DiRT 4 More DiRT 4 Previews Break Cover

[Paul Jeffrey]

With today marking the announcement by Codemasters of DiRT 4, yet more preview images from the new game have surfaced on the internet showing off the impressive visuals of a title that has aroused more than a little conversation amongst our sim racing community.

DiRT 4 has been pitched to the gaming public as a cross between the hugely successful simulation focussed DiRT Rally and more arcade orientated DiRT 3 release, with several forms of offroad racing due to be represented in the new game. Judging from the comments over on our announcement article, it appears the traditional rally portion of the game is attracting the most interest from RD readers, and luckily that is the area of the game the newly released images seem to mostly cover.

Across these five new screenshots we can see the new for DiRT 4 Kartcross machine in action on one of the Rallycross circuits in game, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, a Ford Fiesta Rallycross vehicle in unlicensed fictional liveries and probably of most interest a Subaru Impreza R4 from 2016 - a new addition to the DiRT franchise. Also expected to be making an appearance in the game will be the Peugeot 208 R5. Other cars, locations and formats of racing are yet to be revealed outside of the traditional rally mode, Rallycross, Kartcross, Trucks and Buggy disciplines.

Other confirmed goodies due to be added to the upcoming title include cross-platform multiplayer by default, with both Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC joining together on the game leadboards for the very first time, coupled with a new PvP multiplayer rally feature that allows groups of up to eight players starting on stage at the same time, effectively allowing you to run a "live" rally and revolutionising the way multiplayer works within the new release.

Something that was missing from DiRT Rally and left the game all the worse for it is now due to make an appearance in DiRT 4 - in offline mode you will see broken down cars by the side of the road, with your crew giving you an audio warning before you encounter the obstruction on stage. This is only a relatively minor addition to the title, but something that makes a welcome addition and adds to the immersion of competing in a full blown rally event.

Also confirmed to be making a change in the new title will be the removal of the "instant-finish" way stages end in the current release. Now when you cross the line, you retain control the car until the Time Control area. This will require the player to not simply accelerate across the line but to moderate your speed in anticipation of stopping the car in the correct area at stage end, somewhat similar to RBR.

DiRT 4 will be available for Windows PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 June 2017.

Check out our DiRT 4 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussions regarding the latest edition to the DiRT Rally franchise of games. Get yourself over to the new sub forum today and join in the discussion!

Looking forward to DiRT 4? Do you think the game will be closer in feeling to the previous DiRT Rally release or closer to the more quick fire fun oriented DiRT 2 and 3 games? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[TzZyO]

Alright, couple of trolls here;

I can see only one troll here with a handgun of his avatar pic.

2) The stages in DR were real life modeled stages, sorry if real life is too repetitive to you.

Look, real life is real life. What you see in DR is not nearly "real life". In Wales it looks almost as if they took one to three textures and plastered them all over the stages. The geometry also looks mostly the same. There was a comparison video between DR's Sweet Lamb and the real thing. Not a whole lot of similarity. At least for a game with that amount of content they could do much better than that.

Have you seen those Czech RBR stages I mentioned? That's the way you do it. That actually looks like real life pieces of landscape and environment brought into a sim.

Re the stage generation, Paul said that their environment was modeled and the track when generated, winds it's way through the items/obstacles in the environment, which is how/why you get so many stage possibilities

Indeed. But it all boils down to how good the result is. So far I'm unimpressed. Maybe in the later development stages, but not with the current videos.

 

[MaDMaXX]

I can see only one troll here with a handgun of his avatar pic.

Wait, what?! there's a question mark talking......
Also, you might want to look up the definition of troll.

Look, real life is real life. What you see in DR is not nearly "real life". In Wales it looks almost as if they took one to three textures and plastered them all over the stages. The geometry also looks mostly the same. There was a comparison video between DR's Sweet Lamb and the real thing. Not a whole lot of similarity. At least for a game with that amount of content they could do much better than that.

So, when a stage is modeled after the stage that exists in real life, it means that, it doesn't mean it's a 1:1 representation, for many reasons (some obvious) they were not able to 1:1 stages, instead, they modeled them from the real life stages, capturing some of the more interesting parts.

Have you seen those Czech RBR stages I mentioned? That's the way you do it. That actually looks like real life pieces of landscape and environment brought into a sim.

I have to say no, i have not seen it, but it's not really that relevant either, i'm presuming from your praise of them that you're local to that area?
RBR is a different engine with wildly differing restrictions, it's not possible to have the extra length and detail you want in the DR engine.

Indeed. But it all boils down to how good the result is. So far I'm unimpressed. Maybe in the later development stages, but not with the current videos.

We've seen such an amazingly small amount of stage from D4, i wouldn't base much of anything from the public videos yet. Also remember that was press, it wasn't even alpha release material, literally meaning a build before it's feature complete, it's not all there. Hold your horses.

 

[TzZyO]

Wait, what?! there's a question mark talking......
Also, you might want to look up the definition of troll.

You might want to be a little less aggressive to people you don't know and who wasn't talking to you in the first place.

So, when a stage is modeled after the stage that exists in real life, it means that, it doesn't mean it's a 1:1 representation, for many reasons (some obvious) they were not able to 1:1 stages, instead, they modeled them from the real life stages, capturing some of the more interesting parts.

I'd rather say they tried to. The result is uninspiring. Heck, even SLRE's stages have more life to them. Finland looks better, but it has its own problems. More of a roller-coaster than actual rally stages.

I have to say no, i have not seen it, but it's not really that relevant either, i'm presuming from your praise of them that you're local to that area?
RBR is a different engine with wildly differing restrictions, it's not possible to have the extra length and detail you want in the DR engine.

Well, just take a look at them, then you'll see what I mean. Do I need to be a local to everything I find appealing? I've never even been to that country in my life, you guessed that wrong.
Yes, RBR is different, a very limited graphically, noticeably old engine. Yet it still has better stages (at least some of them). That means Codemasters should try harder.

We've seen such an amazingly small amount of stage from D4, i wouldn't base much of anything from the public videos yet. Also remember that was press, it wasn't even alpha release material, literally meaning a build before it's feature complete, it's not all there. Hold your horses.

As I said, I'm only commenting on the current state of things. A miracle could still happen. But judging by the whole Dirt series (including DR) and the videos we'd seen so far, that chance is pretty slim.

 

[Celestiale]

@TzZyO i think you are overgeneralizing a little. In the end it's only your opinion. I for one think the stages of Dirt Rally are quite brilliant, love to drive them, and i don't think that they are repetitive at all. All of them (the real long stages) have a very unique characteristic, and you have to adjust your driving style accordingly. Obviously it's way to expensive to laserscan real stages, but i think they are realistic enough for a rally game, and the complexity/difficulty seems comparable to the real stages.
Obviously the only problem is the lack of content, so you get to know those stages after a while...then it gets repetitive naturally.
If the created stages of Dirt 4 reach the same quality i would be (positively) astonished, really...
In the end i am a huge Rally fan, and will buy everything that comes close to a Rally simulation anyway, in contrary to racing sims the market is not particularly flooded with them unfortunately, so you don't have a lot of choice when you want some variety.
Thad said, i'd hugely prefer a modern RBR style simulation with contemporary graphics etc...if only there was one on the horizon

 

[MaDMaXX]

You might want to be a little less aggressive to people you don't know and who wasn't talking to you in the first place.

You directly quoted me, i really don't know who else you would have been talking to....?

No aggression communicated. Might not want to make fun of people's avatars when you don't have one

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

blam blam blam

have we actually seen any footage of the generic stages yet? can't remember anyone claiming we have, i might have overlooked something, though.
As for repetition: I loved RBR back in the day, I think I know the Czech stages (I might be wrong though, it's been a while) and what I remember was indeed done with a loving touch of detail, but the stages in Dirt Rally are totally fine by me, easily enough variation and detail for a year or so of playing the game. Dirt 3 had far too little kms to explore, as had Dirt2. Dirt1 and all the original McRae titles were way better in that respect, Dirt Rally is kind of back to a level once held and then lost, why shouldn't Dirt4 be on the same level?

 

[Majuh]

Please link to the previews that stated it appeared repetetive. I haven't come across those.

http://www.4players.de/4players.php/dispbericht/Allgemein/Vorschau/36017/82369/0/DiRT_4.html

Last paragraph, you might need to use a translator.

 

[TzZyO]

You directly quoted me, i really don't know who else you would have been talking to....?

Before you entered the thread guns blazing, calling people trolls, I never even knew of your existence. How could I directly quote you?

No aggression communicated. Might not want to make fun of people's avatars when you don't have one

I really don't care about people's avatars. It just was the easiest way to identify you without saying the name directly. You could have whatever else on the picture, I'd use that as a reference. Though I admit I do find using avatars childish, but that's just my opinion.

 

[bogani]

To me, the SLRE stages feels extremely generic.

I'm a bit worried about Your Stage and how many deja vu's I will have, but compared to having a few stages in each location that I will know like the back of my hand after a month or two, it's a good alternative. If it works well it'll be great.

This is the biggest problem of all rally games. The stages won't ever be enough. People will memorize them eventually.

 

[Celestiale]

This is the biggest problem of all rally games. The stages won't ever be enough. People will memorize them eventually.

Indeed...we can just hope for 2 things:
1. billion dollar company will laserscan 15-20 stages per location (20 in total = 400 stages), make a Rally sim, and sell it at a huge loss, just because the CEO bloody loves rally.
You wouldn't be able to memorize 400 stages = ~6000km of track..at least not better then the Rally pros
2. Someone codes an algorithm that can truly generate fully procedural rally stages, that are comparable to the real locations..

I wonder which one is more (or less) probable (and expensive)....

A third - less expensive and more likely - solution would be opening it completely for track modding, and instantly include modded tracks to the career/online modes..when i check how many great roads we have in AC already..like Transfaragasan, Tajo Hillclimb, Monte Erice etc...if only there would be a Rally career mode in AC, with co-driver...

 

[TzZyO]

This is the biggest problem of all rally games. The stages won't ever be enough. People will memorize them eventually.

There is another problem though. Pacenotes recorded by one person rarely work for the other.
For this Your Stage feature to be useful, I'd expect a user-friendly pacenotes-on-the-go editor is a must. First you do the recce run, then the actual one.

 

[Celestiale]

There is another problem though. Pacenotes recorded by one person rarely work for the other.
For this Your Stage feature to be useful, I'd expect a user-friendly pacenotes-on-the-go editor is a must. First you do the recce run, then the actual one.

I think the system in Dirt Rally works quite well, 5 different modes of when the co-driver tells you, i found one that suits me perfect.
Would be nice if they achieve the same with Dirt 4, i am positive.
Recce with own pacenotes would be a huge enhancement, hence why i hope that this new GRally is going to thrive

 

[TzZyO]

I think the system in Dirt Rally works quite well, 5 different modes of when the co-driver tells you, i found one that suits me perfect.
Would be nice if they achieve the same with Dirt 4, i am positive.
Recce with own pacenotes would be a huge enhancement, hence why i hope that this new GRally is going to thrive

I can't remember a single case of pacenotes working properly for me anywhere. There was always that "are you trying to kill both of us???" moment more than once while driving on an unfamiliar stage while listening to the readouts.

Not sure about gRally. That new video didn't really convince me it has proper physics, but... I expect it to at least make more sense in the handling department than Dirt 4. Well, I'd be happy to be proven wrong...

 

[bogani]

I can't remember a single case of pacenotes working properly for me anywhere. There was always that "are you trying to kill both of us???" moment more than once while driving on an unfamiliar stage while listening to the readouts.

Not sure about gRally. That new video didn't really convince me it has proper physics, but... I expect it to at least make more sense in the handling department than Dirt 4. Well, I'd be happy to be proven wrong...

Not a single case of pacenotes working properly for you anywhere? Wow. I find that hard to believe. That just sounds ridicolous. You will probably never be happy with anything if I'm gonna judge you by that comment.

And you start bashing the physics of Dirt 4 even though you haven't touched it? Let me guess, you think vanilla RBR is miles ahead of DR in the physics department.

 

[TzZyO]

Not a single case of pacenotes working properly for you anywhere? Wow. I find that hard to believe. That just sounds ridicolous. You will probably never be happy with anything if I'm gonna judge you by that comment.

What's wrong with that? I suspect every rally driver has their own idea of how to write pacenotes. I highly doubt they'd use some other driver's pacenotes to do a full-speed run.

And you start bashing the physics of Dirt 4 even though you haven't touched it? Let me guess, you think vanilla RBR is miles ahead of DR in the physics department.

No, vanilla RBR and vanilla DR both are weird. But as far as I can remember, RBR is slightly less so. And there's NGP.
Yes, there's RFPE for DR, and it does help a lot. Still, not enough to make it worthwhile.
I'm not really bashing Dirt 4 physics yet. Simply saying that at the moment it doesn't look convincing. Hopefully, it will get better.

 

[MaDMaXX]

Not a single case of pacenotes working properly for you anywhere? Wow. I find that hard to believe. That just sounds ridicolous. You will probably never be happy with anything if I'm gonna judge you by that comment.

And you start bashing the physics of Dirt 4 even though you haven't touched it? Let me guess, you think vanilla RBR is miles ahead of DR in the physics department.

Leave him, he's clearly trolling, he confirmed it after stating he didn't know who i was and couldn't have quoted me, despite my quote being 'quoted' in his reply and him directly addressing it.

 

[TzZyO]

Leave him, he's clearly trolling, he confirmed it after stating he didn't know who i was and couldn't have quoted me, despite my quote being 'quoted' in his reply and him directly addressing it.

What are you even talking about? You jumped into the thread out of nowhere talking about "trolls". I didn't even know of your existence before it happened. Where did I "quote" you?