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The release of Dirt Rally in 2015 felt like a pivotal moment for Codemasters. Having meandered in previous years away from its more grounded racing roots in its quest for the mainstream, this full-blooded, teeth-baring sim wasn't simply a return to the old ways; it was a total reinvention of the studio's philosophy. Here was a driving game that spat gravel in the face of anyone who dared come near it without working knowledge of load transfer and trail-braking, and it was all the better for it. The only question was, where could Codemasters go from there? What would happen when Dirt eventually went back to catering for the masses? Dirt 4 offers a fairly convincing answer, though there have been some casualties along the way. Gone are the legendary real-life stages that propped up so much of Dirt Rally - there's no Col de Turini here, no Pike's Peak or Sweet Lamb - and in their place is something very different. At the heart of Dirt 4 is a feature Codemasters is calling Your Stage, which gives players the ability to conjure up their own stages by setting a series of parameters before conquering them and sharing with others. That's right; Dirt 4 is built almost entirely around procedural generation.
It's a move made through circumstance as much as it is through choice - Gran Turismo now has sole rights to Pike's Peak, while WRC tracks look like increasingly becoming the domain of the official games - but after some initial reservations I'm finding myself onboard. For starters, it means you'll want to hold onto your copy of Dirt Rally if it's authentic stages that you're after, yet it also means that Dirt 4 is a very different beast, and one that complements Rally rather well. This isn't a straight sequel to Dirt Rally, and instead is something else entirely.
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