Dakar Rally 2012
Sponsored Post: Dakar 2012 – The Ultimate Race?
When it comes to challenges, there’s nothing bigger than the world’s biggest rally raid, the Dakar Rally. Running since 1978, the race originally followed a route from Paris to Dakar, but following terrorist attacks in 2008, it has since switched to South America, and this year runs from Mar Del Plata in Argentina to Lima in Peru.
Strangely there haven’t been many videogame versions of the rally, with Paris-Dakar by Activision in 2001 for Xbox, PS2 and PC, and Dakar 2 following up in 2003 for Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox. The main reason is probably the immense scale of the race and the challenge of including all the competing classes, which span motorcycles, quads, cars and trucks.
But if you’re a racing fan, you need to see what the Dark involves and there’s amazing coverage with videos and photos on the Red Bull Dakar 2012 site , in addition to sponsoring a number of competitors.
Their team in 2012 includes Toyota Hilux driver Giniel de Villiers, who became the first ever South African winner of the Dakar in 2009. He’s looking set for a podium position at the moment after a tough battle with the Hummer of American Robby Gordon, which means he can relax a little and admire the scenery!
‘The second part of the stage was super tricky and technical. We had to climb up a big canyon and the four-wheel drive of our Toyota Hilux was a definite help. As we came to the end of the stage, we were found ourselves amongst a million big rocks. On the rare occasion the pressure to avoid all the obstacles was off, we had a look around and I was blown away by my first views of Peru – it was like we were racing on the moon!’
You can read see more about the challenge of competing on four wheels on his Dakar 2012 Diary
But possibly even more insane than driving a truck at high speed through these stages is the idea of tackling it on a bike. And the battle for victory is between two Red Bull riders, the legendary Marc Coma and Cyril Despres. Coma has won the Dakar rally three times, as has Despres, and the pair are still separated by just a matter of seconds going into the final stage.
Both riders are amazingly calm when they pass on their experiences:
The day started with me getting a bath in a stream as I pushed the bike along the track. After that it was another hard day but, apart from a small crash I had at low speed, I’m pleased with how the stage went.
There was a modification to today’s roadbook and that meant one of the tracks wasn’t very visible. I rode 100 metres too far at one point but then I saw that Marc was turning around and coming back. Marc started two minutes ahead of me today so it was good to catch up with him.
It may sound relatively normal, but check out the videos on the Red Bull Dakar site to see exactly what it’s really like!
Red Bull Paris Dakar Video
Safari Rally DLC now available for WRC 2
You can now download the WRC 2 “Safari Rally” DLC pack for 400 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360 Marketplace or 4.99 Euros on Playstation Network.
The downloadable content pack includes one exclusive special stage which is set in Tanzania and Kenya, and is longer than any current stage on the WRC calendar. And if you want to tackle it in a classic Safari car, the options include legends such as the 1991 Lancia Delta Integrale HF, the Ford Escort RS 1600, the Peugeot 504, the Subaru Impreza, the 1992 Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD, and the 1996 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3. Perfect for emulating a rally raid although you can also compete in any of the existing WRC2 selection of cars from classics to the modern era.
The DLC has been timed to appear just before the start of the real Safari Rally, considered by many to be the toughest since it was first held in 1953. This year it runs from November 19-28.
WRC 2 Safari Rally DLC Screens:
ORD hits the Wales Rally GB
Despite playing almost every rally game ever released over the years, I have to confess that I’ve never actually been to watch rallying live – my experience of rally cars was the circuit-based Rallycross alternative when the legendary Group B cars needed an outlet after being banned from the world stage.
However, that changed last weekend, thanks to Black Bean and Milestone, the people behind WRC 2. They kindly invited me along to Wales to watch Day 2 of the Wales Rally GB and obviously it was an invitation I couldn’t turn down. Sadly I’d hoped to meet up with the winner of our WRC 2 competition who had won tickets but unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute. Add in some technical and transportation issues during the weekend, and you’ll have to forgive the slightly ropey nature of the photographs I grabbed, but that didn’t change the experience of seeing the world’s best rally drivers hurtling through the woods and along the dirt tracks.
That was after the very strange site of rally cars travelling to stages on public roads, which would later spell disaster for world champion Sebastien Loeb when some Spanish spectators collided with him on single track road. I did mention to Black Bean that travelling between stages would be an interesting extra challenge for any future games!
We arrived at the Hafren stage without incident, and made it in time to see the national drivers competing in a range of modern and classic cars – the sight of vintage Escorts and other unusual cars was an unexpected bonus.
It was definitely a good stage to have picked as the weather stayed dry, so although clambering along the side of the track was a bit muddy, it wasn’t cold, and the enthusiasm of rally fans made for an upbeat mood. And despite the strange experience of seeing cars flash by and disapear for the rest of the day, from the higher vantage points you could see glimpses of them winding through the valley in the distance.
What amazed me most, having ridden on similar terrain in Wales on two wheels was that hardly any of the drivers at any level seemed to lift off for what seemed like quite big corners. Luckily if you wanted a bit more of a look at the cars, a handy hairpin provided the chance to admire a variety of techniques, including an unusual approach by Ken Block which involved having his boot fly open.
As if that wasn’t enough, we also eventually made it along to the service area at the end of the day, where we were able to witness teams working long into the night to fix and prepare cars for the next day.
This particularly lovely 1971 Alpine Renault A110, the former works car of Jean-Pierre Nicholas and Jean de Alexandris was also on display.
And obviously after witnessing the heroics of the drivers and co-drivers throughout the day, many fans were grabbing the chance to try their hand at driving on the WRC 2 setups available at the service area. Certainly the response was pretty favourable amongst the most hardcore of racing fans, and competition to record the fastest time was hotting up.
By the time we finally crashed into bed at the end of the day, it was safe to say that my conversion to rally fan was pretty much complete. It’s a very different experience to circuit-based racing, and it’s an interesting atmosphere as fans appear to be competing to find the best and most inaccessible vantage point from which to watch almost as much as the drivers are competing for the fastest time. Certainly if you’ve wondered what kind of nutters stand inches away from the cars trying to get the best photographs, you’ll be able to understand why when you’ve caught up in the event – luckily at Wales there were a lot of very friendly and helpful marshals and safety volunteers ensuring that we got as close as was relatively safe without causing any problems.
I did suggest that given the success of the GT Academy and iRacing champ Gregor Huttu when he tried a real car, maybe I should be a test subject to see if playing rally games helps you in actually driving a rally car. Not sure I convinced anyone enough yet, but I’m going to keep working on it – anyone fancy being my co-driver?
If not, I guess it’s back to WRC2 for the time being… In the meantime, thanks to Black Bean, Milestone, and their PR agency for a great trip.
Win a copy of WRC 2, merchandise and tickets to Wales Rally GB
WRC 2, the officially-licensed game of the World Rally Championship has just been released, and we’ve got one heck of a competition for you to celebrate the launch of the game.
The prize is so awesome we wish we could win it – one lucky winner gets 4 day passes to the Wales Rally GB for you and your family or friends, plus official WRC merchandise including a hoodie, t-shirt and cap, and a copy of WRC 2 in your choice of format – it’s available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC, so we should have you covered.
The Wales Rally GB takes place from November 10-13, first running in 1932, and previous winners include Sebastien Loeb, Petter Solberg, Richard Burns and Colin McRae. And it also features in the game, so you’ll be able to put what you watch into practice!
Win tickets to see the world's biggest and best rally stars in Wales Rally GB
How to enter the WRC 2 competition:
We know you’re all passionate about online racing games, and you’re also pretty passionate about cars and motorbikes in the real world, so here’s how to enter. All you need to do is identify (or guess) the type of car you can hear revving up in the following audio clip:
ORDEngineNoiseCompetition by badgergravling
Think you know what it is? Have another listen, and then email dan.thornton@hotmodmedia.com with your name, age, postal address and contact number, plus the type of car. Include ‘WRC 2 Competition’ in the subject line of your email to make sure we see your entry. If you get really stuck, we may drop some hints in the comments on this article, on Twitter ( @ORDNews ) or on our Facebook page, so keep your eyes peeled.
About WRC 2:
WRC 2 features all the teams, circuits and manufacturers of the 2011 season, with a total of 13 official tracks and 5 Super Special Stages. Game modes include 4 offline options, including the ‘Road to WRC’ career mode, and a WRC Driving School. And there are also a number of online modes which let you race in real time against your friends or rivals, with other players appearing as ghost cars to let you see how you’re doing. And there are other 30 different cars available, including classic legends from the rallying scene as well as all the current top teams and cars.
WRC 2 Competitions Terms and Conditions:
- The competition closes at midnight GMT on November 1st, 2011.
- You should be over 18, and resident in the UK to enter.
- Employees, Contributors and Families of Hot Mod Media and OnlineRaceDriver.com can’t enter.
- Winners will be notified via telephone/email within one week of the closing date.
- No alternative prizes or cash will be offered.
- Personal details will be kept to allow us to provide your prize, and may be shared with third parties necessary to provide prizes on our behalf.
- We reserve the right to amend these rules at any time. Entry in the competition implies acceptance of these rules.
Codemasters Dirt 3 review – 4/5
As fans of my work will know (hello mum), I was a big fan of the original Dirt, but less so of it’s sequel. So here’s the difficult third album – it has to keep the original ‘rally’ fans happy and still appeal to the slick, polished Americanised variety showcase that was Dirt 2. And I’m pleased to say it generally straddles the delicate balance between the two quite well.
Gone is the irritating daredevil Travis Pastrana playing the role of your in-game menu ‘buddy’ (needed presumably by those who can’t find their own way around an in-game menu with the options laid out in MASSIVE CAPITAL LETTERS), and in come three new irritating voices to replace him and guide me through the game. I also have no idea why there are three of them, and even less idea why one is English, one American and one Australian. They pop up to tell me a new team wants to sign me now and again, as well as to tell me my driving is brilliant, which is nice, although they use a lot of annoying words like ‘sweet!’, ‘cool!’ and ‘wow!’ when you make a selection. It grates. They introduced themselves to me at the start, and I presume they still have names but they haven’t stuck. One sounds a bit like John Torode, so I call him John Torode. The others are known to me as ‘cheesy’ (the American) and Linda, because I like the name. I encourage all players to name these three to make their inane and insincere banter less likely to induce suicide.
Sticking with the aesthetics, the soundtrack is a little strange too. It’s really great in parts – there are some soothing strings, some funky bass and some nice melodies during some of the menus and loading screens. But then some thumping rock will kick in that seems totally out of place. I loved the use of F.E.A.R in F1 2010 because it was a theme, it gave the game an identity. Dirt 3 tries to have the cool soundtrack of FIFA but the musical styles are a little too far apart for it to work. Still, there are some good tunes and the menus are nicely laid out.
You can even change your co-driver’s voice from ‘Scottish man’ to ‘American woman’ in the options menu, and specify they talk in Sega Rally language – ‘easy left!’ / ‘medium right!’ – should you not be able to cope with numbers, or struggle with the concept of counting from one to six.
Oh yes, the game itself. Easily forgotten. It’s divided up into the career mode (Dirt Tour), single races and multiplayer. I haven’t had a chance to play online much yet, but the ranking system seemed quite intuitive – giving you more points according to the number of higher-ranked players you beat. All the game modes are represented and it was quite good fun. I had a few games of rallycross and won, and then did a few rallies and lost. I am yet to try the splitscreen options as I currently have no friends.
The main tour mode is a mixture of the game’s main disciplines. There are some excellent rally stages, challenging rallycross tracks, some fun truck arenas and a few ‘Gymkhana‘ locations where one must perform a succession of stunts in order to gain points. Yes, Ken Block has been digitally recreated to guide you through the discipline. Whilst fun, this mode could prove frustrating to those wanting a pure ‘racing’ game. Gran Turismo 5 players can leave the ‘drift’ mode alone if they wish, but in Dirt 3 it’s all part of the main game – and if you’re the perfectionist who wants to beat every level, you may be in for some hardcore donut practice.
The cars themselves generally feel solid, and the environments are superb. Weather effects look nice, handling is sufficiently different on different surfaces, and there are some nice day/night effects that really show off the lighting model. It’s not quite as pretty as F1 2010, but there is a lot more variety in this game, not to mention cars.
The damage model is probably the best thing about the game, especially when combined with the punishing rally stages. It is entirely possibly to hit a bank, roll spectacularly and come to a rest on a grassy verge. It’s equally possible to total your car hitting a tree, and perhaps most excitingly, you can now fall off cliff edges and plunge to your doom. There are no rock-solid plastic barriers anymore, and the lifelike environments really add to the sense of danger on the rally stages as you hurtle through forests and villages far too quickly.
‘Flashbacks’ make a return too, so once your car is damaged you can ‘rewind’ time and carry on from just before you messed up. Proper race fans won’t use this feature obviously… except when nobody is looking.
The game has some nice replays, any if which you can upload to YouTube via the clever integrated software. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but I would assume the results look very much like a virtual car being driven round a track on YouTube, complete with comments underneath such as ‘LOOL’, ‘You’re a crap driver, I’m much better’ and the obligatory ‘you’re a racist’.
So all in all, Dirt 3 is a good game. I’d still rather have a pure rally-driving game, but hey, I’m not the mass market and the rally stages within it are still the best yet. There is a real sense of authenticity to many of the rally elements, especially with the HUD turned off and using the in-car view, and many of the other disciplines are a good laugh (specifically via the excellent multiplayer system). It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s slick, polished and great fun which scores it an excellent 4/5 and a hearty recommendation.
Buy Codemasters Dirt 3 now from:
Sega Rally Online Arcade out now on Xbox Live
Sega Rally Online Arcade is now available to download via Xbox Live for 800 Microsoft points. Inspired by earlier Sega Rally games, there are a number of single and multi-player modes in the download-only racer.
You can compete in Championship Battle mode and Time Attack, but also take part in an online racing mode for up to 6 drivers. There are also 13 cars to choose from, and as you’d expect, online achievements and leaderboards are also available. Obviously the classic cars from previous games are included, such as the Lancia Delta Integrale, alongside other popular WRC cars including the Subaru Impreza
So have you downloaded Sega Rally Online Arcade yet? How do you think it stacks up against the previous arcade and home versions of the series? And if you haven’t looked yet, check out the promo launch video.
Sega Rally Online Arcade Release Trailer
Dirt 3 Attract Superteams Gameplay Video
Grab a friend and get your console covered in Dirt
The Colin McRae name may have disappeared from the box, but Codemasters’ rally series is coming back with a bang. After the critical acclaim of Dirt 1 and the lukewarm reception for Dirt 2, the arrival of the third Dirt game on May 24th is a make-or-break moment for the series that debuted back in 1998. This is now the eighth in the ‘Colin McRae Rally’ series, barring the bonus version created for Mac users, and the signs look very promising indeed.
After being present in the first two games of the ‘Dirt’ series, McRae’s name is now gone but not forgotten. Following the legend’s untimely death in 2007, Codemasters have decided to drop his name from the game’s title in the UK (having done so already elsewhere), and to me it seems about the right time. It would have been wrong to drop the name from ‘Dirt 1’ that was released so soon after his fatal helicopter crash, and not enough time had passed when ‘Dirt 2’ was released two years later in September 2009. Ironically though, the dropping of the McRae name comes as the game is being re-focused on rallying – the part of the game that made the series what it is and the lack of it the thing most vehemently criticised in Dirt 2. Dirt 2 was a departure from the series’ roots, with more Motorstorm-style off-road buggy racing and more arcade-like handling; it didn’t feel like a proper McRae game. But Codemasters have listened to the fans and Dirt 3 is going to be at least 60% rally mode – more than double the amount of its predecessor. Core fans wanted a rally game, but got a mainly off-road driving experience selection box.
Not to say that all of Dirt 2 was bad, in fact the game scored highly in reviews, but fans of the series were unhappy with the change in direction. Codemasters’ award-winning EGO engine was developed for the game, and has gone on to be used superbly in other titles such as F1 2010. The game’s damage model, track design, surface modelling and weather effects were all top of the range. Two years down the line, one can only assume Dirt 3 will showcase the best yet.
Some of the best parts of Dirt 2 were the Multiplayer modes. Eight-player online racing returns for this game; alongside something I personally have been anticipating for a very long-time in the modern era of motorsport gaming – split-screen online play. You and a friend can now take on six other drivers from the same room, which for me is enough incentive to buy the game in itself. Split-screen enthusiasts have been poorly treated by developers in recent years in favour of the ‘people just want to play online’ brigade, but Codemasters are taking the plunge with this feature and I believe this should be applauded. Playing with a friend in the same room is a big part of gaming, and I warmly welcome its return.
There are also many multiplayer modes available including a ‘capture the flag’-style mode, one where aliens invade and another called ‘Cat and Mouse’ where two teams of four players in high-powered cars battle one another to protect their teammates trying to reach the finish line in a Mini Cooper. It’s a far cry from the original Colin McRae Rally and the game modes borrow heavily from titles such as ‘Motorstorm’ and ‘Grand Theft Auto 4’, but these game modes should provide a fun distraction from the pursuit of shaving tenths of your best time on your favourite special stage, especially if you are playing with friends.
Career mode is back, Ken Block’s gymkhana mode (which looked good even in early builds), night racing, snow, a hatful of legendary cars (including Group B), a full WRC license and the fact Codemasters have described it as their ‘biggest-ever driving game’ are all things that should mean virtual petrolheads will be lapping it up for a long time to come.
Buying Dirt 3
The game is released on May 24th on PS3, Xbox, and Windows.
Selected retailers will have the Superteam Pack as a pre-order bonus, which includes four exclusive teams ( Texaco Racing Team, Brembo Racing Team, Team Yokohama and Mobil 1 Performance Team), and unlocks 14 cars, including the Ford RS200 Rallycross, Fiat 131 Abarth, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Jun and the iconic Lancia Delta HF Integrale.
You can order it now at:
Gamestop (With Speedteams Pack) or (With Ken Block RC Car)
