PC car games with in-depth car customisation?

The career mode is PC2's most attractive feature for me...I started the my career racing Renault Clios in the Clio cup (big semi pro touring car racing scene in the UK)...moved on to GT4 junior with the Ginettas then full fledged GT4, GT3...and so on. You can branch off into open wheel stuff, take part in invitational events run by sponsors in different racing categories...or start a career in whichever racing class takes your fancy.

It's very similar to TOCA 2 and 3 in that respect...if you remember back to that series.
Sounds awesome, really. Now I just have to decide whether I have the discipline to wait for a Steam sale:)
 

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The career mode is PC2's most attractive feature for me...I started the career mode racing Renault Clios in the Clio cup (big semi pro touring car racing scene in the UK)...moved on to GT5 with the Ginetta juniors then full fledged GT4 Ginettas, GT3, etc. In the career you get offers from different sponsors in varying racing classes offering driver seats with different cars/manufacturers as you progress...and so on. You can branch off into open wheel stuff, take part in invitational events run by sponsors in different racing categories...or just start a career in whichever racing class takes your fancy.

It's very similar to TOCA 2 and 3 in that respect...if you remember back to that series.
I miss TOCA.
 
This thread has reignited my old passion for racing games. I used to be really into them, but my mega-obsession with ED for so many years meant that they more or less fell by the way side. Because of this topic, I dusted off my old copy of Dirt Rally, started a fresh career and spent the last couple days muscling my way from the Open "noob" division to the Elite division, only one rank beneath the ultimate Masters. I'm driving with a controller so I feel I'm handicapped, but even so the visceral thrill of coming out on top in an event and pushing your career forward is unparalleled. For anyone who hasn't tried it, it's a whole different kind of racing then something like Project Cars 2 (which I just recently picked up), much grittier and bare knuckle. The feeling of speed, danger and flatout adrenaline is just savage. I'm now saving up for a wheel and stand:)
 
Got a copy of Dirt Rally ages ago as part of a bundle but never spent the time installing and learning it. It's been forever on my list of dream racing game though, so at some point, I'll have to get into it, even without a wheel. In the meantime, BeamNG.drive is my goto for all kinds of vehicle craziness.
 
Got a copy of Dirt Rally ages ago as part of a bundle but never spent the time installing and learning it. It's been forever on my list of dream racing game though, so at some point, I'll have to get into it, even without a wheel. In the meantime, BeamNG.drive is my goto for all kinds of vehicle craziness.
Are you on Steam? One thing that's pretty cool is that DR links up with all of your Steam friends who play the game so you can compare times on various tracks. I think it has a robust matching system for multiplayer, too, though I haven't checked it out yet.

The only complaint I've seen is that the game is punishingly difficult to learn. Judging from the small percentages of various achievements on Steam's Global Achievements tracker, it seems that it mainly caters to a pretty hardcore crowd of serious enthusiasts.
 
Yeah I'm on Steam. Don't mind the difficulty, even if I suck, that's cool. I play sims to learn stuff, and have always put Dirt Rally on the sim side from reviews. I had it on the radar for the high speed thrill on narrow roads, proper drift modelling, actual WRC tracks, and additional fun stuff like the Pikes Peak climb.
 
Are you on Steam? One thing that's pretty cool is that DR links up with all of your Steam friends who play the game so you can compare times on various tracks. I think it has a robust matching system for multiplayer, too, though I haven't checked it out yet.

The only complaint I've seen is that the game is punishingly difficult to learn. Judging from the small percentages of various achievements on Steam's Global Achievements tracker, it seems that it mainly caters to a pretty hardcore crowd of serious enthusiasts.
I used to love Richard Burns rally, it was more simulator than game compared to the Codemasters offerings of the Colin MacRae series at the time...haven't really tried any of the rally offerings since.


I do have DR 2.0...bought it in the special Codemasters Steam promotion back in March...still haven't installed it.
 
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I used to love Richard Burns rally, it was more simulator than game compared to the Codemasters offerings of the Colin MacRae series at the time...haven't really tried any of the rally offerings since.

Watch this video and note the terror in his voice once he gets going:
 
Watch this video and note the terror in his voice once he gets going:
I take it that DR is much better than Dirt 4 or DR 2.0? I've just noticed the pack I bought from Steam has all of them...£45 for all 3 seemed a good deal...as much as I haven't installed any of them :rolleyes:
 
I take it that DR is much better than Dirt 4 or DR 2.0? I've just noticed the pack I bought from Steam has all of them...£45 for all 3 seemed a good deal...as much as I haven't installed any of them :rolleyes:
I haven't tried 2.0 yet. From what I gather the driving experience is better than the previous version, but the tracks and locales are not as plentiful. Sounds like 2.0 is an ongoing work in progress. I'm buying it here shortly and will give a report once I have a chance to test it.
 
I've ran the first three stages in Dirt Rally 2.0. It's pretty hard to tell how it stacks up to the original at this point, but my gut check is that it's going to be a lot better. Since I'm in the dinky little starter car it's a bit difficult to compare to some of the beasts that I'm more used to driving, but a few early observations: the visuals are a few notches better with crisper, more colorful scenery and vastly improved headlights for night driving. The track surface has a degradable technology so that it reflects previous traffic in the form of mild ruts which is kind of interesting, and the feedback and sound are stellar. It's easier to visually interpret the track ahead because of more dynamic shading/shadows/lighting and the copilot seems a bit more accurate than last time, which is critical for breakneck driving speeds. It'll take a few days to reach a conclusion, but I'm thrilled with what I've seen so far.

The customization and crew options are there in a very mild sense, but nothing like what the OP was asking for. That's ok by me since I'm far and away more interested in the driving experience than the garage experience.
 
The track surface has a degradable technology so that it reflects previous traffic in the form of mild ruts which is kind of interesting

That is insanely cool. Running order on specials is a big thing, but simulating it must be hell, so credit where it's due.
 
RBR to this day is one of the best if not the best rally sim IMO. All the stars aligned when they've designed car and surface physics models for that game :)
 
RBR to this day is one of the best if not the best rally sim IMO. All the stars aligned when they've designed car and surface physics models for that game :)
I agree that it was solid for its time, but time has moved on in terms of technology. Not sure about 2.0 yet, but 2015 Dirt Rally is unsurpassed at this point. Coming in September is WRC 8 which looks promising, too. No other style of racing delivers on the same sense of danger and speed and I'm surprised more racing enthusiasts aren't into it.
 
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