DiRTy Racing. Arcade or simulation?
The handling and driving in comparison to the old CMR games is different in DiRT, but not bad at all. In DiRT, the handling changes depending on the race type. In some it's realistic and in others it's more arcade. People seem to complaint that cars have a “floaty” feel to them and that they stick too much to the roads (Hey, that's what these Half a million dollar rally cars were designed to do), but in comparison to the old CMR series I think the “floaty” feel was significantly reduced.
As mentioned earlier, there are many race disciplines in Dirt: Rally(close to realistic driving), which you could say is the discipline where cars handle like the old CMR; Crossover(mixture of arcade and realistic driving, cars are glued to the ground here), which is derived from super special stages, Rallycross(close to arcade driving), where you race with other cars on closed circuits; Rally Raid(close to arcade driving), where you race other cars point-to-point, CoRR(close to arcade driving) and hill climb(close to realistic driving). These new disciplines are very fun and a nice addition, but I personally prefer the classic rally races, so to please everyone, there's career mode and there's championship mode. Championships is the one every rally fan is going to. It's all about racing different Rallies, each one containing many stages (Just like WRC races). Career mode contains every type of event. It's career mode you have to play to unlock new cars and tracks.
On a plus side to simulation in DiRT, the damage on the cars can be very realistic (depending on the difficulty level) and there are lots of options for tuning and car setup which you can change to fit your driving style. Car setup is way more detailed than in old CMR games. What really bothered me was that there is no tire selection and races are also missing rain and snow (yeah it sucks, but hey, the game is called DiRT, not SnoW). Also, the times between drivers at the end of the race are more realistic (unlike old CMR series, where they all finish with a 0.1 second behind). Before, you were most likely to come in 1st place or last. Now, you'll find yourself in the middle of the leaderboard or competing in the top 5 plenty of times.
If you've played old CMR games, you'll definitely notice that the co-driver in DiRT tells you have of the track information than old CMR games. The Sound in Colin Mcrae is awesome, and so are the visuals. Crashes and car damage are extremely detailed. The special and lightning effects are awesome. Truly one of the best looking games on the XBOX360. There's a downside to it, sometimes you will experience heavy frame rate issues. The game practically stops for almost a second like if you were playing a new PC game on a very old computer. Frame rate issues are not that frequent and they usually happen when racing against other cars simultaneously. The frame rate issues also appear when using the chase cam views. I always prefer to play with an in- car view such as helmet cam and I have never experienced frame rate dropping this way. Another thing that looks amazing in DiRT is the replays. Too bad you can't save them (what's the hard drive for?) One thing that was a disappointment for almost everyone is the multiplayer. There's not even a 2 player local multiplayer, just on system link or on Xbox live and although you are racing other players, you don't actually see them in you're screen. Here's how it works: Up to 100 players race simultaneously on a point-to point rally race and there's you're current position is displayed for you to know how far you are from the leader. The player who finishes first wins. It's just a normal rally race but there's a little extra pressure since you'll know how close other player are to your tail and if they catching you or you are continuously swapping positions with other players. Since I am a rally fan, I did enjoy this multiplayer, but I do admit there's allot missing (there's not even voice chat!!!).
Overall, I do like DiRT, allot actually. I recommend it to anybody who loves racing games. DiRT has a lot to offer and it is a beautiful game to watch. But beware old CMR fans; the game has changed to attract new customers. I still enjoy DiRT, but CMR2005 is one of the primary reasons I haven't sold my original XBOX yet.