Colin McRae Dirt 2 Hands On

Colin McRae Dirt 2 marks the first game in the series to be released after the untimely death of the World Rally champion back in September 2007. In the same year of his fatal helicopter crash, Colin McRae Dirt was released and gave fans a true hands-on experience at the world of rally driving. In fact the game set benchmarks on what a driving simulator could deliver, earning praised reviews, prestigious awards and moving over 500,000 copies worldwide in the first week of release.

Now fans are eagerly anticipating the release of Dirt 2 and our first hands-on experience with the game indicates it will be worth the wait. Building on the original formula and incorporating the EGO Engine (the award-winning physics system that was showcased in Race Driver: GRID), Dirt 2 looks stunning. The developers have managed to squeeze in an amazing level of detail, with painstaking attention dedicated to the courses themselves. Even the variety of track type has increased and will now include muddy Malaysian rain-forests, narrow gravel-littered canyon tracks and inner-city stadium locales. Even treacherous night-time driving is an option. This attention to detail has also been applied to the car models, boasting an improved damage effects engine that can turn your beloved Subaru Impreza into a mess of mangled metal if you fail to judge that corner correctly.

Dirt 2 has built upon its gameplay modes too and is set to include World Tour (with multi-car and solo race events across diverse and challenging environments spread across the face of the planet including USA, Japan, Malaysia, Baja, Croatia), casual racing and practice runs and even an in-depth online component with multiplayer race events and a comprehensive leaderboard and ranking system.

Overall the game is set to be an adrenaline pumping racing experience and every inch a worthy game for the late Colin McRae. Every dip, bank and corner will push your reflexes to the edge and getting that perfect balance of neck-break speed while keeping all four wheels on the ground is the difference between a course record or an expensive panel-beater’s bill. Prepare for a lot of mud, gravel, dust and (of course) dirt this September.