Once the menu screen pops up though, it’s a whole different story. It’s almost reminiscent of the PS3’s Cross Media Bar. Dirt on the front in bold and arrows slowly going to the corner of the screen. Travis Bastrama introduces himself as the guide/instructor of the demo, and we’re on our way.
Three cars are available in the demo, the Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, and the Ickler. Each one comes in 3 different paint jobs, and each one has a different map attached to it. On top of that, each map has a set difficulty, although in the demo we only had two to choose from, beginner and medium.
Travis comes up again whenever summoned, so if there are any questions about a car, he’ll give a quick summary with the push of a button. He’ll also guide the way through navigating the menu screens, which may not be very useful for a pro racer, is great for beginners.
 |
 |
|
The same applies to each track. Travis will point out specific things to know about the maps, and although it seems a bit of a stretch to have such, it was actually pretty helpful. A good description of what was to come wasn’t required, but it was pretty nifty.
Each of the tracks features a different type of race. While driving the Impreza, the other driver starts out in the middle of the track, and it is a timed race. The Evo race is on the high cliff’s, and is also timed but with no other drivers on the road. The Ickler stays on a dirt track and is a ten man race.
Something to really take note of is the differences in driving on cement and dirt. Dirt lets the tires spin much more often, so although the car drifts more often, it is harder to perform correctly. Even though the cars are different on the maps, the driving style must change for the different surfaces. In Dirt, this actually happens.
Very little can be said about the downsides to Dirt. Even for a demo, it looks polished and perfect. Though not originally a highly anticipated racing game like Forza Motorsport 2, Dirt will safely make its name in the racing world. Set for release on June 15th in Europe and the 19th in the states, Dirt’s namesake for being a beautifully rendered game with plenty of realistic dirt should pull through.
