DIRT 5 is coming, and sooner than you might think. At today’s Xbox Series X event, Codemasters showed off a reveal trailer for the newest game in one of their hottest franchises. Dirt 5 looks gorgeous and is slated to hit PC, current-gen, and next-gen consoles in October. What was a bit of a surprise is that Dirt 5 will also be coming to Google Stadia in 2021.
Foreshadowing
On May 4th, I was scrolling through Twitter when a tweet from Codemasters caught my eye. The tweet is below, but it insinuated that the team was moving on from the wildly successful DiRT Rally 2.0. I clicked the link to the actual blog post and got to reading.
The blog post was everything you would expect for this sort of thing. Codemasters recapped how far DiRT Rally 2.0 has come in the past 2-3 years. The blog goes on to highlight some of the critical DLC and editions of Dirt Rally 2.0 that the team has worked on.
Towards the bottom of the blog, we get to what the tweet alluded to: the team said they have plans to continue to support Dirt Rally 2.0 but that they need to focus on the next chapter. The blog ends with Codemasters saying that whether it is their newest game that is soon to be revealed or the future of the Rally franchise, they are excited to continue making DiRT the franchise that encompasses everything they love about off-roading.
The whole blog made it sound like a game announcement was imminent, and guess what? I was right!
Xbox Series X Showcase
So there we were, in the middle of a pretty mediocre showcase, when roaring onto the screen comes a new DiRT game! It wasn’t exactly a next-gen Halo reveal, but due to the foreshadowing from Codemasters and my love of racing games, this was a pretty hype moment for me.
My initial impressions were that the game looked fantastic and that Codemasters was going for a much more fun, almost Forza: Horizon, feel with this entry. That might anger some racing enthusiasts, but honestly, sometimes you have to blow off some steam and rip a Porsche around an ice track.
The whole trailer, which you can see below, was showing off different vehicle and track types. DIRT 5 looks to bring you all around the world from muddy track racing in buggies, to door-to-door racing on ice, and even night racing. To me, that all looks like some good fun.
What does Codemasters Say?
Codemasters, of course, immediately had a section of their website ready for DIRT 5 to go live with the announcement at the showcase. In this blog, they give a little more detail that helps fill in my impressions/guesses or general questions that may arise from the trailer.
DIRT 5 will have several modes, including career, free play, and a mode that is “nothing you have seen before in a DiRT game”. Additionally, you will have a broad array of vehicles to choose from. The marketing in the blog uses the word “amplified” quite a bit, so I would assume everything about this game is meant to be big and bold off-roading goodness.
Some things I noted in reading Codemasters’ blog included the unique career mode and the number of global tracks to play.
First, the career mode has some insane voice talent associated with it. Two heavy hitters mentioned are Troy Baker and Nolan North. Additionally, we should expect several famous names from the automotive world.
The career mode will also be able to be played co-op and offline. DIRT 5 will support four-player split-screen, which is awesome, in my opinion. While playing split-screen co-op with a friend might seem cool, what about split-screen battling at over 70 unique tracks and locals? That sounds amazing, and DIRT 5 will deliver it.
We still have some time before DIRT 5 releases, but today’s reveal gives racing fans something to get excited about.
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