Games
We speak with the developers behind DiRT 5 about the stunning new courses set to appear in the upcoming racer.
It’s fair to say we’re excited about DiRT 5. Hitting PC, Xbox One and PS4 in October, and also heading to next-gen consoles, the latest instalment in the stunning racing series looks to bring more sim-like authenticity, arcade-style action and glorious visuals to get race fans clamouring for the steering wheel.
Much has been made about the game’s awe-inspiring ‘amplified off-road’ world, and with a whole host of new locations to look forward to, we caught up with Amrish Wadekar, art director for DiRT 5 at Codemasters, who ran us through what we can expect.
Can you give us a quick breakdown of the new tracks coming to DiRT 5?
Amrish Wadekar: For DiRT 5, every location and track is a brand new experience. The team have built ten new environments from the ground up, each focusing on a real-world location: Brazil, Greece, Nepal, Norway, China, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Arizona and Roosevelt Island. All ten locations host multiple circuits or routes for racing, making use of different surfaces and our range of event types. All in all, there’s over 70 different routes in DiRT 5, and they’re all new experiences.
What location was the most challenging to bring to life, and why?
Each location had its own challenges, but the team really saw those as opportunities to break new ground and create something memorable in each environment. Brazil, for example, features a huge amount of undulation, using different surfaces like mud, sand and tarmac, and has an array of exotic foliage that we researched in detail to bring into DiRT 5. So there were plenty of challenges – but that’s because of the scope and ambition we had to take these locations and make them special places to race in.
Creating multiple tracks in all ten locations has been a major design and art challenge, with the aim of racing in places that, in real life, could have very small roads, single-track paths, or no road at all. To be able to create fun and challenging tracks that not only accommodate a full pack of 12 cars but blend seamlessly in the world and feel believable, authentic and true to the location – that's a challenge, but very rewarding when we pulled it off.
Which track do you think is the trickiest for players to get to grips with, and do you have any tips as to how to get the edge?
In our first ever hands-on session back in June, we saw that players found the biggest challenges in the rougher terrain, where bumps and jumps would influence car control. We also previewed an Ultra Cross race in Norway where some of the tight turns through a coastal town would catch players out. But DiRT 5 is designed to be accessible, with that layer of challenge, so with practice, players got the hang of these events and really started to find their rhythm.
Tips for success within these locations would include being brave and bold in your race style, going for every overtaking opportunity and not being afraid to trade some paint. Plus, expect the unexpected; not only do the track designs include plenty of stunning sections, but the dynamic weather can totally transform a race, meaning your visibility and car control change drastically. Get ready for that!
What do you think will be most noticeable when bringing these tracks to life on next gen?
The whole Codemasters Cheshire team have really embraced the new capabilities of next-gen console gaming, and that shines through in the design and look of our new locations. We’ve massively upscaled aspects like shading to add some incredible depth and detail across the board. The graphical advancements coming with next-gen consoles just means the key features of our DiRT 5 environments have a new layer of visual awe to them. Whether it’s a sunset on a summer’s evening in Greece, a vicious sandstorm rolling into view in Morocco, or the kick-up of mud and water through the Paddy fields of China, everything we’ve designed comes to the foreground even more, which is great to see.
Which location are you personally most excited to include, and why?
That’s like choosing a favourite child! We’ve put so much effort and attention into each location that it’s impossible to pick one we’re most excited to include – though I know each member of the team has their own personal favourites. It’s really cool to have a location like Roosevelt Island, surrounding the player with the iconic landmarks of New York and even getting them racing on the frozen East River in our Ice Breaker event. Then you’ve got other places that the DiRT franchise has never seen, such as Nepal and South Africa – two rich and vibrant destinations that are a perfect fit for DiRT 5’s focus on creating a bold and amplified experience.
Which track do you think best showcases the latest tweaks to DiRT 5’s gameplay?
A location like Morocco really does a good job of showing off the variety of racing on offer in DiRT 5. Morocco hosts circuit events in a closed-off dirt track, has more intricate routes that hurtle through villages, and then we have this amazing Path Finder event, which challenges you to overcome the steepest and most hazardous terrain we’ve seen in the franchise with a monstrous rock bouncer machine. Italy also offers really fresh gameplay, with some of the racing taking place in a marble mine that we’ve devised creative routes through. Arizona has a dedicated dirt oval for our new Sprint cars, which have 900bhp, tyres of all different sizes and humongous wings. It’s pretty mad!
The Sprint tracks are simple high-speed dirt ovals that might look easy to start with, but when you jump behind the wheel of a high-powered Sprint car that only turns left, you will forget about that very quickly. Use very little braking and a lot of throttle control if you want to tame these beasts, it takes some practice to master but is extremely rewarding once you do. And if that isn’t enough challenge, then why not try your hand at a Sprint race on ice...
How do these tracks fit into DiRT 5’s ‘amplified off-road world’? What’s required from a circuit to meet this approach?
We’ve made sure that every location and track has moments that are designed to take your breath away. Whether that’s their visual beauty, a thrilling section of track, a huge jump, or how it’s transformed mid-race by extreme weather, we’ve turned so many aspects of level design up to 11 to bring out those moments that you have to use Photo Mode to capture and share with your friends. The design of the track itself, how it feels to race on, and the visual beauty of everything around you: combine those three elements, and that’s what we mean by an amplified off-road world.
Do these tracks tell us anything about the new, updated story mode?
All 10 of the locations factor into DiRT 5’s Career and its narrative-driven story mode. As you go on this journey as a rookie of the off-road racing world, alongside an icon in Alex ‘AJ’ Janicek (voiced by Troy Baker) and a fierce adversary in Bruno Durand (voiced by Nolan North), you’ll travel across the globe and compete in all of these places. The progression of Career is designed so that the player has choice over how they progress and what they participate in, but if you decide to take in every event in Career, you’ll be tearing it up in all ten locations, built into over 130 events.
The environments are changed by extreme weather conditions. Any tips for how to handle these?
Hold on tight! Both visually and from a gameplay standpoint, the extreme dynamic weather has the power to flip any race event on its head. You can begin a race with beautiful clear skies and a dry track, and finish it by fighting through a blizzard, in the dark, with no more than your headlights and the odd lightning strike to light up the track in front of you. So there’s that visual transformation, but also the handling and overall feel can be drastically changed, too. Puddles will form in realistic spots as heavy rain falls, affecting grip levels. Dirt will turn into mud that is churned up by your competitors and hinders traction. Snow hitting wet ground will create slush that gets into your tyres and compromises handling. All this and more means you’ll need to change your brake zones, be more gentle on the throttle and be extra wary of what’s around you. It’s quite the challenge.