Dirt was always positioned as the Colin McRae Rally series' louder, brasher offspring, taking Codemasters' wonderfully pliable off-road racers and giving them a heavy American slant (at a time, it's worth remembering, when the late Scottish superstar was wowing fans across the Atlantic with his showstopping antics in the X-Games). It was a play for a broader audience that might have proved divisive, but it did result in a handful of lavish, bold and enjoyable games that were often more glitz than grime.
And then, in 2015, the series took a very different turn. Dirt Rally was a hardcore offshoot that had more in common with Warthog's revered Richard Burns Rally than it did any of Codemasters' earlier games; this was a full-blooded sim that wasn't afraid to fling you into the woods if you'd neglected to study the intricacies of weight transfer under braking, and one that demanded your attention and respect. It earned that respect, too - Codemasters has a long history of making driving games, but I still think none of them had ever come close to the exquisite depths of Dirt Rally.
Which leaves the first Dirt game since Rally - and the first to carry a number since 2011's Dirt 3, itself the product of a very different Codemasters to the leaner company the Southam outfit is today - with something of a conundrum. How do you play to the wider audience while maintaining your hard-won integrity? How do you cater to two very different crowds?
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