but that franchise has an identity crises and never lived up to the hype. I don't want Project Cars injected into Codemasters' rally games. I don't think PC3 handles well on a wheel from watching people's feedback. PC3 is still a fun game despite being a departure from previous titles but it just doesn't seem like a good segway into a rally game to me.

     

    • Agree 1

  15. Posted

    17 minutes ago, Madhun1967 said:

    where is the SMS insipired tarmac handling being implemented in future rally titles with the collaboration ?

    I for one do not want to see a PC3 handling model implemented in rally games. I own and have played PC3 but I want that handling to stay far away from any Codemasters' rally games. The Dirt Rally team just needs to figure out asphalt/tarmac and revamp the physics themselves in my opinion.

  16. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    With Volkswagen pulling out of motorsports, does that mean that they will no longer be featured in future Dirt Rally games? That would be very disappointing to not have VW vehicles from Dirt Rally 2.0 in the the next game. Since they are trying to go all electric, they may not want engine based vehicles representing them in future titles. When you think about all of the brands that Volkswagen AG/Volkswagen Group owns, we might not have VW, Porsche, Audi, Seat, and Skoda vehicles featured in future Codemasters titles. Hopefully they will still allow past models to be licensed or that would be terrible.

  17. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    Thanks PJ for taking to time to respond to all of my questions and comments. We are lucky to have such a great Dirt Rally community manager. Will you also be the community manager for the eventual Codemasters WRC games? I really hope so.

    • Agree 1

  18. Posted

    That would mean that each location had an average of 24km. I don't think that is the case unless you are talking about reversing or segmenting the longer stages into smaller ones. I could be wrong and I will try and look into it if we don't get a response. I don't consider a reversed stage or a long stage segmented to be smaller ones to be unique stage km/miles.

  19. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    On 11/18/2020 at 8:12 AM, PJTierney said:

    I'll see if I can have a chat with our handling designer who may be able to drop some insight 🙂

    Did you have a chat with the handling designer? If so, what did they say? Thank you.

  20. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

     

    35 minutes ago, PJTierney said:
    1 hour ago, FlatOverCrest said:

    I'm just not a fan of the marketing department saying there are 100+ stages in a rally game when to me it's really just 13 unique small/medium stages chopped up and reversed.

    It's always better to look at the number of unique kms in a game than the raw Stage/Track count.

     

    DiRT Rally 2.0 has about the following:

    • 150km (Base Game, Rally Only)
    • 315km (GOTY, Rally Only)

     

    I don't have time to add up the numbers from other rally games, somebody else can do the research 🙂  

    Do those km figures include reversed stages or segments taken from longer stages?

  21. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    39 minutes ago, Orangetuner said:

    True. But what can Codemasters really do if just one 25+ km stage takes 2-3 months to complete? There are 13 or so locations with 1-2 real life stages in dr 2.0 that they've added over two 1/2 years give or take. Ill assume half of those were scanned after dirt 4 released. Granted maybe Spain and Australia might of had some assets spill over from dirt 4. So maybe we can assume it takes one 1/2 years to complete one 25km stage for 6 locations.

    Man. The whole dirt team working on dirt rally should alleviate at least some of the workload but can they really release more than 6 new locations before dr 3.0 releases? let alone just 1 more 25km parent stage per location by early 2022? If they're doing GaS and if I had to pick I would pick releasing locations over extra 25km parent stage and do what you suggest and give an option to chose how long you want the rally to be. but idk

    One thing they can do is start working on them now if they haven't already. There are 13 locations in Dirt Rally 2.0 but many of those were carried over from Dirt Rally and refreshed. I see what you're saying but you also have to consider that people usually want more and games launching with less cars, less circuits or less stages/km/miles usually aren't going to be praised for doing so. They especially aren't going to be well received if they are the same stages for the third time around in a rally game. You're not supposed to have the stages memorized in rally like you do in circuit racers (realize you know this, just stating the obvious for emphasis).

    I agree that having the entire team being able to focus completely on Dirt Rally should help some. They don't have to release more than 6 brand new locations if they have one 25+ km stage and one other unique stage per location in my opinion. They pretty much already did GAAS which is why I spent roughly $119.97 to get all of the Dirt Rally 2.0 content as soon as it launched. They can release additional locations later on but I would rather have all DLC be brand new stages for the rally content even if that means less of it in total. If I want to drive Dirt Rally 2.0 stages, I'll just play Dirt Rally 2.0 stages. I don't think people will be as receptive this time around for carry-over stages from previous games but that's just the opinion of one person. I always strive to provide suggestions and constructive criticism. I know the Dirt Rally team works extremely hard to give us the best rally game that they can and my intent is only to help. I never said what I was asking wasn't difficult but I think it would make for a spectacular experience as far as tackling longer and unique stages goes.

    • Agree 1

  22. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I want super long stages. There are plenty of longer real rally stages to justify it. The max stage length in the WRC is 80 km/50 miles and they actually had a stage that was that long back in 2016. I'm not saying I want stages that are 80 km long but I would like one 25+ km stage and at least one other unique stage per location. I want unique stage mileage and not just one small/medium stage cut up 6 different ways and run in reverse. That's just not enough to keep it fresh in my opinion. They could always put an event length slider or setting for people that didn't want to play the full length stages in career mode and people could just select smaller slices in custom events if that's what they prefer. Real rally is difficult and most events are over 200+ km. Since we are not going to get that many km per location we at least need enough variation to keep us relying on the co-driver. I think most people playing Dirt Rally games for an extended amount of time are looking for a challenge. I know I am. I'm just not a fan of the marketing department saying there are 100+ stages in a rally game when to me it's really just 13 unique small/medium stages chopped up and reversed. Total unique stages miles matters more than how many segments you can chop stages into. I'm hoping we get longer stages and more unique/varied stage km/miles in total for future Dirt Rally and Codemasters WRC games. Some real stages even within a single rally are very different and I would really love to see more of that variety in future games along with surface variation/changes that make a difference.

  23. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I think I spent $119.97 to get all of the content in Dirt Rally 2.0 (Day One Edition $59.99 + S1&S2 $29.99 + S3&S4 $29.99). I think the whole labor of love thing is a bit of a stretch at those prices. Kinda makes it sound like we were getting lots of free content, which to me is definitely not the case. It's my favorite racing game of 2019/2020 but in no way was it a bargain. I'm not saying I regret buying it but that's nearly as much as two AAA games. I appreciate the sound updates, the new location and the car but for the total price of the paid DLC in the game, I don't know that you can consider them free.

    I hope the next Dirt Rally game has all new locations in the base game and all new DLC. I don't want to play a good portion of the same game, with a fresh coat of paint the next time around. I want an amazing all new experience at those prices. To me, rally games are not something that you iterate on like the F1 games. You need fresh locations with longer stages that keep you relying on the co-driver. I have driven the stages in Dirt Rally 2.0 so much that I will feel like I am playing a circuit racer if these same locations/stages are in the next game. After so many locations/stages being in the first Dirt Rally game and now Dirt Rally 2.0, I feel like it has to be a clean slate for me to want to spend that much money again.

    • Agree 1

  24. Posted · Edited by FlatOverCrest

    I hope the handling designer will respond and take into consideration some of the things that we are asking for improvements on.

    In response to people saying that they will probably just tweak the engine and handling, I think they have tweaked it as much as they can. It's time for something new and more capable, engine-wise. The current EGO engine is end of life as far as I'm concerned. The fact that we can't have longer stages is proof enough. When you consider the new consoles, the old engine just isn't up to the task of offering a considerably better experience proportional to the capabilities of the new hardware. You can only patch an engine for so long before you need a new foundation. The Ego engine has been used since Dirt 2 I believe so it's had a good long life. Time to retire it and replace it with something better. I am excited to see what they do and am hoping for much more than tweaks to a tired, old engine.

    Really hoping that the next Dirt Rally title is not cross-gen. That would be the technological equivalent of trying to swim with an anchor tired to your waist. Too many compromises would need to be made for it to run on the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, not to mention the older, less powerful versions of those consoles. PCs, XSX, XSS and the PS5 are much more powerful than the previous gen, so I want to see what they are capable of. With RDNA 2 and hardware capabilities like Direct Storage, VRS, Ray Tracing, etc. they should be able to do something magnitudes better than the previous title. The MUCH better CPU and storage will also provide a huge boost and raise the capabilities ceiling quite a bit. The technical director of Dirt 5 (David Springate) was saying that hardware resources dedicated to things like ray tracing can actually be used to do many other things and their uses are far less finite than people realize.

    • Agree 1

  25. Posted

    I want a new EGO game engine supporting longer stages and a physics overhaul that ditches the center pivot model but only if they are going to take the time to do it properly, resulting in an experience improvement over what we currently have. Change just for change's sake is not a good idea. Also, I don't want it to be so hardcore that cars are not just as enjoyable to drive as they are on controller now. The controller input they have right now is great and I would hate to see that lost in a move towards something unrealistically difficult. Insane difficulty does not equal realism and definitely not enjoyment for many people. I think a lot games that wear the term "hardcore sim" are unnecessarily difficult to the point that it might be more difficult than driving the cars in real life. I want the next Dirt Rally to strike a great balance between being as close to real rally car physics as possible while still remaining very fun. At the end of the day, these are games and I play them for fun.

    • Agree 2
×