DiRT Rally Reviews
Codemasters goes hardcore with this no-frills, punishing off-road sim, resulting in its best game in years.
Dirt Rally transcends its simplistic presentation to offer one of the most engaging and dramatic representations of the motorsport yet.
It's not a sim, but it's the best rally game in years.
There's a specific corner during one of the German stages in Dirt Rally where your co-driver will supplement his flurry of warnings with a professional request: "Be brave." It's a slight left kink, framed on both sides by half-buried stones. To be honest I'm not certain what it is about this corner in particular that warrants the added advice – there are plenty of deceptive corners in Dirt Rally you can take faster than you'd expect – but "be brave" potently sums up how you need to approach Dirt Rally. Dirt Rally is a brilliant looking and incredible sounding racing sim that feels absolutely outstanding, but it won't tolerate the timid.
An honest, often brutal celebration of rallying that will exhilarate racing fans but intimidate newcomers.
Dirt Rally isn't deep in every area, but the gameplay alone makes this my favorite rally game
Dirt Rally's arrival on consoles lets more people join in Codemasters' celebration of this brutal motorsport. [OpenCritic note: Richard Wakeling separately reviewed the PC and PS4 versions.]
Codemasters have crafted an almost perfect racing game with Dirt Rally. Some players might balk at not sharing the road with other racers, but the true rally experience is represented here in spades. Failures on the track are painful. Success is glorious. This is a title that rewards paying attention and thinking as much as it does raw skill. Some graphical peculiarities might pop up here and there, but these are only slight blemishes on an otherwise outstanding title.
DiRT Rally delivers a stunning performance on console, offering a difficult but rewarding experience which cements it as one of the best rally simulators available.
DiRT Rally, then, isn't a true successor to the DiRT series you might know and love, but it's a better rally experience if you're willing to put in the work.
One nice conversion of a driving game as demanding that only experts on the genre will fully enjoy it. We miss a couple of new features on the console versions, but it's still a great racing game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
One of the best driving sims of the new generation, and although it still lacks content in some areas the console versions are just as good as the PC.
Dirt Rally gets Codemasters back to their roots, with a game that focuses on rallying through and through. It's tough and unforgiving of your mistakes, but that's what rallying is about and it makes getting to grips with the car's handling, measuring your approach to a stage and coming out on top all the more satisfying.
Merciless, more simulative than any other rally game released in the last year and pretty darn satisfying. Thanks, Codemasters.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Codemasters' latest often makes a task out of just finishing races. Placing first – if it ever actually happens – is just a bonus.
This is the game rally fans have been waiting for. DiRT Rally boasts a simple title that reflects its deceptively simple goal: to be the best rally game, or even the best racing game, released to date. While they may fall a little short of being the best racing game ever made due to its purposely limited scope, DiRT Rally is by far the best rally game we've ever seen. DiRT Rally sports world-class visuals, visceral, challenging racing, and true-to-life audio design. This is really a complete package for rally fans the world over.
Dirt Rally is a true return to form for Codemasters' Dirt franchise and may be the company's best title to date.
Codemasters has been making rally games since the original PlayStation era, but it is now closer than ever to perfecting its craft
After enjoying almost a year of Early Access on PC, the final release is now available on PS4 and Xbox One, complete with a few dozen of history's most iconic cars from over 50-years of rally, a smattering of tracks from some of the world's most beautiful point-to-point hotspots. It's an impressive return to form; an intense, hardcore recreation of rally with an emphasis on careful trial and error rather than race and rewind.
DiRT Rally is a game that probably won't appeal to a lot of casual gamers. Dirt Rally really feels like it's been made for that core audience that loves realistic racing games like Gran Turismo.