The DIRT on Colin McRae

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 July, 2006

New name, first shots.

Codemasters' first rally outing on next-gen platforms will be called Colin McRae: DIRT in PAL territories, where it will launch on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC simultaneously in 2007.

You can see how those are shaping up in these first screenshots of the game in action on next-gen. A mobile phone version will be released separately.

Specific details on the global locations we'll be trotting around have yet to be fully established, but we are told to expect 12.4 miles of Pikes Peak International, and modes for each of the European, International and Global rally championships.

DIRT will, naturally, feature the usual array of point-to-point races but, as the name suggests, there'll also be plenty of off-road events - on mud, dirt and gravel - from all over the world.

That's in addition to Hill Climb challenges on cliff-sides, Rally Cross events that switch between dirt and road racing, and desert-based Rally Raid competitions in Dakar-style trucks and 4x4s.

Speaking of cars, expect officially licensed cars - 2WD, 4WD, Classic and RWD - and online multiplayer.

Finally, we're told to expect a brand new damage engine "that ensures players experience every bump in the track, every loose rock, every inch of shifting dirt through the reactive environments".

Expect to hear more on DIRT later this year. The game will be known as DIRT: Colin McRae Off-Road in the USA.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • El_MUERkO #1 6 years ago

    DIRT?

    Is this like Underground dirt?

    Will there be rappers?

    I am slightly interested but CMR games have gone downhill since 2.

  • Cosmopolitan #2 6 years ago

    Next-gen WRC will own this. Nice looking shots though.

  • Wrestlevania #3 6 years ago

    Don't like the name, but the inclusion of Pikes Peak will be interesting; I hope Codies include a suitable range of Peaks-specific machines to do the event justice. It'll also be interesting to see how (or perhaps even 'if') they capture quite how terrifying that event is.

    Edit: Added link for the uninitiated. ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 19/07/06 @ 10:45

  • alimokrane #4 6 years ago

    Very nice looking.

  • neilka #5 6 years ago

    Is DIRT meant to stand for something or are you just meant to shout it when you ask for the game in the shop?

    "I'll take a copy of DIRT PLEASE!!!"

  • Xerx3s #6 6 years ago

    Looks a bit like MS. :|

  • Steroyd #7 6 years ago

    Next-gen WRC will own this. Nice looking shots though.

    Evolution Studio's developed WRC...
    ....and Evolution Studio's is currenty making Motostorm....

    ....so...

  • Xerx3s #8 6 years ago

    copy/paste code. ;p

  • Kostabi #9 6 years ago

    What a shitty name.

    Still, the inclusion of Pikes Peak is most welcome. There better be some specials I can cane up the hill. Audi please!

  • keano #10 6 years ago

    dear god ! are they trying to make rallying sound sexy!

  • muck_savage #11 6 years ago

    "screenshots"

    ^_^

    hohohoho, yeah right

  • ST.. #12 6 years ago

    That name is beyond woeful....

  • GamerAddict #13 6 years ago

    Oh yay, another race against the clock game! What can you possibly do to it to make it remotely exciting? Is it possible?

    The only way I can see this being an improvement over previous CM titles is to turn on full contact online rather than just racing ghosts of each other which was no fun at all IMHO!

    As for the DIRT bit, I actually think that stands for something,

    Colin McRae : Deal In Rehashed Titles

    ;)

  • linksdad #14 6 years ago

    Must be screenshots of the PS3 version!

  • RFT #15 6 years ago

    As I posted on our own forums:

    "For the sake of full disclosure, these are concept images using the in-game models, not actual screens and I don't want anyone, down the line, claiming we passed them off as such.

    obviously we hope the game looks this good and that's what we're aiming for, but these things are always subject to change."

    Rich Tysoe
    Codemasters.

  • Talha #16 6 years ago

    Obviously we hope the game looks better than this. Honestly guys, crank things up a bit.

    That said, the idea of the game seems fantastic, especially when there is no hope for a PC port of RalliSport 2.

  • Calgon #17 6 years ago

    Ah RalliSport challenge... :D now that would be an interesting next-gen rally game, the best IMO, it would own all!(RSC2 was the best of last-gen for me anyway). Theres no chance of it being an exclusive now though thanks to EA, if they do decide to make another.
    Edited by 2 at 19/07/06 @ 14:38

  • Arganoid #18 6 years ago

    They should include a load of gravel in the box, so players can truly experience every piece of dirt and loose rock - e.g. by sitting in a pile of it while they play, and/or putting some in their mouths.

  • GamerAddict #19 6 years ago

    RFT "but these things are always subject to change."

    Like every other Codies game, looks so promising, gets everyone excited then they release nothing more than an update to the previous year's installment! Ok, so we were saved from having a Colin McRae released in the last year or so but that's not to say that DIRT won't simply be Colin 5 with updated graphics, a few extra cars and a few more tracks!!!!!!

  • BBIAJ #20 6 years ago

    You can see how those are shaping up in these first screenshots of the game in action on next-gen.

    In action my arse!

  • fawe3 #21 6 years ago

    Gah looks like cmr will loose that r part and become another race driver.

  • RFT #22 6 years ago

    >>DIRT won't simply be Colin 5 with updated graphics, a few extra cars and a few more tracks!!!!!!

    It won't be, but then I would say that.

    There isn't a shred of colin 2005 code in the game though, apart possibly from some very, very basic stuff. In every area where it matters, it;s a restart from the ground up. It's fair to say that with 05 we'd done about all we could with the existing codebase and we needed to start again from scratch.