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All you need to know about DiRT Rally 2.0’s Historic Championship mode
DiRT Rally 2.0 is finally here and does not disappoint. We run through all you need to know about the new Historic Championship mode.
DiRT Rally 2.0 is difficult.
This isn't a game so much as a simulation of what would happen if, hypothetically, you hopped into a rally car and floored the gas. You'd get your pride handed to you on a platter.
The realism of this game has been Codemasters' chief selling point from the start. In an interview with Red Bull Games Chief Designer Ross Gowing discussed the company's collaboration with rally racers Jon Armstrong and Ryan Champion, to ensure that the vehicles handled on gravel, dirt and mud the way they were supposed to.
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If you haven't played any of the other DiRT titles, and are more accustomed to arcade-esque kart racers, this will be an overwhelming, intimidating experience. There are no tutorials, no in-race hints or tips that pop up. It's sink or swim. And for the first few hours we played DiRT Rally 2.0, we sunk like a stone. We made multiple last place finishes, spun out into onlookers, attempted to drift and ended up ricocheting off barriers like a three-ton pinball.
But defeat, however crushing, is instructive. And slowly but surely, you improve. Once you get a better handle on what you're doing, the entire experience opens up.
Here are some facts about one of DiRT Rally 2.0's new campaigns: Historic Championship mode. And after that are some beginner/novice tips, because to race in dirt, you're going to have to get down in it.
What is Historical Championship mode?
If you don't know where to get started, you can get a a good overview of what the game has to offer by playing Historical Championship mode. This will take you on a brief trip through time. You'll start in Classic Rally, racing cars from the '60s and '70s. After that comes "Back to the '80s," then "Modern Classics," and lastly, "Present Day.” To unlock each subsequent era, you have to score a Top 3 finish in the prior era.
Each era has different cups, which take place in different locations: Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Spain and the United States. And the tracks themselves are based off of real locations that have a thriving rally car culture.
Equip your anti-lock brakes
© Codemasters
Fiddle with your settings
The first thing you should do, right before you hit the track in Historical Championship mode, is adjust your settings. So go to the options menu, and go to difficulty. Drag the AI difficulty slider to wherever you want, from very easy to very hard. Then, go to the assists menu. Here, you can turn on a whole bunch of options that will make your life easier, like transmission, anti-lock brakes, traction control and stability control.
These options, aside from your windscreen wipers and exterior cameras, are all turned "off" by default. Play around with them until you find a combination that works for you. Or if you don't know what you're doing at all, then turn them all on. You can always adjust as you gain mastery over the game.
Strive for accuracy rather than speed
Again, there is no tutorial. So, for the most part, you'll have to create your own and teach yourself.
Just use the Historical Championship races as your tutorial; you can always restart. Resign yourself to the fact that you're going to lose, and then you can drive the track as slowly as you want to, at low speed, to get accustomed to its quirks. Then, speed up a little. And then a little more, until you can speed along the track without skidding out.
You could try racing at top speed, every time. But you're never going to learn anything that way; you're only going to reinforce your mistakes and bad habits. Get acquainted with the physics of the vehicles, and how those vehicles handle in dirt, before you try to put up a fast time.
Make sudden movements, and your car will end up like this
© Codemasters
Keep your steering subtle to claim the H1 Cup
The controls for this game are extremely sensitive. There should never be a reason to move the joystick all the way to the left or all the way to the right; it's the equivalent of turning the steering wheel all the way in real life. And correspondingly, you should stay away from pressing the acceleration all the way down. Be anticipatory and reactive.
If you spin out, it's easy to overreact and slam on the joystick. But most times, this will just make the situation worse. Ease off the gas, and make the slightest movements to get your car back into position.
It's also important to remember what order you go in, because that will affect the controls in subtle ways. When you start early there will be loose material on the track surface, making it a bit more slippery. When you start late, and you'll be racing on an a degraded track with indentations and grooves from the prior racers. Assuming you begin Historic Championship mode by doing the H1 Cup, you'll be starting at the seventh position.
You can always check your order on the interface right before you "Start" the race. Make sure to do so and adjust your gameplay accordingly.
Pay attention to the online metagame
The Dirt community is a niche community, comprised of real gearheads and virtual gearheads who take this stuff seriously. They're generally helpful, and during the prior games' cycles, community members created tutorial videos to help out newcomers.
The same thing will likely happen for this game. Already, community members are comparing cars and running tests to determine which are best.
In Historic Championship mode, you're given the option to drive in a H1, H2, or H3 championship. You should start with the H1 Trophy championship; the classic controls will accustom you to the game's mechanics. And already, there's a video on YouTube that compares the three selectable H1 cars with one another. The conclusion: the fastest one is the Lancia Fulvia, though this individual personally prefers the Mini-Cooper.
Follow the directions
© Codemasters
Your co-driver’s pace notes can lead you to H1 victory
There's going to be a tendency, especially early on, to tune out the co-driver who's telling you where to turn right and where to turn left. Most times, you can see those upcoming turns with your own eyes.
But you need to develop good habits. A handful of the tightest turns are blind even at low speeds, especially if you're racing through the the woods and not on an open plain.
The H1 cars you start with in Historical Championship mode are relatively slow compared to your future options. By the time you reach the '80s and '90s, the road will start whizzing by. And if you haven't learned the pace notes by then, you'll be in deep, deep trouble.
Turns are graded on a scale from 1 to 6, which refers to their severity; a 1 is a hairpin turn, and a 6 is a gentler bank. In between those turns, you'll hear larger numbers that refer to the yardage between the specific directions. If the person says "into" or "and," that refers to a distance of less than 40 yards. Thus, if you hear the co-driver say something like:
"6 left into 6 right, 60 to crest, into 2 right,"
That means:
"Veer left, travel less than 40 yards, and then veer right. Then travel 60 yards, where you'll reach a crest (a slight incline where you can't see the road ahead, so slow down). Then travel another distance less than 40 yards, and make a sharp right turn."
Your co-driver gives more information than obvious turns. He tells you when there's a dip in the track, or when there's going to be a jump if you don't slow down, or when the road is going to narrow. And those sorts of subtleties cannot be seen with the naked eye at any speed. He'll give you negative instructions, and tell you when not to cut the wheel. So pay attention, and ignore him at your peril.
