DIRT Rally - Pikes Peak cars are stupidly hard to control (Peugeot 205 and Audi Quattro)

[K4mOnThen 0]

Firstly I would like to say that I love the pikes peak course on this game.  Tarmac and mixed surfaces are both great , but ONLY in the Peugeot 405.  Im not really bad at this game, Ive had a world rank 75 position in Wales, and have many 100-130 places, but the Pikes peak Peugeot 205 and Audi Quattro are stupid.  I feel like I have to drive like Miss Daisy to not come off the course  At speed going into a bend, the back steps out and recovery is almost impossible.  Turning with any acceleration at all and the back steps out, again impossible to correct.  I've not managed to stop one spin out yet once its started.  Ive not had this issue with any of the other cars in the game RWD or otherwise.  The Pikes Peak cars are supposedly 4WD.  Hmmmm..  I dont get any of these problems in the 405 and its much more fun to drive so its the only car I use.  The other two are garbage and no fun.  Thank god that the 405 is there otherwise I wouldnt be playing the Pike Peak courses at all, which incidently is where my brother is at.  He thinks they are all rubbish so doesnt play it!

I dont know, maybe its just me (and my bro)?  Anyone else feel the same?

[couger1981 89]

Pretty sure there designed that way to get up the mountain as fast as possible with the cars being as loose as possible for the corners in real life.

[BrySkye 14]

With these cars, you NEED to go into advanced set-up and change things up. A lot.

Just looking at the differential, you'll find all the Hill Climb cars are set to send 100% of the torque to the rear wheels.
Yeah, default setup gives you 600hp+ RWD, so no wonder the 205 is a hand full.
Echos of the Renault Clio V6 or that absurd VW Golf GTI W12-650.

Some consideration also has to go to the sheer speed as well. It might not seem like it, but for cars like these to be taking corners at 100mph+ is a big ask. They might have big wings, but they are 1980's Aero tech that's been bolted onto rally cars.

All three of these cars were built/modified around the old, 100% gravel version of Pikes Peak. They are really unsuited for the tarmac versions in the game. Ride height, etc.

[function9 0]

BrySkye said:

With these cars, you NEED to go into advanced set-up and change things up. A lot.

Just looking at the differential, you'll find all the Hill Climb cars are set to send 100% of the torque to the rear wheels.
Yeah, default setup gives you 600hp+ RWD, so no wonder the 205 is a hand full.
Echos of the Renault Clio V6 or that absurd VW Golf GTI W12-650.

Some consideration also has to go to the sheer speed as well. It might not seem like it, but for cars like these to be taking corners at 100mph+ is a big ask. They might have big wings, but they are 1980's Aero tech that's been bolted onto rally cars.

All three of these cars were built/modified around the old, 100% gravel version of Pikes Peak. They are really unsuited for the tarmac versions in the game. Ride height, etc.

Which does make the times that are achievable with the cars we got a little silly in my opinion. In the real world, has anyone other than Loeb broke the 9min mark? It's easily done with these cars and it wouldn't surprise me if there's people out there that could beat Loeb's record. Would've also been nice, with these cars at least, to get the full gravel version of the course.

[K4mOnThen 0]

@BrySkye That all amkes perfect sense.  Have you got any tips on what to change in the advanced settings.  I've had a bid of a fiddle around but nothing seems to make much of a difference to the back end spinning out.  How have you got your set?

@function9 - After just a few hours I am getting around the 9m 30s mark in the peugeot 405 so with more practice Im pretty sure I'll be there or there about Loebs time.....fingers crossed.

[BrySkye 14]

Not really. The PP pack has pretty much forced me to start trying things on setup, but I can't find a good balance between understeer/oversteer.
Better than the default maybe, but that isn't saying much.
Tuning isn't an aspect of racing games that I enjoy.
Pretty much just change the torque split to 40/60 to the rear and notch the settings a bit towards less braking understeer and less power oversteer with a bit more negative camber.

My best all-tarmac time in the 205 (albeit, only the first upgrade) is 9:51.
I kind of don't want to go too much faster than that, since it just seems implausible for these cars the way they are set up, even with the best modern tyres.

[Superd00ps 0]

Since Dirt I don't use setups as a rule in racing games because Dirt did not allow it in its multiplayer. Going up PP in these cars requires patience,...especially at the bottom of the hill because the cars handle differently with all the power and wing. Not sure if Codies also mimic aero going up the hill but it sure feels that way as the cars become better balanced or,...they lose power.

[shadow118 18]

Superd00ps said:

Not sure if Codies also mimic aero going up the hill but it sure feels that way as the cars become better balanced or,...they lose power.

It's both - they are modelling aero and also cars lose power the higher you go due to thinner air . They talked about it in one of the streams

[K4mOnThen 0]

JohnnyRussian said:

BrySkye said:

With these cars, you NEED to go into advanced set-up and change things up. A lot.

Just looking at the differential, you'll find all the Hill Climb cars are set to send 100% of the torque to the rear wheels.
Yeah, default setup gives you 600hp+ RWD, so no wonder the 205 is a hand full.
Echos of the Renault Clio V6 or that absurd VW Golf GTI W12-650.

Some consideration also has to go to the sheer speed as well. It might not seem like it, but for cars like these to be taking corners at 100mph+ is a big ask. They might have big wings, but they are 1980's Aero tech that's been bolted onto rally cars.

All three of these cars were built/modified around the old, 100% gravel version of Pikes Peak. They are really unsuited for the tarmac versions in the game. Ride height, etc.

i had another go with both the Quattro and the 405 on PP last night. i did Sector 3 only because on the old version it's the only sector that's 100% gravel. definitely agree with what you said about the cars being built for the gravel version. on the 100% gravel sector 3 the cars handle pretty much OK. still a bit of a handful considering all that power but nothing too bad, could probably do with a bit more practice though.

after doing the gravel version i changed to the tarmac version and the cars are twice as difficult to drive on it. 

i also noticed with the 405 that the main thing that seems to cause the massive understeer is that the car has a tendency to straighten as soon as you hit the throttle. it's a bit difficult for me on the gamepad, but if you have a wheel and peddles applying the throttle more gradually out of bends would probably help. 

that's using the default setup though, haven't played around with the settings so maybe the understeer for the 405 can be helped using though.

I use a wheel and the Peugeot 405 and that probably makes it easier becuase as you said you can apply the throttle as required.  MUCH harder on a pad.  Still, I cant control the Audi and the 205 anywhere near as well and thats with a wheel!  I ve not tried the 205 and then Audi on sector 3 yet though becuase I find it so frustrating on 1 and 2, Ive just not bothered  Im not really into chnging all the settings on games.  I just want to hop in and race, which is where it looks like these cars are falling down.  As already mentioned I did have a bit of a play around with the settings are BrySke's reply but they still handle like a bag of cr*p IMO.

[Guest]

I found the cars to be much the same and its def a setup issue namely round the diff., i did manage to get the 205 handling a bit better by making the diffs looser but then i quickly found how much easier the 405 was to drive so stuck with it. But now reading these posts I'm determined to go back in and tame the beasts.