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The genre of PC racing is an overly crowded field. Not only is the market saturated with PC racers, but the vast majority of these games feature racing on pavement. NASCAR, Formula One, and arcade-style racing games are fun and all, but it is a nice change of pace when an alternative to these games is introduced. The console market has seen a surge in rally racing games, but PC gamers do not have much choice when it comes to rally racing. It is with the aforementioned observations in mind that I began playing Dirt Track Racing. It serves as a breath of fresh air for fans of PC racing titles.

I will admit that I was not overly excited upon hearing about the development of Dirt Track Racing. Stock car racing is not a sport that I felt would translate well into a PC game. However, knowing that the developer (Ratbag) was responsible for the racing goodness contained in Powerslide, I held out a glimmer of hope that Dirt Track Racing would at least be fun as a mash ‘em up arcade-style game. As it turns out, Dirt Track Racing is indeed fun as an arcade racing game, but it is also one of the deepest and best racing simulations I have played.

Touted as “the first authentic Dirt Track Racing simulation game,” Dirt Track Racing allows gamers to experience a racing career with a financial model. The user must start a career racing stock cars, then climb the ranks through the Pro Stock Class, and eventually run a Pro Late Model team. Additionally, Ratbag took a page from the success of Powerslide and included an excellent online play feature in Dirt Track Racing. Gameplay:

Dirt Track Racing is one of the rare racing titles that will appeal to fans of arcade racing titles as well as fans of sim racing games. The short length of the races, the intense competition, and the no-holds-barred nature of the racing will appeal to gamers who prefer an arcade-style experience. The career mode, depth of options, and superb physics model will make for a fun experience for the fans of simulation-style racing.

There is a cornucopia of options in Dirt Track Racing. The damage can be set to “simulation,” “arcade,” or be turned off completely. Additional options that have a large effect on the gameplay include: tire wear, yellow/black flags, transmission, vehicle handling, and cockpit jitter. The tuning of the cars is very flexible and directly impacts gameplay as well. Wheel tuning, tire pressure, brake strength, steering lock, rebound dampening, and weight distribution are but a few of the many elements that can be adjusted in Dirt Track Racing.

Once on the track, Dirt Track Racing really begins to strut its stuff. Due to the high degree of customization of settings made available, the physics can be made very realistic. Everything from the handling to the contact with other cars is realistic. It is too cool to watch the cars in this game slide through the turns. Despite all the things Dirt Track Racing gets right with the physics, there is a problem. The car-to-track physics are somewhat flawed. The actual feel of racing on the different surfaces and different areas of the track is present, but the lap times are not indicative of these differences. I did not catch this occurrence right off the bat, but after several races I noticed that the lap times did not vary significantly from surface to surface.

The AI of the computer-controlled cars is superb. These sons of guns are out to win, and do not rely on cheating to do so. Having competed in dozens of races, I can safely say that the opponents in Dirt Track Racing exhibit as much true-to-life behavior as I have encountered in a PC racing simulation. The gamer must develop effective strategy before and during the races. Repairs, upgrades, and car settings must be appropriately decided upon before the race. During the race it is a must to get and maintain the most desirable racing line. Getting caught up in the pack can be quite deadly since you cannot just go ballistic and start hitting cars. A small quibble with the racing is that the yellow flag is not implemented properly all the time. The yellow flag is supposed to be given while a disabled car is taken off the track. I observed the lack of a yellow flag under such circumstances several times in the early stages of the career mode.

One item that adds greatly to the gameplay of Dirt Track Racing is “the groove.” A water truck wets the surface before each race, softening the dirt or clay. Due to the softness of the track, a groove forms during the course of the race. Since the groove is the most common driving line, it makes this area of the track hard and slippery. Two other driving lines become competitive as a result of this phenomenon. “The cushion” is a longer route on the outside of the groove. This line gives the gamer more traction. I initially tried using this driving line, but eventually abandoned it due to the increased risk of hitting the wall. Plus, it is longer and made me feel too distant from the other cars on the groove and on the inside. “The inside” is a line of racing on the inside portion of the track. Although it takes some skill to master this tactic due to the intense braking required, it is an excellent way to win races when your car may not be up to snuff. Taking the inside line is also a good tactic to use in a close race when you have the lead. It is very tough for opponent cars to overtake a skilled driver taking the inside line.

I mentioned earlier that the car damage is not represented very realistically from a graphical point of view. However, the car damage can very much effect the performance of the cars. One thing I had to learn early was that this style of racing is not a demolition derby. I figured that since the tracks were wide and composed of dirt and clay, I could just knock the hell out of the opponent cars and ride the wall when necessary to victory. This strategy is not a good idea if you want to stay in the race. When racing among a pack of cars, it is very tempting to bump the car in front of you, however too much bumping on the front end of the car will do significant damage to the engine and put you out of the race. The same goes for nailing cars in the side too much. Most racing games do not penalize gamers too much for making contact with the sides of the car. Making too much contact with the sides of the cars in Dirt Track racing will cause the handling of the car to quickly deteriorate. In short, the damage model of this game is very realistic and causes the gamer to have to actually use strategy in winning races.

The difficulty of Dirt Track Racing can be adjusted in the quick race mode. The easiest level is far too easy, but the expert level presents a very nice challenge. The difficulty of the career mode is “just right.” The early races in the Stock class are fairly easy to win, but the races become quite a challenge as the user moves up in class and enters events in the more lucrative series. Since it is not possible to race out of class, the cars are somewhat equal in potential performance, which makes for close and exciting races.

Longevity:

Dirt Track racing has about as much longevity value as any racing game I have played. The career mode is exceptionally well designed. A problem that plagues many racing games is that the racing becomes monotonous after a significant number of races. Thus, a career or season mode is useless since the racing becomes a bore. I have played Dirt Track Racing to death and the racing is still fresh and fun.

In career mode, the user starts off with a measly $1000. This amount of money will allow for the purchase of a very basic stock car from the junkyard. The ultimate goal in career mode is to win the Ratbag Series. To accomplish this feat, the gamer must race in events from various series and win money for upgrades. The user must become fairly successful in each series so as to gain enough money to make repairs, enter events, pay for practice sessions, buy better cars, and make significant upgrades. As the driver becomes more successful, he will receive offers from sponsors and gain appearance money. Other ways to make money is by winning a series, placing in a main event, and securing the fastest qualifying time. Overall, the career mode is incredibly deep and provides for serious replay value.

Aside from the career mode, Dirt Track Racing offers online multi-player racing. The multi-player gameplay is accomplished by way of a client-server model. There are a couple nice features within the multi-player mode. First, results of all multi-player races are stored in a .TXT file. Second, while in a multi-player chat room, gamers can watch a race that is already taking place. Additionally, the person watching the race can watch the race from a wide variety of viewing options. I am still using an archaic 56K modem for online play, but have yet to encounter problems with the multi-player component of DTR. I am amazed at the smooth online gameplay.

Controls:

The control in Dirt Track Racing is good. I played this game using a Gravis Gamepad Pro, but the game also supports play with a keyboard, mouse, wheel, and joystick. Although I found the default control configuration to my liking, it is possible to reassign the controls from the input options area in the game. The controls in this game are simply turn left/right, accelerate/brake, and gear down/up. The user can also change the camera view and toggle the display during the race.

Graphics:

The graphics in Dirt Track Racing are good. The cars look realistic and are modeled well. The paint on the cars appears dull in many instances, but it must be remembered that these cars are not new Mustangs or Corvettes. These cars are used models that race in a dirty environment. One disappointing aspect of the graphics is the lack of realistic car damage. While damage does occur and definitely affects the car’s performance, there is a lack of good graphical representation of this damage. Most front-end damage in this game is shown as the same crumpled hood graphic. For some odd reason, the vast majority of racing games on the market fail to do a good job of graphically representing damage to cars.

The 30 tracks look spectacular. Much like the cars, the tracks are not conducive to looking pretty. We are talking dirt and mud here. I must say that the dirt, mud, clay, sand, and whatever else may be in the tracks, look realistic. Although all the tracks are either ovals or figure eights, the variety of track surfaces helps lend personality to the individual tracks. The backgrounds are also well done. Folks who attend small-venue racing events know that the tracks are not usually surrounded by scenic landscapes or towering grandstands. This small-time atmosphere has been skillfully recreated in Dirt Track Racing. Billboards, small grandstands, and other appropriate peripheral elements are positioned around the tracks.

While in the races, the graphics are above average. The framerate is good and I encountered very little slowdown, even when there were a bunch of cars on the screen at the same time. The sense of speed is accurate. Due to the track surfaces and the short length of the courses, speeds do not approach those found in F1 or NASCAR racing. One thing that really stands out in Dirt Track racing is the excellent sense that the gamer is actually in the race. While there are several driving views in DTR, my favorite is one of the two cockpit views. From this perspective, you can clearly see the dust kicking up around you and gain a sense of the varying track surfaces. Additionally, there is a nice sense of “crowdedness” when wedged in among a pack of cars. The main disappointment of racing from this perspective is that the gauges are not very helpful. Finally, the lighting effects are well implemented. When racing at night, the mood is enhanced by the excellent lighting effects.

Finally, the interface screens are simple to read and feature bold lettering. While these screens will not win any awards for being ornate and attractive, they are easy to navigate and functional. There is no clutter jumbling the screen, “just the facts.” One problem I have with the interface is that the user must back out of several layers in some areas of the game. It would be more user-friendly to have included menus in the deeper areas of the interface so as to allow the user to jump immediately back to the main menu areas.

Sound:

Much like the graphics, the sound in Dirt Track Racing is solid. The engine sounds are outstanding due to the fact that they sound just like real-world stock car engines. Before entering a turn, the exhaust will loudly backfire as the gamer lets off the throttle. I was particularly struck by the sweet sound of the Late Model cars. A nice touch is that the engine sounds different as damage occurs to the car. One thing that deserves mention is the fact that the sound actually enhances the gameplay. Although there is a rearview mirror and it is easy to see to the sides of the car, the directional sound of cars passing your car are very clear. This effect allows the gamer to keep better focus on the track, as opposed to constantly trying to visually detect passing cars. I would like to tip my cap to the developers for allowing the sounds of the actual racing to take front and center.

The other sounds in Dirt Track Racing are good as well. There is a track announcer whose voice echoes in a realistic manner. At night, the effect of the PA announcer’s voice echoing over the cheap PA system sets a very nice tone.

Installation:

Installation of this game was a breeze. The minimum install option requires 65 MB of drive space, but I opted for the large install since it only requires around 210 MB of drive space. I also uninstalled and reinstalled the game without any glitches.

Overall:

Dirt Track Racing won an award for being one of my favorite three sports games of 1999. It may not have received the big advertising campaign given to other racing titles, but it has still sold relatively well. Although I do not usually discuss price in my reviews, it must be pointed out that Dirt Track Racing is attractively priced at $19.99—much less than many other PC racing titles. The vast majority of so-called “budget titles” are inexpensive for a reason—they just all out suck or they lack many of the features of full-price titles. Dirt Track Racing is a bit of an anomaly in the “budget game” arena since it has a large number of options, deep gameplay, and a host of features. There are very few PC racing games that I can unconditionally recommend. Dirt Track Racing, however, gets my highest recommendation. Despite the fact that there are a couple minor problems with the graphics in showing damage, the sheer fun factor of this title is impossible to ignore. Dirt Track Racing offers a nice career mode, solid multi-player gaming, and fantastic racing. If a developer focuses its energy on the gameplay, then I can live without a star-studded soundtrack or pretty interface graphics. If action-packed racing with a financial model is what you desire, then Dirt Track Racing is waiting for you.