Tips for getting better at DiRT3
I can't say I'm a real pro at the game, but I have been playing the series for a while now. Mr Omy was having trouble with the game, so I thought I'd write a little beginner's guide to playing the game. Input from more experienced players is always welcome.
Basics:
Rallying is about posting the best time on a given track. The track is a stretch of road, so it doesn't loop, which means you'll have to anticipate the turns and use some basic principles to tackle them.
I'm not a car-freak, nor am I a Physics major. But there is a simple law here that you have to keep in mind. Imagine a car going fast, and a turn approaches. If you just fling yourself into the turn, your car will probably not go where you intended it. When you apply your brakes, you shift the weight of the car to the front, which means the car will go where you point the steering. You kind of need to shift the weight of the cr to the front in order to take turns.
At the same time, you need speed. You're not going to post good times if you're braking all the time. You have to strike a balance; the accelerator is the Yin and the brakes the Yang. There is beauty in harmony. And while it is important to know when to brake, it is MORE important to know when NOT to brake.
Keeping that in mind, there's two basic ways to "attack" any given turn.
1)- use the brakes or the handbrake. The handbrake should be used sparingly, in fact in most races you might never use it. The principle is simple; you apply the right amount (crucial point) of brake to turn the car while maintaining top speed and keeping the best racing line.
2)- double-tap the accelerator. I don't know the exact phrase for this, but this is how you take the less sharp turns. What you do is that you let go of the accelerator, go in for the turn, and apply the accelerator again. You might need to "tap" the accelerator more than once in some situations.
The key is to know what to do when faced with a turn. For that, I urge everyone to use the Advanced type of guidance from your co-driver, and more importantly to listen to his/her instructions. After playing the game for a bit, when the co-driver says something like "5 left into 3 right, tightens to 2" you'll have a mental picture of the turn and know exactly what to do.
The turns are rated, so to speak, on a grade from 6 to 1 (they never say "1" but use the word "hairpin" instead).
For 6 and 5 you usually don't need to brake, on some occasions you might need to double tap, but you avoid even that by keeping a good racing line.
For 4 and 3 you need to brake a little, but not a whole lot.
2 requires some good braking while maintaining a good speed.
Hairpins sometimes require handbrake, you can usually get away with braking really hard.
I can't explain it more deeper than this, when you've played the game a little you'll know how to do things.
About the rally terminology;
"Tightens" means the turn will get sharper. "Left 5 tightens to 3" means it will start off with a slight bend and will tighten into a sharper turn around the end.
"Cut" means you can slice the turn a little bit to go through it faster, meaning you can go off road. "Don't cut" means that although it might seem like a good idea to cut the turn, there is something off the road that would cause an accident.
"100" means you have a bit of straight road in front of you.
"Crest" means a little bump, which might cause your car to jump a little, meaning your tires won't be in contact with the road meaning you should plan a turn right after it by moving to that side of the road.
Okay, typing on the iPad sucks! I'll write about car setup and stuff later on. Hope this helps. **
