I've got DiRT 3 now and gone through the first tournament pyramid thing and I'm already prefering DiRT 2. The first thing DiRT 2 does well is the score. The audio tracks are significantly better, maybe Codemasteres cheaped out or something but the music in DiRT 3 for the most part blows. Also I started out as a casual driver - I figured it would just make the AI suck but no, it basically puts the car into autobraking mode so all you have to do is steer (though it feels like it is driving on rails) and hold down the throttle and come first every time... yawn. I much prefer playing with driver aids off but the AI dumbed down until I'm ready to take it up a notch. The tutorials in the middle of the triangle are also unhelpful in that they claim to be tutorials but don't actually teach you how to drive the way they want you to - for example I'm really shit at the drifting challenge but the game tutorial doesn't teach you how to drift properly. I think toning down the americanisms is a good thing but now that the DiRt 2 menu has vanished completely I miss it. The old menu would have been fine if it just worked faster and the information was easier to find. Also I'm having a problem common with both games - if I alt+tab out the game enters windowed mode and changes resolution... not good. Especially not when there is no menu option to fix it to fullscreen so I have to manually edit the config files -_- Also I had to manually edit to force DirectX 9 mode too until I can get a 1080p monitor (mine is interlaced which seems to be unsupported in DirectX 11) which is usually doable from within the application. Anyhow I haven't given up on DiRT 3 yet - I'll just have to get good fast and play the DiRT 2 soundtrack to make it a better experience -_-
Nice poll closing date, lol. I enjoyed the original Dirt, and would happily pick up the other games for cheaper-than-new prices.
First thing you wanna do is change the difficulty setting options yourself (can be done before any race), you can tweak AI difficulty and assists this way. The Training "Triangle" is only there in the first season, and don't worry too much about the drifting there's not too much actual drifting challenges in the game, most of the drifting just consists of going through gates sideways and is a simple mater of jamming the handbrake and turning. If your a fan of actual rallying You'll find that this is much better than 2 content wise but still a little light on tracks (strangely the first Dirt game was actually the best for true ralling fans). Anyway stick with it dude and you'll soon get some enjoyment from it.
