There are sprawling, dusty hillsides lush with vegetation, claustrophobic quarries strewn with deep, gray puddles, and an impossibly-blue Hudson River blanketed in ice, with the shores of Manhattan visible in the distance. The mystifying track design definitely helps Dirt 5’s appearance, though. It’s not the friendliest game toward less-powerful rigs, although it is a cross-generational title so that isn't terribly surprising. There is a bit of stuttering, particularly early in races where the entire pack of cars is in front of you, kicking up mud and filling the screen with all sorts of carnage, but things definitely smooth out once you make your way to the front. I tested it on my PC, which employs an Nvidia GTX 1070 GPU and Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, and the game generally looks very good, and runs between 50 and 65 frames per second at 1440p on medium-to-high settings. Any given track might only contain one jump per lap, so this can quickly become a point of frustration for players intent on 100-percenting each individual contest. However, the objectives themselves can be a bit ludicrous, like making contact with other cars while airborne. This means you need to strategize a bit throughout the course of a race, and that generally keeps you on your toes. I find in-race objectives fun, as they give you another consideration within events besides simply winning.

(The roots of this design can be traced, once more, back to Driveclub.) This has quickly become a hallmark of Codemasters’ less serious racers, having also appeared in Project CARS 3 earlier this year. Within individual events, you’re also tasked with completing objectives - say, trading paint with three cars, or staying in the lead for a certain distance. It's engaging enough for players of all stripes, without being so demanding that it’s off-putting to more casual players.ĭirt 5's handling is engaging enough for players of all stripes, without being so demanding that it’s off-putting to more casual players. A little bit more weightiness and road feel might have been nice, but this is still a very fun drive. Don’t expect the depth and nuance of the Dirt Rally games here cars in Dirt 5 are generally far easier to control, and you’re fighting with the course and other competitors far more than you’re struggling to wrangle your machine. You’ll want to follow the ruts and treads of the competitors ahead of you, as they tap into the deepest layer of the road surface for optimal grip.Īll of this adds some variability to the handling model, which is quite forgiving, all told. These conditions also have an effect on vehicle handling, meaning that when the snow begins to fall, changing direction and maintaining traction through the corners becomes more difficult. Dirt 5 does well to continue that legacy. Before Dirt 5, the folks at Codemasters Cheshire also gave us Onrush and Driveclub - two games with benchmark weather effects for the genre.

An idyllic sunset might give way to an unexpected torrential downpour as night falls a blizzard might clear up, revealing the asphalt underneath the snow as the sun emerges and bakes the ground. Almost every campaign event in Dirt 5 ends in a completely different place from where it starts. If none of that sounded hardcore enough, you’ve also got a dynamic weather system to contend with this time around, which transforms races from beginning to end. Here’s where those Motorstorm cues - a title this very team worked on when it belonged to Sony many years ago - truly surface. This is perhaps best expressed in the game’s Stampede races and Path Finder time trials - races on routes that are extremely treacherous, with very rough and rocky terrain and absurd elevation changes. That encompasses everything from conventional rally cars to trucks, buggies and other vehicles designed for the most intense off-road racing imaginable. There are no pace notes or service area stops wheel-to-wheel racing is the focus. The majority of events, aside from the occasional Gymkhana excursion, take place alongside other competitors. While there are point-to-point stages on offer here, there’s no conventional rally. However, Dirt 5 throws a far more varied gamut of events at you than ever before. For the most part though, there's very little to do when you're not in the car. There's the occasional 'Main Event' that's said to be a bigger deal than the rest, and a weak sponsorship dynamic to career progression. Dirt 5 pretty much just throws you into an events tree, and you progress through it at your will.

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