Over time the offroad racing series Dirt has stretched its wings, in part thanks to the introduction of the more severe Dirt Rally games. Dirt Rally 2 showed off an extremely tough rallying simulation, and this has allowed Codemasters Cheshire (made up of former Driveclub dev Evolution Studios) to let DIRT 5 embrace much more of an arcade feel.
DIRT 5 tasks the player with becoming the best offroad racer around. The user will travel across the world, taking part in all sorts of different events to showcase not only that they are skilled in one form of racing, but a variety of driving styles. To make matters even more interesting, this worldwide tour means the drivers will need to test their mettle with all sorts of weather as well.
This variety of play works in DIRT 5's favor. Game modes like Stampede throw the player into full offroad nonsense, and generally DIRT 5 falls into either laps around a circuit or a point-to-point straight race. However there's great variety beyond this, such as the engaging Path Finder mode that sees the player take part in an extreme time-based rally like a more effective version of Overpass, and some that may be an acquired taste, like Sprint racing or the points-based Gymkhana.
Perhaps the best of the bunch is DIRT 5's Ice Breaker races. These are an awful lot of fun, with the drivers drifting around corners on an entirely ice-laden track. Ice Breaker races are also gorgeous to look at, particularly during night events where the trackside lighting reflects off the ice creating a vivid experience of neon-drenched shifting colors.
It helps that DIRT 5 has such a good choice of locations, crossing continents to race around Morocco, China, Italy and the United States as just a few examples. Because DIRT 5 amps up the arcade design considerably, Codemasters Cheshire has been able to take a very stylised approach to each location and track. Each country and each race option within that feels distinct, with major color palette contrasts throughout.
It’s here that DIRT 5 flexes its graphical muscles, too. Certain races are genuinely breathtaking, as the player kicks up orange dust on the plains of Greece, or marvels at the Northern Lights overhead in Norway. This is intensified by the changing conditions within races as well, as night could suddenly fall or a vicious storm could brew.
DIRT 5 is not perfect, though. Erratic physics mean that a scrape against a barrier could cause the player to spin or flip, or even get outside of the track limits occasionally, leaving them with an insurmountable gap to the car in front or time to beat. This is particularly jarring during Path Finder, where DIRT 5 finds that it struggles between the linearity of its traditional races and the route freedom required for Path Finder to reach its full potential.
This problem is further compounded by some extremely aggressive AI. Aggressive driving from opponents is a vital part of any racing game, and one of the greatest things about the excellent F1 2020 is how the AI was improved. However, the fact that DIRT 5 sees rivals immediately veering into the player at the start of a race is a bit much, particularly when the player gets scolded at the end of the race for it. Reportedly there will be fixes to the AI in the game with a patch for launch, so this will hopefully resolve this issue.
Thankfully there's lots to keep the player occupied. As detailed in our Playgrounds preview, DIRT 5 has a creation mode that is easy to use, and could provide longevity should the player base pick it up. Meanwhile, reroll options within the game's Career add replayability that may make up for a relatively short single player campaign, an issue that was also faced by Codemasters stablemate GRID.
Overall, DIRT 5 is an absolute blast. Aesthetically pleasing and with extremely fun gameplay, the title is only held back by its odd frustrating moment and a campaign that feels a little on the brief side. However, its positives far outweigh the negatives, particularly with elements that have the potential to keep players coming back for more.
DIRT 5 releases 6 November 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and for Xbox Series X and PS5 at launch. Screen Rant was provided with a PS4 download code for the purposes of this review.