Games
DiRT 2.0 is as fiendishly difficult as we hoped, with the Career Mode throwing up its own unique challenges. Here's how you can customise your car and crew for success.
DiRT Rally 2.0 has a Career Mode that spans the globe, from New Zealand to Argentina. Codemasters developed this game with the input and participation of rally drivers Ryan Champion and Jon Armstrong to ensure its authenticity.
This is a difficult game, but even a novice can earn money, upgrade their vehicles, and, with practice, drive a proper race. The payoff, after such a steep learning curve, is worth it. Here are a few Career Mode hints for DiRT Rally 2.0 to help you get started.
1. Earn money by finishing a series
The first thing you'll want to do in DiRT Rally 2.0 is earn some money, and by finishing a rally series in Career Mode, you'll earn money to spend on new cars, upgrades, and staff training. You'll also earn quick money by doing the Daily Challenges – single races that are generous with beginners.
Don't overextend yourself once you have money, by buying upgrades or staff that you can't afford. Always make sure you have enough cash on hand to do several rounds of repairs. The worst outcome is to find yourself in an absurd catch-22, where you need the car that you wrecked to earn the money to repair it. If that happens early in your career, you can always go to the options menu and reset your profile.
2. Stick with your free cars
Be frugal. When you first open Rally Career Mode, you'll have access to a free car: the 1972 Lancia Fulvia HF. It's not the best car available, but it has one distinct advantage over the other cars in that its repairs are 100 percent free. For every other purchasable car, you'll be paying top dollar every time you skid into a barrier, or fly into a ditch.
This is a difficult game and you're going to be crashing a lot, especially near the beginning. So, until you have a firm handle on what you're doing (and you can finish a race without crashing), stick with the Lancia. Take that money you would have been spending re-aligning your wheels, and spend it on upgrades instead.
3. Your staff is top priority
Direct most of your money to training your staff. Unlike the other upgrades, which are purchasable for each individual car in your garage, the staff upgrades carry over, regardless of which car you use.
Your co-driver can upgrade his Logistics Knowledge, which reduces the penalty you receive by falling off the track. Your Chief Engineer can upgrade his Research Knowledge, which will result in quicker engine upgrades. And upgrading your Engineers' Chassis Repair Ability can help you get a full fix before the next race.
4. Know when you need soft or hard tyres
You have the option of soft, medium, or hard tyres. Which one you choose depends on whether you're driving a long race, or a short one. Soft tyres have better traction and performance, but degrade a lot quicker, whereas hard tyres have lesser performance at the start of a race, but possess better durability.
If you have a long track coming up, go with the harder tyres. It'll take a minute for them to heat up, but once they do, they'll grip the road just fine and, crucially, last to the end.
5. Adjust suspension and damping for each track
Always pay attention to your environment. If you're travelling across rough, bumpy terrain, you can minimise the impact (and your nausea) by unlocking the tuning option, and then adjusting your suspension and dampers to be softer.
Generally speaking however, it's better to err on the side of going firmer. Think of 'firm' as the default for a smooth, paved road, and then a more radical terrain might require a slight downward adjustment. The key word here is 'slight'. The default settings are defaults for a reason, and the point of fiddling with the sliders is to give yourself an edge, not alter the fundamental way that you race.
If you're consistently finishing in in the lower half of the races, you just need to practice more. DiRT Rally 2.0 is a hardcore game. There's no magic, 'perfect' setup that can beat good driving fundamentals.
