DiRT 3 Review

DiRT 3 is the third installment in the DiRT franchise, which is known for its off road racing experience, and this installment is no different. DiRT 3 builds on all the great things about its predecessors and excels in almost every way.

The story of DiRT 3 isnt much different from any other racing game, you begin as an amateur that just got a lucky sponsorship. The story is based off of four seasons that have four tournaments in each season, and each season ends with a big name event, such as going to Gymkhana training school, an X games competition, or the ultimate goal, The Super Series. To navigate around these four seasons, the games menu is based off of triangles, there is a triangle for each season, and a triangle for each series event, which are other event you can race to gain Driver Rep. The game is greatly focused around its leveling system, which is called Driver Rep.

Each race you participate in, you gain Rep. depending on what place you come in, which challenges you complete, and how many flashbacks you didnt use. When you level up you gain access to new sponsorships, which is of great importance because there is no currency system in the game. As you gain sponsorships you gain access to that sponsers racing team all with there own cars, but you don’t get to customize the aesthetics of the cars whatsoever. Depending on which sponser your using, you will gain more bonus rep for that race. Since there is no currency system in DiRT 3 there is no way to customize your vehicles, which most people have taken as a large step backwards for this genre, but this is countered by the large number of sponsors avalible in the game, and most of which have at least decent paint jobs. Even though there is no aesthetic customization of the cars, you can still tune and tweak its attributes such as gear ratio and downforce. This game offers a decent amount of race types which are my personal faviorite, rally cross, rally, trail blazing, Gymkhana attacks, sprints, head to head, land rush, and speed runs. Rally is a stutter start race (a driver is released every few seconds) with the best time winning. Trail blazing is rally but with super fast, light weight super cars. Rally cross puts racers on a closed course to do a certain number of laps, and the first person to cross the finish line wins. Land rush is the same as rally, but in trucks or dune buggies. Speed runs put you in a tight, high speed course in which you have to pass through all the gates and you are rewarded with a Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating based on you time. Head to head is always the final of a tournament, which as it suggest puts them head to head to see who is the better racer. Last but not least, there are Gymkhana events. For people who enjoy doing tricks this is the event for you. There are 4 ways to score points, doing donuts in a specific area, drifing around a certain corner, catching big air, and breaking blocks, and of course the top scorer is crowned the victor.

The thing that makes or breaks a racing game, is the physics and the environments. Dirt 3 goes over the top on both of these aspects. The physics for this game are unbelievable, by the last races of the game you feel like you are pushing you car to its limits, putting all your skills on display trying to edge out the competition. The drifting feels real, and it is amplified by the environments which actually affect the physics. When racing on a snowy track youll be able to slide you back end out easier, but you have to watch how quickly you slow down because you will lose control easier than on a dry track. The same goes for dirt tracks, when its a sunny day, its a normal race, but in the rain you’ll slip and slide all over the place if your not careful. These are the most fun conditions to race on, its very rewarding to drift around a corner at full speed and see mud fling on to the cars behind you. For the majority of the time the game runs smoothly with load times that are consistent and a steady framerate, but on the odd occasion the framerate drops way below where it should be, and most the time it ends with you magically appearing 50 feet away from the track going to explore the wilderness. Overall Dirt 3 is a fantastic third entry into the franchise and any Rally fan should definitely give Dirt 3 a spin. You wont be disappointed.

The Good

• The game has a great fun factor, which will keep you in front of your TV.
• Offers a uniqe off road racing experience aesthetically pleasing, and simple menus

The Bad

• Lack of customization options framerate issues

Final Score

9.5/10