Offroad fans can rejoice, as DIRT 5 is now only a couple of months away. Developer Codemasters Cheshire's racing game is a much-needed return for the series after a three year absence, adding a splash of color to the grime and mud to keep the high octane thrills coming. Set to release on October 16, DIRT 5 seems to have plenty of tricks up its collective, oil-stained sleeves to ensure players are entertained.
Although DIRT 5 was hit with a one week delay, this will hopefully give Codemasters Cheshire a chance to perfect the game's various modes. The scope of DIRT 5 has been expanded once more with the reveal of a new Playgrounds game mode. This mode allows the player to build their own tracks and arenas, and then share them online for other s to test their skills.
This has the potential to be a very interesting part of DIRT 5's roster of game modes. Creation tools, when utilized properly, can really give something for the community to sink their teeth into, and it's an area that few racing games have truly explored, particularly in the modern era. By creating a kind of Super Mario Maker for petrol-heads, DIRT 5 could give something new to a genre that's all too often defined by repetition and rigidity.
Playgrounds will include three different challenge types to s. The most easy to grasp of these is the straightforward checkpoint time trial of Gate Crasher, although the course creator could certainly build in some surprises with ramps and other stunts to mix things up. Gymkhana is purely focused on pulling off tricks in the car to get the highest score, while the final mode of Smash Attack tasks drivers with earning points by hitting inflatable objects throughout the course.
The recent preview of Playgrounds gave access to three maps over two locations. Cape Town stadium's halogen lights give tones of late night monster truck and demolition derby events, where all that's missing is the smell of fried food and beer. Meanwhile there were two different sizes given to a barren space in Arizona, giving lots of room for creators to build their own tracks or gauntlets.
The act of building a course is very accessible, with the player able to quickly choose their required dirt mound, shipping container or ramp from the in-game menus and place them down, while linking items like barriers is extremely quick thanks to some well thought out options for item connection and quick rotation. Much like the aforementioned Mario Maker, the player can test out their course at any given moment to get an idea of how it's shaping up from a perspective.
That said, those expecting a deep creation tool may be a little underwhelmed. When it comes to scope, this isn't enclosure creation of Planet Zoo should adjust their expectations.
Nevertheless Playgrounds still works extremely well, and the tools provided do give the player more than enough to work with for any given circumstance, particularly with Gymkhana. Having a look at the creations that have been made so far, there are plenty of different takes on what DIRT 5 can provide, so hopefully this will give enough to s to keep its online community going.
Visually, Playgrounds really amps up the fun element of DIRT 5's style. The game has been allowed to unleash its creative side given the more realistic angle of DiRT Rally, and although the core game seems to be a little more restrained than Playgrounds, this online mode is full of bright colors, flame rings, 360 pipes and loop-the-loops. It's a nice change of pace, separating it from the more traditional game modes of DIRT 5's core.
Based on this preview build Playgrounds could be a nice addition to DIRT 5's multiplayer setup. It will very much depend on whether it provides enough bite for the community to get involved and stick around, but if the game mode can get past the novelty stage and become something for s to check in on regularly then it could be a winner.
DIRT 5 releases October 16 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with future releases planned for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Screen Rant was provided with a PC code for the purposes of this preview.