How does this compare to the legendary Ratbag games?

[VonBlade]

DTR and WoO were two of my favourite games back in the day.
I realise it's unlikely but if anyone is both old enough to have played them a lot, and happens to own this, how does this stack up against the excellence of the old titles?

[MTZIGG]

Loved the ratbag games Have many hours playing them..
Lots to play with career is a blast and grind .Not the same.This is a little more arcady. Announcer is annoying at times but you can change voice or turn it off ;-)sound not so good But its cheap and worth it IMO it fills the hole.So if i rated WoO at 10 I would give this a 7.5

[Greyhawke]

Played all the old Ratbag dtr games back in the day. This is a vastly better version of those games with updated graphics and overall presentation (AI, variety of tracks, adjustability, etc.).

Yes, the AI can be an issue at times, and yes, I'm tired of being told "so spend what you got!", and no, "it isn't fair that you bump the ai, they spin out, caution flag is thrown, meantime, they bump you, you absolutely get spun out while holding your line, the field drives away/past you, no caution flag thrown".

So what? Is it perfect? Nope, but it is fun, and even moreso imho than the old ratbag dtr games. Maybe try not making late, aggressive, blocking moves on the ai? I've hardly run into any problems, if at all with the ai (except for their sometimes rocket ship like exits from a corner after being in a speed reducing extreme slide throughout the turn, haha).

To each their own, there's no right or wrong here, but I think anyone who enjoyed the old Ratbag games that has a supported wheel would find this game exceeds their expectations. Not perfect, but a lot of fun.

Playing on Advanced/Hard, 100% race length, full damage, strict/full yellows,
G-27). Progression so far has been challenging, but not impossibly difficult or grindy. For me, it's been a lot of fun so far (about 25 hours in atm).

[VonBlade]

Thanks peeps.

[Chris Rives]

Can't even begin to compare with the old RATBAG. Boring gameplay, announcer is a total ♥♥♥♥♥♥...on-track competition can't even come close to RATBAG, replays totally suck...save your money..maybe some DLC with come along to make this worthwhile. Tony Stewart should be ashamed for having put his name on this trash.

[Kemo]

If you loved Ratbag's games, this game will let you down. Extremely repetitive announcer, horrible AI, terrible physics/controls, no true cockpit view. Yeah, this game needs a ton of work.

[nitrojoe]

worse money i have ever spent
game really sucks

[TestTestTest]

Should mention:
Sprint Cars Road to Knoxville
https://store.steampowered.com/app/12590/Sprint_Cars_Road_to_Knoxville/

I think a few ex-Ratbag people were part of that.

[jdickins]

I think the game is a lot of fun, sure there are things wrong with it, maybe they will come out with some patches, It needs an outside groove, Its still nice to see a new dirt game.

[jdickins]

Originally posted by Greyhawke:

Played all the old Ratbag dtr games back in the day. This is a vastly better version of those games with updated graphics and overall presentation (AI, variety of tracks, adjustability, etc.).

Yes, the AI can be an issue at times, and yes, I'm tired of being told "so spend what you got!", and no, "it isn't fair that you bump the ai, they spin out, caution flag is thrown, meantime, they bump you, you absolutely get spun out while holding your line, the field drives away/past you, no caution flag thrown".

So what? Is it perfect? Nope, but it is fun, and even moreso imho than the old ratbag dtr games. Maybe try not making late, aggressive, blocking moves on the ai? I've hardly run into any problems, if at all with the ai (except for their sometimes rocket ship like exits from a corner after being in a speed reducing extreme slide throughout the turn, haha).

To each their own, there's no right or wrong here, but I think anyone who enjoyed the old Ratbag games that has a supported wheel would find this game exceeds their expectations. Not perfect, but a lot of fun.

Playing on Advanced/Hard, 100% race length, full damage, strict/full yellows,
G-27). Progression so far has been challenging, but not impossibly difficult or grindy. For me, it's been a lot of fun so far (about 25 hours in atm).

WELL SAID !

[Lazlow]

My 2c for anyone else who stumbles upon this thread (I'm sure the OP has already decided)...

It's not better than WoO... but with some refinement it could be. Its certainly a lot better than Road to Knoxville/Showdown at Eldora.

The main issues I have with Tony Stewart's Sprint Car Racing are:

- The cars are hella tight, and it doesn't feel like you are really leaning on that right rear wheel. You steer these cars with the throttle as much if not more than the front wheels, as you get the right rear to control the slide, bite down and power out of the corner, and right now it only feels half right.

- Power delivery doesn't feel quite right either, especially the midgets, they feel kinda weak. All three classes have pretty immense power to weight ratios, but right now you can floor a little too easily.

- Single lane racing. There's no high/low line or cushion, so keeping it fast and low is the surest path to victory.

- Banging wheels is basically like bumper cars. Being jostled or tipped over is a key characteristic of open wheel racing, and also part of the appeal. A badly timed slide job should be punished by putting you on your lid, but here you either just bump off them or spin around like a top.

- Also the damage model is fairly rudimentary - slight deformation, and some scratch decals.

- And the cars don't get muddy or dirty (a nice little touch we've had at least since Colin Mcrae Rally in 1998)


I know it sounds pretty grim, but the nuts and bolts of TSSCR are perfectly sound, you can have some really enjoyable and challenging, close, fast racing. It also has the best representation of midgets I've played outside of something like iRacing or rFactor. The ones in Saturday Night Speedway were garbage.

WoO may have some elements to it that make it feel more authentic, but its also near 20 years old and showing its age. TSSCR a great foundation to build upon, which is why I got it. After Big Ant's Dirt Track Racing Kickstarter fell horribly short, seemingly killing that project before it even got started, I'd really like to see TSSCR get a follow up.

[Robinicus]

Agree with most of the above, the game is ok but it is not nearly as good or as accurate as the Ratbag titles were.

In addition to the above:

- in addition to the power delivery comments above, it is not modeled accurately at all. You can't just stand on the throttle on a 410 sprint and keep it in a straight line

- there is no change in the track as you race; the fast line never changes

- there is no tire wear so there is no benefit to managing tire wear which is the toughest part of real dirt racing - you can basically drive like an idiot and get away with it

- the scoring system is wrong, if you run with flags on and get a yellow it scores cars at their current position rather than the last green flag start line scoring

- the restarts are wrong - they do double file NASCAR style restarts rather than single file with the cone line

- there is no preview of track conditions when in the garage before any session so tweaking any setup is just a gamble on if it was the right thing to do or not

- they call the Hot Lap sessions practice instead of accurately naming it

- there are no inner protective detractors like tires etc, you can catfish all the way to the inner fence on most tracks

Overall, it is just ok, it feels like they took their NASCAR game, rules & physics and threw some dirt on tracks instead of asphalt.

[nascarbob52]

I have been playing Ratbag DTR & DTR2 (PC) for many years. I have been using the MOMO Racing Wheel/Pedals & got excellent results from it. When I got the Tony Stewart Racing my MOMO Wheel/Pedals could not be programmed to it. Some things I could use, but could not get the Pedals to do anything. Therefore I purchased the "Thrustmaster XM Pro" and all is well. Also, my most fav program of all times "NASCAR Racing 2003" I can't use the Thrustmaster. Love the updates on racing games, but buying new equipment is costly. However, the pleasure outweighs the cost if you are into this kind of PC Racing.

[DickHeadstrong]

Why can't they fix the ratbag games to make them run? I actually got DTRSC to work on Win 7 (I think) but with CPU graphics only (It was pretty bad) because it was written to run on 3DFX engine or drivers. I still have my Voodoo II video card stashed away somewhere hoping it will be a collectors item someday. Nvidia bought 3DFX if I remember right. Seems like they would be able to update the graphics pretty easily (because they own any proprietary rights that might be involved), but I don't know ♥♥♥♥.

But I know that DTSRC was the best and most realistic game I ever played for simulating racing on Dirt. But honestly I can't even think of that many games that race on dirt.

I haven't been able to play this game to compare it. I'm still trying to get my MOMO wheel and pedals working with it. Almost had it and then I accidentally deleted the controls that navigate thru the options menus.

I guess I could have a dedicated Ratbag computer. I just have to dig out one of my super old mobo's with AGP graphics, find a copy of Win 2000, hope my voodoo card still works and that I could find the drivers for it.

[TestTestTest]

I got them to run. I had to mess around a little. I think I had to add something to the launch command. I think -nopollsound any maybe something else.

Also, if people ever need a 3dfx Glide simulator for their graphics card, there's a wrapper out there. It's been a while since I've used it. I'll have to go find the name. I think I used NGlide.