DIRT Rally is too difficult.

[fbracci 0]

I have played many racing games but I have to say that this is too diffcult.
Is it possible that to have just an engine upgrade you have to do the same championship many and many times? And with the same car?
It's really frustrating...
It's clear how in the rally cross, the other cars are much powerful than your! It's almost impossible to finish at the third place... don't think to be second or first...
I understand that Codemaster have done a great job to make it realistic, but at the end it's always a game.
I play with a joypad, maybe with a steering is easier... maybe...

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Here we go again...                     

[dgeesi0 93]

practice play have fun.you wont be the best after a short time.it takes time and effort.then you get the reward of knowing you learned and earned it.

[tbtstt 454]

Have a little browse through the forum @fbracci: many new players (myself included!) have started the game in your position. Once you start putting more time in, unlocking upgrades and getting a feel for the cars you'll start winning!

It's not a racing game that you can jump into and dominate immediately: it is (in my opinion) an incredibly rewarding racing game that you'll enjoy exponentially the more time you put in to it.

(And I'm a joypad gamer as well!)

[KingOfCoins 80]

The game's not hard. You just need a different mindset. Don't race to win. Just race because you enjoy the experience.

[karik134 0]

Try to do clean stages with no crashing, spins etc, (half spins are ok and other small mistakes like stalling the engine and so on).
Just drive so slow that you achieve those almost clean runs. Then you'll have good comparison times for the future runs with same class cars and you'll see how much you improve over time (when compare against friends-function will work again after stages you'll see your pb and compare against that). All those daily/weekly/monthly challenges you should drive in clean stage-mode, like 90% of your capacity.

Remove the hud split times that compare you against AI, those just mess your concentration. Don't try to compete against ai if your driving is not that good yet.

[Habsolute 1]

It's not too hard. It's just different. Especially if you're used to playing circuit racers (i.e. Project CARS, Assetto Corsa, etc.) as those cars have ridiculous grip...on pavement.

Keep the old racing cliché in your head: "Slow is fast". Once you get into a groove and get a "feel" for how the car slides, you'll get more confident. Confidence is key for speed. @KingofCoins said it best..."don't race to win". Adopt those things and you'll be topping drivers in Master Class in no time.

[Rockefelluh 0]

Steering wheels don't make it more or less difficult. Play the game, learn the cars and tracks(rally cross). 

[fbracci 0]

Thanks to all of you for the tips!
I hope to improve soon  B)

[Spokster 0]

fbracci said:

Thanks to all of you for the tips!
I hope to improve soon  B)

Don't aim to win from your competition, just improve your own driving, knowledge of the stages and cars, eventually you will find yourself being faster then how you drove when you first started, but as stated before, just enjoy the driving, it's not about winning, often enough there are stages where I end up being in 7th position, but as long as I am within the points, I'll still recieve engine upgrades and points for the championship. I suggest driving a lot in Custom Events, you have all the cars to your disposal and all the stages, practice a lot and you will be better.

[SkiddyMcCrash 70]

It's a shift in focus from traditional racing games. In a traditional racer the aim is to win, obviously. In DiRT Rally, the aim is to constantly improve your driving skills. Believe it or not the AI times were toned down for the official release.

It's frustrating at first, it works backwards to every other racing game out there. You are basically grinding for upgrades, and engineers at the beginning. Which is as realistic as real world rallying as you can get in a game, no one enters rallying with a works car and team. Even real top class drivers have to struggle when they make the change, ask Robert Kubica, Kimi Räikkönen or Valentino Rossi.

As long as you realise that and change your expectations within the game you will improve, and as your driving skills and team improve you'll finally start to win, and hopefully you'll discover the joy of knowing that you won because you earned it, instead of having it handed to you.

Stick with it, it's fun once you get over the idea that you have to win all the time.

[Evilsmurf 55]

True story,

I've won events without ever winning a single stage. :)

[RyuMakkuro 6]

Evilsmurf said:
I've won events without ever winning a single stage. :)

Sir Stirling Moss would be envious of you xD

[RookieOne 1]

@fbracci do you think that in real life racing is simpler than that ?

It's actually as hard, if not harder

[danielofifi 52]

Also, there have been more difficult rally games in the past: Richard Burn Rally or (arguably) WRC Rally Evolved. And guess what? They are considered by many to be the best of the kind. A good rally game must be difficut.

[CRobby22 0]

The OP brings up Rally Cross and I have noticed that I can win some races, but its after getting beat badly off the line.  Any tips out there for 1st and 2nd gear to help out with starts.  My overall pace is in line with the AI, but if im back 2 seconds right away its a bit of a struggle.

[shadow118 16]

CRobby22 said:

The OP brings up Rally Cross and I have noticed that I can win some races, but its after getting beat badly off the line.  Any tips out there for 1st and 2nd gear to help out with starts.  My overall pace is in line with the AI, but if im back 2 seconds right away its a bit of a struggle.

With which class that is? Do you have all the upgrades installed and are you using manual launch control?

[dgeesi0 93]

CRobby22 said:

The OP brings up Rally Cross and I have noticed that I can win some races, but its after getting beat badly off the line.  Any tips out there for 1st and 2nd gear to help out with starts.  My overall pace is in line with the AI, but if im back 2 seconds right away its a bit of a struggle.

clean driving and lines and default set up is fine.

[Spokster 0]

CRobby22 said:

The OP brings up Rally Cross and I have noticed that I can win some races, but its after getting beat badly off the line.  Any tips out there for 1st and 2nd gear to help out with starts.  My overall pace is in line with the AI, but if im back 2 seconds right away its a bit of a struggle.

If you are driving the modern day rally cross cars with 600hp, start in 3rd gear, skip 1st and 2nd gear.

[FloatingGrass 0]

I'll tell you what's hard: Richard Burns Rally. That sh*t is insane. Ever since my GPU died and I haven't been able to play DR I've vented on RBR and I can't go round corners what with all the damn "easy" and "fast" pacenotes. Here's to improving!

[WestHam66 0]

I was the same when I got the game. I changed sensitivity settings and that helped, but what improved my times the most was my own change in mindset.

I would try to get the most from the car but that just resulted in crashes. I learned that AI drivers would hit problems or retire from an event altogether, but I was able to keep going. In one event I recently completed, I finished stages between 4th and 8th, but was 3rd overall.

Don't push too hard unless you're comfortable with the car and use minimal steering inputs when not under heavy braking

[romspeed 3]

fbracci said:

I have played many racing games but I have to say that this is too diffcult.
Is it possible that to have just an engine upgrade you have to do the same championship many and many times? And with the same car?
It's really frustrating...
It's clear how in the rally cross, the other cars are much powerful than your! It's almost impossible to finish at the third place... don't think to be second or first...
I understand that Codemaster have done a great job to make it realistic, but at the end it's always a game.
I play with a joypad, maybe with a steering is easier... maybe...

This is challenging but really rewarding if you have the good mindset...
1) don't look at the time -- exactly as a real novice rally driver who have to learn 
2) focus of "remaining in control" - find the pace where you are not making mistakes
3) Listen to your codriver
4) Be smart when choosing your car : mini coopers - subaru R5 - subaru group A ... that's 3 good cars to learn.. And sometimes, just try one stage with a RW car or a group B, just to notice that it can be worse ;)
5) try to beat your own times - then finally you will see that you have succeed to beat some of the IA drivers

Notice that I've managed to reach the master level (so top 3 in 4 successive championship) but I won only one rally in my career ;) 

[shadow118 16]

romspeed said:

fbracci said:

I have played many racing games but I have to say that this is too diffcult.
Is it possible that to have just an engine upgrade you have to do the same championship many and many times? And with the same car?
It's really frustrating...
It's clear how in the rally cross, the other cars are much powerful than your! It's almost impossible to finish at the third place... don't think to be second or first...
I understand that Codemaster have done a great job to make it realistic, but at the end it's always a game.
I play with a joypad, maybe with a steering is easier... maybe...

This is challenging but really rewarding if you have the good mindset...
1) don't look at the time -- exactly as a real novice rally driver who have to learn 
2) focus of "remaining in control" - find the pace where you are not making mistakes
3) Listen to your codriver
4) Be smart when choosing your car : mini coopers - subaru R5 - subaru group A ... that's 3 good cars to learn.. And sometimes, just try one stage with a RW car or a group B, just to notice that it can be worse ;)
5) try to beat your own times - then finally you will see that you have succeed to beat some of the IA drivers

Notice that I've managed to reach the master level (so top 3 in 4 successive championship) but I won only one rally in my career ;) 

6) Don't cut!

[Dytut 6]

7) Be brave!

• Bravery is 28 characters too short.

[RyuMakkuro 6]

8) No, seriously. Don't cut.