When I'm ruining my friends' casual conversations about games by being a crushing bore, I often praise the 'Physicality' of certain games, usually attributed to their respective engines (RE Engine, Decima, Ego, Northlight).
When I say 'Physical', I'm referencing the look and feel of material and weight, the influence on player feedback to present a tangible space. Often it's in the little details - recently I was mesmerised by the way neon street light reflected upon the metal of Jill's handgun in R3Make.
Dirt Rally (as any good rally game should be) is extremely 'Physical', in its sense of weighted movement and resistant feedback, but also in the very literal sense of what it's doing to my body. I'm convinced this game is giving me cobblestone abs, shredded glutes, and Kenshiro finger strength as my body twists, contorts, and contracts harmoniously while wrestling my metal round meticulously rendered gauntlets of no remorse.
When I'm holding my breath, buttocks clenched, toes curled into the carpet to anchor my stiffening torso as I hammer the brakes a second late on a hidden hairpin, I'm THERE, MAN.
The presentation is spartan, the game is mechanically ruthless.
This is 100% pure rally simulation for masochists, and I love it.