Horizon 4 dirt looks like normal dirt but works like tarmac to me. Tarmac = no sliding for most corners for best time. Dirt = sliding for most corners for best time. But Horizon looks like tarmac all the time. Is it problem with my measuring? I mostly drive on tarmac so I could be wrong. Or some special dirt exists? Thanks for the input.
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In the older games, dirt trail was just reskined asphalt, in FH4 driving over dirt is more accurate.
What car you drive? I imagine it’s a rally vehicle
I drive everything and the problem is I use tarmac style everywhere. It doesn’t feel like rally even if it looks like it.
Powersliding on gravel is IMO bit weird on FH4. I’m way too lazy to this but I just did quite a few miles with stock Porsche 917 LH on custom Classic Endurance track, tarmac. It was surprisingly classic “Porsche” in a sense that on some curves fastest way around and to get the best is giving it more gas. It just not suitable for gravel at all, but if you could find something similar suitable for gravel, that might be one thing to help getting better picture of physics in game and its limits.
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Definitely fake. It’s a video game. By definition, everything in it is fake.
Seriously, though. Maybe do a couple test runs in the same car with the same tune, check your telemetry, and see if there’s any difference between driving on asphalt vs gravel.
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I personally believe that this surface was made like asphalt. Let me make a comparison, let’s say the grip force numbers in the games code are 1.0, and dirt is 0.5 and bumpier. The bumpier the surface the harder it also is to control due to the lack of tires keeping in contact with the dirt (unless you have rally suspension). I wouldn’t say it’s pained asphalt, but more made in a similar way with some cool effects.
Really depends on the car you choose. Some RWDs and especially old cars are nightmare to drive off tarmac.
Btw, if you want slippery dirt, just wait for rain.
Something I remembered.
Using handbrake can lead to weird situations in Cross Country at least, when driving AWD or FWD and gain forward momentum after the turn but after releasing handbrake car starts drifting sideways again. It’s IMO bit strange on gravel too.
Certain real rally technics like counter momentum turn (not sure about exact term in English) is very difficult to pull and I have seen experienced players losing a lot of speed while attempting it, even if attempt has looked technically correct. There is alternative, but for my experience that is more reliable on tarmac!
So I came to think about tarmac and dirt Drift Zones and perhaps there were tradeoffs needed to be made with physics model that hamper Dirt and CC a bit. Other explanation might perhaps lie in perspective to route and timing related things, but I don’t know easy way to confirm that. Myself, I use first person view except in Team Games.
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Exactly, that’s the problem I am looking for.
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i personally luv the dirt/gravel parking lot bit, opposite (west) of Bamburgh Castle entrance, wish it was a bigger playground for me… i just luv the sound of the tyres going sideways through the gravel.
as for dirt being real or fake, well…, does u’r normal asphalt road car behave the same on dirt roads? why do we have rally tyres & suspension as upgrade options? do u choose said cars for dirt races?
now as for races…, i would’ve preferred it, if we didn’t treat (multiplayer) dirt races the same as we do asphalt roads…, dirt turns/corners should be slid around & not be taken neatly, but as we see online, that is not the case (besides the people that lose control, lol) …so these “dirt races” don’t give me a “rally” feel (unless i play solo, yay)
That’s exactly the problem. Dirt physics looks like tarmac physics. It makes sense because Forza is tarmac based and you probably won’t do new physics for other parts. I don’t know but it looks like the case.
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Horizon 4 has my favorite dirt physics of any game. Tires lose too much grip at about 20+ slipangle, though, so a mild drift is your fastest line.
What are the other games? :o
RBR, LFS. I haven’t tried the old Colin McRae games, or physics mods in RBR.
So you see exactly what I mean, right? RBR was always OK. Dirt rally now is fine too. Or do you think RBR dirt is similar to Horizon dirt?
I recall RBR feels icy, like LFS. Horizon has more sliding resistance. I don’t like Dirt Rally.
Does it really matter?
It’s about doing your best, not about what the surface level looks like.
I have fun either way 
It’s mostly about research, not about fun with the game.
That’s the problem. RBR has dirt grip and Horizon tarmac grip. Dirt rally is great, why don’t you like it?
Yeah, if you have tarmac everywhere, it’s good to know because your driving is completely different.
People should know what the track is like these days.
Games been out for how long now…
Couple of Dirt shouldn’t be dirt i agree, doesn’t change how or what car i’ll race.
I think people get frustrated becuase they haven’t availed themselves to what the track layout is about and get slighty annoyed they picked the wrong car.
It looks like tarmac everywhere! 
It’s normal tarmac and only difference is strength of the grip. That’s how it looks like to me and I need to know if anybody has different opinion about it and other things. Normal research.