Launching initially with 17 classic and current cars and 36 challenging stages spread across three very different real world environments, the team will be adding regular free updates featuring more vehicles, locations and game modes as they build a new, exciting breed of focused and challenging off-road racing.

Every stage will test you differently, as you feel out grip across varying surfaces and adapt your style to a range of different weather types. As the car suffers attrition you’ll need to account for mechanical damage whilst your dedicated rally team tries to keep you competitive with time-limited repairs between stages. As stages string together, each rally becomes a marathon-like test of concentration and skill, as you trust in your co-driver and your own ability to react and adapt, in order to stay competitive and chase that ever-elusive perfect run.

It’s the ultimate test of a driver’s skill, and it’s the ultimate in high risk, high reward gameplay.

With DiRT Rally, the team wanted to take off-road racing to a new level of realism, so tore up its previous pace notes and completely rebuilt the physical simulation and driving models to truly capture the feeling of each individual car as it hurtles along a variety of surfaces in different conditions. The community will be DiRT Rally’s co-driver and their feedback will help shape the evolution of the experience. For players joining DiRT Rally in Early Access and the road ahead, the team want their feedback. They’ll be helping to test theories and providing vital data that will help to refine DiRT Rally.

DiRT Rally has a new co-driver with the announcement of a long-term collaboration between the FIA World Rallycross Championship and the UK based video game developer. The first stage of this partnership will see RX Supercars, tracks and racing modes implemented into DiRT Rally™ as part of Codemasters’ commitment to deliver regular content updates during the game’s Early Access phase on Steam.

World RX features a grid of cars whose makes and models will be instantly familiar.

Their performance is anything but. Boasting more raw power and acceleration than most other motorsports, Rallycross Supercars accelerate from 0-60mph in under two seconds from the green light, tackling jumps and ruts and effortlessly drifting around corners across both dirt and tarmac.

Owners of DiRT Rally will soon be able to drive a choice selection of these cars for themselves across three different game modes and experience the sheer speed, action, dynamism and performance that go to make World RX one of the fastest growing and most exciting motorsports in the world. As with previous updates, this new content will be available free of charge.

DiRT Rally’s Lead Designer, Paul Coleman, commented: “From the outset we wanted DiRT Rally to be the ultimate off-road racer and to fulfill that vision we knew we had to include World RX. Since the launch in Early Access back in April we have continued to add new, diverse content to the game and World RX will add another dimension that will challenge even the most experienced players.”

At the World RX round in Sweden over the weekend, the Championship’s top drivers were able to test drive virtual versions of the six hundred bhp RX Supercars that compete in the World Championship.

“Codemasters have done a brilliant job – the details is very realistic and not far from real life,” explained Team Volkswagen Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson, who is currently second in the overall World RX drivers’ standings.  “As drivers we are always wanting to change the smallest things with our cars, but this version is very good. There are just a couple of tweaks that need to be made and then I think it will be just like driving the real thing.”

From the outset players purchasing DiRT Rally on Steam Early Access will get access to the following:

• 17 CARS OVER 6 NEW AND CLASSIC CLASSES - Including BMW M3 Evo; Audi Quattro S1; Lancia Delta HF Integrale and Subaru Impreza
• DIVERSE LOCALES - 36 challenging stages set across Hafren, Wales; Monte Carlo, Monaco and Argolis, Greece
• TEAM MANAGEMENT – Hire up to four engineering staff to work on your car between stages
• RALLY ASYNC – Daily, weekly and month-long challenges against fellow players from around the world without the need to be online at the same time
• RALLY SEASONS – Compete in a succession of events with the aim of gaining promotion to the next rung on the driving ladder
• CUSTOM RALLY EVENTS – Take any car on any track and configure and compete in single or multi-stage events against the AI’s times
• UPGRADES – Unlock the full potential of your car with meaningful improvements to its handling and performance
• TUNING – Tweak your car set-up based on car, track and weather conditions to best suit your racing style
• PHYSICS-BASED ASSISTS – DiRT Rally allows players to experience cars in their purest form it also offers a selection of real world assists similar to those seen in race and road vehicles as traction control and ABS.
• DAMAGE & REPAIRS – Wear and tear is faithfully recreated with a comprehensive and realistic damage model. Damage can be repaired by hiring  Engineers to work in the team’s Service Area between stages but with a finite amount of time available.