2015-05-26

Last month, Codemasters surprised the sim racing community with the release of DiRT Rally on Steam Early Access. The title has been quite a hit, at one point even being the top selling title on Steam, but Codies isn’t stopping there. Now, they have updated DiRT Rally to version 0.4, and have brought the Pikes Peak Hill Climb to the racing title!

Pikes Peak is one of the most legendary hill climb courses in the world, and is host to the second-oldest race in the United States, being first run in 1916. Located in Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak is 12.42 mi (19.99 km) and has 156 corners. That’s almost the same length and amount of corners as the Nurburgring Nordschleife, but this has one other major challenge: the 4,720 (1,440 m) ascent. Nicknamed the “Race to the Clouds”, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb features a staggering average grade of 7.2%.

The historic hill climb course was known for its mix of both tarmac and gravel. However, in 2011, the full Pikes Peak road was paved over, making it a 100% tarmac rally. While that makes for blazing fast times (Sebastian Loeb set the current record in 2013 with a time of 8:13.878), what’s a DiRT game without getting dirty? Codemasters also included the mixed-layout hill climb, so you can race the pre-2011 configuration.

In addition to Pikes Peak, three new cars have been included:

Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak

Peugeot 205 T16 Pikes Peak

Audi Sport Quattro S1 Pikes Peak

A lot more has also been added in the 0.4 update as well. To check out the extensive list, see the Changelog below.

Have you tried to make it up the mountain in DiRT Rally yet? Let us know in the comments!

NOTE: The FFB fixes mentioned by Codies have NOT made it to this update. It should come between now and the next major update, which will bring German rally stages to DiRT Rally.

DiRT Rally v 0.4 Changelog

New – Added over 4,300 metres of rock otherwise known as Pikes Peak

New – Or old depending how you look at it, yes that’s right we’ve also added the mixed surface version of Pikes Peak too

New – Each route on Pikes Peak is available with a variety of weather conditions (Sunny\Rain\Overcast\Clear)

New – Hillclimb car class featuring the Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak, the Peugeot 205 T16 Pikes Peak and the Audi Sport Quattro S1 Pikes Peak.

New – Hillclimb career mode and full support for Online Events and Leagues

New – Added a few tutorial messages and hints and tips to some menus and loading screens

New – Sent all our AI drivers back to rally school, turns out they were struggling to keep up with you guys so expect a bit more of a challenge from now on

New – Your changes in position are now shown on the event and championship standings

New – Added a message to let you know when you’ve been promoted or relegated in Championship mode

New – 13 new achievements for all you unlock and rub in your friends faces.

New – Added the ability to map clutch and gears for the following steering wheels: Logitech Driving Force EX, Logitech Driving Force GT, Logitech Driving Force Pro, Logitech MOMO Racing Wheel, Thrustmaster F430 Force Feedback Racing Wheel, Thrustmaster Ferrari GT Experience Racing Wheel, Thrustmaster RGT FF Pro, Microsoft Wireless Xbox 360 Racing Wheel

New – Added analogue handbrake support

Change – Engineer slots now unlock based on distance driven rather than spending your hard earned credits

Change – When using a wheel the ragdoll shake effect is now turned off

Change – Custom Events now use the full fat versions of the cars rather than the poor mans versions

Change – Improved our Steam error reporting, this won’t really change anything for you right now but it will help us in the future in particular with getting to the bottom of error 41 issues

Change – Made it clearer when you can’t afford a car

Change – Improved the messages which tell you what the different game modes are

Change – Custom events now tell you if a stage is a “Long” or “Sprint” (short) version

Change – Changed certain title headers in the leagues reward screens to make it clearer where you finished

Change – The weekly event is now six stages instead of four

Fix – If you’re using a H-Pattern with clutch setup, the game no longer shifts to neutral when contact with your kit is lost.

Fix – Turns out that sometimes the AI would overshoot the start line, we’ve had a word with them about it

Fix – Hand braking when using manual clutch now no longer locks all four wheels on the Ford Fiesta

Fix – Position indicators will now stop showing the incorrect information

Fix – Fixed a weird thing that would sometimes let you have more than one go at an online event (bet you’re gutted you didn’t notice that one)

Fix – Ever been caught in an infinite loop of disconnects and reconnects at the end of an online event? Yeah, we fixed that.

Audio – Increased overall volume of game audio

Audio – Co-driver should now be clearer

Audio – Fixed volume issues of cockpit cameras not lowering in volume when changed in options.

Audio – Clearer audio feedback on skidding and locking

Audio – Fixed gear grind for stuck gears

Audio – Collisions should be more obvious

Audio – Landings should now sound better

Audio – New aero sound effects

Car update – The Fiat 131 Abarth now has historically accurate rear lights

Car update – The Fiat 131 Abarth now features the Rallysport Development livery

Car update – The Ford Escort Mk II now features the Phil Collins’ livery

Car update – The Lancia Fulvia HF now features the Lancia livery.

Car update – The Peugeot 205 T16 Evo 2 now features the Peugeot Sport livery

The post DiRT Rally – Pikes Peak Pack Released appeared first on Sim Racing Paddock.

Show more