DiRT 3, a rally style racer, released on May 24, 2011 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Read on to see what DIGITALciphers has to say about the game in his first blog-promoted review.
Dirt 3 is a rally style racer that is part sim and part arcade. It is the third game in the Dirt series developed by Codemasters.
Features
- 1-2 player split screen
- 2-8 System Link/ Online Multi Player
- Leaderboards
- Voice
- 720p/1080i/1080p resolution
- YouTube video uploading
Xbox 360 Wheels Supported
- Official Microsoft Xbox 360 Wheel
- Logitech Drive FX Wheel
- Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S Wheel (clutch support and H pattern shifting not supported on X360)
- Fanatec Clubsport Pedals (clutch functionality not supported on X360)
- Madcatz Wireless Racing Wheel
Game Modes
Dirt 3 has 3 game modes: Dirt Tour, Multiplayer, and Single Player.
Dirt Tour, which is the campaign, is setup into four seasons with each season having four championships. As you play the game you earn REP which helps you unlock the next championship/season as well as cars and teams. Race types consist of Rally, Land Rush, Trail Blazer, Gymkhana, and Head2Head. I only played a small amount of Dirt Tour(First 3 races) but will come back and update this review once I complete it. Below is a video of a Rally X Race in which I placed 2nd. I am playing on Intermediate difficulty and 2nd is the best I finished in the 3 events I raced. I am using a wireless Xbox controller.
Multi-player consist of Xbox Live, Split Screen, System Link, My Party. Xbox Live games consist of Pro Tour(ranked races) and Jam Session(Private races). Multi-player on Xbox Live is another feature I did not try yet but will come back and update once I play it some.
Single Player consist of Time Trials and Single Race. Time Trials you can compete for the best time on the leaderboards and single race is just that, a single race or gymkhana event.
*DEALBREAKER* This may be a deal breaker for some of you. There is a VIP online pass. So in order to play online or use the Youtube feature, you must have a code or pay for one. The bonus is it unlocks 5 more cars. Whoopie!
Tuning in Dirt 3
Tuning is pretty simple and to the point. You have 6 categories to tune in each with 5 levels of tuning.
- Gear Ratio: Short to Long
- Down Force: High to Low
- Suspension: Stiff to Soft
- Ride Height: Low to High
- Differential: Strong to Loose
- Brake Bias: Rear to Front
So far I did zero tuning and just raced at the default settings. Once you set your tune you can store it as a preset for later use.
New to Dirt 3
Gymkhana is the new addition to the Dirt series. Gymkhana is a type of motorsport practiced in an increasing number of countries. Similar to autocross , gymkhana courses are often very complex and memorizing the course is a significant part of achieving a fast time (Wiki). So far I spent way to much time playing this. This is the more arcade game type of Dirt. I haven't tried it on the hardest difficulty or with all assist off but the game kinda helps your car get into place when trying to perform tricks. With that said this is still fun as crap to me, since the game is so gorgeous. It’s cool seeing smoke and dust flying around as you drift around a corner or do a doughnut around a cone. Below are some videos of me playing Gymkhana.
Overall
Overall this game is just as great as Dirt 2 if not better. The physics are spot on, the graphics are gorgeous and the racing is just down right fun. Gymkhana is a nice distraction from racing and can be a time suck if you are not careful. We could always ask for more, more cars, more tracks, more customization, but at this point and only after playing this game for 4-5 hours I would have to give it a 9 out of 10. This rating of course will change should I run into bugs or lag in multi-player, but so far this is another great racer from Codemasters.
