Dirt Rally question....

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

Soldato
Joined
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I've recently gone back to Dirt Rally and while I'm passable on the rally portion of the game I just can't seem to deal with the Rallycross part - I can pretty much keep pace with the AI, except for the start where the other 3 cars just take off like rockets while I'm sat there seeming having a cup of tea!?!? :confused:

From what I've read it's predominantly down to the fact that I use automatic gears but being a fairly casual gamer I'm not proficient enough to get my head around manual gearing! (I end up being completely flummoxed and trying to exit a hairpin corner in 6th gear! :D)

What I'm essentially asking is, is there any way to be competitive in rallycross using the automatic gears or should I just write it off as a bad job unless I can get my head around going manual??
 
rally cross you have to be very clean especially as you progress to masters and the like. you can be fast with auto gears it will be your entry points. gearing. car set ups. lines.
 
~>Dg<~ said:
rally cross you have to be very clean especially as you progress to masters and the like. you can be fast with auto gears it will be your entry points. gearing. car set ups. lines.
Click to expand...

As I said it's not that I'm not fast enough in the race, it's the fact that I'm a good 4-5 car lengths behind by the time I hit the first corner!

Whats the best way to start quickly with auto gears?
 
~>Dg<~ said:
change gearing doesnt matter if you behind at start its supposed to be a challenge.
Click to expand...

I'm not looking for it to be easy - I'm just wanting to be on a level playing field from the off!

A 2-lap race doesn't exactly give you much time to make up that kind of disadvantage!
 
change gearing. as already said. shorter gears quicker acceleration. you have to set the car up. auto gears are fine.
 
I do sympathise with your position, I love racing games, but I really loathe the setup and technical aspects of it all that make you properly competitive online. The thing I like about PC2 is that the setup can be relatively painless. You can go into the detailed setups yourself or you can just use the engineer to make changes based on a simplistic Q&A process.

I use auto gears but feel like I should at least try manual shifting. I've driven real cars for years, but for some reason changing gears on a virtual car just feels totally alien to me! I think its because you don't necessarily "feel the weight of the car under acceleration" or interpret the engine rev sounds like you would in a real car. For some reason it leaves me in an uncoordinated mess! Hence I drive auto gears for the most part. Its probably just practise, but manual shifting feels really alien! I do have the option for sequential transmission or manual clutch, but might try sequential transmission first using the paddles.
 
My experience of most rally games with the possible exception of the old Magnetic Fields RC title, is that you would need to be pixel perfect on just about every turn or manoeuvre to even stand a chance of placing in the top 3. It's been a while since I played Dirt, but I have exactly the same problem on WRC7 - the AI cars just make no errors whatsoever and in the end, even if you try to "git gud", becomes a bit frustrating, particularly if progress or unlocking more courses depends on it.
 
I think what the OP is asking - and I sympathise - is what combination of inputs the game would interpret as a perfect start when using automatic gears.

In many racing games, this is not at all clear. Should you begin accelerating before the lights go green? Or only when they change? It's not obvious when you're not controlling the clutch which you should be expected to do.

Should you just put your foot to the floor? Or give it maybe 75% throttle? Or less? Or more? Should you start with a percentage, but then put your foot to the floor once the lights turn green? Or do you continue feathering the throttle until you have full grip (not that I've found any game which makes it clear through the FFB when that occurs)?

As he says, without knowing the answer to these, you can find yourself starting much more sluggishly than the AI, regardless of gearing settings. I don't see this as a setup question at all.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys - I'll take a look at the various gearing setups (a lot of which I'm sure will be well over my head only being a casual gamer!)
 
its actually pretty simple. the gearing you just have bars you move. you just want a gradual curve from first to last gear. you will see the default set up so make the gears less than they are by default . you can even just set the gears to the shortest possible try that. it will take about 5 minutes to learn. the only way you learn is by trying it.

rally cross isnt about top end speed its about acceleration. thats why you want short close gearing. i havent got dirt rally installed at moment as messing with dirt rally 2.0 ready for release. steam has loads of guides help. dont feel over whelmed its pretty simple. you just have to try things out see if you faster. racing lines are very important. so is the joker lap.

as you get better the ai isnt that hard.
 
I struggled with the Rally Cross part of it 2 but put down more to being used to rear wheel drive cars in the rallying mode and then not having mastered the front wheel drive in rally cross. I never really bothered again with it though after a few attempts...
 
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