Saber Porto spoke at length with Traxion.GG at Gamescom about his thrilling open-world off-road racer Dakar Desert Rally.
Following a reveal in December 2021 and pre-order bonus details earlier this month at Gamescom, a slew of details have been revealed for the upcoming Dakar desert rally.
We even played it and talked to the development team, so in addition to the gameplay trailer, here’s everything you need to know about the latest official game of the real Dakar rally raid and why it’s one of the most comprehensive off-racing games on the road in a very long time.
It is an open world racing game with a career
The game takes place in a massive open-world representation of Saudi Arabia, where the real Dakar event takes place.
Read that again.
Open world. Yes, as you can see in these images captured by Traxion.GG, open the map showing the 20,000 km2 1:25 scale environment and there are icons representing events. From what we’ve seen so far, these events take the form of races against AI-powered rivals where your finishing position counts.
Not based on time, like the actual Dakar, and not in a linear way. It’s one stage after the other, with the fastest over all stages winning. Curious.
XP is earned to unlock driver levels and Dakar Points (DP) is earned to purchase new vehicles. You can unlock classic cars by completing each event in the five vehicle classes: car, truck, bike, quad and SSV.
In a move that is just like the real event, the multiple vehicle types are all playable and visible on your routes. So in a car, for example, you see a quad competitor driving his own race.
If all this sounds a long way from a serious experience, you’d be right. But this is designed that way.
“We have decided to create progress. There is an XP that will increase in part two so we will get multiple level ups. So we decided to pack the first part, about eight to 10 hours of gameplay, to make sure there will be evolution,” Paulo Gomes told Traxion.GG, Game and Studio Director.
“We [want to] pick up someone who doesn’t need to know anything about Dakar and just wants to have fun.
“The events are set to a certain level of XP. So if you have XP level four or level five, you can play a certain level of road books. If you have XP level seven you will unlock another pack etc.”
But it is also a replica of the real event
However, in addition to the more accessible racing “video game” career, there is the more traditional – focused – Dakar aping section.
This is called the ‘Dakar Experience’ and here you complete stages based purely on time, with one overall winner in each vehicle category, with the routes inspired by those of Peterhansel, Sainz and the like.
This is unlocked when you reach XP level 25, which is what a Dakar purist is looking for.
“The Dakar Experience is what we call the simulation, the real simulation that is a representation of Dakar 2020, 2021 and 2022,” explains Gomes.
“On average you have about 12 hours of experience to complete the Dakar 2020. Then you have 2021 and 2022.
“If you want to complete it with any other vehicle type, it will be multiplied by five.”
There are three different game modes
In an effort to appeal to both those who may not even know what the Dakar is and the hardcore simulation fan, there are three distinct game modes that combine assists and rules.
1. Sports Mode
In races, each waypoint is a giant yellow beacon and arrows are sometimes displayed on the ground, similar to a race line option in a race title on a track. The navigator is largely redundant. Go where you see it, like Smuggler’s Run or a Trailblazer in Forza Horizon 5.
2. Professional Mode
The racing line and visible beacons will be removed. This is all about you and your navigator audibly guiding you to the next, invisible, waypoint.
The road book is used to give a rough driving direction, the same system as co-drivers at a real event. There is also a compass-like arrow on the top of the HUD. This is an authentic, but not impossible balance.
3. Simulation Mode
Take the pro mode navigation, but delete the saved mid-stages – in other modes you can save your progress to waypoints as some of the Dakar Experience routes take up to an hour to complete – enforce speed limits just like in real life and do not allow reset or repositioning. If you seriously damage your vehicle, it’s game over.
Only the cognoscenti need apply.
Over 150 vehicles and three seasons are included
The list of vehicles is diverse as it includes the five types mentioned above, as well as official, licensed participants and entries from the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Dakar events. You buy these with DP as you progress.
In the garage you can check them out and change the livery design if you decide to create your own team. There is a limit to the number of vehicles that can be seen here, but there is a warehouse system so you can collect and store any vehicle.
Throw in the unlockable classic rides, and there’s everything from a contemporary Toyota Hilux to a Citroën 2CV.
Create and share your own routes
If the varied vehicles, different game modes and open-world single player career weren’t enough, you can create your own routes in the map area, save them and upload them for others to enjoy.
There will be a method to download and test user-generated roadbooks, and even rate the best ones.
“What we’ve done is create a tool that allows you to cover all these 20,000 km2 area and easily place waypoints. The player can create the routes and will indicate if there is a danger zone, if not a danger zone, if there are speed limits, etc,” said Gomes.
In addition to creating routes, online multiplayer is also a feature, although we have yet to test this.
Dynamic weather and time of day
It’s fair to say that Saudi Arabia isn’t known for its rainstorms, mud, or snow — the sun shines to bake 365 days a year.
However, Dakar Desert Rally will have a full day-to-night cycle and dynamic weather in what, in our practical experience, is a very flexible system that changes on the fly. One minute the sky clears, the next flash of thunder.
The AI is crazy
Your in-game rivals are programmed to be real, which in this case means they make mistakes. Sometimes you come across a blind sand dune ridge and a truck has collided with a car and action must be avoided.
This is indicative of, well, Dakar – just how lifelike the cadence of this is over a full playthrough, however, remains to be seen.
Not only do you have to watch out for parked rivals, but also parts of their cars, which could damage your vehicle in a crash.
Should this happen, whether you hit a rock or rollover, there is a full visual and mechanical damage system, and your money is used to make repairs in the bivouac.
Steering wheels
Yes, you can use a steering wheel peripheral with Dakar Desert Rally. In fact, during our testing with a Thrustmaster TS-XW Racer, we noticed unique force feedback for each vehicle type. Motorbikes are controlled with a gamepad.
How the Dakar Desert Rally came to be
Portuguese development studio Bigmoon Entertainment created Dakar 18, in good 2018. At the time, the Dakar was set in South America and the first attempt was noble, but rough around the edges.
In the intervening years, the studio was acquired in 2019 by Saber Interactive, now part of the Embracer Group.
This allowed the team, now called Saber Porto, to ditch the annual release schedule and deliver something more in line with the original idea. Images could be seen in 2021, but the team decided to continue working for three years until the final name was finalized at the end of 2021.
Dakar Desert Rally uses Unreal Engine 4 as a base. Traxion.GG understands it doesn’t use the SnowRunner game code – under the same Saber umbrella – but the teams have shared insights.
Dakar Desert Rally Release Date
Dakar Desert Rally will be released on 4e October 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
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