Ok so why am I writing this? I can’t honestly tell you I guess I am just a little bored. Anyway recently I have completed Dirt 3. I have never been a rally game fan. Can’t say I have ever watched the sport on TV so why did I play that game. GiantBomb and Dirt 2. GiantBomb recently played Dirt 2 on their Thursday night multiplayer show. I watched that show and thought the game seemed interesting but there was no way I would pay full price for a game which covers a sport I have no interest in, in a genre I couldn’t really give a fuck about. Ok cutting a long story short I saw Dirt 2 in a local game store on 360 for a tenner. No chance I was passing up that bargain. I played Dirt 2 non stop for about a month, finished the game, played a little multiplayer and fucking loved it all. A week having completed the game I was lucky enough that Dirt 3 was released and I for the first time ever I bought a racing simulation game on release. I did this thinking that the games would be pretty similar and I would be able to extend my love for dirt 2. I was wrong. The games are so fucking different its unbelievable so in this blog post I aim to compare both games and hopefully pass on my opinion of which game is the better. 


Don’t believe me? Then screw you. Seriously, anyway yeah why are they different? They are different in many ways. The first thing that jumped out at me was the UI (that’s user interface for the thick, which no one reading this is so we are still friends. That is if anyone does read this which I doubt) Dirt 2 is extremely over the top, bright colours and over exaggerated menus whereas Dirt 3 is much calmer, simpler and very minimalist and sophisticated. I have to say I much prefer Dirt 3 in this sense; there is none of the long winded RV menus and stupid cartoonized extreme theme. The simpler more sophisticated theme also boils down to the music Dirt 2 had loud pop punk playing nearly all of the time, the music in 3 is so toned down that you barely even notice it.

The games even differ in how they play. Dirt 3’s handling seems much stiffer and allot more controlled than the previous instalment. It seems like rather than drifting round the corners which seemed like the most effective method of cornering in Dirt 2 you actually have to slow down into the turn, because of this Dirt 3 seems slower and allot more controlled opposed to the arcade feel of Dirt 2. Initially I preferred Dirt 2’s method but after playing a fair few hours of Dirt 3 I started to appreciate it and like it even more. 

Dirt 3 has an extra race type to Dirt 2 in the gymkhana mode which initially can be pretty perplexing and bloody hard to get used to but as soon as I realised how to control the car in this mode and start pulling off the tricks I loved it. I mean come on its fucking Tony Hawks with cars. Its great. 

The story/career mode again in 3 is allot simpler, no more stupid RV in which you travel round the world (thank god), you have 4 triangles initially which are the 4 season and as you play through the races you unlock more to play and after winning so many races you will unlock another triangle to the right which has the DC compound in. The DC compound is a free roam area where you can pull off stunts and find hidden collectables (yep this game has bloody collectables). You also unlock another set of smaller triangles which let you race in specific areas i.e a rally set, trailblazer set or a gymkhana only set.

So which one do I prefer, that is a bloody hard question and although I did love dirt 2 I think that the third game just did everything so much better and even more on top so out of the two Dirt 3 is my favourite rally game.  
 

Thank you for sharing my opinion.
 
Have a nice day.

Thanks for sharing, duder.

I'm downloading the demo for Dirt 2 at the moment, having just bought a gamepad and decided to try out a rally game for the first time since the McRae games on the PS1. I was trying to decide whether I should go for 2 or 3, and even though your blog sorta swayed me towards nr 3, I'm probably gonna be safe and go for the cheaper option.

I was really blown away by the original Dirt Demo seemed to be realistic and fun with a lot of depth but never bought it. Then Dirt 2 came out and it looked like a step back with all the douchey energy drink sponsorships not as cool interface. So I passed on it again. Dirt 3 still looks too similar to what I hated about 2.

Go buy DiRT 1. It's a totally different experience but it really is fantastic. It's my personal favourite, mainly because it is far more twitchy than DiRT 2 and 3.

I agree though, 3 is better than 2. Mainly because they ditched the awful "bro do a sweet drift bro" aesthetic.

That being said, I adore all 3 games.