Shane
Gear up and grind the gravel, DiRT Rally is back.
And back in style it is to the likes of an ode to rally history and a loving nod to the man himself, Colin McRae the rally champion and who was originally the namesake of the series.
Still with the original developers, Codemasters take shotgun and offer up the most comprehensive rally game there has ever been.
DiRT Rally 2.0 comprises of both online and offline play.
First up though you will need to create your own Champion, from gender through to ethnicity, nationality and driver number.
Then you’re good to push pedal to the metal in the main modes on offer.
My Team has a set of events and challenges for online play. DiRT Rally 2.0 also features a career management system, and while your own driver career takes off you will accumulate your own crew. The main menu is where you can hire new team members or train the existing ones.
Garage is exactly what it sounds like – your available vehicles and give them a bit of a do-over or fix up.
Freeplay mode is where the action is at having pretty much all of the play modes including Free Roam and more.
Time trial, under Free Play mode, will give you the much required ‘practice’ and tuning in to how the real world physics of each vehicle behaves on gravel, mud, tar-seal and other terrains. Also a good place to skill up on some of the more trickier tracks.
It is also within the Freeplay section where you can create your own races, custom events and championships, pitting yourself against real-world players in your created race within a lobby or go against the game’s A.I. If you’re not ready to tackle an event of your own making, find one that has been created by another real world player.
Also in this mode is Racenet, a Codemaster initiative for online community based racing and new updates.
If you’ve jumped on to the Freeplay mode and think that you have what it takes off the bat – there are alot of Team Offers to be had in the officially licensed FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Still within Freeplay is the best option of all – Historic. Timewarp back to the 60s and 70s glory days of Mini Coopers, Lancia, Citroen and more – all based off the real world vehicles as they were three to four decades ago.
Moving on is the Colin McRae game mode. A fitting and loving tribute to the late World Rally Champion; Colin McRae (1968 – 2007).
DiRT Rally 2.0 does have in-game purchases, but these are optional and not a requirement to play the game to it’s fullest.
Each of the included 50 vehicles and liveries are licensed and meticulously recreated visually and physically from their real world counterparts with a unforgiving damage system.
Tracks vary as you globe trott from New Zealand to Spain to all of the four corners of the Globe amidst varying weather conditions and unexpected environmental hazards.
I’ve felt that recently real racer gamers have been left out in the dirt as far as a unforgiving realistic racing title goes in the more recent releases from the last year or so.
DiRT Rally 2.0 is absolutely the fullest most indepth Rallycross to date and is a sure bet for petrolhead gamers out there aswell as Rally fans.
Released: March 2020
Rating: G
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Genre: Racing
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
