Dirt 3 Diary - The Joy and Frustration of Gymkhana

Dirt 3 was released last week by Codemasters and we've already had a quick look at the new racing game, and even praised it for the variety of events that can be enjoyed as well as the multiple control inputs and difficulty levels that make the game accessible to all sorts of players.

Dirt 3 is an enjoyable racing game that tries not only to update the experiences seen in previous iterations, but also introduces some rather unique experiences, with the most important being Gymkhana.

For those not connected to the racing scene, Gymkhana is a special discipline that involves drivers going around unique locations and chaining together all sorts of tricks and maneuvers, ranging from regular drifts to doing donuts, breaking cardboard boxes or executing small jumps.

What started as a way for drivers to get more experienced with their cars quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, largely thanks to North American rally driver Ken Block, who managed to earn millions of fans by posting his Gymkhana videos on YouTube.

Now, with Dirt 3, the developers at Codemasters have managed to implement the outlandish event in the game, and the result generates some mixed reactions.

You learn Gymkhana gradually, by executing all of the tricks one at a time, and are then tasked with doing a full run around the Battersea compound, which is filled with opportunities for unique tricks.

While we praised the controls in a previous Gamer Diary, during Gymkhana events, things get a lot more challenging, even with the special trick assist turned on.

Couple that with the fact that you're usually trying to control extremely powerful, low weight cars, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Slowly but surely, however, you get the hang of the tricks and realize that all of the tracks put into Dirt 3 by Codemasters are configured to easily let you chain together tricks and earn massive points.

Before that, however, you'll find yourself restarting races quite often, especially during timed Gymkhana events.

Check out the video below to see the special Gymkhana final held at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Dirt 3 and see that even with some experience, crashes are pretty much unavoidable.