Codemasters’ new entry into their long-running rally game series launches this week for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Unlike its predecessor DiRT Rally, DiRT 4 currently features no VR support on PC or PSVR, but a future update is possible.
Today, retail copies of DiRT 4 are available for consoles in the US, while everyone else has to wait until June 9th. The title is the latest numbered entry in the series after 2011’s DiRT 3—a more accessible, ‘arcade’ offering compared to the more recent, simulation-style DiRT Rally. DiRT 4 aims to appeal to fans of both games, offering separate ‘gamer’ and ‘simulation’ handling modes, while adding some innovative features, most notably ‘Your Stage’, a procedural rally stage generator.
Unfortunately, DiRT 4 is missing the great VR support that eventually came to DiRT Rally on both PC and PSVR after the initial launch. Asked during a recent live stream from Codemasters HQ, Chief Game Designer Paul Coleman stated that “no decision has been made,” but didn’t rule out the possibility of a VR update arriving at a later date. At the game’s announcement in January, Codemasters responded to a Road to VR enquiry about VR support, saying “we will monitor how DiRT Rally performs on PSVR and then make decisions from there”.
Much like the missing Vive support on DiRT Rally, it is a matter of resources, as the development team is relatively small, while consistently delivering well-polished output; the management wouldn’t approve of throwing together a VR mode that didn’t live up to Codemasters’ high standards. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, as DiRT 4 appears to have dramatically improved the steering animation compared to DiRT Rally, which was one critique of its VR implementation for serious VR sim racers.