DiRT Rally (Xbox One)

At the end of 2015, the long-running rally sim series DiRT surprised everybody with a successful comeback on PCs – DiRT Rally leaves behind the glitzy image of a trendy sport seen in previous installments, and instead goes back to the series’ roots as Colin McRae Rally. And after this month, fans can get the game on PS4 and Xbox One too.

Less Is More

Unlocking more expensive rides in career mode via the game’s rather stingy rewards system turns out to be an especially arduous and time-consuming task in practice. And on top of that, you have to use your hard-won prize money to bankroll up to five mechanics – the more you pay them, the more efficient they are servicing your vehicles. The three game modes available (Rally, Rallycross, and Hillclimb) include classic events at six different locations in Greece, Wales, Monaco, Germany, Finland, and Sweden, each with several different stages. Still, a few more locations definitely couldn’t have hurt. In Rally mode (a rally is basically a timed stage event with no other drivers on the track), drivers compete in five different tournaments, each consisting of several stages/events. At the end of each season, the points you earn determine your place in the racing series – whether you go up or down in the rankings, or stay right where you are.

In Rallycross, however, you’re not out there alone, but competing for position against several other drivers in brief, but intense heats. Hillclimb takes you from the start of the legendary Pikes Peak track all the way up to the summit. This mode doesn’t really offer much variety, but it is the most challenging, since it’s a race to the top with the fastest vehicles, without any of the helpful hints from a co-driver. For custom events, all modes, vehicles, and locations are available from the beginning.

While DiRT Rally doesn’t offer split-screen competition, there are some really cool online options. Leagues, challenges, wager events, ranking lists, and (virtual) cash bonuses and more are guaranteed to keep you occupied for quite some time. Most wager events require you to have a certain vehicle before you can enter, however. I can say though that all the modes are lots of fun. The only thing I found kind of disappointing was the game’s rather sparse presentation, with dry menus and boring text pop-ups. As for things like high-polished cut scenes and awards ceremonies, they’re entirely absent.

Fun and Formidable

For advanced players on the other hand, DiRT Rally is a dream come true – uncompromising in difficulty, with formidable opponents that make getting those top rankings a real challenge. The track design is awesome – all kinds of surfaces including gravel, asphalt, concrete, snow, ice, and dirt under a variety of weather conditions are there to be tamed, throwing up challenges like narrow streets, perilous curves, cliffs, hills, and deceptive slopes that appear safe at first, but are anything but. While they do show you on the left side of the screen how far it is from the last checkpoint to the finish line, there’s no classic map of the course. Instead, you’d better make sure to listen to your co-driver if you want to stay ahead of the game.

Finally, apart from your driving skills, there’s also the question of your set-up – how the car you pick is going to stand up in various circumstances. There are tons of options to choose from when it comes to customizing your ride; for example, there’s brake bias, differential, gear ratio, shocks, suspension, toe angle, ground clearance, transmission, and more that you can adjust and improve. A test drive can lead to some pretty revealing discoveries, so you shouldn’t neglect to do one, especially since each model has its own features and its own particular feel on the road. Oh yeah, and I’d recommend using the a force-feedback steering wheel if you’ve got one, but actually a normal controller works just fine, and is well adapted to the game’s driving physics. And no matter which point of view you choose – interior, exterior, etc. – all of them give you a good overview of the action.

The only thing that doesn’t really fit in with the overall picture is the rather unrealistic collision system, which comes off more like unintentional comedy. The car often lands almost magically on the track after spectacularly flying through the air or upright after rolling over several times, as if nothing happened. One more rather perplexing thing I noticed (though it might well just be an exception) is that at the event in Monaco there was a German AI driver who placed way at the bottom of the rankings, but then the same driver finished way ahead of everyone else at the next event in Germany.

High-Horsepower Performance Graphics

Aside from some minor issues that are hardly worth mentioning, the animation is nice and smooth, and feels like 60 fps. No matter if you’re on the PS4, Xbox One, or PC, the overwhelming sense of speed is never marred by choppiness or other technical flaws. On top of that, you can watch some fantastic replays, though unfortunately there’s no way to save these – at least not within the software. The whole thing is rounded out with some really fitting music, full-throated engine noises, and other top-quality sound effects for a nice acoustic experience, like swirling dust particles, crackling snow, backfiring engines, and screeching brakes and tires.