Dirt 3 - playability / twitchy steering - 360 controller - tips for solving

[BustedUpBiker]

I used to play Dirt 3 back in the day with a Logitech MOMO racing wheel, and it was tremendous fun. Having now picked up the complete edition in the Steam sale and coming close to uninstalling it due to the twitchy over-sensitive steering with a wired Xbox 360 pad, I thought I'd share my thoughts for those who also find the controls initially offputting.

TL;DR: Turn off aids except ABS and stability, play a time trial, try my suggested settings, experiment to suit your driving style, and practice. AND PRACTICE SOME MORE.

There are many opinions on the ideal settings under Options\Controls\Advanced Wheel Settings. At the end of the day, with a 360 pad the game will always be more challenging than with a wheel. Here is the process that worked for me in finding a controller setup to match my driving style:

Start a time trial on asphalt, which will exacerbate the nervous controls. I suggest a short Monaco rallycross circuit which can be memorised quickly so you can concentrate on your input. IIRC the first circuit has a long off camber uphill turn, two high speed chicanes, and a hairpin - an ideal mix. Even with a 4WD car, you can end up spinning very easily, especially on the chicanes. This is usually due to upsetting the balance of the car during cornering i.e. sudden, rushed steering and throttling causing rapid weight transfer. In a kinda-arcadey pseudo-sim like Dirt 3, this matters a lot. There are two factors to consider when striving to make this game playable on a 360 pad - control options and car setup.

CONTROL OPTIONS

Personally, I go with the following:

- Steering Deadzone - 20% - negates some of the twitchiness / variations in pad quality
- Steering Linearity - 10 (max setting) - the most contentious setting of all, I find maxing this out makes for smoother input, especially when holding a line around a long bend and adjusting your line mid-corner
- Throttle / Brake Deadzone and Linearity - 10% and 100% respectively
- Saturation - for steering, throttle and brake, 100%

What do these options do? Well:

- Deadzone % is how much you move the stick / trigger before your input is registered. The closer to zero, the more nervous your car will behave. 360 pads are of variable quality in my experience e.g. if your car pulls left or right by itself, increase the deadzone to compensate.
- Linearity is how much your input is spread across the range of the travel of the stick. In theory, for a 20% deadzone with maxed linearity, this means that for the first 20% of input nothing happens, and the entire range of steering is then spread from 21% of travel to the limit of the stick. In other words, a 100% linearity is a 1:1 mapping of your input on the wheel / pad in relation to the steering in game. If you set linearity to, say 10%, then you can expect an almost digital control response as if you're playing with a keyboard. On my own pad, 20% deadzone starts steering with the slightest stick input, so I effectively get what feels like a 1:1 mapping.
- Saturation % is the sensitivity, or how quickly / slowly your input is registered. If you lower this, the steering is artificially slowed by the game i.e. if you flick full left, the game will effectively drag out the input as if you moved the stick slower than you did. With throttle and brake, reducing saturation can therefore combat wheelspin and locking up for the ham-fisted. Personally I leave this at 100% so I feel more connected with the car and only have myself to blame when I get it wrong.

CAR SETUP

This is crucial in Dirt 3. Due to the aforementioned weight imbalancing when playing this game "harshly" rather than "smoothly", a good setup is required to reduce body roll and maintain grip. Although all settings can matter, IMHO the two that absolutely must be altered are Downforce and Differential. Higher downforce "glues" you to the road more, and a looser differential means less oversteer under power (i.e. when the back of the car slides wide).

I usually set downforce 1 click towards high and differential 1 click towards loose. The increase in downforce reduces top-speed slightly, but the increased grip more than makes up for it, enabling quicker times. The looser differential makes for a more controllable car which is less prone to spinning if you panic steer and on corner exit.

I leave suspension in the middle for gravel for a balance between travel and body roll, and stiffen it a click on asphalt to reduce body roll. Avoid kerbs, especially at speed, so as not to upset the car. Ditto for ride height (i.e. lower 1 click on asphalt) for the same reasons.

I also tend to leave gear ratio and brake bias in the middle, for balanced acceleration / speed and stability under braking respectively.

Use my recommendations as a starting point, but please experiment to match your driving style. Make ONE change at a time, do a few laps, pause and change if necessary, repeat. Half an hour or so messing with the settings will increase your understanding of the physics model and make you quicker in the long run.

FINAL ADVICE:

Dirt 3 clicked for me when I played it a little more conservatively - don't hammer into corners like the last of the demon late brakers then try to exit with the throttle pinned to the floor and the stick rammed to the stop - you will more than likely come a cropper. Build up to it. Measure your throttle and steering, be smooth and progressive with your inputs. It may seem like you're off the pace at first, but if you start slow and smooth you will naturally increase in speed with practice. My quickest times are my calmest races - take your time, focus, plan ahead and anticipate your ideal racing line and before you know it you will be riding a flow into first place and drifting like a legend. Good racing games like this let you get lost in them, seamlessly nailing each and every corner and making it look easy. Turn off assisted steering / braking / throttle, take your time, be patient, and you will naturally build in confidence and get hours of satisfaction out of the game.

[BustedUpBiker]

Great advice - I agree, I too find it best not to try and counter-steer to correct your line mid-corner - let the car centre itself and correct your line with your speed - otherwise you'll end up in a death wobble of a tank slapper and up the nearest tree. Less is definitely more when it comes to inputs :)

[FuchsiaShock]

Thanks for this, I was on the verge of asking for a refund for it!

What worked for my wired 360 pad:
Deadzone 10% (just enough to ensure it isn't steering without my thumb on it)
Saturation 90% (just dropped enough to take the edge off sudden thumb flicks)
Linearity -10
Throttle and brake left as 100% saturation and 0% deadzone because they work as is.
Then being VERY gentle and measured with the controls..

Seems so weird to me this is basically a 360 game, you'd think they'd get the controls set up right for the pad without tweaking.. They managed ok with Showdown. Mind you, I had similar issues with Grid, so...

I love how pretty the graphics are even on my crappy laptop tho.

[Spuds The Mann]

Thank you for making this post. A while back, I started messing with the settings and stopped playing the game because it was too "twichy." I enjoy the Forza games and their control style, so finding this was very nice.
I just tried your recommended settings and I already enjoy it more.
Thanks again!

[BustedUpBiker]

Thanks guys, appreciate it, you're welcome. In my opinion this game is a classic and deserves to be enjoyed despite what can be inaccessible controls.

I was used to playing Colin McRae and TOCA on keyboard so back then it seemed like less of a transition. These days it seems almost like a digital input unless you're careful.

Also I had trouble finding one guide that explained each type of setting and its effects, and many of the guides contradicted each other, so I aimed for a kind of cheat sheet here. Pleased to see it has helped a few people over the last year

[dro]

Gonna give this a shot, the controls are twitchy as hell. I'm pretty used to it but I don't remember dirt 2 being this way.

[nitro]

Thank you, very helpful!

[Vallon]

I use the keyboard to steer which makes control difficult as it's digital input and not analogue. So even changing the control settings doesn't help a lot.

[aK]

did some update in the recent years ruin the cockpit visuals and steering? i played this back in 2017 and don't remember it being this awkward.

...a twitchy steering on keyboard
(same as the one when you connect an uncalibrated wheel)

[IronRichTea]

https://discord.gg/46KweYnegD

[Pretentieux]

Weird-feeling steering was fixed for me simply by enabling VSYNC. Might be worth trying for some of you.