These are some tips for new or returning drivers to DiRT Rally 2.0 to help you through those first few hours exploring the game. I don't think I'm alone in having picked up this game years ago really excited to experience rally racing, to drive and listen to my favorite cars, but never progressed much or felt motivated to learn after crashing over and over. It is a tough game but it is also really cool and rewarding so try these tips out. I won't talk about technique BUT I think in the end we all bought this to have fun and this will help with that. WIP Things to do to have fun For new players or those willing to give DiRT another shot, I am emphasizing having fun not just for entertainment but because this is a crucial part of learning. When playing this game we're learning new skills. And when we're learning a new skill it's important to have some results, some wins, quickly. We're feeling good and we're motivated to come back for more challenges. I think my first and most important tip will be unpopular so I'm qualifying a lot but.. this tip is 🎉🎉🎉USE THE ASSISTS🎉🎉🎉 There's a lot up against new players to this game. For one the default setting is no assists which makes no sense to me. In any sim racing game you have some assists turned on by default or even better there's presets for beginner, advanced, etc to give you an idea of how to progress. To use this tip take these steps: Try out a few races with no assists. When you crash, take note of why you think that happened. Before the next race go to Options > Game Settings > Assists A rough guide to which assist might help your particular struggle: *You're braking hard coming into a corner, slowing down to make the turn, but instead of turning in you slide off a cliff --> Anti-Lock Braking System *You're trying to leave the starting gate, but instead you spin your wheels a bunch and your out of control car crashes into a bystander --> Launch Control *You're so focused on throttle, braking, and steering that you always forget to change gears --> Set Transmission to Automatic or Semi-Auto if you're feeling brave *You slip and slide everywhere, your car is a tree magnet and you're helpless to stop it --> Stability/Traction control Yes those are different systems which overall help to keep your wheels from spinning unnecessarily and keep you moving or stopping in your intended direction. I haven't tested what specific effects each has. Turn on the assists you need but don't set them all to 5 which is the most help. Start with 1 or 2 and see if that gets you to the finish line. If not add more next time but progressively I do not condone/suggest turning on off throttle breaking. That is actually just lazy and if you don't learn to brake you won't get anywhere. Well actually you'll get off the track quick right into some bystanders ouch At this point your goal is to finish some races. You can get some further assists like stick to low power FWD cars, turn off fatal crashes, stick to daytime events with good weather. 🎉🎉🎉SOME OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE A GOOD IDEA FOR HAVING FUN GETTING STARTED BUT IT'S DISORGANIZED AND PROBABLY NEEDS MORE DETAIL🎉🎉🎉 Play the Colin McRae DLC first. These are fun missions with cars that you can crash as much as you want without having to pay for repairs. If you're struggling with a mission set the difficulty to 1. I won't tell anyone. This still requires that you finish the race with a decent pace and no crashing so good job! More stuff.. Things to do to NOT have fun There's some habits we have that will prevent you from progressing and probably just turn the game off and play Forza. 🎉🎉🎉DO NOT RESET OR RETIRE FROM RACE AFTER A SIMPLE CRASH🎉🎉🎉 Trust me I know the feeling. You think you will reset the race and next time you will show that stump that flipped you who is boss. You will avenge your co-driver who flew out the windshield all because of that dumb decapitated tree. Plus you will finally get your really good lap time with 0 errors. But this is not how it works when playing DiRT Rally your first few times. What will happen is, crash again at the same spot or crash at a stump even earlier than it so now you have multiple foes. Fast forward a few hours and you've driven over the same patch of dirt dozens of times and now you want to turn the game off. When you crash but you are able to continue, you have to choose continue. Recover your car, repair the blown tire, whatever you need to keep rolling. By continuing and not getting stuck we relieve stress, keep focus, see some other parts of the map that may excite you or make you feel good. Always fun to floor it down a straight. Instead of coming up against the same obstacle again and again you will see slight variations of it and will improve your overall driving. Yes you lost time and probably won't make podium for this race but you can always come back later. 🎉🎉🎉DO NOT USE THE THIRD-PERSON CAR CAMERAS🎉🎉🎉 Don't use the near or far chase cam. You may think that it's helping you see what's around and stay on the road. But in my opinion these views are both distracting and misleading. Distracting because you're focused on your car and what's immediately around the car -- this will get you into the trees fast. Remember we are always looking to the horizon and to the next turn, this is how we keep up with the road. And misleading because it makes it look like you have way less room than you actually do. It can feel really claustrophobic not fun. I like the in-front-of-car cam best. It's a very clear view and with the ground so close your sense of speed is huge -- very fun. General Racing Tips you may not know Fast drivers who don't crash are always looking to the horizon and the next maneuver. They don't watch the road in front of them because they already saw it before. They saw it and planned how to navigate it. While they are navigating it with their car, their mind and eyes are looking ahead for the next. This is why the codriver is important. He is feeding you your next step in words because in our case of rallying we can't always see far ahead. You may be used to thinking a steering wheel is how you turn a car. Here you have to know there are three tools to getting your car where you want it to go: steering, throttle, braking. You have to use all together