Well, well, well, it’s been an eventful week! We’ve seen reviews, first play throughs, and a few teething issues too – but we’re here and more prepared than ever for DiRT Rally 2.0 to launch globally tomorrow. If you’ve not seen any of the reviews, then don’t worry – we can share some of the best with you right now:

Top Gear / “Dirt Rally 2.0 is guaranteed make you feel like a rally hero… The Dirt series has hit new heights”

IGN / “Dirt Rally 2.0 feels great, looks good, and sounds fabulous.”

Game Informer / “Codemasters delivers another captivating rally title that will have you swearing in fear and delight”

PC Gamer / “Simply the best rally sim around”

Of course, we couldn’t be happier with the reviews here – but we’re even more excited for you to all get the game into your hands come tomorrow. DiRT Rally 2.0 has been a labour of love for us – to most authentically represent the sport we love – and we hope you can feel that as you tackle your first stages. We hope that those of you who picked up the Deluxe Edition last week felt too, it as you booted the game for the first time. And on that note…

Over the weekend we had members of our community asking why the My Team part of the game requires a RaceNet connection, and we just want to address these questions and be as transparent with you as possible about why this is the case.

Simply, DiRT Rally 2.0 is the most alive DiRT game to date; the My Team career campaign is our most complex offering we’ve had, and our Community Events are built into this too. Because you’re racing against other players in this mode, we need to ensure we maintain a level playing field – and My Team being online means that we can verify everyone’s race results. In turn, this also means we can confirm that all car purchases and upgrades have been obtained legitimately.

Going forward, as we introduce competitive racing through more asynchronous events, Clubs and esports, the integrity of our leaderboards will be paramount to making sure the competition is both fair and monitored. We have at least six months of service and DLC for DiRT Rally 2.0 – so if we need to tune AI or make other changes quickly, then having this based server side allows us to be a lot more reactive.

Finally, it’s also worth noting that a whole host of content is available to play offline too – the ‘Freeplay’ tab isn’t just a race. you’ve got Time Trial, Historic Championship, RX Championship and Custom Championship modes to keep you busy without requiring an online connection. There’s a lot of game in DiRT Rally 2.0, and a whole range of ways for you to play – so while My Team is a great way to play, there’s plenty more for you to get stuck into.

Before we sign off ahead of a big day tomorrow, we just wanted to say one last time: thank you for being our wonderful community. Tomorrow is the first stage of many for DiRT Rally 2.0, and the road ahead promises lots of fun for everyone involved. This is only the beginning for DiRT Rally 2.0 – the leaderboards are already looking incredibly competitive, and in the studio we’re already flat out and on our way to Season 1. It’s going to be amazing.