Codemasters' DIRT series has gained quite a reputation since the original game's launch during the PS3/Xbox 360 era. Most of all, it's also been the flagship series for developer Codemasters' evolution in the industry, going from a relatively small studio to receiving the backing of Microsoft - and that's where we find DIRT 5, one of the few AAA racing titles releasing this year, and also undoubtedly one of the best (though the market isn't exactly saturated right now with compelling racers). Taking everything that Codemasters learned in the past and fine-tuning it, DIRT 5 soars with terrific visuals, tight controls, and a rebranding that the series desperately needed.



If you know the name of the game for the DIRT series, you'll feel right at home with DIRT 5. However, the most evident thing about this latest entry is just how much it leans into its arcade style. In a way, it feels far less like DIRT 4 and more like another Codemasters arcade racer, Onrush. While DIRT 4 still contained some simulation elements, DIRT 5 foregoes that entirely for a far more streamlined, arcade experience - and to its benefit, it actually works.

You start off as a newbie on the rally racing scene. A brief introduction by the legendary voice-acting duo that is Troy Baker and Nolan North, who act as frequent commentators across the game, sets you up for a whirlwind of nail-biting rally races across a multitude of classes and modes. The campaign is where you'll spend most of your time, featuring hundreds of races to partake in, all branching out to circuit races, single-track dashes to the finish line, time trials, and more. Each class operates differently from the next, coming with around a dozen vehicles to choose from. Depending on the track and pre-assigned classes, you have to select your vehicles wisely as each performs to certain strengths and weaknesses on the track.



The most welcomed new feature in DIRT 5 is the ability to focus on your specific style of gameplay and progression. You can choose to ignore a handful of races and modes if you feel they aren't to your liking, allowing players to hone in on a specific class of vehicle. Personally, I opted for the Rally GT class as they offered slick and dangerously fast supercars and tuners with a ton of options in handling, physics, performance and visuals. You can pick a specific class or vehicle and simply customize it to your preference too, which is terrific. However, there are moments when the game throws you into mini-boss styled races that has you competing in one-on-one dashes or challenges, changing up the flow a bit.

Faster cars may hit those high speeds but you have to take into account the layout of each track, its terrain, and even dynamic weather that can drastically shift the odds away from you.

For the most part, there are a handful of modes to conquer, each offering a wild variety of scenic possibilities and, depending on your class of vehicle choice, differing gameplay opportunities. Faster cars may hit those high speeds but you have to take into account the layout of each track, its terrain, and even dynamic weather that can drastically shift the odds away from you. After a while, the modes and their basic objectives do become fairly repetitive but future updates could easily remedy that. It's not a particularly challenging game, though; in fact, even playing on Medium difficulty, there are moments where you'll simply leave your opponents in the dust, and by a country mile. You can tailor the difficulty to your choosing, though, but DIRT 5 isn't going to offer much in the way of a meaningful challenge. Nonetheless, the gameplay is where it keeps things genuinely thrilling.



Taking a lot of pointers from Onrush, particularly its soundtrack and visual presentation, DIRT 5 shines in its colourful menus, vibrant colour palette and toe-tapping music. Interestingly, the soundtrack is diegetic. This means that the music won't be overlaid on the game, but rather seemingly play from the game's internal radio. This creates great immersion and keeps the revving of engines roaring in tandem with a thumping electronic or hip-hop soundtrack. It's best heard with headphones on, which is about as much as I can say for the game's magnificent sound design too.

DIRT 5 shines in its colourful menus, vibrant colour palette and toe-tapping music.

DIRT 5 is a graphically stunning game. Even on PS4 Pro, the visuals pop in the tiniest of details: sunlight reflecting off the car's surface, shimmering through trees, or bouncing off of wet road surfaces all look marvelous. Dynamic weather also significantly changes the way you experience this visual upgrades. During each race, which can last from a couple of minutes up to several, you'll likely experience many shifting weather patterns. Rain obviously hinders your performance a bit as you slip and slide on wet tar or dirt, while snow (complete with rolling snow storms) masks your visibility - not to mention sudden windy climates and blazing heat in a matter of seconds - making each race feel like you're going through an average day of weather in Johannesburg.



It's not meant to be hyper-realistic, and Codemasters beautifully embraces this aspect of DIRT 5. Sure, the weather patterns make little sense but they're absolutely beautiful and add so much character to the game's more chaotic and vibrant presentation. Everything just feels livelier, more dynamic and always on the move. As previously mentioned, Baker and North clearly bring a lot of their charisma and charm to the table being the game's central commentators. It would be easy to believe if they simply just let these actors adlib most of their lines in a booth, because they have terrific natural synergy and banter that clearly shows their weird and wonderful friendship on display. It's a big win for DIRT 5, and one minor addition that makes a world of difference for the experience.

Everything just feels livelier, more dynamic and always on the move.

Across the campaign's few dozens of races, you'll also get chances to gain sponsors. If you're familiar with how sponsorship systems work in racing games, then you'll have no problem getting accustomed to earning the backing of companies to proudly display branding on vehicles or offer more hands-on benefits like higher pay grades and better performance boosts, both off and on track. DIRT 5 isn't the most mechanically deep racer on the market, and steers away from that simulation experience where it can, but there's just enough here to keep die-hard racing sim fans engaged if they're looking for depth. For the most part, though, this takes a backseat to the actual fun of the gameplay - and man, is it entertaining.



I was initially concerned about DIRT 5 leaning into its arcade style, but playing and feeling it in action, it absolutely nails it. You get elements of Onrush here, without a doubt, but it feels more finely tuned to be a worthy AAA experience. Yet, you can still feel Codemasters' more modest approach to their trademark gameplay style. The controls are tight and responsive, ensuring you're always in control - except when you aren't and hurtle head-first off a 300-meter drop at 200 miles an hour, but in that case, it will probably be your fault. Probably.

The visuals beautifully complement each distinctive country and their roster of amazing tracks. While they don't exactly cover every country in the world, it was great to see South Africa receive a bit of love, particularly its Cape Town Stadium circuit track and Land Rush on Lion's Head, taking players on a stunning scenic route through Cape Town's towering mountains and wildlife. Other than that, you'll also visit the Northern Lights in Norway, be dazzled by the jaw-dropping natural beauty of China, and blaze through stretches of desert in America's Breaking Badlands. There's enough variety in environments here to constantly keep you engaged and enthralled. Coupled with the various classes and their perks, you'll always have a reason to return to tracks, whether doing free form racing or competing online in time trials.



If you want to harness your inner Trackmania, Codemasters once again have you covered. You can create and play in user-created courses, complete with all the crazy high jumps, ramps, and loops you'd find in the aforementioned Trackmania series. It's absurdly entertaining and a nice break from the more in-the-dirt racing in the free play and campaign, but this will also live or die depending on the community engagement.

Even on PS4 Pro, there were many frequent texture and shadow pop-ins that pulled me out of the experience.

Unfortunately, DIRT 5 is held back by a couple of grievances. In particular, performance on current-gen platforms is a bit lacking. Even on PS4 Pro, there were many frequent texture and shadow pop-ins that pulled me out of the experience. Draw distance could also use some improvement as racing down a road doing over 150 miles an hour forces the environment to catch up in trying to load objects ahead. On one instance, a drop off a side of a mountain loaded in at the last second because the draw distance failed to bring up the barrier on time. I'd like to say this doesn't happen frequently, but I encountered these weird graphical hiccups in almost every race.



On the other hand, if you're looking for a rally racer to really push innovation, you sadly won't find much of that in DIRT 5 either. It feels like a natural evolution of both DIRT 4 and Onrush, but doesn't do anything out of the box to really usher in the potential of what a new rally racing game is capable of. It plays most of its cards with a safe hand, and that should be fine if you keep your expectations in check. Rather, DIRT 5 wants the fun of the gameplay to take center stage, and in that regard, it can be forgiven to an extent.



DIRT 5 delivers Codemasters' most refined and downright entertaining arcade rally racer yet. It boasts gorgeous visuals, solid gameplay with tight controls, a terrific dynamic weather system, and some lively commentary from Baker and North. It also occasionally stumbles in its technical departments, where frequent texture pop-ins can hinder your enjoyment a tad bit. Some more variety in its modes could also carry this entry a long way, but for now, there's just enough here for a decent content-filled launch. Codemasters have come full circle and their strengths as developers really shine bright with DIRT 5, though with a little more TLC, they might just sweep the market if they continue to hone their talents.

*Review code provided by Codemasters