Played some Dirt 1 tonight just to see if I was seeing it with rose tinted glasses. Definitely am not.
Content wise, it shits all over the last two Dirt games. The tracks are better, the variety is better, the interface is much more slick and the game has next to nil dudebro. Even the use of colours in the tracks themselves with foilage looks more natural.
Dirt 3 certainly has the best technical prowess; the physics feel better, the car inertia feels more involved and the visuals are just amazing over all but the content of the last two games is just all over the place; it's like the series doesn't know what it wants to be any more.
Taking the technical know how of Dirt 3 and mixing it with the content of Dirt 1 would be absolutely perfect. I'm hoping that is the direction Codemasters eventually go with their off road racing games because currently if there is a Dirt 4 or some sort of spin off, if it goes the dude bro path again I won't be getting it. Dirt 3 is the final straw for me on this shit.
Great game technically, an absolute mess on the content. Gimme Dirt 1 like content with Dirt 3 technical aspects and I'll be happy as a pig in shit.