I think the game looks really good and I love a good racing game but I have never really been interested in rally. That's not to say I dislike it, but I have just never watched it or played any rally game for more than 10 or 15 minutes.

For people who have played the game, is it a game for hardcore rally fans or could a general racing game fan enjoy it?

Dirt Rally is fucking awesome. It is definitely more hardcore than Dirt 2/3 though and has its crosshairs dead set on rally fans. If you're on PC maybe you can just go the Steam refund direction?

I'd recommend Dirt, it's definitely one of the better racing games I've played in a while. I don't think you have to be into rally to enjoy it, though it's different from circuits where you've got an idea of the best line going into every corner.

@villainy: I'll be playing on Xbox One. I guess I could trade it in if I don't like it. It looks so good though! How's the singleplayer? That's what I'm interested in.

I loved Dirt 3. Sign me up for more gymkhana and rally cross! However, from what I gather this is more of an authentic Rally game.

I'll like it but I rarely play enough racing games these days to make it count. I've barely touched Project Cars since reviewing it.

Dirt games have the best "feel" of any racing games I've played to be honest. The way the car feels completely out of control as you bash it down the track and yet somehow you hold it together over the bumps and round the corners is completely unique.

No idea how the controls are with a pad though, I always use a wheel.

Ye, this is not a sequel to Dirt 3, this is what a modern Colin McRae Rally looks like (and not that terrible port of the mobile phone abomination which they stuck that name on in 2013). Note that Dirt had kept the Colin McRae in the title for the international releases of Dirt 1 & 2 but was dropped from subsequent titles. If Codies hadn't attempted to reuse the name on iOS/Android to sell a bad arcade rally game (later ported to PC) then I wonder if they'd have used it here.

Either way, this is a really good game with loads of depth and just enough assists to make it accessible. Playing it on a pad on PC since Early Access and it sounds like the console ports are pretty solid so this is highly recommended.

Anyone who still has fond memories of the RalliSport Challenge games: it's time to get back into the sub-genre. A new classic has arrived.

As someone who loved Dirt 2, 3 and Showdown, I fuckinghate this game. Everything about it. This should not have the Dirt name on it. That name comes with certain expectations, and you don't get any of that in this game. Very disappointed with this.

DiRT Rally is primarily for the people that thought the exact opposite: that 2/3/Showdown didn't meet their expectations from the previous Colin McRae / DiRT games and should not have had the DiRT name on it.

Personally, I like both approaches, but I do agree that the branding has become a bit muddied. I feel like most of the marketing and reviews made it clear that this was a return to that older simulation rally focus, but I can definitely see a possible scenario where a person that only knows DiRT 2/3 buys this on name recognition alone and is surprised and disappointed by what they get.

I love all the Dirt games in different ways. It's true that they could have done better on the branding. 2 and 3 (and Showdown) could have been "Ken Block's HoonTown" games instead of Dirt games, but anyway they're all good despite being different.

I can see that. Its probably my fault for not paying attention to the games coverage, and blindly expecting it to be what I wanted. I just assumed the other two games would cover the hardcore sim (WRC5 and Sebastien Rally Evo). Mainly Sebastien Rally Evo, since it has an actual Rally drivers name on it.

@sterling: I'm sure there would have been less demand for something like DiRT Rally if WRC 5, Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, and the previous games from those developers were consistent with the quality of Codemasters' work. I haven't personally played those games, but judging from the Steam reviews, it seems like they're not very good.

Ye, friends who are further into the sub-genre (racing wheel types) have given thumbs down to both of those as just bad on top of being far more towards an arcade rally focus. So even if you wanted arcade handling, they don't actually sound good enough to be an advised purchase.

Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo is the new game from the Milestone team, they* of forgettable previous WRC titles up to WRC 4 (so kinda this is the real sequel to WRC4). It sounds like they tried but... rally games shouldn't get reviews where the word 'boring' is used that often.

WRC5 is the new game from (series newcomer) Kylotonn. Yes, you recognise the name, if only slightly (often branded as Kt Games). They're the ones throwing out recent shovelware titles like Motorcycle Club and Truck Racer. You know those, they're games that are in sales every other week (especially visible on PSN I find) and you'd see being made fun of on UPF etc. I kinda only had half an ear to the ground on that game but a friend did take the fall and ordered it anyway and did not come back with anything favourable to report. It's apparently not as bad as their previous games so maybe in a few years of running that series it'll be playable.

Seriously, it's 16 minutes in. Go watch Brad, Vinny, Jeff, and co playing Truck Racer on UPF. And less than 3 years later, that studio made a WRC game! Big step up from Big Ben as your publisher.

* (Milestone are also of the somewhat more memorable MotoGP (and SBK) titles in the last decade but to me they'll always be the studio that gave us the Screamer series all the way back in 1995. Back before I maybe could really pick out what made a racing game great but enjoyed them anyway.)

Sounds like I should check those games out then.