Dirt 3

So who is playing it? I broke down and bought the digital download from GFWL, although I'm still looking for a DVD copy.

I've had some of the problems discussed at the Dirt 3 forums. To begin with the graphics weren't quite right with the strange looking sun and text, both fixed with the latest ATI drivers (as opposed to the Asus I had been running). Also can't get the offline profile to work. Making do with the online profile for now. I also now can't get the fast forward to work off the keyboard in the replay although it had earlier worked. Had the problem with the wheel settings not sticking too; the latter is fixed by using first the wheel start button before pressing keyboard buttons to navigate the menus. Anyone experience these problems and in particular resolved the offline profile problem?

I wasn't at first impressed with the graphics, but the updated ATI driver appears to have brought out the best in them; before everything appeared bland and now there are greater contrasts in color and things look more realistic. Subtle, but it's there.

I'm not far into the game but some have complained of the races being short. I'd agree that some of the early races seem short, but then I thought some in Dirt 2 were long enough to become tedious. You just can't please everyone all the time. I'll suspend judgment on gameplay until I've completed more of the game.

Thoughts?

Being a big fan of Dirt 2 I was looking forward to Dirt 3. Its not bad at all. Runs very well on high/max settings here DX11 1920x1080. Controls are good and seem improved over Dirt 2. I do have 2 gripes with the game so far however(both graphical). First, I was hoping for a little higher quality cockpits this time around but again the textures appear low quality. Maybe i'm spoiled with NFS Shift 1/2 and their very high quality detailed cockpits but I dunno... expected a little better. Also in cockpit view the vibration of the camera is a little hard on the eyes after a bit. Overall though its a good game and worth a purchase if not now at least when it hits the budget bin.

Just noticed MrNeeds that you are running the same kind of system specs as myself. Same Q6600 @ 3GHz and a GTX 260 card. I'm not getting any stuttering at all within game so i was wondering are you overclocking that GTX 260? And if so have you tried it back on default values to see if that helps?

That is bad stuttering you have there. It may be something particular to your software/hardware config though. I believe that's LA you're in and I'm not that far yet (not alot of time to play as I'd like). So far Dirt 3 runs very smooth but I'll have to see when I get to the same race you've posted in the video to make any comparison. I had some stuttering in the same races others complained about in Dirt 2 (LA also) but it was only in those races and nowhere else; there I believe it was just in the game code.

I like this game the more I play it. Looking forward to taking most of a day soon to do just that. :)