Hello everyone! So, cast your minds back to before Christmas. I promised you a Road Book in January, and I told you it’d be a good one. Well, they call me the post-woman, because I always deliver… So here it is: The first Road Book of 2017! And it comes with a pretty fricking awesome announcement to boot: DiRT 4 IS COMING. If you didn’t see it yesterday, you can watch the trailer we made for the announcement right here:

It’s about time we lifted the lid on what we’ve been up to, as we’ve been pretty secretive about what we’ve been working on so far… But not anymore! Although, having said that, I have been leaving some clues around the place. If you look closely, you’ll be able to see I’ve been trying to tell you the whole time. Here are just a handful of examples:

Still can’t believe it’s going to 4. It’s the end of an era! And the start of an exciting one, sure… but still. — Christina McGrath (@xtinamcgrath) September 13, 2016

I mean, just check out the heading titles on this old Road Book…

Frolicking in France

Our Steam leaderboards

Unveiled at Cupertino

Redecoratin’ with Hatward

There might have also been the intentional bit of misspelling and punmanship from a certain Senior Games Designer on this occasion too:

Coupled with also helpfully pointing out that 4 is better than 3:

DiRTy beginners! When it comes to wheels… 4 is definitely better than 3. Be careful out there. Nobody likes it on the rim. #DiRTtips pic.twitter.com/oT1evQpn9F — DiRT (@dirtgame) November 1, 2016

And when Halloween came around, we hoped you’d see the connection between our DiRTy Resident Evil 4 pack…

… And that’s just the tip of the 4 iceberg. There are plenty of other hints lurking around the internet – some more subtle than others – but NEVER MIND ABOUT THAT. Let’s tell you a little more about DiRT 4, shall we? We’ll show you a little bit more too: true story, all of the screenshots in this Road Book are from the new game. Enjoy!

Introducing DiRT 4

DiRT 4 is about the adrenaline, the thrill, and the danger of off-road racing. It’s about embracing the unknown as you go flat out into blind corners on the side of a cliff, or seeing how much air you can get in a truck, or going for a gap that’s just that little bit too small for your vehicle. It’s about driving forward in the face of adversity, as fast as you can. That flat-out attitude is what separates the players from the real racers – those brave few who will do anything to shave a second or two off their time. This is a game for those who strive for speed and thrive on the edge. This is DiRT 4… And we get the feeling you’re going to love it.

DiRT 4 also provides you the most personal DiRTy experience yet. We know that DiRT Rally had a steep learning curve, so we’ve introduced the DirtFish Rally School, where you can practice your Scandinavian Flicks and tweak your car set-ups. Our brand new and insanely cool tech, Your Stage (more on that later), has also allowed us to implement stages along the fully-fleshed-out Career Mode which increase in technicality and complexity the further up the ladder you get. But that’s not all Your Stage can do…

So, this is big: Your Stage technology also provides you the tools to generate your own stages. At the push of a button, you can specify what kind of stage you want – location, long, short, complex, straight-forward, night-time, sunset, rainy, whatever – the choice is all yours. And once you hit that button, you have a completely unique stage created to your own personal spec. This is a stage you’ll be able to take time and time again, share with your friends and the DiRT Community, and even use it with league and PvP functionality. And with over a billion different combinations of stage at your disposal, the possibilities are near endless. It’s absolutely mega, and I don’t use that word lightly.

You guys were very vocal about wanting more content for DiRT Rally, and DiRT 4 is bigger, better and bolder in every way. With Your Stage, you have a near-infinite amount of stages across 5 different environments, including classics like Wales and Sweden, but brand-new locations like Australia, Michigan and Spain. We’ve expanded our Rallycross content too, with classes including RX2, WRX Supercars and Group B – and we’ve expanded our RX circuit line-up from DiRT Rally with the addition of Montalegre RX and Loheac RX.

THEN, we have Landrush – which lets you razz around wildly fun buggies and big ass trucks across a series of jump-laden circuits in North America. And then rounding off this insanely cool package of disciplines comes brand-new Joyride, which sees the DirtFish Rally School double as a playground. As well as a free-play space, you’ll be able to tackle Laptime challenges and Smash challenges, with the ability to trade challenges and times with your friends. For those of you who loved some of the stuff we had in DiRT 3, this is donuts without the DudeBro.

We’ve got an extra-special DiRT Show coming up next week which we filmed at our incredible announcement event yesterday, complete with capture and some very special guests, so stay tuned for that. But anyway, that’s enough from me. It gives me great pleasure to hand over to everyone’s favourite Chief Game Designer and real-life rally co-driver, Paul Coleman:

Over to the studio

I want to start by apologising to everyone in the community for how quiet I have been. Over the last few months I’ve been setting some time aside to read what you have all been saying but I haven’t really been saying much. Hopefully the announcement that we have been hard at work making DiRT 4 explains why we have been quiet for so long. I also hope that it has made it clear why we haven’t been talking about adding lots of new content into DiRT Rally.

As we were working our way through Early Access on DiRT Rally we knew that there were some big changes that we needed to make to deliver the amount of tracks that you have been asking for. Your Stage is our answer to that and it is something that we have been working on as a concept since we launched DiRT 3. It wasn’t ready when were going through Early Access but your enthusiasm for DiRT Rally gave us the backing we needed to make sure that the concept became a reality. The results are simply amazing, the super secret testers that we had in late last year saw an early prototype and their feedback was incredibly positive. That coupled with the reaction we have seen over the last 24 hours proves that we have some technology that really will be a game changer for racing games.

Beyond Your Stage we’ve been working on a whole suite of improvements across the game. In rally these include things like PvP support, multi-class rally events and flying finishes (where you cross the line and then have to stop at the time control). In rallycross we’ve got reaction-based start sequences that work just like you get in the FIA World RX Championships, spotters that can predict what position you’ll be in if you take the joker and a bunch of new cars and tracks (but more on that later).

We’ve also got the much requested rally school, where you can learn and practise your skills and we’ve added a simpler handling model for those that have struggled with the level of simulation in DiRT Rally. That said, if you loved DiRT Rally’s simulation engine then you have nothing to fear. In fact we’ve made significant improvements to it with new aerodynamics, more accurate modelling of suspension geometry, new tyre models and better damage simulation. On top of all that we’ve made huge improvements in our lighting tech, arm over arm animation and character modelling so there is plenty to look forward to.

So what’s next? Well, we’ve got plenty left to do over the coming months to get the rest of the game ready for launch, but we want to start by hearing about what you think about DiRT 4 so far. I’m looking forward to hearing from you and being able to talk about all the other exciting stuff we’ve got planned. Oh, and I hope you like the Evo VI ;)

Hangin’ with Hatward

Hello DiRT fans! It’s good to be back. So glad we can finally talk about what we’ve been up to. :D We were floored by the reaction to DiRT Rally and since we’ve gone dark it’s been tough reading your comments and questions about future content without being able to talk about what’s next.

Paul gave you the backstory on how the technology has developed, as well as the new bells and whistles we’ve built for the new game, so I’ll fill you in how you’ll be playing with your new toys.

First up we have a fully fledged career mode, where you’ll complete events and earn licenses to unlock more prestigious competitions with even greater rewards. Team management is back, but it’s not just Engineers to manage – you’ll be running your own fully fledged motorsport operation with PR Agents, Sponsors, and more.

One of the most requested features for DIRT Rally was PvP, and we’re bringing it back in two different flavours. You may remember Jam Session from DiRT 3, which makes its triumphant return to provide you with all of your custom lobby needs. Also back is Pro Tour, powered by a new, truly competitive ladder and ranking system.

You’ll recognise the format of our Community Events, which is the new home for your Dailies, Weeklies and Monthlies. Your Stage adds a new edge in that you can’t practice a stage for hours in Custom Event before you go for it for real. Each event is a true test of your mettle and I can’t wait to see how your mentalities shift to adapt to the new format.

Once you’ve finished the events we’ve curated, you can head over to Clubs and set some up on your own terms. We’re putting stage generation code up on DiRT4game.com so you can get the composition of a rally just right before your friends take to the track.

All of these modes are fully supported by both handling models, and feature Rally, Rallycross and Landrush, so whatever your game type, and whatever your skill level, we’ve got something for you. :D

So, now you know the road ahead. We’ll see you on the next stage. From now… it’s game on. What do you think!?

Love,

The DiRT Team

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