It’s an incredibly handsome game, and one that doesn’t tax a humble GTX 1070 at max settings.īack from the venerated spec sheets of Codemasters’ GRID series is a team management aspect which sees you hiring staff, purchasing vehicles and setting liveries as you decide which event to enter next-a rally or a rallycross stage. Standing water in between muddy tyre tracks glints under your headlights, dust kicks up around your scrabbling wheels, and each of the six rally locations-New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Poland, Australia and the USA-asserts its visual identity instantly, such is the level of environmental detail. The sequel ramps up the visual fidelity where it counts, using weather effects and time of day to create real drama. This was broadly true of its predecessor-but in truth, Dirt Rally never felt anything like as scary or as taxing. Force feedback surges through your wheel, fizzing your brain as though you’ve licked a battery, and whether using a wheel (preferable) or pad, vehicles behave just as you want them to-barely tameable, occasionally balletic in their powerslides, always convincing. A rally stage is an assault on every sense (alright, perhaps not taste or smell if we’re being pedantic), rattling the cockpit camera violently while an audio onslaught of complicated but crucially important pacenotes hits you, whether you’re ready for them or not. How does it feel, exactly? A bit like the Normandy beach landings, but with pace notes.
