Dirt 3 Analysis

I played some Dirt 3 to get some more experience with racing games. Dirt 3 is a rally car racing game. I didn't really like it, I think because I wasn't very good at it. Going into the game I was thinking I would be drifting around corners like mad but if you want to win it's all about braking way before each turn, at least at my skill level. The game did have some cool things going for it though. There are a huge amount of cars, tracks, and race types to choose from. There is also tons of different surfaces you can race on (snow, asphalt, dirt, rain, mud, etc.), each affecting the car differently. I started to get the hang of controlling the car, but at the beginning it was extremely easy to lose control of your car.

Another thing I did like about the game was the particles other cars would kick up.

This is at the very start of a race but the cars are pretty clumped up and kicking up a lot of snowy particles, making it harder to see. I really like this mechanic because it isn't something that is triggered by someone, or something unexpected. You know the car in front of you is going to create this plume of snow, but it is still dynamic and an added challenge.

Another thing I liked, which you get a lot of in the Rally Cross game discipline, is the change in surfaces.

This is something that I have wanted to incorporate into my game from the beginning. It is just a wet spot in the middle of the track that changes the way your car acts. In this instance the wet spot is coming out of a medium turn leading into a hairpin turn, where positioning is crucial. I think little obstacles placed around a track strategically like this can add a lot to a track. In these Rally Cross races you also go from dirt to asphalt which is really cool. These transitions seemed to be on medium turns which makes it really fun. You are turning a certain way on asphalt and while you're turning the surface transitions to dirt, forcing you to change the way you are turning. It takes a normal turn and makes it EXTREME!

I mainly focused on track design in the short time I played this game. And it seemed most of the tracks I played followed a similar structure. Straight start to gain speed > Medium turn > Hard turn > A series of easy/ Medium turns for a majority of the track > hard turn > start/finish line. So they throw some hard stuff at you right away, ease it up for a good part of the track, then give you some more hard stuff at the end. Seems like a pretty good flow throughout, if I can keep control of my stupid car...