Codemasters has recently confirmed that DiRT Rally 2.0‘s rally stages are actually bespoke rather than a product of their “My Stage” stage generator technology as featured in DiRT 4.

According to Chief Games Designer Ross Gowing, the DiRT community wanted traditional set stages so that they can “practice and familiarise themselves with the route over and over“. Of course, once you account for the new ground deformation, knowing the layout of a circuit will be one thing but mastering the surface another.

Although the “My Stage” track generator will not be seen in DiRT Rally 2.0, Gowing points out that its absence “is not to say it will never be seen again“. He also mentions that bespoke stages are a good fit for the DiRT Rally series.

Interestingly, Gowing has also pointed out that the development team has thrown in a few surprises “to catch players out”. We can only assume this means we’ll see some wildlife and the odd crashed vehicle appear randomly on some stages, let’s hope there is at least one genuine surprise in there – consider this a challenge Codemasters.

DiRT Rally 2.0 features the following six rally locations: New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Poland, Australia, and USA. The title, coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 26, 2019, also features eight official circuits from the FIA World Rallycross championship, complete with licensed Supercars and support series.

Are you a fan of DiRT 4’s stage generator? Are you happy to see the back of it? Did it have potential in your eyes? Let us know in the comments.

Say hello in our forum and give is your feedback in the Dirt Rally 2.0 thread, also if you have any questions for the developers, list those and we’ll be sure to ask when we next get access to a preview build.