YOM: 2009
Genre: Arcade / Racing (Cars) / 3D
developer: Codemasters Studios
Platform: PC
Publisher: Codemasters
Release date: December 1, 2009
System requirements for maximum rendering quality recommended by the gameGPU website:
The minimum
Operating system: Windows XP SP3, Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 256 MBRAM Radeon HD 4650 or GeForce 9600 GSO
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 9.4 GB free space
Effective
Operating system: Windows XP SP3, Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 512 MBRAM Radeon HD 3850 or GS GeForce 8800
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 9.4 GB free space
Optimal
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Quad 2.83 GHz
RAM: 3 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 1024 MBRAM Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce GTX 260
DirectX: DirectX®11
Winchester: 9.4 GB free space
Official description of the game
The second part of the famous hit Colin McRae: DiRT from the creators of Race Driver: GRID is ready to break into the ranks of the best races on the planet! The best traditions of car simulators are enhanced by the splendor of modern technologies. An incredible and exciting tour of America, Europe and Asia awaits you.
The tracks presented to the choice will strike even the most advanced fans of the genre on the spot. From classic circuit races to unique races with trampolines, ramps and even pyrotechnics.
An advanced single-player mode will allow you to get behind the wheel of sophisticated sports cars and challenge the best racers on the planet. Try to rise to the top of your career and travel around the world! Cash in on new cars in seven different classes, including classic race cars and even the famous Subaru Impreza WRX, which Colin McRae himself drove to win the championship.
Try your hand at the main races and special competitions, break records and become the leader in the overall standings. Your mentors and advisers, as well as your competitors in the fight for gold, will be real rally stars – Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust and Dave Mirra. In addition, at any time you can enter into a fight with live opponents in the vast multiplayer game!
Review: Playability
This year, the developers of racing simulators decided to pamper us gamers a little by presenting technologically advanced game projects. Examples of this are Crash Time 3 and Need For Speed: SHIFT, and now Dirt 2 will join them.
We are greeted by an updated menu, but now these are not moving windows, as in the first part. In DiRT 2, it is implemented in the form of a walk around the trailer (here is a map showing available locations, tasks, statistics and achievements of the player, choice of a partner, etc.) and outside it (here a garage and a car customization system await us). The interface definitely looks fresher, but it’s a little unusual to use.
You will have to compete in different parts of the world – all these corners of the world are presented simply magnificently. It’s very exciting to discover new locations and get acquainted with local attractions.
In the demo version, we had no complaints about the controls, but in the full version, some cars behave like cows on ice; driving such a sled is not very pleasant.
Review: Game Graphics
The game graphics were simply excellent – the car models are gorgeous, the environment is very interactive, the damage system is not bad. Dirt 2, after all, has support for DirectX 11.
{flv}Dirt 2{/flv}
When we looked at the demo version, we were perplexed by the game’s lack of support for DirectX 10. We thought that the developers simply forgot to introduce it or didn’t want to. As it turned out, they simply didn’t want to…
In general, the difference between using DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 is not very significant; it lies in a little more detail in the graphics component. So those players who do not have ATI HD5XXX series video cards don’t have to worry too much – the picture on video cards of the previous series will be almost the same.
Review: Resource-intensive game
The requirements for a quad-core processor recommended by the developers are unnecessary; the game requires a Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM. Although a few extra cores will only benefit the smoothness of the gameplay.
We decided to compare testing of video cards from the demo version and from the full version. As it turned out, the developers introduced various benchmarks into the game and into the demon. All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality. Since Radeon video cards do not support X16 anti-aliasing, for general tests we adopted X8 anti-aliasing and X16 quality anisotropic filtering.
We tested video cards from the lower price segment at a resolution of 1024×768, video cards from the middle price range were tested at a resolution of 1280×1024, and video cards from the upper price range were tested at a resolution of 1680×1050. The game itself detects the inserted video accelerator and automatically loads in DirectX 11 mode. We tested DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 generation video cards separately using the built-in gaming benchmark.
Comparative testing of video cards carried out in the demo version:
Testing at maximum Low End quality settings DirectX 9 at a resolution of 1024×768
The lower range is practically unplayable at maximum settings.
Testing at maximum quality settings Midle End DirectX 9 at 1280×1024 resolution
In the middle range, almost all cards coped with the game graphics in Dirt 2.
Testing at maximum High End quality settings DirectX 9 at a resolution of 1680×1050
Privileged cards performed excellently in DirectX 9 mode.
Testing at maximum High End quality settings DirectX 11 at a resolution of 1680×1050
Here we see that in DirectX 11 mode video cards feel good and are quite playable.
Comparative testing of video cards carried out from the full version of the game has a completely different gaming track:
Testing at maximum Low End quality settings DirectX 9 at a resolution of 1024×768
The lower range feels a little better here and two cards immediately leave the outsider camp.
Testing at maximum quality settings Midle End DirectX 9 at 1280×1024 resolution
In the mid-range, everything remained practically at the same level.
Testing at maximum High End quality settings DirectX 9 at a resolution of 1680×1050
Here we see that Radeon video cards have somewhat strengthened their position relative to Nvidia.
Testing at maximum High End quality settings DirectX 11 at a resolution of 1680×1050
Here we see only a small increase in fps relative to the demo benchmark.
It can be seen that in the updated benchmark of the full version of video cards Radeon were able to somewhat strengthen their position. Now the price of each video card from both Nvidia and ATI corresponds to its performance in the game. We remind you once again that we advise all owners of Radeon video cards to update the drivers to the latest version, otherwise the game menu will experience terrible lags.
Conclusion: Dirt 2 was very impressive, both in terms of gameplay and graphics. We think the developers will not relax and will present us with a lot of game projects.
