That’swhyDirtRally2.0exists.Since
its earliest outings under the Colin
McRae banner, Codemasters’ rally
series has traded on ‘feeling’ just
right. The way its cars squirm and
shift through corners, the way you
can keep them just
about under control
while they power
through turns at
strange, unnatural
angles – it’s always felt
instinctively realistic.
Dirt Rally 2.0 tells you
how it feels to be a
professional rally driver
with such fearsome assertiveness that
you simply believe it.
A rally stage is an assault on every
sense (alright, not taste or smell),
rattling the cockpit camera violently
while an audio onslaught of
complicated but crucially important
pacenotes hits you, whether you’re
ready for them or not. Force feedback
surges through your wheel, fizzing
your brain as though you’ve licked a
battery. Whether using a wheel
(preferable) or pad, vehicles behave
just as you want them to – barely
tameable, occasionally balletic in
their powerslides, and alwaysconvincing.Thiswasbroadlytrueof
its predecessor, but in truth, Dirt
Rally never felt as scary or as taxing.
The sequel uses weather effects
and time of day to create real drama.
Standing water in between muddy
tyre tracks glints under
your headlights, dust
kicks up around your
scrabbling wheels, and
each of the six rally
locations – New
Zealand, Argentina,
Spain, Poland, Australia
and the USA – asserts
its visual identity
instantly, such is the level of
environmental detail. It’s an
incredibly handsome game.
Back from the venerated spec
sheets of Codemasters’ GRID series is
team management, which asks you to
hire staff, purchase vehicles and set
liveries as you decide which event to
enter next – a rally or a rallycross
stage. This is, as if you didn’t know,
the official game of the 2019 FIA
World Rallycross Championship,
which means eight licensed tracks
spanning the globe and meticulous
event recreation across several series.
Rallycross featured in the originalDirt Rally too. Its inclusion here
doesn’t represent a leap forwards but
instead a quiet fleshing out of its
predecessor’s skeleton.
What the two deceptively
different disciplines have in common
in Dirt Rally 2.0 is that for the first
few hours, you’ll win them incredibly
easily. That’s not a humblebrag, the
AI really is that forgiving. Stack it
even twice or three times on a stage,
and you might still expect to be
towards the top of the classification
with 20 seconds of penalties.More accessible
Speaking personally, that forgiving AI
led to a sensation of ‘failing upwards’
as I took win after win without truly
mastering either car or track. It’s
probably intended as a means to
make Dirt Rally 2.0 more accessible,
but I’m not sure it quite works.
Perhaps a rally school, similar to the
one prefacing the famously
formidable Richard Burns Rally,
might have been a more effective
solution. Stiffer competition awaits
online via custom championships,
and it’s here that Dirt Rally 2.0’s
long-term appeal lies.
Dirt Rally 2.0 feels like progress.
Certainly progress in the visuals, but
also in the level of immersion thanks
to tiny touches like driving beyond
the finish line to the steward after
each stage. And progress in a sense of
overarching structure to single player
racing, thanks to the management
conceit. The only area it feels lacking,
beyond the AI, is licensing. The
Rallycross deal is great, but never has
a game more richly deserved the
WRC licence. Modders will work on
car liveries in that regard but with
recognisable cars and names this
might have been the vehicle to bring
newfanstorallying.NeedtoKNow
What is it?
A (sort of) licensed
rallysim
EXPECttOPaY
£45
DEvElOPEr
Codemasters
PublishEr
In-house
rEviEWEDOn
i5 6500, GTX 1070,
16GBRAM
MultiPlaYEr
Yes
link
codemasters.com/
game/dirt-rally-2-0/87
Simply put Dirt Rally 2.0
is the best rally sim
around building on its
predecessor’s already
fine foundations.vErDiCtThe sequel uses
weather effects
and time of
day to create
real dramaM
ost people don’t know how it feels to flick the back end
of a rally car out on the approach to a blind turn. As a
result, Dirt Rally 2.0 requires a greater level of abstract
thought to assess its ‘simulation’ cred than, say, Project
Cars 2. You might not have sent a McLaren P1 up Eau
Rouge, but you still know how a road car feels on a road. Snarling Group B
rally cars speeding across loose surface? Not so much.LandsLide vicTory
A joy ineverycorner,dirtrally 2.0 edges ahead
of its predecessor. By Phil Iwaniuk
BriNgiNg Boxy BacK Four cars that personify retro rally chic
2
Peugeot 205 gti
Remember that advert
where Grace Jones drove
one of these out of her
own mouth?3
BMwe 30 M3
evorally
BMWs haven’t been nearly
as sexy since they lost that
shark-nose front grille.4
FordSierra
coSworth
Like a shoebox with
wheels, in the best
possible sense.1
volKSwageN
golFgti
The quintessential boxy
hatchback, turbocharged.
Light and agile.DirtRally2.0
rEviEW