This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. People giving this game a bad review based on options that they can change, should go away.

The game is a step forward from dirt 2 in terms of graphics, sound, physics, and handling. The cars have weight shift unlike dirt 2 where you just drift to the side. The cars will react to different surface and weather types(in snow you have to step on it on turns or you'll just get stuck in the snow mid-turn). The motion-blur is a nice add-in when driving fast, games just look goofy without it now, in my opinion. The new modes are a hoot. Gymkhana takes a ton of practice and getting used to, WITHOUT the assists, obviously. Transporter, also capture the flag, is a blast in the whole DC compound. Cat n Mouse is where up to 8 people, and depending on teams(lets say 4v4), you'll have 2 mini coopers, and 6 Audi quatro's or high bhp cars to try and spin out the enemies', or protect your mini cooper all the way to the finish line of a long trailblazer course. I won't get into the other modes now because they are self explanatory, but this game is a definite buy for PC.… Expand

Great Game! Finally the controls behave almost realistic and are very responsive. I almost feel like I'm in a real car. This is a major improvement over DiRT2 and makes DiRT3 the best rally game at this time for my taste!
Also I like the streamlined menus which make navigation and continuing races much quicker than in DiRT2.
And the music is pretty good too and together with the voice acting makes for a relaxed atmosphere, much different from the macho touch in DiRT2.… Expand

If you actually read these comments, you'll find these players are complaining about very strange things. Not enough graphical upgrades? It's beautiful, don't kid yourself. Not enough simulation? Turn off the assists- it handles brilliantly. Too easy? There are 5 levels of difficulty, crank it up and tell me it's still too easy (I doubt it). This game is a lot of fun. The multiplayer portion is fantastic and provides hours of enjoyment beyond the single player portion. The car models are fantastic, the music is fitting, the sound and graphics are excellent. If you're a fan of the previous Codemasters titles, you'll enjoy this game.… Expand

Great game so far. love it. well worth the wait! Make sure your TV is set to game mode so the handling response is at its best. I noticed a big difference after changing this.

"If you want to buy a good and challenging racing game this year i would suggest you to grab Shift 2 Unleashed." - If you're writing that at the end of a review, you should probably realise that racing games aren't for you. I agree with most of the other reviewers that it's a little easy; turning everything but ABS off and setting opponent skill to 5/6 still enables me to win most races without much of a fight, but it's still a fun game. The physics make handling a little twitchier than DiRT 2, but for an 'arcade' game they're very well rounded, unlike those in the aforementioned Shift 2 which are appalling (if you want 'simulation', go play Gran Turismo 5, not Shift 2). The one thing i don't understand is why they've narrowed down the locales so much. I really miss the old, true rally games that had events in around ten different countries. The main thing that impresses me about this game is how well optimised it is; i get a steady 40~50fps at 1080p, max settings, max AA + supersampling on my Q6600 and GTX260 which are getting a little long in the tooth by all accounts. Whilst it's not running in DX11 mode, it gives you an idea of how well new cards will breeze through this game.… Expand

Best racing game since Mario Kart Wii! PROS - The physics feel great, although it's probably a bit easier then DiRT 2. But I really think that it feels very realistic and I personally like it better then DiRT 2. - Singleplayer is awesome and you have a lot of nice cars and different game types - Multiplayer is also awesome as far as I can tell for now. They even have some kind of ranking system, but I didn't play that much online so far. - Menu is easier and more practical then in DiRT2 - IT HAS SPLIT SCREEN! YAY! - Graphic looks pretty good, but I'm not a specialist there - I like the sound too, but it has maybe not that many songs CONS - takes a bit long to load a map - windows live (it's not that bad, but well....it's windows live) - no map editor so far? Cmon I need to tell something negative too I would give it a 9 because a 10 is impossible. But since some smartasses are giving disproportionate low ratings because they are buthurt, I give it a 10 :p… Expand

TL;DR: I'm completely baffled by anyone holding up Dirt2 as superior, either in graphics or gameplay. Dirt3 isn't dramatically better on either point but it is a step forward for both. If you enjoyed Dirt2 you should get your money's worth from Dirt3--though there do appear to be a few who manage to disagree.

Graphics--the Good: It's the Dirt2 engine with environmental effects on top. There's a bit of polish all around--the cars look appreciably nicer, and the water is better--but nothing dramatic. Kudos to Codemasters on optimizations though--while everything looks nicer, I get the same frame rate I did in Dirt2.
--The Bad: The overall color palette and set pieces are more subdued--compared to Shibuya or London in Dirt2, Finland's forests look bland and repetitive. Given that there are fewer locations there's less variety in the atmosphere that the added environmental effects don't entirely make up for--they lost a bit of the spice from the previous game.

Content--the Good: All the racing types from Dirt2 are here, though Rally and Gymkhana have a bit more prominence than the other modes. Between driving in rain/snow having more cars to choose there's a goodly bit more variety in driving conditions.
--the Bad: sure there's more spice in the driving options, but less areas to drive in.I don't mean the tracks--there's definitely more road to drive on--but they've been crammed into fewer locations. The menu navigation isn't nearly as neat as the trailer from Dirt2 but that's not a dealbreaker. Gameplay--the Good: with the difficulty set to advanced, the handling is almost identical to Dirt2. The myriad of driver assists they added made this game way more accessible--for kicks I had my grandpa play it on casual, and to my surprise he enjoyed it. The new weather conditions are a blast to drive in. Gymkhana plays out like Tony Hawk with cars and is a fun addition to the franchise. The flashback system no longer has a delay when activated which makes it much more fluid to use.
--the Bad: I'm struggling to think of things they've made worse. Load times are as frequent and as long as in Dirt2--anyone making claims to the contrary has their rose-colored glasses on. Difficulty occasionally too random--I've seen the fastest CPU time fluctuate as much as 7s between playthroughs of the same track. If you're getting this expecting a simulation you might be disappointed, but as a fan of the Dirt series they've raised the bar in nearly every category.

Dirt3 isn't a big upgrade, but they took kept the fun from the previous game and added some new modes, content, and weather twists. It doesn't have the wow factor for a perfect 10, but it's certainly got enough improvements to be worth my money.… Expand

After playing Dirt 2 for over 70 hours both online and off, I was very excited for Dirt 3. I must say, I am not disappointed. Dirt 3's visuals are a step above its predecessor and its physics are also a great improvement. I played this game with a Logitech Drive Force GT with 540 degrees of rotation. Though the game just game out, it runs great and is very stable. There are still plenty of annoying bugs which Codemasters will probably address (though they usually stop fixing things after a while like F1 2010's 7 month old pit issues). I do not like the new menu styling. The old walking around menus like that of Dirt 2 and F1 2010 were far more immersive. There is also less interaction between you and your AI couterparts apart from your boring teammates. It was fun talking to real American rally drivers in Dirt 2, but in Dirt 3, you really only talk to Ken Block (haters gonna hate).

Criticisms aside, Dirt 3 is a step in the right direction. The tracks are not real ones, but Codemasters did a great job with the custom tracks they did make. Although, the tracks are quite wide which may be great for less skilled players, but hardcore WRC sim fans want slimmer and longer tracks (longer tracks run around 3:00). The physics are much better than Dirt 2. You can actually spin out and lock your brakes. However, it seems like the cars brake and grip the road too much compared to their realistic counterparts.

Verdict: You liked Dirt 2, get Dirt 3. If you like rally, get Dirt 3. Do not expect it to be a sim, but it does have great physics and a lot of fun.… Expand

Honestly - If anyone says this game is less realistic/uglier/shorter than Dirt 1 or Dirt 2, he never played that game. Dirt 3 gave me a lot in the matter of car racing. 1) Rallies which are awesome and there is much more emphasis on them in this part. Off course, some of them are short, but that just encourages me to make videos from them and brag. Graphics - outstanding! This is the best looking PC racing game in the matter of environment effects and lightning. Some people say that graphics are not that good - well, I play this game at 1920x1080, DX 11, 8xCSAA, everything set to ultra or high (if it can't be set to ultra) -> game looks purely great. Handling: set your wheel how it should be set! Not only in game, but in profiler too. I did that and now it is much more realistic than Dirt 1/Dirt 2, You just have to know what You're doing with your hardware. Forget about pads and keyboards if You expect realism - don't be a hypocrite! Sounds of the engines could be a bit better, but for me that's the only flaw of the game. The variety of cars, tracks and locations is just about right for having months of fun. You can't tweak your car too much (there are only five settings) but they have huge impact on how the car is driven (that's the second thing people who demand realism should set right, you won't get a proper handling out of the box and that's actually good, cause it forces you to tweak). All in all this game is really amazing, I had no problems installing it, I don't see any bugs, I have 45 (constant and stable!) FPS when playing on settings which I already mentioned and value which is comfortable to play here is around 33-35 FPS. All of this make this game best optimized game ever plus a great and beautiful racer for all WRC fans, but also for people who love too see crazy drifting and barrell jumps. Everyone can find something for themselves here - I did too. You just have to keep looking and know how to set certain things. 9,5 out of 10 with hopes for 10/10 after some sound mod is made :)… Expand

Once set up properly everything about this game is incredibly excited, Dirt 1 and 2 did not give me that much excitement, but this one is just crazy. With a proper wheel and setup then you are ready to rock, or be rocked, either way is fun in Dirt 3. The flashback feature is entertaining as well, especially when you are driving with your friend. I have to stop here now and go back to get some DiRT!!… Expand

Great graphics, sound, interface design, game play solo and multiplayer, and last but not least, the price is right. What's not to like? It's not a sim. Translation equals NOT BORING. It's fun!

Addictive fun game! Beautiful graphics, awesome sound and music, multiplayer modes, customizable difficulty settings. Many cars and tracks you can choose from. There is no option to turn of tutorial voice messages (which is very annoying) and triangle theme menus are little strange but rest of the game is truly excellent. Great arcade racing game which every casual player will appreciate.

Massive amount of variety in terms of car choice, tracks, locations and events, so much available for anybody to practice their skills on. The graphics are incredible, even though I play the game on a 800x600 resolution. Gameplay, top class, very highly engaging, although I do find car control tricky at best at some moments. Despite this, i find so much fun in hurtling down narrow passes and drifting round tight bends. An excellent game and well worth the time and money.… Expand

Graphically, this game is extremely inefficient. DiRT 2 on Ultra is equivalent to this on High without Ambient Occlusion. The Medium preset in DiRT 3 is what the Xbox 360 version looks like. My PC crashed within 2 minutes of track time on Ultra, which doesn't happen after 2 hours on BF3 on High! Anyway, the only graphical difference between the 360 version and PC is the more consistent environmental textures. Cars look no different really, apart from more reflections. The green tint can be annoying as well. However, that's the only downside to this game. Achievements are good, career is of perfect length and variety and multiplayer is even more rewarding than DiRT 2, and more balanced and polished. This really is an ultimate package. I'm glad that there is now full controller support for PC. You can navigate menus easily and most controllers will work with the game. This is a racing game for everyone. There is rally, rallycross, gymkhana, hillclimb, one-on-one crossovers and landrush. You really can't go wrong. There are now assists so you can cater the experience to suit you. Vehicle set-ups are simplified like in DiRT 2 but now the game will automatically choose the optimal even if you don't change anything. Only gear ratios are constant, but they're more personal preference. Anyway, apart from the inefficient and taxing EGO 2.0 game engine, which quite evidently isn't very good given how demanding games like this, F1 2011 and F1 2012 are for very little eye candy gain, it's still just as good on PC as it is on 360. The lack of improved graphics is dissapointing, but that shouldn't be enough to stop you buying this amazing game. You can read my 360 review of why this is the case if you want to know more. In short, it's the variety of game modes, variety of cars, complete and near-perfect multiplayer and a well-paced DiRT tour along with polished time trial leaderboards. What more could you want?!… Expand

Great racing sim. Plenty of different environments and different tracks to race on. Gymkhana is a bit over-emphasized in my opinion. I prefer DiRT 2 better.

Same half-@$$ coding as all of CodeMasters' recent games. Major glitches that frequently cause the program to stop responding, and even more frequently stops interfacing correctly with my Logitech G27. Furthermore, it doesn't save my control configuration, so every time I launch the program I have to select the G27 as my controller. It seems that the stability of every codemasters release is worse than the last, while the graphics are slightly better. I said I would stop purchasing codemasters games after losing 20+ hours of my time after a Dirt 2 save file corruption, and then another 20+ hours after an F1 2010 save corruption. I've had it up to here, and will no longer be supporting this crap-fest company that doesn't know how to do their job. Just another milked franchise by a sold-out development team.… Expand

Great Game, one of the best rally games available.

I love cars and racing games. The Colin McRae series of games were a long standing franchise that went from strength to strength. Codemasters did not kill off the rally game entirely when Colin McRae passed away, and now the game is focused towards the Gymkhana legend Ken Block.

Now in its 3Rd instalment, I'm happy to report that Dirt3 is now my favourite rally game of all time.

First of all, let me tell you about the graphics. I've played the PC version of the game, and I have to stay that its absolutely stunning. Whilst it isn't exactly a step up from Dirt 2 in this department, its not exactly ugly either. The game has beautiful lighting, the cars are well modelled and very good textures throughout. Just to show the attention to detail, on the Battersea DC Compound, even the buildings surround it are accurate to its real life counterpart. Only on rare circumstance did I notice a couple of poor textures here and there but unless you are standing still next to it, you won't notice.

Sound is very good too. Engine sounds are varied and there is a wide variety of music on the soundtrack. The guy and girl that help you throughout the tour can get a bit annoying at times but the positives outweigh the negatives.

Game play wise there isn't much to complain about. There's a wider choice of events than ever and a wide variety of vehicles to drive. Everything from a 60's Mini Cooper to an insane Pikes Peak car and pretty much everything in between. The handling is decidedly arcade for what the developers claim to be finely tuned by Mr Ken from the Block himself, but heck at least the cars don't handle terribly. If you are after a simulation rally game, this isn't for you and you should stick to Richard Burns Rally for that.

I am happy to report that I've played this game several times, sometimes up to 3 hours at a time and it hasn't crashed once. This is in Direct X11 mode, not using the Rapture3D audio and using the Steam version of the game. It also runs consistently above 60 frames per second and this is with all settings on their highest. So far theres little reason to buy the DLC unless you love your cars. Often the cars available for DLC aren't the best ones to race with.

I haven't played any on-line features yet so I cannot tell you from my own experience what its like. However this game offers the usual race modes as well as game modes associated with First Person Shooters such as Capture the Flag and Infection.

Hope you've enjoyed this review and I give this a 9 out of 10.

Postives: Less use of the 'X' Games Career mode is at least half rally based Good graphics, Good sound

Negatives: Handling is not for people who like simulators Graphics are pretty but not a step up from Dirt 2 The guy and girl that talk in career can get quite annoying

Test system:
Intel Core i5 2500k 4.0ghz, 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz, Nvidia Geforce GTX 470, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit… Expand

Es el primer juego de rally que juego y me parece exelente, con una jugabilidad muy parecida a la de Grid lo que lo hace muy atractivo para personas que jueguen con controles analogos. Tambien es de destacar la gran mejora grafica con respecto al Dirt 2

Lo recomiendo

Quite short really but I really enjoyed it. Not a game for playing to complete but the perfect game to dip in and out of casually. Driving genuinly enjoyable. I find few games that are enjoyable as a casual player and this is definitly one of them. , nothing quite beates drifting through norway in a mini :)

Really fun driver to get in a have a blast. Dirt 3 does not take itself too seriously and is a little more arcade than simulator - this means more fun, less frustration. Driver assist means less competent drivers can still enjoy it. Visuals are great and sounds are good. I played with a 360 controller which worked well. Gymkhana can be a little frustrating but turns out fun when you get the hang of it. Maybe would be better if it wasn't required to progress though. Highly recommended… Expand

This is an amazing looking game. You can't be failed to be impressed with the graphics on the PS3, and I'm guessing that stays true across all platforms.
Not only are the environments totally interactive and destructible, but the vehicles also take a serious and detailed beating.
Looking forward to the lauch of Dirt Showdown. I've been participating in the contests over at AMD Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/AMD/app_370166086361523 and on http://www.facebook.com/RelianceHVG . You guys should check it out, they've got some cool giveaways.… Expand