Yeah, the games for windows live thing is … eh. It has some okayish features but I would prefer more effort spent to develop their own multiplayer system. But the multiplayer system on codemasters has always sucked ass - this is actually a vast improvement. It sucks if you’re the only guy from nigeria with a computer or something and you can’t play this game online.
Otherwise, I’ve been playing this game like crazy and enjoying myself. I’ve only owned it for 2 weeks and I probably have already logged more time at it than any other racing game other than the f-zero that came with my super nintendo or possibly flatout 2.
My two biggest wishes: there should be some sort of weather system, with snowy or raining tracks, or even better, an option that can turn any track into a rain/snow track. That would really add to the experience.
And two: I know it doesn’t really fit in the theme of the game, but I wish they had a demolition derby mode. They already have most of the work done… dirt tracks in stadiums, a detailed damage model, etc. If they just added some sort of scoring system and a few derby tracks, they’d be set. It would seem out of place, but hey, it’d be fun.
Anyway, more people should be buying this! Even if you don’t like racing games generally, give the demo a try … it manages to appeal to people I know who aren’t racing game fans, including myself. I’ve got a few of my friends/sdmb people getting the game, the more the merrier - we can start having organized races.
Well worth the cash. I liked Grid from these guys. The production values were top notch and it was a lot of fun, but this one has it beat. A lot more fun, more tracks, lots of customization options for your vehicles, and multi player is painless. No one likes ot chat on it though, but whatever.
Is anyone up for some multi-player mayhem? Let’s share our windows live tags! I’m Kinthalis on there too.
I do wish this worked with the built in steam system. And Beef, you’re right a weather system would rock!
I’m watching yesterday’s Top Gear where they take a trip on Bolivia’s death highway - where hundreds of people have died because there are lots of unguarded edges over cliffs, and I was thinking how incredibly awesome it would be if a section of it were modelled in Dirt 2. A narrow dirt road carved into some hills… it’d add a sense of realism (since the real world road is awesome enough to add as-is) and it would be perfect. I have no idea if other tracks in the game have any sort of basis on real rally tracks - does anyone know?
I wonder if there will be any DLC for the game. There’s a “checking for DLC” part of the launch process, but since it’s been out for consoles for month and nothing has been forthcoming I’m not sure there will be. They’ve been working on the PC version, but that’s the programming team, not so much the track design team. I’d be willing to pay for a good map/car pack, especially if it had weather. Hell, I’d buy a $10 DLC if it did nothing but add rain conditions to the various tracks… then I could race with forced cockpit cam views and watch people deal with the rain on their windshield as well as the mud on the ground.
Whoa, WTF? I loaded it up again and can’t believe how crapulent the interface is. No way to push eascape and end that oh-so-homey good ol’ boy’s fucking prattle about how cool the car is? Holy shit does that suck. If I want to quit I have to go through several scenes? Listen to some computer bimbo “invite” me to the next race? WTF? Tell me it gets better … tell me it’s only the first few times I play I’ll have to sit through that fucking opening sequence. Is there no hack? No -s or other switch to bypass it? Almost unplayable. No, not almost. I’d probably still be there mucking around right now if it was just a bit more user friendly.
I got this game as a pack-in with my 5870, and I’m digging it. It looks GORGEOUS in DX11.
But I have to second (third?) the comments on the GUI. I had the reinstall the game a couple of times due to trouble with my system, and the inability to skip the endless chatter made me want to shoot myself. The interface is kind of cool the first time, but then it’s just a major annoyance. I hate that if you want to just quit out of the game, you have to toggle to your RV, hit a key to enter it, and then toggle through another set of options.
And the requirement to sign in to GFWL to enable game saves in single player is pointlessly draconian. As far as I can tell, your game saves are stored locally and not online. All that it appears to do for single player is save your achivements. It’s completely unnecessary for saving game progress. I’m sure there’s some workaround I haven’t found yet, but I will be pissed if I can’t save my game because my internet connection takes a crap for an hour.
Yeah, the interface sucks. There’s no fix for it as far as I know, although like I said using the steam overlay for a web browser can alleviate downtime to a degree. It’s worth it since the racing itself is so good.
You don’t need to log in to GFWL to make a save. What you can do is create a local profile which is really simple - I forget the exact steps, but it’s just a matter of clicking “create local profile” somewhere and entering a profile name. Then it doesn’t need to log into GFWL to save stuff. You do need a GFWL profile/account to play online though. Edit: And if you want your single player unlockable paint schemes and stuff to be usable online, you’d need it all to be a GFWL profile. But if you just want an offline profile you can do it.
We’ve had 4 of us SDMBers racing together and of course more are welcome. The easiest way to get in touch with us is to join the SDMB steam group and/or add me (SenorBeef on steam) as a friend. You can add us as GFWL friends too (my ID is senorbeef0) but since I’m not actually on GFWL unless I’m actually in the game, it’s easier to get on steam, see that 4 of us are around, and if everyone wants to play, then we get into the game and use GFWL to find each other from there.
For those of you that got rob of your $40-$70 because of GFWL and Codemasters decision to use it with DIRT 2 and can only race DIRT 2 offline, here how I force GFWL into offline mode. ( a repost from Steam forum )
I got a friend to get the game today so I’ll be playing with friends and SDMB people a lot over the next few days. If you’re interested in joining us then add me as a friend on steam (SenorBeef) - we’ve had some 4 man SDMB games going but our schedules haven’t synced much. Plus Kinthalis apparently has a real life and doesn’t game all night like he used to. glare
I’ll be playing all day tomorrow and Monday (I have off work! Yay!) And at that price I’m buying a another copy for the HTPC maybe I can get my wife involved.
Yeah, anyone who has been thinking about getting this game, you should snatch it right up ASAP for $20. We’ve been having a lot of fun playing it together, and I’d love to get 8+ SDMBers on the game so we can have a full race with only us.
I should add that when some people first start the demo or the game, it sometimes crashes to desktop and fails to launch. It uses some default setting that pisses off some computers. The way to fix this is (on steam) to right click the game on your games list, go to properties, click “Set launch options”, and then enter “-safemode” into that box without the quotes. That launches the game in a low res/low graphics setting, and you can then go into the options and set up whatever resolution/settings you like. Then remove the -safemode switch, and all subsequent times you run the game will fire up fine, under your specified options.
You’re all bums! I’ve been incessantly pestering all my friends to get the game but I keep hearing “blah I don’t like racing games”. Well neither do most of the people I’ve played with, but this one is awesome enough to transcend that :p\
Edit: Lack of any sort of analog controller (and a joystick with a throttle works half decently) is understandable, although cheap enough to acquire.
