So, DiRT Rally is apparently a thing. It just hit Steam Early Access minutes ago with zero buildup or fanfare from Codemasters (...they announced it on Twitter about 15 minutes after it was already available). You can check it out here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/310560

With no info being out there and having not played it yet, it looks like this does return to a tighter focus on simulation rally racing (the description specifically mentions FIA World Rallycross Championship branding). It seems as though it's relatively full featured at this point, but that Codemasters will be adding content throughout the rest of 2015 while it's in early access.

Hell yes, awesome find! Rally racing is the best.

The guys at VideoGamer have a video up of it. Looks pretty cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSONUAl9clI

Interesting. Downloading now... will report back :D

I've been playing Dirt 3 on Steam (since they removed Games for Windows Live) and it's great. It looks fantastic for a four year old game.

So, I'm excited, but I can wait for the full release. Not really interested in Early Access.

It's so weird that this is early access

I half expected this to not be a Codemasters game

Yeah. When I first saw someone mention it, my initial thought was that it must be Russian game devs intentionally trying to create brand confusion.

Codemasters making a simulation style rally game, that's not a phone port, count me in man . I just hope they have decent length tracks DiRT 3 was severely lacking.

Not really a fan of this "let's put everything on Early Access" trend. Excited to see another Dirt game though, of some description. I hope it makes it to consoles.

Yeah, but in this case it does feel like Early Access was maybe a necessity given how bumpy things have been at Codemasters in recent years.

I also think it's a good thing in that it allows them to be more niche (and probably indicates that's the intent). This may be a pretty hardcore Rally game which I doubt you'd see in a big release. They are chasing that big market street racing money and that kind of thing. They were trying to push The Grid, for example. EDIT: Yeah just watched the video linked above. This is a hardcore Rally game that wouldn't be a big release.

Not that I'm into hardcore Rally games but I think this is great for those who are. I get and agree with a lot of Early Access or Kickstarter criticisms but a lot of time seems like we're getting games we might not at all otherwise so I'm happy. Saying this as someone who hasn't even given to a Kickstarter but has greatly enjoyed a few Kickstarter releases when they came out. Early access has been positive too.

Awesome, nice to see that codemasters are doing what they do best

Worst possible name, it sounds like some indie look-alike, which would have been more interesting ironicly. I have enjoyed some Dirt racing in the past but the standard of recent codemaster games has been really low so an early access from them is a no go. They cant even get stuff like controllers and wheels to work in games for racingenthusiasts and meanwhile they pump out DLC and new iteration of their games thats 95% the same as the previeous one.

Have put some time into it.

It's great. FFB needs some work, but they are 100% heading in the right direction.

This looks great so far. It has actual in the car driver view and everything. I will totally buy this when it is further along because I've been wanting a new Codemasters rally game for years (without all the other dumb crap from the newer Dirt games).

I hope as the name implies the game will only focus on rally racing. I liked dirt 3 a lot but I never finished it because you were forced to do the trick courses to progress and I just did not care for that at all.

@xanadu:

You should read the review posted... NO GYMKHANA ... Repeated like 4 times over. I for one am happy if they decide to get rid of that trick system.

dirt 4: joe dirt

From the video and from early reviews on Steam, at least right now, this is 100% a rallying game and nothing else.

That makes me very happy.

@xanadu: It's only rally racing. Nothing else.

Played three hours of it, did a Rally in the Career mode and did a multiplayer event against friends. It's great, I love it. Best Dirt game they've done so far! (I'll admit I was a fan of the old McRae games and other rally sims). It's no Richard Burns Rally, but it looks great, feels great, has a good feature set and for it being in Early Access I didn't find a single bug/issue other than having to reduce my wheel rotation manually, because 900° doesn't work for this and they don't set it automatically.

Really loved Dirt 2. Liked Dirt 3 but not nearly as much.

This looks a lot like Dirt 2 so I'm hyped.

Was gonna say, it looks rather complete for an early access game.

Wow, I thought they pretty much abandoned this IP. I'm the kind of weirdo who really liked all the non-rally racing they put into the first three games more than the actual core race mode. I prefer side by side racing, but I might check this out given how much you guys are saying you like it. If I don't hear a "long, left, maybe" out of my navigator though, I'm going to be really disappointed.

@maxx77: If the co-driver says "don't cut!" this time he really fucking means it.

This is just pure rally racing? None of that Gymkhana garbage from 3 or the X-Games nonsense from 2? I might have to break my self imposed no Early Access rule.

Oh thank god. Those Ken Block city gymkhana videos were cool to watch but playing it was not fun at all. Having those stages stand in the way of actual rally was an awful idea.

Interesting. The Mcrae games are some of my favorites. I wonder how much it will compare to GRID Autosport.

The best thing about the old Mcrae games is that you had to approach them like the track was a boss in Dark Souls. Nothing ever matched the excitement of in car view and just narrowly missing that rock on the inside of a turn that took you out the last 6 attempts.

It actually looks really cool. I usually don't go in on early access games, but I might have to make an exception here...

I've been playing rally games since RalliSport Challenge hooked me way back, after spending more than a few hours with this I can easily say that it's the best rally experience I've had yet.

The game is early access but it might as well not be as it includes 17 cars, something like 30+ stages spread over 3 environments and a full career with purchasable vehicles and team members. It's excellent.

The game is balls hard though, this isn't the DiRT you're used to, it sticks VERY close to sim territory, no rewind feature, it punishes you for course restarts, you can only repair every few stages and only a little at that.

If you enjoy rally racing you can't do better than this at the current price point, even in early access it feels very fleshed out.

I have to say this looks pretty good, i found Dirt 2 awesome, 3&showdown not so much, but a Dirt game entirely consisting of Rally and none of that X-Games/gymkhana stuff is probably going to end up GREAT

I bought and have been playing the game for a few hours. If you liked the McRae games, you'll really like this. There's lots of comparisons being made between this and the early 2000s McRae games. It has far more in common with those games than Dirt. The only Dirt-like thing so far is that you can buy different cars in Career mode. Otherwise it feels exactly like a new take on the McRae games.

I'm still figuring out how damage works, but it seems like it is a fairly deep system. You can mess up your transmission (I had a full on failure that made me retire from a race), have tire punctures (front punctures are a PAIN), blow your engine, sometimes the car will stall if you mess up a bit, and it seems like there's more based on the types of damage I'm seeing in the results screen (the AI cars can be damaged to. One on my last race finished last with a damaged ECU).

It seems like there is a fair amount of customization you can to do the car. Brakes, suspension, transmission, and so on. I haven't messed with any of that yet. You also can do the between stage repairs like you used to in the Colin McRae games and you can pick what gets repaired.

This game is unforgiving but incredibly satisfying to play. I found the rallying in Dirt 2 to be a bit easy and this is far harder than that. Much more like the McRae games where it is much less forgiving. The Wales stages where it rains are particularly slippery as you slide around everywhere but the mountain stages for Turin, Italy are also pretty tricky (if you don't see ice and hit it, you will smash into the mountain side or the wall along side. That said, I really enjoy the Turin stages, though all of the available stages right now are quite good).

So far my favourite car by far is the Audi Sport quattro Rallye (from what I remember, this was the first AWD rally car) though I haven't tried everything yet. The RWD rally cars are kinda insane to control but quite fun.

This is cool fucking news. Also the trailer looked pretty awesome.

I'm sure Drew will be happy!

I just played it and it seems promising. It's definitely Early Access though. The navigator never once talked to me, which is a bug others are experiencing as well. Kind of like driving blindfolded without being told what's coming. The steering wheel support is only half-baked at best. No matter how I adjusted the various sliders, I never got the steering to feel correct. The previous Dirt games had excellent wheel support, so I assume it's just a matter of time before they figure it out again. It at least correctly recognized my wheel immediately.

It's very difficult to judge a game when the most important piece of audio is missing, and the car never steers correctly or gives you good force feedback. For anyone planning on playing this with a wheel, I'd recommend maybe wait a while.

Yep, got the "silent co-driver" bug as well. I felt like I found some pretty good steering wheel settings though, and I enjoy the tough narrow stages and car handling so far. Definitely room for improvement, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Anyone know how the game feels on controller? Some of the steam reviews state not to bother without a proper steering wheel, I assume that is typical hyperbole/elitism but would hate to spend the money and find it unplayable.

Wow, people really hate Early Access. I'm glad I don't visit video game forums more often.

From this tweet, I thought this was an old game just put on Steam. I don't play many racing games, but the title sounds like something I've heard before.

I'm intrigued for a more simulation-heavy rally game but I think I'll wait until it's further along in release.

It's hyperbole (also, probably people sucking at the game as people on the internet like to blame the game for their lack of being good). I've played it for a few hours with a controller and it controls just the same as the other Codemasters racing games, which is to say perfectly fine. I went from F1 2013 to Dirt Rally and they both controlled just as well. It takes some getting used to the physics (which is what I think people are actually struggling with if they are having trouble with the controller. It took me about an hour to get used to how the physics worked and when to brake) but once you do you can control it quite comfortably. I'm coming in second or third in races using a controller.

@redtentacle: Known vagrant and site moderator @pseg played it some with a controller and seemed to be having fun. I'd say it's probably not too bad.

@redtentacle: Game feels good with a controller (at least in the 60's era cars) I was pulling 3rd and once in a while 2nd's with my xbox one controller so it's totally playable.

@slowbird: @the_last_starfighter: thanks, I figured it would be given that Codemaster's made it but the way some talk about it as a hardcore sim game made me wary.

@redtentacle: Yeah, the minor adjustments in steering are a tiny bit touchy with a 360 controller, but it's still very playable, even with all assists off. Hard to say if I'm lacking competitiveness not using a wheel, since I've yet to run a stage with a working co-driver and driving blind's very rough in this game, but I can't imagine it's a tremendous hindrance.

EDIT: I should also point out there's a Giant Bomb league for this game, as a result of Codemasters porting my joke Grid Autosport league over. I set up a short season for it, because why the heck not. Just search for Giant Bomb on the RaceNet stuff.

Well, it's time to break out the G27. I really wish this wasn't early access, but I hear that it might be everything I have wanted in a Dirt title.

That's kind of how I feel. I've been waiting for a Dirt game like this for quite some time, but I'm hoping to wait until the game is in a more finished state. If the game looks great in an Unfinished etc. then I might have to change my mind.

Hooray, this is exactly the game I've been wanting Codemasters to make for years. Shame I can't play it as the most strenuous think my laptop can play is Football Manager, but fingers crossed it jumps to console some day.

I bought it, if only to support the idea that more developers should try doing the thing that real fans have been asking them to do for years instead of doing what they think will make more money. I also happen to enjoy a bit of rally now and again.

I think I'm gunna wait for the full release before jumping on this. Don't wanna get burned out on it.

That said, it looks like everything I wanted from the next DiRT game. No Gymkhana, no rewinds, proper simulation.

@maxx77: On a G25 the settings felt awful at first, I had to turn down the wheel rotation in the Logitech Profiler to 270° (now the ingame hands match the real wheel movement) and then just loaded the G25 presests - feels perfect! Maybe try that for the wheel you're using?

might have to break my not buying early access games for this, looks cool. Been waiting on a new rally game for a long time.

Apparently I'm in a minority for loving those gymkhana stages.