Sega Rally Revo Demo vs. DiRT: Definitely not in the same arena

So I figured the inevitable comparison would be made, so as a rally junkie I figured I would offer up my opinions to anyone who was thinking of buying one or the other. Specifically, I wanted to talk about Sega Rally Revo.

First of all, I have never played a full Sega Rally game, minus the arcade games. I had also never played any of the Colin McRae rally games before DiRT. GT2-4 and WRC2 and 4 were my only experience in the genre. I also told myself that I would buy DiRT, but if Sega Rally Revo was a better game, that I would sell DiRT and buy Sega Rally Revo

Having played demos of both these games, and having already played through most of the career mode in DiRT already, it's safe to say that these games are only similar in that they use similar or the same cars, racing in similar races. The comparison ends there. Why? Sega Rally Revo's demo has a decidedly arcade feel all around. This is not surprising, since the Sega games have typically been arcade games as well. Whether or not this is better or worse depends on your perspective.

Still, I have been spoiled by DiRT's damage model, which was not at all present in the Sega demo. In fact, you cannot even leave the track, as there is a convenient border all the way around which cannot be run over. You simply bump into rocks or fences harmlessly; nothing appears to affect your handling. The cars also handle radically different than DiRT, which is to say it is super easy to drive if comparison. Oddly, in the Sega demo you are given two choices of handling, tarmac or off-road, despite both demo tracks being partially on dirt or sand or tarmac. DiRT's physics are definitely more realistic and difficult, to say the least.

The sound and visual quality are also quite different. DiRT is, well, dirty. the cars get very realistically roughed up by the terrain of normal racing, and the HDR present along with the detail of the backgrounds (plainly visible when you run square into a concrete pylon, for example) are superb. Sega's visual quality isn't lacking, to be sure, but it's clear that Sega made a game that will be easily ported to arcade hardware. I don't fault them for this, since Sega Rally is an arcade staple that makes them a boatload of cash, I'd imagine. The same goes for the sound. Dolby Digital 5.1 hardly seems necessary here. You can barely hear the roar of the engine, and the focus is definitely on the music, a rock/pop mix designed to spur you on. This is one area that bugged me about the Sega game in comparison to DiRT's very loud, realistic and well done sound, since Sega really had no reason to cheapen the sound down to make it easier (as opposed to the gameplay).

The only other thing that bothered me with the Sega game was the cars. You get two cars, a Subaru Impreza WRX STi SpecC Type RA, and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX FQ340. The choices of cars here is not my complaint. Rather, it is the choices of other cars in the race; the opponents are much more evolved, faster cars, and you are immediately left in the dust. Isn't the point of a demo to be a little easier so I'm more inclined to buy the game? I could practically feel the quarters leaving my pocket.

TL;DR:

DiRT, while not a perfect simulation, provides a very realistic experience while also providing enough variety in races and cars such that anyone can get into it. The sound and visual quality are second to none, however the realistic damage model and physics model may scare off the more casual player that needs a more gentle learning curve: mess up in DiRT, and you will pay for it immediately.

Sega Rally Revo is an arcade game. Nothing much realistic about it at all, but it's still fun. I find DiRT to be much more engaging, challenging and intense, but if you want a racing game that you or anyone you know can have fun messing around with, Sega Rally Revo is a much better choice; even if you're terrible at it, chances are you'll still have fun being terrible... and it's cheaper than feeding in $1 in quarters per play. Personally I'll be keeping DiRT; but I wouldn't be surprised nor offended if Sega Rally Revo outsells it in spades.

I have not played Rally Revo yet, but I am pretty close to playing the demo (90% now). Dirt damage modeling is pretty good and I have to say that the game plays like crap. If you think Ralley Revo is arcade then I don't know if I like it either. Dirt's driving is so unrealistic to me, I am glad I played the demo before purchasing the game. the game looks good..etc, but I don't like it for some reason. As an arcade off road game, I think MotorStorm is the God of this category thus far, IMO.

one game I found very fun to play is Stunt Man Ignition though. that game is so fun to play for some reason. did you try the demo, I am thinking about buying the game now after having played the demo.

DIRT is certainly more intense (gripping the controller)

i own DIRT, but i do like sega rally, ive ALWAYS loved the arcade racers, they are just more fun and less serious.

I haven't downloaded the sega demo yet but I didn't think the DiRT demo did the game any justice at all. The full game exceded all my expectations.Liams

I liked the demo for DiRT, but I can see how the demo might be lacking depending on what you like to drive or what sorts of tracks/stages you like to drive on. There's a lot of variety there, and not everyone likes the crossovers or the buggys. And that buggy track is a tough first race for a demo. The rally stage in the Citroen C4 was even more difficult, I found myself immediately thinking that a lot of people would gnash their teeth in frustration and delete the demo just because of that.

And yes, Sega Rally Revo is most definitely an Arcade racer. If you like that, great. If not, avoid the game entirely.

I don't really like the comparison of Motorstorm to DiRT though, because the only similarities are cars in dirt. They're entirely different otherwise. I would liken Motorstorm more to older games like Jet Moto (which I miss).

DIRT is certainly more intense (gripping the controller)

i own DIRT, but i do like sega rally, ive ALWAYS loved the arcade racers, they are just more fun and less serious.

chrisjackson85

GS review says the cars in DiRT feel floaty. Could you comment a little bit on that? Thanks.

[QUOTE="chrisjackson85"]

DIRT is certainly more intense (gripping the controller)

i own DIRT, but i do like sega rally, ive ALWAYS loved the arcade racers, they are just more fun and less serious.

huriona

GS review says the cars in DiRT feel floaty. Could you comment a little bit on that? Thanks.

I'm not sure what they mean by that, only because I'm not sure what they are comparing it to. I do know that the way the handling feels varies greatly on the camera angle you choose. Also, since the vehicles are on extremely loose surfaces, there's definitely going to be some floating going on. Packed gravel has been likened to driving on ball bearings, for example. Also, a lot of the rallies are mixed surfaces, which requires a compromise on tire choice; often this means the tarmac sections are a bit squirrely, because the tires are geared for loose rather than grippy surfaces. Other than that I'm not sure what they mean.

I also have DiRT, but plan on getting Rally. I am a longtime fan of the series and have the first one for Sega Saturn and the second for Sega Dreamcast. The whole reason they put the borders up and have other cars on the track is exactly what was said before, to make the game more fun and arcade-like.

The guy that started this thread said the demo was too easy, but couldn't catch up with the other cars.....um, try harder. I've only played like 6 races of the demo, but I have won twice and gotten second once and thrid twice. They had to make the CPU cars fast as hell because the controls are really good. I call them good, not easy. Sure, you can't slide off the track, you just hit a wall. The point is being good enough to never hit the wall.

And yes, I too like DiRT's damage model system, but Gran Turismo doesn't have a damage system and people still think it's the best thing ever. Sega Rally Revo will get sales for Sega though, and that's all that matters in the end. They are bringing back the franchises that the fans remember. (Sega Rally, Phantasy Star, Nights, Sonic, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Tennis) Too bad they can't make a decent Sonic game or bring us Shenmue 3 or another Panzer Dragoon Saga. But last generation we got the Crazy Taxi games, Shenmue games, Jet Set Radio games, Sega GT games, 2K sports (when Sega owned it), Panzer Dragoon Orta, Outrun 2. And now I'm rambling about Sega, ha ha! How about a new Sega system after Microsoft or Sony pull out of the race?

So I figured the inevitable comparison would be made, so as a rally junkie I figured I would offer up my opinions to anyone who was thinking of buying one or the other. Specifically, I wanted to talk about Sega Rally Revo.

First of all, I have never played a full Sega Rally game, minus the arcade games. I had also never played any of the Colin McRae rally games before DiRT. GT2-4 and WRC2 and 4 were my only experience in the genre. I also told myself that I would buy DiRT, but if Sega Rally Revo was a better game, that I would sell DiRT and buy Sega Rally Revo

Having played demos of both these games, and having already played through most of the career mode in DiRT already, it's safe to say that these games are only similar in that they use similar or the same cars, racing in similar races. The comparison ends there. Why? Sega Rally Revo's demo has a decidedly arcade feel all around. This is not surprising, since the Sega games have typically been arcade games as well. Whether or not this is better or worse depends on your perspective.

Still, I have been spoiled by DiRT's damage model, which was not at all present in the Sega demo. In fact, you cannot even leave the track, as there is a convenient border all the way around which cannot be run over. You simply bump into rocks or fences harmlessly; nothing appears to affect your handling. The cars also handle radically different than DiRT, which is to say it is super easy to drive if comparison. Oddly, in the Sega demo you are given two choices of handling, tarmac or off-road, despite both demo tracks being partially on dirt or sand or tarmac. DiRT's physics are definitely more realistic and difficult, to say the least.

The sound and visual quality are also quite different. DiRT is, well, dirty. the cars get very realistically roughed up by the terrain of normal racing, and the HDR present along with the detail of the backgrounds (plainly visible when you run square into a concrete pylon, for example) are superb. Sega's visual quality isn't lacking, to be sure, but it's clear that Sega made a game that will be easily ported to arcade hardware. I don't fault them for this, since Sega Rally is an arcade staple that makes them a boatload of cash, I'd imagine. The same goes for the sound. Dolby Digital 5.1 hardly seems necessary here. You can barely hear the roar of the engine, and the focus is definitely on the music, a rock/pop mix designed to spur you on. This is one area that bugged me about the Sega game in comparison to DiRT's very loud, realistic and well done sound, since Sega really had no reason to cheapen the sound down to make it easier (as opposed to the gameplay).

The only other thing that bothered me with the Sega game was the cars. You get two cars, a Subaru Impreza WRX STi SpecC Type RA, and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX FQ340. The choices of cars here is not my complaint. Rather, it is the choices of other cars in the race; the opponents are much more evolved, faster cars, and you are immediately left in the dust. Isn't the point of a demo to be a little easier so I'm more inclined to buy the game? I could practically feel the quarters leaving my pocket.

TL;DR:

DiRT, while not a perfect simulation, provides a very realistic experience while also providing enough variety in races and cars such that anyone can get into it. The sound and visual quality are second to none, however the realistic damage model and physics model may scare off the more casual player that needs a more gentle learning curve: mess up in DiRT, and you will pay for it immediately.

Sega Rally Revo is an arcade game. Nothing much realistic about it at all, but it's still fun. I find DiRT to be much more engaging, challenging and intense, but if you want a racing game that you or anyone you know can have fun messing around with, Sega Rally Revo is a much better choice; even if you're terrible at it, chances are you'll still have fun being terrible... and it's cheaper than feeding in $1 in quarters per play. Personally I'll be keeping DiRT; but I wouldn't be surprised nor offended if Sega Rally Revo outsells it in spades.

WalterPeck

From only the demos, I can say Dirt is much better than Sega Rally Revo. The old Sega Rally games were sweet and funny but they changed some stuff and now this one is more crappy. I mean, I have the last Sega Rally for PS2, and its sweet and controlls actually more lifelike than Revo, but now it controls like crap. I guess Sega actually likes to screw up all the time.

Anyway, the other advantage Dirt has is the behind the wheel camera. I loved that angle since Vigilante 8 :D

From only the demos, I can say Dirt is much better than Sega Rally Revo. The old Sega Rally games were sweet and funny but they changed some stuff and now this one is more crappy. I mean, I have the last Sega Rally for PS2, and its sweet and controlls actually more lifelike than Revo, but now it controls like crap. I guess Sega actually likes to screw up all the time.

Anyway, the other advantage Dirt has is the behind the wheel camera. I loved that angle since Vigilante 8 :D

kenshinhimura16

Yeah, that behind the wheel cam is awesome. I also forgot to mention that wiping out is the most fun I've had on any Next-gen racer so far. It's fun to see how many times I can roll my car...

I didn't like the DIRT demo. That said, it's leaps and bounds ahead of Sega Revo. I deleted Revo from my HD after about 5 minutes. I knew it wasn't something I'd be interested in.