It should be immediately obvious why such specialist cars are required for these types of events.ĭIRT 5’s linear-branching Career Mode features 130 events across eight types of races, including traditional circuit and point-to-point races, various challenges that pit you against mother nature, classic time trials and the aforementioned Pathfinders. You’ll face them in areas like Morocco, where you’ll find rugged track types with lots of verticality and jumps. These vehicles feature lots of suspension, grip and power to take these challenges head on. The Rock Bouncer class is essential for Pathfinder events, which feature throughout DIRT 5’s Career Mode.
Puddles grow based on how much rain is falling. The weather in DIRT 5 operates in a similar manner to the real-world. In Autumn, the trees begin turning brown as Winter sends in snow before the bright and colourful atmosphere of a refreshing Spring race. During the Summer, the Meteora region offers bright blue skies. From the hustle and bustle of Rio with its tricky corners and obstacles to the high-altitude tracks found in Greece. They’re all unique and easily identifiable from one another. Another standout of each environment is their bespoke colour palettes. That’s the beauty of dynamic cycles, it could go either way and there’s no predicting it. The race becomes progressively harder unless the weather is in your favour and it clears up. Meanwhile, the blizzardy conditions of Norway not only make it more difficult to control your vehicle, but it significantly impacts visibility. Plus, they all feature dynamic weather timelines, though some tracks like the New York East River is only frozen in Winter and therefore will not have a Summer variant. They’re all visually spectacular and fun to drive on, with unique surface types like snow, ice and mud always providing a new challenge. Each of these environments are designed to take your breath away and they each feature multiple track variations. The result of this is impressive, and it applies to all ten locations in DIRT 5, which include: Roosevelt Island (New York), Guilin (China), Lofoten Islands (Norway), Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), Arizona (USA), Meteora (Greece), Cape Town (South Africa), Dades Gorge (Morocco), Carrara Marble Mine (Italy) and Namchee Bazaar (Nepal). One minute I’m racing through Brazilian favelas on a scorching hot Summer’s day, the next I’m fighting a turbulent Winter snowstorm during the darkness of night in a scenic Scandinavian town.ĭIRT 5 features all four seasons of the year and combines them with dynamic weather conditions and a progressive time-of-day cycle to make each race come to life in new and exciting ways. The dynamic conditions in DIRT 5 are totally unpredictable.
At first glance, it appears like a relatively small slice of the full game – but once I begin to replay each of the different events, I realize how much depth there actually is. It features four tracks, all with dynamic weather scenarios and multiple vehicles to choose from.
I’ve been playing the PC version of DIRT 5 from the comforts of home through a pre-release demo build over the past week. It’s more a combination of DIRT 2 and DIRT 3 when you consider the theme, tones and overall features of this game when compared to its predecessor, but it also makes the biggest strides forward of any DIRT game in recent history. It strips back the hardcore focus of its simulation counterpart in favour of accessible and fun gameplay. DIRT 5 is an adrenaline-fuelled rally experience like no other.