DiRT 5 (2020) - Every PC Rally Game
0DiRT 5 by Codemasters, 2020.
If the DiRT Rally series are the hardcore sims, then DiRT 5 is the arcade side of rallying. Best described as something like Rallisport Challenge, I wasn't expecting too much from this game, but it's actually really good fun!
It plays excellently on my Logitech G920, with the cars being very chuckable (and drifts very catchable, yet requiring a gentle throttle pedal on some of the faster rear-wheel drive cars). The graphics are pretty, with some epic effects (thundersnow and sandstorm being personal favourites).
Sound is decent, though the water splashes should be louder I feel. Luckily there's no music playing directly as you race (which I thought there would be), you instead catch bits of the soundtrack from trackside speakers as you race.
Although the graphics are great, there are a few items that took the reality away a bit; often it's meant to be very windy, and you see dust whipping up, yet the smaller trees and trackside banners don't seem to blow about enough. Likewise the water effects on the screen appear the moment you drive over anything wet, and fade out nearly instantly a short while later. But neither distracts too much. The stunt plane with red smoke is a nice effect, but seems to fly about even at midnight, which is a bit weird!
The rest is a bit humdrum; the drama story line played out via podcast audio that you can largely ignore doesn't bring that much to the table, but I've rather enjoyed this one, more than I thought I would!
Note: the game plays more smoothly than my capture. I tried ShadowPlay vs OBS but neither gave a perfectly smooth recording, so there's some frame skipping here. I partly suspect my 4970K with 2070 SUPER is only just keeping up with the game (as it uses raytraced shadows, for instance). Many videos I've seen of this game are a bit stuttery, but it's smooth on screen!
This is part of the Every PC Rally Game playlist, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYDobL0b26ugFuXASCIC9qmFb9_k4_fqU