Gravel on PC Impressions
This game isn't bad, but it's just not that good either; it's sort of what I figured it would be for the most part. I play a lot of (too many) racing games so I've got a lot of experience with evaluating handling models, track layout designs, and true-to-life world physics. Gravel just seems to aim at the middle of the road when it comes to said components and doesn't really favor one over the other--it's just okay.
Firstly, I can't stand the whole "Gravel Channel" thing with a single announcer being "stoked" and being "left speechless" at the end of every race. That sort of bro-tastic-ness got old very fast in DiRT 2 and was never all that appealing to being with. It's just a lazy way of trying to add a backstory or theme to a game that doesn't need it. There are plenty of cars and trucks featured in the game but the tracks are lacking, for the most part. Of course stuff will be added in the future but right now it's a bit empty; the tight arena tracks are basically just annoying to race on with more than 2 vehicles at once.
The Unreal engine, while great in its own right, is an odd choice for a racing game. I feel that Milestone did an admirable job in creating a decent driving game on this technology but it's a bit awkward. For example, the cars are a tad on the "floatier" side and the damage modeling is laughably dated. The racing is actually pretty fun but the physics, especially some of the more gravity-defying ones, are pretty rough. Cars will fly around and flip over all over the place when a rollover occurs and sometimes for no reason. It's funny but doesn't exactly scream a lot of realism--but this is excusable because this is NOT a simulation racer.
Overall I do like this game a bit but I'd certainly wait for a sale before trying it. If anything it's a good DiRT alternative for those who like more arcadey or casual racing games to jump into for an hour or so. I've nearly beaten all of the career races on hard difficulty without much of a fuss but there is a little bit of room to increase the difficulty and I have yet to see how the online play is. The graphics look really nice and it runs terrifically on PC hardware, even mid-range bits like AMD FX processors and GTX 700 cards etc. I'll keep playing it because I do have fun with it but if you're looking for a in-depth and true-to-life off road racer this definitely isn't it.