Dirt | 
| From: Codemasters
Buy New: $25.89
New (4) from $25.89
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 7441
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Genre: Car and Truck Racing and Flying Games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.1
MPN: 11671433
Model: 116714
UPC: 767649401543
EAN: 0767649401543
ASIN: B000OPPR72
Release Date: June 19, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Wide variety of off-road and rallying disciplines including Rally, Hill Climb, Rally RAID, Rally Cross & the CORR desert series | | • | Photorealistic tracks painstakingly recreated from real-world location photography and satellite data | | • | Incredibly detailed models of 46 licensed vehicles bring the action to life | | • | Online play that allows 100 players to compete against one another | | • | Stay in control or watch as your car dramatically crashes into a barrier and barrel-rolls, crushing every panel and spewing debris across the track |
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Product Description
Colin McRae: DiRT combines death-defying offroad action with precision control and tricked-out intensity. It's diverse and exhilarating off-road action, with official cars on tracks based on real roads and locations around the globe. Race in sensational gravel, mud and dirt events the world over. Intense point-to-point races take players further off-road than ever before.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 You'd better own next year's computer July 9, 2007
W. Jones (Mantua, New Jersey)
22 out of 28 found this review helpful
Having played most of the Colin McCrea versions on the PC, I had high hopes for Dirt and even pre-ordered it...a rarity for me. I should have waited. My 6 month old Dell (a Core 2 Duo) meets the recommended system requirements and far exceeds the minimum, yet the game runs like utter [...]. This system runs virtually anything else out there at a high res (even the dreaded Flight Sim X). Yet on Dirt, anything above 640 x 480 is choppy, with anything near the top res acting like a slide show. Controls are nearly as bad; cars zig-zag uncontrollably at the slightest movement, even with the "supported" Logitech MOMO wheel and pedals. The Logitech Rumble Pad isn't even supported out of the box and requires manual setup. They assume you have an Xbox 360 gamepad, indicating this is a sloppy port of the 360 version. I'm not alone in these problems; check out the Codemasters forums before you buy and try the demo. 90% of the posts gripe about performance, some point to sound card issues and claim disabling the sound card helps. Yeah, that's what I want to do. Everything else aside, it has the makings of graphic marvel. I have the slide show to prove it.
Good game...but... December 6, 2007
scarbrt (USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Good game, great graphics. It does run a little choppy on my Core 2 6800/NVIDIA 7950 GT system, but with a 8600 GTS card runs very nice at 1280x720.
The problem I have with the game is it installs StarForce verification drivers on your PC. These drivers are incompatible with a PC with Blu-Ray playback (PowerDVD). The drivers basically disable Blu-Ray playback on your system. I wrote CodeMasters about it. And guess what? They didn't seem to care (surprise, surprise).
I like the graphics and game. But I can't forgive a company that installs software on your system which disables other software from working properly.
 Playing in the DIRT is Fun! June 21, 2007
C. Kasper (Cleburne, TX USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I only play PC games, not consoles. Still, I haven't owned a racing game since Nascar III. This is the first racer to interest me since then. Dirt is absolutely beautiful! The physics are a bit weak, but it's a joy to play. I'd much rather play this kind of racer than the "simulator" types where you get burdened with car setup details out your tailpipe. The demo was great and can wet your wistle. The full version is also cheaper than the console versions if you decide to pick it up. Plus, it includes more vehicle types and tracks. The coolest looking vehicles are the racing rigs, IMO. 4-thumbs up from me.
 Eye candy with Arcade Physics March 3, 2008
Charlie (Southeast Michigan USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
DiRT is great to look at, fun to play, but ultimately it falls short of being a racing simulator. The hardware requirements are very serious if you desire all of the bells and whistles. My P4 3.0 GHz / ATI x1950 GT rig was literally crawling at 1024x768 Ultra (under 1 fps). Race 07 WTCC was made in 2007 and I can run that with full details at 1024x768 and still maintain 40-55 fps thanks to the automatic frame rate maintainer. My reference to Race 07 WTCC is a hint that I will be making further comparisons between DiRT and Race 07 / GTR2.
The menu interface in DiRT is cumbersome and annoying. It screams "console port" because it appears to be designed for players with short attention spans. A simple menu system would have sufficed, but nonetheless the system in DiRT works flawlessly albeit clustered.
The sound effects are rather lackluster. The Impreza did not feel like it was modeled after a Subaru WRX STI with the Boxer H4. The engine revs sounded weak and numb. I had to look at the tachometer or shift lights each time because the engine sound was too vague. Tire squeels, gravel roads, mud roads, etc... did not sound like the real thing. Launching the STI is usually the coolest part in real life but in DiRT, I'm greeted with a vague squeel and the engine just sort of hums at the redline.
The lack of "free play" is a major drawback. As soon as you leave a designated zone of a course, it rests and plops your car back into the course. With Race 07 and GTR2, you CAN stray off the course (well off the course) to do some limited exploring. Again, the automatic reset makes DiRT feel like a cheap console port.
The steering and brakes seem to be designed for a console controller. The steering is so linear that it felt like I was driving a slot car. There wasn't any body roll. The brakes are also too sensitive. Granted, the WRC cars have outstanding brakes, but this amount of sensitivity just screams poor modeling. In Race 07 WTCC, the Formula 3000 / GP2 cars have very grabby brakes and that is expected due to the intense grip from the tires and the light chassis. The WRC cars are supposed to be streetable cars that drive on loose mud. There's no way an Evo IX or STI could "stop on a dime" like it does in DiRT.
I mainly wanted to find a racing simulator that accurately models AWD cars. GTR2 does a fantastic job with RWD GT-spec cars, while Race 07 WTCC includes an updated suite of graphics, cars, tracks, and physics and includes Front-wheel drive cars. In both GTR2 and Race 07, I can get a good sensation of speed in certain cars and the engines SCREAM when you get near redline. There's a real clutch in those games, and the cars handle more realistically.
Overall, I feel that DiRT is a fun "arcade" racing game that falls flat in realism and that is probably expected from some players. I give this game 3/5 stars overall, but it deserves a 4/5 for fun factor because lets face it, it's an enjoyable game! Not many gamers are used to GTR2 and Race 07. If you read my reviews of GTR2 and Race 07, you will find me criticizing the realism because it still lacks that certain "feel" to make it cross over into a true simulation.
Good Graphics, bad everything else. July 24, 2007
Jeff Nichols (New York)
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
Play the demo before you do anything you'll regret-- such as buying this garbage game.
Great to look at, but if cars really drove anything like in DiRt... anywhere within 50 feet of a road would be unsafe.
Also, this game doesn't make use of the mouse, which is disrespectful to PC gamers and flat out annoying; you don't have the option to enable it.
(If anyone's interested in the performance, I get an awesome frame rate with everything maxed, a 1280 x 1024 resolution, while running on an 8800ts. The beautiful graphics make me long for a good racing game, which this is anything but. )
Edit: Playing with a keyboard is next impossible, and I find the game barely even has the keyboard in mind; it's vastly improved, but still not that great, when played with a 360 controller.
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