Colin McRae: DiRT 2 is official, arrives 2009

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 20th 2008 at 11:30AM }

In a recent interview with IGN UK, Codemasters' Gavin Raeburn spilled some of the first detaiils on Colin McRae: DiRT 2. First, Raeburn spoke to the decision to keep McRae's name in the title -- McRae died tragically in 2007. According to Raeburn, the decision was made by Codemasters in conjunction with the McRae family. He added that Colin McRae's "ventures into events such as the X-Games, Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions have inspired [Codemasters] to look at events covering the extremes of off-road motorsport. Raeburn says DiRT 2 will move in that direction and that "Colin will play a part in that." Raeburn concluded that "DiRT 2 will be a great tribute."

The game will be running on an improved version of the EGO engine, which powered the previous DiRT as well as the more recent GRiD. Among some of the improvements are "more physical modelling of the environment, improving lighting and shadowing" as well as greater use of a streaming system "to allow much higher texture detail." Raeburn adds that Codemasters is "pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the hardware as much as possible, and we're confident in our ability to lift the quality bar again." Given that DiRT is still considered one of the best looking games available, these are some hefty statements to make.

Players can also expect revamped single-player and multiplayer experiences, with Raeburn promising "progressive reward system and community features" for online multiplayer. DiRT 2 is scheduled to launch in 2009.

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: codemasters, colin-mcrae, colin-mcrae-dirt, colin-mcrae-dirt-2, dirt, dirt-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Pimp @ Nov 20th 2008 11:50AM

I can't wait for DiRT2 its going to be better that DiRT which was awesome. Plus Code Masters is adding things from GRID!

Neuromancer @ Nov 20th 2008 12:12PM

Glad they're keeping the Colin McRae name intact. DiRT was great, GRID was great and I can't wait for DiRT 2.

jsutcliffe @ Nov 20th 2008 12:03PM

I only played Dirt on PC, and loved it. IIRC it had some performance issues on 360, particularly in larger-field races. I hope they fix that up, because I'd love to sink my teeth into a new 360 driving game.

Question: Any performance issues in Grid for 360? They may already have addressed the Dirt issue, I guess.

Neuromancer @ Nov 20th 2008 12:08PM

There was some minor screen tearing but overall I think it looked and ran great. I'm not a stickler though.

Ghen @ Nov 20th 2008 12:36PM

Never played Dirt, but Grid was beyond excellent. A perfect racer for someone like me who isn't a gearhead.

Johan @ Nov 20th 2008 12:37PM

Maybe it won't be all brown this time. And maybe the frame rate doesn't suck on the 360.

Still, I liked DiRT. But man, it was ALL BROWN!

jsutcliffe @ Nov 20th 2008 1:14PM

What color would you prefer dirt to be?

Johan @ Nov 20th 2008 1:21PM

The dirt itself can and, of course, should be brown. What I meant (and I'm guessing you realize this too) that the entire game was put through the "realism filter", which means that everything is brown and glowing.

Look, to see what I mean, look at previous Colin McRae games and compare them to DiRT.