Dirt Track Racing

The Good
Game has excellent suspension modelling. You can tweak your suspension for different tracks to optimize your driving. Brute force do NOT work here, and "trading paint" with other cars will cost you time. Lots of variety in tracks, some long and some short, each requiring different tactics, esp. the figure 8's! Graphics are smooth even on older machines, and career mode with sponsorship feels very strategic as you must evaluate whether its better to have money now and get stuck in longer contract or wait one more race and go for a bigger contract (if you win)

The Bad
The game does get boring after a while, as the three classes handle about the same. The tracks, while different, aren't really THAT different, and racing round-and-round the oval gets monotonous very quickly. Graphics is fast but lacks the "chrome" of the latest and greatest titles. There is nothing that would really help you tune your setup (not much of recorder or car telemetry)

The Bottom Line
Dirt Track Racing, or DTR is one of those budget titles that's actually worth more than its lowly status. Ratbag's previous game was PowerSlide, one of the better racers out there with some outrageous cars and excellent tracks in the apocalyptic landscape. With DTR, Ratbag decided to simulate the "budget" side of racing...

You can race one race at a time, or join the "career" mode where you start with a simple car, tune it, win races and money, add better parts, and eventually buy better cars. To win races, you have to join a "series". The more races you win, the more and better sponsors you will attract, which provides additional income.

Most of the "fun" in DTR is car tuning, where you can adjust almost every aspect your car, from weight distribution to spring rebound, and every change will affect handling. The idea is to get a fast car that can finish races. And believe me, it's NOT easy to make 4 perfect turns through 50 laps Not to mention the car and track conditions will also change during the race! The track will dry out as more and more cars drive through, affecting traction in certain portions of the track.

The AI can be tuned on a percentage scale. So instead of giving you discrete levels and nothing in between, you can tune the drivers to be like, 85% challenge. If you can best them, try 90%, and so on, to improve your skills gradually. And in general they do quite well to be a challenge without being impossible. You can even set some pre-set difficulty options.

The race itself is quite decent, as the race can be held in dawn, day, afternoon, dusk, even night. The roar of the engines is excellent as you head down the dirt track. Other cars will fling small bits of mud into your windshield (sorry, no wipers) and you must continue racing through decreased difficulty. Occasional contact with other cars will damage your car and affect your handling. Choice between 1st and 3rd person view makes game that much more flexible to enjoy, as you can also choose between automatic or manual transmission.

Overall,DTR is a fun racing title with authentic physics and lots of tracks and racing to enjoy. However, the extremely short courses and the repetitive nature of the sport may soon leave the drivers wanting something else.