I really enjoy the Dirt series (and dabble with Toca and Grid as well) and have learned a lot about gaming over the years as features were implemented (rewind in Grid went to D2 and 3; proliferation of online, etc).
I appreciate Codemasters for limiting their use of Dirt DLC- D3 had car and track packs and their F1 games have DLC, but most Dirt games have avoided that, and I appreciate the commitment to doing it old school.
I like the varied locations and am looking up the real roads that were in Dirt 1as a little research project (last time Australia was in a Dirt game).
Thoughts- D1 had all sorts of vehicles (CORR trucks, big rigs, cargo haulers) and tracks, a championship mode to manage car damage and a career mode for money making. EXCELLENT game design, physics left lots of room for improvement. Tuning with real statistics. One-on-one special stages are the BEST
D2- I enjoyed some arcade elements and really enjoyed the map interface of races. Introduced Trailblazer. Limited content, especially in Rally. Any car on any track in single player is still a treat, no mod needed. Simplified tuning. Rewind reduces challenge and commitment, but I have to hit that button immediately. No damage repair or championships. No hillclimb
D3- So much content. Such poor design. EIGHT (8) rally tracks in each location, decades worth of cars, and gymkhana as well. Lots of content but without depth of spirit. Longer rewind time further reduces commitment. No damage repair or championships. Simplified tuning. Choosing cars by sponsor team? REALLY? I just want to drive an RS200, choose Team Osiris or Falken Tire or whatever.
Return of Head to Head special stages! Still no hillclimb
Enjoyed seeing free drive area
Showdown- I knew what I was buying and still enjoy it occasionally. Not quite a real destruction derby, but fun. Block smashes are fun. TWO free drive areas.
Dirt Rally- Original Dirt Championship mode turned into an entire game. Wow. Serious commitment level physics. Amazing tracks and real tuning. Sharing tunes on Steam Workshop was wonderfully educational There are hillclimbs besides Pikes Peak, you know? Brutally difficult RX on two tracks (and if you are REALLY good you can unlock a third. Yeah!??) Real world locations masterfully crafted.
No more rewind. Penalties for even restarting. Can't choose a track to play, only a country.
D4- Rally philosophy for the masses. Why use real tracks? You never know the track in rally driving, so they will have the computer make it for you. Added Landrush and made RX...still difficult.
I enjoy the incorporation of Grid style team management with sponsors, parts, and crew upgrades. There is more to racing than driving.
What I wish for in my fantasy is a mod-able Dirt game, put out by Codemasters and made for mods, like the later games in the Civ series. The track generator in D4 is a great way of getting constant new tracks, but there are ways to add tracks and cars (rFactor, Asset and RBR show us) to games that don't break the game engine. It's called a mod community.
Is this a financial problem? Philosophy? Something else? I see that Civ has 1000s more players than Dirt, but AC and rFactor have commercially made this work, and they are small scale efforts similar in scale to Codemasters as a studio (AFAIK). Any insights why there is not mod support? Seems like a great solution to the same problem that the D4 track generator tries to solve- new content that players love.
