The lighting is the best that’s ever come out of Codemasters, from the way it plays off the different paint types and car surfaces to the way low sun lights up thick fog in a bright orange haze. Until now, Codemasters’ Ego engine games have always looked a little muted. No more cheeky reverse stages or repetitive shared track sections, and no more belting up and down the exact same stages for months on end Your Stage is a gamechanger for rally games. Trackside detail is varied and the game’s pace notes – provided by Welshman Nicky Grist and Canadian Jen Horsey – are always accurate.įive environments is probably the bare minimum Codemasters needed (the traits Dirt Rally’s Finland, Monaco, and Germany would have brought to this game are missed) but we’ve definitely gained more than we’ve lost here. Segments are seamlessly blended together. Most impressive of all, there’s nothing about Your Stage courses that makes it obvious they’ve been built by an algorithm rather than a bunch of humans. You can also save the ones you like most and share them with friends. There's nothing about Your Stage courses that makes it obvious they've been built by an algorithm rather than a bunch of humans.You can’t raise or lower bits of your custom tracks yourself, nor can you push and pull certain sections around to customise the end product, but the impact of having a unique stage curated for every career event (and a bottomless supply of them at your fingertips outside of the career mode) cannot be understated. I’ve clattered down more than a few Spanish hillsides blazing into bends at maximum attack.

It’s quick too, because there’s a lot more grip, but there’s a bit less margin for error here. Spain is quite different it’s a tarmac-based affair lined with curbs, railings, and high stone and rock walls.

It’s quick and it can be a bit forgiving, provided you have the space to make an error. Australia is gravel-based, with a mix of wider areas with uncluttered verges and tighter zones that twist through the bush. The Your Stage tool supports five countries in Dirt 4 – Australia, the United States, Wales, Sweden, and Spain – which each offer very different terrain and demand different things from us behind the wheel.

Dirt 4 review