Legit Reviews

Codemasters released the Colin McRae: DiRT 3 2010 trailer at the ESPN X Games 16 on Saturday.
The DiRT 3 trailer features US star Ken Block driving the Monster World Rally Team Ford Fiesta across dirt tracks in Africa, having a race with a Ford RS200 somewhere in Europe, traversing a snow covered test and finally, a trip round the fictional Battersea rallycross circuit.
Codemasters have hinted that DiRT 3 will have more of a British vibe this time out.

Ken Block is starting a new racing series: It’s called Gymkhana Grid. He hopes it will become the next big thing in motorsports. By taking some of the dominant names in motorsport, Gymkhana Grid will pit them against each other in a head-to-head race against not only a clock but also a demanding course that Block co-designed. With a preliminary event in August and the first Gymkhana Grid Ken Block Invitational taking place in December, we sat down spoke with the man about what he sees for the future of the event and who exactly he thinks is going to beat him at him own game.

Are you prepared to lose at your own event?
Yeah, you know, absolutely. I’m doing this for the fun of it. Just because I made these videos doesn’t mean I’m the greatest driver in the world. I do this stuff because I enjoy doing it and I have a lot left to learn. And I want to be the best driver that I can, but that doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t gonna come out and beat me. And the thing is, that sort of battle in competition is what helps me.

IGN 360 wrote:You asked, and they listened. DiRT, Codemasters' off-road brand, has been successful yet divisive in its two previous outings, its yearning for a wider audience and heavy American accent winning new fans but alienating some of the old ones who've been calling out for a return to more traditional rally. For DiRT 3, Codemasters has taken note, and it's managed to find an answer for all of its fans.

"This is the biggest racing game that the racing studio has ever embarked upon," asserts producer Matt Horsman, and given this is the same team that conjured up ludicrously generous games such as TOCA: Race Driver 3, that's quite some claim. Like that game the scope of DiRT 3 is vast, the roster of cars taking in everything from the Mini Cooper S that was made famous by Pat Moss and Paddy Hopkirk in the '60s through to Kris Meeke's Peugeot 207 S2000.

There's much more in between the two, and DiRT 3's vehicle list makes for heavenly reading for petrolheads. The '70s lends cars such as the Lancia Stratos, the famously fierce Group B cars of the mid-80s are represented by Quattro S1, RS2000 and Peugeot 205 among others, while the '90s gives us the Celica that Carlos Sainz worked his magic in, the sublime Lancia Delta Integrale, and of course Colin McRae's iconic 555 Subaru. It's no less than a celebration of the history of the sport.



More Dirt 3 Info

And fittingly it feels like a return to the ideals of the series' forebears - the Colin McRae games - with the addition of Finland, Norway and Monte Carlo as well as the introduction of the all-important WRC licence lending DiRT 3 a more traditional air. It helps that Ken Block, the American star that's taken McRae's position as series' figurehead, has made the shift to the premier rally series, and as Codemasters returns to its roots its game feels remarkably more mature.

Gone is the elaborate, extreme sports flavoured front-end of DiRT 2, and in its place is an equally slick yet more minimal menu set, told in stark monochrome with occasional flashes of colour. Beyond it lies a game that's markedly more attractive than its predecessor, no mean feat when that game's sporting some remarkable good looks in the first place. A new lighting model ensures the cars now feel more a part of their environments, while the car models - despite the colossal number of them - are supremely detailed.

Those environments themselves promise to be just as spectacular. The aforementioned additions mean, of course, snow, but that's not the only weather effect being introduced to DiRT 3. Rain's a concern too, as are differing light conditions as some stages take place under the cover of night. Threading the 470 horses that sit under the bonnet of an Audi Quattro S through a pitch black, snow blanketed forest as the headlights bounce beams through the forest promises to be a unique thrill.

All this isn't to say that the American contingent have been ignored, and it's in some of the other arenas that the DiRT formula is reprised - albeit in a smartly refined form. The X Games licence is retained, and this time out the extreme end of driving is explored much more effectively. First up there's Gymkhana, an event within tightly confined spaces wherein deft flicks and drifting are the order of the day. It's a spectacular discipline that should be well served by DiRT's trademark deft handling.


DiRT 3 promises to celebrate rallying's rich heritage.

Easily the best manifestation of the fast and loose approach to motorsport is in the Compound, an all-new arena set in a more expansive recreation of DiRT 2's Battersea Power Station. It's an open-ended, free play area available both online and off. Featuring corkscrews and side missions, it's like an automotive skate park that can play host to various mini-games, and as a multiplayer addition it promises a refreshing alternative to point to point racing - especially with the introduction, for the first time in the series, of splitscreen.

And all this is built around a chassis that's already proved itself admirably twice before; as you'd expect from a Codemasters racing title, the handling is impeccably balanced between excess and subtlety that conveys perfectly the feeling of a car teetering on a knife edge, something that's apparent in a brief stint behind the wheel of some very early code. It doesn't give away much but already there's a sense of refinement, with the best aspects of DiRT 2's handling being retained.

Also returning are the crashes that have, thanks to Codemasters' unsurpassed damage model, become DiRT's trademark, and they've been given a little added functionality. Have a spectacular prang and it's now possible through the rewind feature to publish the video with the press of a button. It's part of a bigger push to integrate DiRT 3 with social networks such as Facebook, which also includes the ability - much like Bizarre Creation's Blur - to easily share stats and figures.

It's all combining to form a package that will delight fans old and new, and even the imminent barrage of off-roaders – thanks to the doling out of the WRC license to Gran Turismo 5 as well as Black Bean's own official take on the series - shouldn't stop DiRT 3 from being the definitive rally game when it launches next year.

Welcome to the first edition of the DiRT 3 newsletter!

Just before Christmas we headed off to the Wales Rally GB in Cardiff (UK) where members of the press and the DiRT 3 community went hands-on with our game for the first time. Two events were fully playable – all-new freestyle gymkhana starring Ken Block's very own Gymkhana Ford Fiesta and a challenging trailblazer stage set in Finland.

The brave could take on DiRT 3 consultants Ken Block and 2009 IRC Champion Kris Meeke in our special time trial tournament. But this was no ordinary race.... this competition was run on a highly accurate D-Box motion platform that replicates every knock, gear change and surge in acceleration for the player. It's the closest you can get to rallying without getting in a car. You can see Kris Meeke being thrown around in the D-Box in this awesome video recorded by community member David Dwyer.

If you've seen Ken Block's astonishing Gymkhana videos on YouTube, you may have wondered how this discipline would work in DiRT 3. Well, GameTrailers sat Senior Game Designer Paul Coleman down to explain to you exactly how it plays and why you should be very, very excited. You can also watch Paul showing off some tricks in his walkthrough here.

It was great to see so many people going hands on and enjoying DiRT 3, and armed with our trusty iPhone we didn't let any photo opportunity go to waste. If you want to take a look at our snaps you can see them all in our facebook album.

Wowing fans over a weekend in Cardiff isn't the only thing we've been up to though! Over on our YouTube channel we've uploaded 5 brilliant videos covering Rally, Gymkhana, pure gameplay, and even an interview with Ken Block. As a special treat there's also an extended developer Q&A video that we made just for you. With a ton more videos to come which will take you behind the scenes with DiRT 3, make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see them first.

The DiRT 3 Team

hark wrote:I wonder if they're upping the ante on DirectX 11 usage.

InspectahACE wrote:I just got Dirt 2 . gotta say I'm diggin it alot. Now this is comin out..nice

vicaphit wrote:This looks really good. Although, I couldn't see the Youtube video because it has been removed.

Skier. I have heard of a type of racing where the cars drive on roads that aren't paved. You should check it out, I think you might like it. It's called Rally or something.