Dirt 3 Complete Edition without GFWL and an endurance run in Grid Autosport

So there’s a new version of Dirt 3 roaming around on Steam and it’s completely devoid of the unnecessary and quite frankly, useless, Games for Windows Live (GFWL) service. For those of us on the Desktop, GFWL is just an annoyance and yet another hoop (service) you need to jump through just to play a game. Seems the folks at Codemasters agree and they’ve finally completed the work of ripping GFWL out of Dirt 3. I wish they would do the same for Dirt 2. And don’t tell me Dirt 2 is too old, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun and still looks good.

I have the "other" version of Dirt 3 so imagine my surprise when I see the Complete Edition sitting in my Steam account. Not only do we get this new edition at no charge, it comes with all the DLC. Well color me impressed and hand over that game controller because we’re going racing!

I spent a couple of hours behind the wheel racing through the forests of Finland and doing some Rally Cross driving in the Smelters. And let me tell ya, it was a lot of fun. I drove myself into a frenzy in Dirt 2, but haven’t put up nearly the same sort of miles in Dirt 3. I’m not sure why, I just haven’t. But it looks like that is gonna change. I had some serious fun with Dirt 3, but I need to work on my cornering a bit. I admit, I did some test runs in Casual mode which is damn near autopilot. You basically just steer and the computer handles the acceleration and braking. It threw me off the first time it happened. Why didn’t I fly off the track in that turn like I normally do? Why am I still alive? Oh, the computer is trying to save me from myself. Well, very nice of you, but I probably need to turn that off in a minute.

After doing some rounds in Dirt 3, I jumped over to Grid Autosport for the next season of racing. Ok, a season in Grid Autosport isn’t to be taken lightly. I decided on the Street circuit and it was nothing short of 12 races! Oh no, don’t jump into this sort of thing if you only have a couple minutes to spare. It was well over an hour a half to get through that round and I felt like I’d been put through the ringer. The racing was intense and not a single time did I come out of a race without at least some heavy front end damage. I doubt I would get away with such tactics in an online game, but you really have to hit the corner hard and ricochet off an opponent or two to gain placing. And speaking of placement, why the heck do I always have to start in last place in a street race?

However, I do like the Subaru BRZ, that’s a fun car to drive.

I managed to win the event and brought fame and glory to my team. But yet again, the co-driver is a deadbeat that didn’t win a single race let alone come in the Top 5. That guy sucks! You’re bringing the team down man!!

It was a wild ride and I’m glad to have the Dirt and Grid series back in action. I have a lot of racing ahead so we’ll see if I can keep it on the track.