Why do I want DiRT Rally? Well, to answer that, I need to give a bit of backstory!
> Since I've been young, motorsport in general has been one of the big things in life that I really love. Given that I've never been in a race car, or rally car, or even a go kart, simulation racing on PC is something that I've soaked a lot of time into. I first started as a keyboard and mouse racer, then "upgraded" to an Xbox 360 controller (which was slightly better, but still not really simulation enough for me). Then...
> Last year I finally took the plunge and saved up enough to buy my first and current racing wheel, a Logitech Driving Force GT. Sure it's not crash hot, nor is it the best, but it does the job and to me that's all that counts. The difference between a controller and the wheel was absolutely phenomenal for me... not only was it a huge upgrade for me, but also a new learning curve to complete: using a racing wheel and not crashing all the time.
> So what'd I do at first? Fired up my go-to racing sim, rFactor. It's modded so much that I never run out of leagues to race in... and so it begun. Hours on hours of spinning out, getting mad that I couldn't keep on the track. A frustrating but rewarding beginning, because from then on, I practiced every day until I am where I am now.
> I went straight into the wonderful game known as Richard Burns Rally after I parted with rFactor. After reading numerous posts around the web explaining how hard it can be, I finally gave it a go. They're not lying, it's hard! You cannot just pick it up and finish a whole stage flooring it the whole way in one try. No sir. Days, weeks, and finally enough practice and I was away; a hundred plus hours away and playing with RSRBR!
Then there was DiRT, and the real reason why I'd absolutely love to give DiRT Rally a try. I've tried every main DiRT game. Here, I'll detail my experiences with them:
Colin McRae DiRT: Rally, rally, rally. I loved it. It's a graphics upgrade over RBR, even if it's a downgrade in terms of physics. Regardless, great arcade-y game and plenty of offroad modes that made sense for a rally game.
Colin McRae DiRT 2: Rally, still, but a bunch of other less exciting modes. I didn't particularly fancy the short rally stages, nor the Stadium, Gatecrasher, and Landrush modes. Still a decent arcade rally game, with a kick ass soundtrack.
DiRT 3: The one that sort of let me down. While it's great graphics wise and has some nice rally stages (but still short), the gymkhana stuff and everything else didn't keep me in the game for very long. In fact, I maybe only put about 5 hours into it before putting it down. I feel that they were modes that completed an unnecessary turn for Codemasters to take with the series. Some loved it, but I wasn't one of them, unfortunately.
After DiRT, it was back to RBR for me. Nothing yet has matched it in terms of physics and how hard it is to just have a clean run every time. About 3 months ago, I put it down and put my steering wheel away, waiting for another great rally title to bring me back.
Now with that long amount of backstory out of the way, the main reason I want DiRT Rally - A rally simulation that finally looks like it might just overtake Richard Burns Rally.
DiRT Rally, looks amazing. It's currently in Steam's "Early Access" program, which may or may not be a good thing for everyone, but personally I think it's a great approach for Codemasters to take. They're taking community feedback, and have created a sim that's truly worthy of being an RBR successor.
From what I've seen in small reviews from the last 24 hours (it hasn't even been out that long!), there's so much good in it: