First Colin McRae: Dirt Preview(Xbox360)

new 360 preview


After witnessing more than a few spectacular crashes during our demo, we can vouch for the fact that they sustain damage that's at least as realistic as anything that we've seen previously. Damage in DIRT will invariably have an adverse effect on your vehicle's handling, and if you crash once too often or manage to wrap your car around a tree (yes, that will be possible), your race may end prematurely. We're told that even the detailed car interiors will deteriorate quite noticeably after collisions, but we didn't get to see any busted speedometers for ourselves on this occasion....we were still afforded plenty of opportunities to witness the vehicle damage model in full effect (light scratches and mud buildup at first, smashed glass and crumpled bodywork later) and to notice how significant a role environment objects played on occasion. Every object in DIRT's environments has its own physics, and if you ever find the time to take in the scenery (perhaps during a slow-motion replay), you'll notice that flags, foliage, and even exhaust smoke react to simulated wind systems. But how your vehicle will react to collisions with different objects is more relevant to gameplay. We can report that even small, seemingly innocuous rocks and half-buried tires can prove devastating if you hit them at the wrong speed and in the wrong vehicle. However, flimsier items, such as advertising boards, young trees, and road signs, will generally come off worse if you decide to hit them....

The work-in-progress version of DIRT that we saw showed off the graphical prowess of Codemasters' new Neon engine to great effect, with huge draw distances and impressive lighting effects being among the most memorable of its features. The highly detailed car models were also very impressive, although the only time we were ever really able to fully appreciate them was when we were treated to slow-motion replays. We rarely noticed any drops in the frame rate during the demo and were assured that the finished game will be locked at 50 frames per second. And, for those of you who prefer not to drive using an analog stick or a directional pad, we're told that force-feedback steering wheels will be supported. We look forward to bringing you more information on DIRT as soon as it becomes available.
Click to expand...
 
Some more screenshots from CVG with links. These seem new though.

( http://medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/screenshot_175587.jpg )
Dirt1.jpg

( http://medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/screenshot_175586.jpg )
Dirt2.jpg

( http://medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/screenshot_175589.jpg )
Dirt3.jpg
 
Bad_Boy said:
I think evolution is co-developing DLC for Motorstorm (1) and planning on making Motorstorm 2 next.
Click to expand...

If I've been reading properly between the lines, a new WRC depends on, surprisingly, the WRC ... they seem to be in licencing negotations.
 
czekon said:
i'm so surprise cause FM2 is builded from ground to take advantage of X360 hardware and dirt is multiplatform




http://www.xboxyde.com/news_4127_en.html

new screens???
Click to expand...

as mentioned they are doing two completely different things.

extreme simulation with thousands of parts on a car interacting and customizable (FM2) compared to a more environmentally driven, fun, race experience.

Although dirt sounds reasonably deep as well just a different focus.
 
Tap In said:
as mentioned they are doing two completely different things.

extreme simulation with thousands of parts on a car interacting and customizable (FM2) compared to a more environmentally driven, fun, race experience.

Although dirt sounds reasonably deep as well just a different focus.
Click to expand...

Not to mention, real screens from the replay mode VS bullshots that came from who knows where.

Looks amazing, but we're comparing apples and oranges right now.
 
After witnessing more than a few spectacular crashes during our demo, we can vouch for the fact that they sustain damage that's at least as realistic as anything that we've seen previously. Damage in DIRT will invariably have an adverse effect on your vehicle's handling, and if you crash once too often or manage to wrap your car around a tree (yes, that will be possible), your race may end prematurely. We're told that even the detailed car interiors will deteriorate quite noticeably after collisions, but we didn't get to see any busted speedometers for ourselves on this occasion....we were still afforded plenty of opportunities to witness the vehicle damage model in full effect (light scratches and mud buildup at first, smashed glass and crumpled bodywork later) and to notice how significant a role environment objects played on occasion. Every object in DIRT's environments has its own physics, and if you ever find the time to take in the scenery (perhaps during a slow-motion replay), you'll notice that flags, foliage, and even exhaust smoke react to simulated wind systems. But how your vehicle will react to collisions with different objects is more relevant to gameplay. We can report that even small, seemingly innocuous rocks and half-buried tires can prove devastating if you hit them at the wrong speed and in the wrong vehicle. However, flimsier items, such as advertising boards, young trees, and road signs, will generally come off worse if you decide to hit them....
Click to expand...

Sounds a lot like Toca 3's damage... I like! Definately a plus of not using licensed cars. The physics seem like they are working well on the 360 as well (which is kind of surprising). The screen shots look nice, so hopefully the finished project looks just as good. I am not much of a straight rally racing type (I want more Motorstorm style games!) but having end-game damage such perks me up some. the big thing would be seeing 5 or 6 cars on screen at a time.

Whats up with the 50fps reference? I thought this was a 30fps game?
 
Joshua Luna said:
Whats up with the 50fps reference? I thought this was a 30fps game?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where Gamespot got 50fps from. Here is a couple of recent posts from an Admin on the official forums.

60fps was our target and we've found ourselves unable to meet that at an acceptable level of visual quality. somethign had to give and it was decided to drop the frame rate, Because, in our opinion, the game looks better this way than the other way.

Your opinion my be different, but ultimatey we've got to take the route we think is best.
Click to expand...

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2329964&postcount=46

Dirt's phsyics engine isn;t tied to the graphics update speed, it runs fast (like Papyrus's or ISI's enigne)

graphic update is 30 fps.
main physics update is 60fps (with suspension stuff calculated somewhere round 1000 times a second.) so you're not losing out on any fidelity there from dropping the speed of the graphics update.
Click to expand...

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2330437&postcount=49
 
Looks excellent! Nice to see the PC getting a racing game that looks as good as the console racers, this has always been a genre were the PC has suffered graphically IMO.

This ones definatly on my wanted list.
 
Tap In said:
as mentioned they are doing two completely different things.

extreme simulation with thousands of parts on a car interacting and customizable (FM2) compared to a more environmentally driven, fun, race experience.

Although dirt sounds reasonably deep as well just a different focus.
Click to expand...

I agree and disagree at the same time :D .
Sure its sounds good extreme physics calculations r eating up system resources compared to more lightly physics system. In this scenario sim games shouldnt be as pretty as arcade racers right?. Gt4/3 were best looking racing games on ps2 despite having most realistic driving model, forzamotorsport was best looking racing xbox game with best physic system. Now RR should be the best looking X360 racing game since its pure arcade but it looks nowhere good as FM2 or Dirt.
 
czekon said:
I agree and disagree at the same time :D .
Sure its sounds good extreme physics calculations r eating up system resources compared to more lightly physics system. In this scenario sim games shouldnt be as pretty as arcade racers right?. Gt4/3 were best looking racing games on ps2 despite having most realistic driving model, forzamotorsport was best looking racing xbox game with best physic system. Now RR should be the best looking X360 racing game since its pure arcade but it looks nowhere good as FM2 or Dirt.
Click to expand...

wow.... now I'm dizzy ;)

one thing we should probably do is what until we can play them all on our machines. I think a screenshot/rough preview comparison is pretty pointless especially considering that FM2 is tweaking graphics (mostly lighting) last. :cool:
 
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