#Dirt 5 review series

Instead, DIRT 5 is decidedly more conventional. Even when it does have you running a point-to-point race - which isn’t uncommon, but is in the minority - you’re still racing against other drivers, not the clock, and there’s just the one leg, not multiple like they do in the real sport. And while DiRT 4 allowed players to use assists for the steering, braking, and traction that made it feel somewhat arcade-like, the game still had a decidedly serious and realistic approach.Ĭonversely, DIRT 5 is not a rally racing game, isn’t terribly serious, and can feel rather arcade-like if you want it to. Like the real sport of rally racing, most of the previous DiRT games had you driving point-to-point races on narrow courses, with you trying to beat your competition’s best time instead of racing on the same track. But while DiRT fans will hate this sequel, those into more traditional racing games (like me) will have even more fun with this than we did with, well, Project CARS 3.

#Dirt 5 review series

Just months after fans of Project CARS series were dismayed to learn that Project CARS 3 was eschewing its realistic approach for a more arcade-like one, fans of the DiRT racing series are now suffering a somewhat similar indignity with DIRT 5 ( Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC), which is replacing rally racing with more straight-forward racing (and a capital “I”). A little dirt never hurt anyone.Man, it’s not a good time to be a fan of realistic racing simulations. Join in on the rally cry and get a little (or a lot) of mud on the tires. So should you want to become a master racer to take on other skilled players online, that option is also easily available to you so long as you're willing to put in the time. Of course, the drive is what you make it. The style absolutely works in Dirt 5, offering up accessible rally racing to anyone interested in getting behind the wheel. I never lost progress or anything like that, so I imagine it was just some weird bug.ĭirt 5 is similar to Project CARS 3 with its arcade racing style - just with a larger focus on rally racing. I would get an error message saying I wasn’t connected, but everything seemed fine on my end. However, there were some odd issues with online connectivity while playing in career mode. Unsurprisingly, I was unable to connect to any online races, which I assume will be available on day one of the official launch. Sure, there may be a lot of loading screens with varying degrees of length, but none of the load times felt unreasonably long.

To be honest, there really aren’t many downsides to Dirt 5. Dirt 5 is my first real in-depth look at the series, and having spent the past weekend behind the wheel, I can’t help but feel like I missed out prior to the latest game from Codemasters. I think I was probably just too young and impatient to learn about and appreciate the type of racing strategies that are required to be successful in the games.

I’ve dabbled in some of the early iterations of the Dirt series - most notably with the Colin McRae Rally games - but I admittedly never really got into it. Dirt 5 does exactly what it sets out to do as a rally racer - along with its other less traditional race vehicles - and does so in a way that makes it easy to pick up and play for newcomers while maintaining a satisfyingly high level of difficulty for those looking to truly master the game’s racing mechanics. Dare I call it a rally cry? You bet I dare… because the game deserves it. Hear that? That’s the sound of rally racing fans everywhere shouting out in joy, as the release of Dirt 5 is finally here.