On the multiplayer front, another major checklist item made the cut-four-player split screen. Necessary side items like real-world sponsors make the cut as well and add a little bit of depth to the experience. Dirt 5 makes sure to work the advertised 70 routes over 10 locales into the story smoothly, too. There's a meaty career experience here that players won't take down in short order. The real boon is the open-ended nature of progression, as players aren't locked behind major completion requirements of past events to enter a multi-branching set of future events.Īnd the story gets a smooth rollout via quips from the well-acted DIRT Podcast, which moves the narrative along and gives a greater sense of purpose to what would otherwise just seem like a random set of events in a typical racing game career mode. It's pretty standard stuff as far as "story" goes for a racing game.
But the tradeoff is unforgettable, varied and fun locales that play into the general vibe so well that little rough spots or lacking areas feel like nitpicking. On PC, pushing 100-plus frames smoothly isn't an issue.Īs a whole, Dirt 5 probably won't go down as the best-looking racing game of the last year or two. Players can tinker with performance settings to get variable FPS rates, though we'll have to see how it plays on next-generation consoles. While Dirt 5 isn't big on cutscenes, it does have some notable heavyweights in the audio department-as any game with Troy Baker and Nolan North playing key roles should. Tires sliding over muddy patches and splashing into submerged parts of the track sound realistic, and on drier tracks, gravel can be heard pinging off a vehicle's undercarriage, as two examples-and it all heavily plays into the immersion.
More impressive is the audio feedback as they travel over various surfaces. Audio-wise, as expected, each class of vehicle sounds different. So too does a smooth soundtrack that plays from the menus to when a race gets started. Whether it's blitzing across ice, skidding through mud or using bigger vehicles to hammer away at the track and opposition, everything about the game feels distinct on an event-to-event basis.īut the whole unique style of each locale, amplified by impressive weather systems and track alterations as an event unfolds-plus differing event start times-plays into the engaging, stylistic vibes of it all. The sense of speed isn't so pronounced here as it might be in other games, but on a straightaway, while distancing oneself from the pack, there is some slight camera shake and controller vibration.Īnd it's that feedback that makes the dynamic weather system and track changeups in real-time so much fun. It feels like track degradation is still in and has an impact, but it is hardly the race-altering feature it was in 2.0. Pulling off major drifts over a variety of different surfaces and weather circumstances is a thrill, as an arcade experience should be. It's easier to round corners of any degree, bouncing off other cars isn't as punishing and one little mistake isn't ending an entire run.
That isn't to say some of that still isn't present, but handling is certainly more arcade-like than Dirt Rally 2.0. While the previous game was more simulation-minded and featured a ton of micromanagement in the form of sliders, team systems, tire grips for various surfaces and beyond, Dirt 5 tones it back. Dirt 5 doesn't shy away from a much looser feel compared to 2.0.