The only difference being that Pro Tour are essentially DiRT 4 ’s equivalent of ranked mode. The Pro Tour and Community Events are roughly the same thing. Competitive has two modes within it, Pro Tour and Community Events. There’s Competitive and Multiplayer to whet your whistle. If you’re itching to test your skills amongst humans, you’re in luck. Historic Rally adds a means by which to play older models of cars with increased complexity on handling. These can be dirt truck rallies, dune buggy, or straight up circuit style racing. As you move forward and open Land Rush and Rally Cross, players will see actual races taking place. Obviously, your win criteria is reliant on the difficulty settings, so tweak those accordingly to ensure you get the best experience. All in all, opening up these aspects of the game can probably be done in a sitting or two depending on how difficult you prefer your gameplay. Never fear however, because DiRT 4 doesn’t require you to grind to get these achievements. It also allows you to open up those three other partitions of the game as you achieve licenses. Winning races earns you credits, which is a way to buy cars and hire team members. This really isn’t that big of a deal though, given that this is the bread and butter of the game it makes sense to start players off with the core elements. Playing Rally will unlock these modes however, meaning that the player is forced to start here. Those options are Rally, Land Rush, Rally Cross, and Historic Rally, the latter three being those that are locked. When beginning, players will see four options, three of which are locked. It’s here where DiRT 4 players are going to get their real start in things. Career is where you’ll find a large bulk of the game. If this sounds like a lot, believe me, it is. From here you have the options of choosing Career, Competitive, Multiplayer, Freeplay, DiRT Academy, and Joyride. The core game starts and ends in the Events tab. Each item on the menu opens up a long list of possibilities so that the player is promised to never be bored. So I feel like this is someone’s fault here.ĭiRT 4 has different modes suited to all types of racing fans. Newcomers and fans alike should be very pleased with this latest iteration in the series. Overall, the mechanics of DiRT 4 are smooth and easy to learn. I never felt as though I were fighting the car or the physics in order to regain control of the vehicle I was piloting at any given time. In both versions the handling of all of the vehicles was very smooth. I tested and enjoyed both versions, but kept most of my gaming within the “Gamer” spectrum for completion’s sake. For the rallying aficionados however, there exists “Simulation” which is a more challenging version of the game which incorporates the realism that many racing game fans crave. The core mechanics are necessary to win a race, but nothing fancy is required outside of that. The reason is this: for “Gamer” the handling is simplified. Maybe I’m attributing too much to this, but seeing these options made me very happy. When you start the tutorial mode you can choose between two types of handling: gamer and simulation. What’s nice about DiRT 4 is that the game is genuine, never taking itself too seriously or forgetting that it’s a game. The lessons don’t take long generally, but you can practice as long as you like until you feel you’ve got a hang on everything. It’s more or less the same as what you would want to do in real life, but it’s good to know that this is an actual game mechanic before you get confused.įrom there you can continue on with advanced training or move straight into the action. Lastly, in terms of basic training there’s a short video that shows you what to do in case you puncture a tire while driving. Once these are covered it’s best to master weight transfer, which is a way of braking and accelerating in such a manner that weight is shifted between the front and back of a car so as to ensure a quick recovery. In this case, two types of brakes are covered: straight line braking (braking on a straightaway) and the handbrake (a secondary brake that’s just as essential to gameplay). It should go without say that your basic mechanics for driving are braking and turning. They don’t feel like they’ll be essential, but believe me, you won’t be winning races without this know-how. This will become your bread and butter throughout gameplay. In the beginning you’ll go through the basic handling of your vehicle. There’s a few mandatory tutorial sessions to go through before you’re allowed to run free, but it’s highly beneficial that you give them at least one go to make sure you get your bearings. DiRT 4 starts the way most any game does, and that’s by showing you the ropes.