Dirt 2 Owners Thread

lol you got the exact same tattoo as me! exept mine is a cobalt blue flame job

very nice setup btw, makes me want to copy it, pm me how the hell you get 3 screens working @ once, and is it possible with the asus g73?

 

While the 5000 series card supports eyefinity the first generation cards did not have it implemented in laptops (the G73)

It takes an insane amount of power to run a resolution that high for a game though, even if a laptop had the feature it would only be older games that stand any chance of running well (like half life 2 or something)

 

so far dirt 2 is problee the best racing game i like on pc right now and grid

and its very fun useing my porsche 911 turbo wheel limited ed cant play a racing game with out it lol i allways run manual now sense this wheel has a h shifter and a clutch pedal and im really use too it than auto which i allways use before i got this wheel.


but anything playing with this wheel is fun lol

sure it is expensive at 350-500 for a wheel but pretty much the best for under 1000$ and you can use it on pc ps3 ps2 xbox 360 which why i went with this wheel sense its the ony wheel with the h shifter that works on 360.

and sure is worth it when you get it at first i thought i wasted my 350$ but i was wrong.


i play maxxed out @1920x1200 on my desktop amd quad 965@ 4.1ghzs with a 4890@dx10 or 9 not sure what dirt 2 runs at if you dont have dx11 and i get problee 60+ fps allways think last i saw it was around 80 or 90.


would like too get a 5870 or a 5970 later on but the 4890 have not fail me at maxing out games and @1920x1200 except its missing dx11.

 

I almost got the porche turbo s wheel, if your into multi console its the best choice. if your pc only like me the G27 is identical quality for a fraction of the cost and easier to get.

$300 retail but I saw it on sale for $200 once. I thought too much for a wheel so I passed it up. Really wish I had gotten it now.

The momo I use is like a $100 wheel but I got it new off ebay for $60.00 so it was a steal. I use manual also not sure if you can tell in my video but I am using the paddle shifters.

My other reason of going with a G27 as a recommendation is that while the wheels are very close in quality the pedals are eons apart the G27 pedals are way better than the fanatec stock ones. They are like plastic toy pedals....

However you have the option of paying like $200 more or something an getting the Sports Club pedals, and then its the reverse those are one of the best pedals you can buy and better than the G27... but your now paying well over double the cost of the G27 for the kit.... in a price vs performance scenario the G25/G27 I think is winning.

 

Woah - my FPS has nearly DOUBLED since I installed the Patch. I'm now getting around 50FPS with everything on ultra 4xAA at 1920x1080.

Anyone else had such a massive leap? I was just about averaging in the low 30s before with those settings...

 

I have the steam version it should have patched for me auto, I did not notice a increase of performance from the game patch.

I did get a performance boost from updating my video card drivers from 9.12 to 10.3

the 10.2 ATI drivers have an 8% Dirt 2 boost and 10.3 had a 10% boost.

Its been shown to be consecutive for multiple users and laptop/desktop alike.

 

GFWL first told me I had an update when I started the game early yesterday, which I was forced to install. Later in the day when I started up Steam told me to install an update. Not sure if you would've been auto-updated. I have the G73 as well and have been using the preview drivers and have better performance after this update.

 

Well this could explain why you were getting the same benchmark scores as I was before even though you had post processing set to max and mine was on medium - I'm assuming that performance now would be more or less equal between the 5870 and 285m on this game after this update (probably with a 10% lead on your end).

Regardless, I've never had a patch up the Frames by that much, I was a little shocked when I first noticed it - although in a good way. Still a little taken aback though as, for me at least, the difference in performance is huge. 50%+ increase means some serious optimisation.

I have the steam version as well and didn't even know it was updating until the little icon popped up saying that Dirt 2 had finished downloading.

 

tho i wouldint say its like toy pedals they more than that lol they feel very strong and feel nice.

and for the wheel it has lots of options like the lcd on the steering wheel that lets you change all kind of options even have a dift mode and what other nice feature it has is the belt drive system which is really smooth and very strong and quiet which i hear on videos the g25 and g27 is really loud which kinda threw me off from thoes..

dont get me wrong the g25 and g27 is nice wheels i was gona go for one of theos but for a extra 50 too 100$ you can have the porcshe wheel which too me feels alot nicer and stronger than the g25 and g27 and supports more systems.

and can be upgraded like the firmware and add ons in the future.

right now they thinking of making another shifter which is all metal but the stock one is fine with me. and i herd a hand brake lol.

oh and i forgot too mention is that you can use other pedals with it too the logitechs and the microsofts wheel.

 

Yeah they can plug in separate, just the game has to support multiple controler inputs so wont work for all games. LCD screen? You must have a different one than what I was thinking.

I was thinking about the turbo s wheel, its supposed to be there best one.

I see they are selling the Turbo S Package for $350.00 again. It was sold out before and so thats only $50.00 more than the G27, of course you can find the G27 on sale though this one is always full price.

 

this is the one i have the s turbo wheel

http://www.fanatec.de/webshop/new_u...id=51&osCsid=801a56f26ba12cb88732fe0a5e34f097


i wouldint call it a fully lcd its the red number couter led screen

 

Oh, im on the my fanatec vs G27 google search now. You made me want to upgrade my wheel again lol.

I spoted some cheap G27's on ebay, may have to see if i can get one.

For now the only direct comparision I can find is this: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1185890

This person liked the G27 more and kind of hit on the same points I made.

 

ya some peaple like the g27 more and some like the fanatec lol

me i perfer the fanatec i tried the logitech g27 at the store and i like the fanatec more.


tho i dont get why he said it feels 5lbs heavyer than the the fanatec on the stand then the fanatec it feels much heavy than the g27 too me lol


tho i think his is a beta sense i preorderd mine december and got it jan. think anything before the 10th month the wheels was betas.

 

Anyone here have any problems with Vsync in Dirt 2? I have no tearing in races but it's pretty bad in the menus - tried forcing it via the nvidia control panel but that didn't work (despite it having an affect on Mirror's Edge) and in game doesn't change anything either.

I also tried opening the hardware_settings_config file to change things there but reading it made no sense:

graphics_card
directx forcedx9="false"
resolution width='800' height="600" aspect="normal" fullscreen="true" vsync="0" multisampling="2xmsaa"
refreshRate rate="60"


I'm definitely not playing at that res (full 1920x1080) and am using 4xAA...

Any ideas what's up? Or have I just got the wrong config file? Strange that the control panel isn't managing to force it to work though.

 

Got like 2 hours maybe more game time today. Beat every normal race except the few I have not unlocked yet. Hit lvl 51 and beat another world tour. Also unlocked a new car.

I seem to suck at Moraco, I think too many hairpins.

I never did take the time to play with my wheel settings, they are default still and they suck compared to my custom settings I used to have, but wanted to play so bad that I just dealt with the defaults.


Edit: Happy days! I finally bought a G27 wheel. Time to see what the buzz is all about. So who wants to buy my Logitech Momo wheel?

 

Loving this new patch! finally SLI SUPPORT

Im nearly level 100 in the single player tour...

 

G27 is here got some time in today.

Move from Momo --> G27

Pedals are way better, all metal, larger, and the unit is a lot heavier. Of course there is a clutch there now too but Dirt 2 does not use it.

Wheel unit has way more feedback and is quieter to turn, no "gear grinding" but the momo even though not authentic leather had that nice soft rubber that felt good on the hands.

Playing Dirt 2 with the H shifter was way harder than the paddle shifters. Lost a lot of time on my laps. I get into the wrong gear often or sometimes even stuck in neutral. Even there there is no clutch if you do not let go of the throttle you will red line in neutral and can lose control when you get into gear.

The G27 make a lot of heat in my small room I can feel heat coming from the unit due to the dual motor force feedback.

I actually like the cheap plastic gear shifters on the Momo a tad more for how easy they are to press down, the metal ones are a lot heaver, require more force and feel like they could cut your fingers off

The G27 has full 900 degrees of rotation but Dirt 2 seems to use the force feedback motors to lock it at 180 degrees. This is a good thing due to the nature of the game and something I was worried about. Would still wonder what its like to have full 900 you would have to spin the wheel like crazy to drift properly.

Hooking up the wheel the G27 is a pitta, it has 4 cables, and they are all routed from under the wheel so you cant hook the wheel up first and then plug the cables in like I could with the momo. The momo has the jacks in the back and you can plug them in after. I liked that design better. I also liked the mount for the momo better. Less play and more stable. The wheel on the momo uses 3 mount points the G27 only two.

The gear shifter for the G27 uses 3 mounts but they are hard to get tight, I felt like I may break them and even when I got them as tight as possible I had the gear shifter slip on me a few times. I think the G27 is really made to be bolted down for a permanent dedicated setup more than the casual gamer. It even has those bolt holes already in the unit to do that.

The one thing I miss the most was that little built in sequential shifter on the Momo it made a great e-brake but now with the G27 I really do not have an ebrake. using a button on the wheel is a lot harder. I could use the gear shift on the H-shifter but then would have to use the paddle shifters again (though I am still using them on harder races where I cant win with the H-shifter)

Going to hook the momo up now and give it another run see how if feels.

 

yeah i bet its hard to use the H-shifter in the crazy rally stages. reminds me of this video that takes a closer look at a rally car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aIyy-gKJts they have to use paddle shifters also.

 

The largest problem is the H shifter on the G27 is just not defined enough to get into each gear easy. Its a very small distance between each gear and its not a nice easy slide into gear like a car. So you cant force it from say 2nd to 3rd you will end up back in 1st or in 5th. You have to pull to neutral let the sprint center the shifter and then push directly up to get into 3rd.

I think a stiffer/stronger spring would help a bit, but most of all its just a matter of getting used to it I am sure.

 

im aready used too the h shifter on my 911 wheel on dirt 2 even on the rally stages i just cant use nothing else except this wheel now and i need the h shifter lol..

ony thing i wish the game would support is the clutch pedal.. not sure why they didint add that in..


ya thats one thing that pretty much thrown me from the g25/g27 is the shifter it just seems too loose. and doesint support xbox 360 which mainly why i got the wheel sense i want one wheel for all my stuff.


so far the wheel is holding up still nice and smooth and very strong i have to turn down the force feed back via wheel lcd lol

and the abs vibration is also another nice feature lets you know if you gona spin out when pushing too hard on the brake pedal.


i just hope this wheel last me long time unlike my other 3 wheels..

one wheel was a really cheep 25 30$ wheel forgot the name but i snap something in the wheel while playing motor city online when it was stilll alive...

than i got the logitech force formula gp with no force feed back and i broke the pedal also playing that game lol so i took it back and got another one than it was fine but i had too keep takeing it apart sense the alinment keeps getting way off... which kinda stares me away from logitech wheels seems like the aliments gets wacky after couple years.

but it also could be from motor city online sense i played that game for hours each day lol still wish it still was online it still would be the best racing game going. dam ea

this 911 wheel wouldve been awsome with mco..

 

Getting better, beat the 1 player game today. The only time I had to resort to the paddle shifters was some of the L.A. stages, especially the night time reverse one.. I really hate L.A.

Getting more used to the H-Shifter but I found a site with some really great G27 mods.

http://chilicoke.com/mods.htm
> Increase spring tension for H-Shifter
> Increase spring tension for Push down reverse
> Add E-Brake
> Change the wheel
> Reverse the pedals

From looking at his tutorials I know how to make my own sequential shifter now too based on the add e-brake tutorial though I dont need one I would definitely add an e-brake though if I had a dedicated setup.

 

You get nothing from beating the single player tour sadly.

I just hit level 100 though

 

when do you unlock the 1995 subaru impreza WRX STi?

 

Not sure I never paid attention. I know you get a car for each world tour thats based on the typo of tour it is.

Meaning you get a cool f1 like landrush car for the landrush world tour, and you get a rally type car for the rally world tour.

Near the end of the game you unlock some ford mkII POS that I think is supposed to have something to do with collin mcrae and you have to use that car for the quite a few different races...

I have over 6 million dollars, I bought just like 2 cars of each type and have used those same ones during the entire game.

 

So I install the game today via steam and when I go and boot it up the game crashes. Any help people, my specs are below (sig). I updated my graphics card to 10.5, updated direct x, and audio drivers. Is there any other reason why I can't even boot up. Im using win7 64bit.

 

Finally got this game. My only gripe is that my Logitech game pad doesn't work for it. Is there any fix for this or do I really need to get a xbox controller for it? I really don't like using the keyboard for racing. To bad they didn't allow mouse control for steering as well. Great game otherwise.

I had the same problem for GTA4 and found a fix. Hopefully there's one for Dirt 2 also.

 

Thats weird, I have a ps2 to usb and my ps2 controller works just fine.

 

Really? Seems my controller should work then. I'll try again ... test it in control panel first to be sure. *Crosses fingers*

Ok. So I had some coffee, my brain began working and then I went into options and mapped the controls to my gamepad lol. Saw "buttons" greyed out before so that threw me off.
Works great now! thanks.