So where’s F3UC? At least DiRT2 is fun!

briefly mentioned Forza 3 Ultimate Collection before, likely with the same motivations as other frustrated Gran Turismo 5 fans, and I’m still waiting for more information. Exactly when in Late October will they feel like sharing? There are still a few days left in the month but you can’t blame a racing game fan for feeling paranoid, thanks to the new GT5 delay and all. C’mon already. Gearbox are pretty prompt developers. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Duke Nukem Forever beat GT5 to shelves? And, while this is extremely unlikely, seeing GT5 beating F3UC out the door would just be the ultimate hilarious insult. I’m extra excited for F3UC since I skipped out on the original ages ago thinking, “What’s the point? Gran Turismo is coming out soon!!!!!!” .

Moving on, I have another racing game to fiddle with. I was presented with a copy of DiRT 2 last week and, though I’m in crunch for something else right now, I really enjoy the limited time I’ve spent with it. Right off the top I’m thrilled about three things.

1. I can be Canadian
2. I can be a girl
3. They’ll even say my name*

*Close enough, anyway. ‘Jen’ was in the female name bank and, honestly, I can’t expect too much more than that!

These are such small touches — except for the name bank. I know that takes extra work for lots of people — but they make such a difference in terms of my immediate experience. Most people probably don’t care about such features, and I call them features since they are certainly not standard, but I was instantly more eager to explore since I felt completely engaged. This was me out there, not some nameless faceless undefined space. Is this something that I’m ordinarily troubled by when racing in other games? Ok, not really. I’m too busy winning. But I find that the radio chatter in Dirt 2 really gets me excited. I know exactly when they are addressing me since they call out my name along with their praise or invitations or whatever. I can’t wait to get back to it more tonight. And, of course, I am racing with the Logitech Driving Force GT.

Thank goodness the PS3 DiRT 2 picks up the wheel automatically, too. I tried their demo on the PC when I got my first wheel and, aside from Steam not telling you that you also need Games For Windows Live on your system to make it work, you have to create your own config files for the GT to be recognized. Not cool.

Now, for no reason at all except that it’s cool, here’s Ken Block showing off on a sweet track in France.