FIA World Rallycross skids in to Dirt Rally game

Dirt Rally, the latest off-road racing title from Codemasters, is still in the ‘early access’ stage of its development.

While the game is eminently playable – and indeed, one of the best racing titles we’ve tried recently – fundamental aspects of the game are still being changed all the time.

That includes the addition of new content. Recent updates have brought with them new locations, stages and cars, but the latest adds a whole new class of off-road racing – rallycross.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship has sanctioned the latest update, which adds both a selection of official rallycross cars and drivers – including the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo and Peugeot 208 – and two official circuits from the championship, Lydden Hill in the UK and Holjes in Sweden.

It’s the first of two rallycross packs coming to the game, with the next set to add online competitive play, for the first time in this particular title.

Gamers who’ve experienced previous Dirt titles with rallycross shouldn’t worry that the game is being diluted though. As we discovered in our early review of Dirt Rally, Codemasters has worked hard to bring a new level of realism to the game.

While probably the toughest iteration of the Dirt series yet, Dirt Rally is also the most enjoyable and immersive, giving players a real sense of wrestling their car though a forest or along an icy track.

We’ll be updating our review soon with a look at the latest wave of content – and you can head to our videogames page to catch our reviews of other recent racing titles.