'Dirt 5' Gamers' Notes | Glitches and bugs ruin an otherwise fun game

"Dirt 5" is the latest installment in the Dirt video game series. It's one of the best-known and respected off-road racing game franchises, having been around since 2007 and spawning a more serious, rally-focused spinoff in "Dirt Rally." As such, it has quite a reputation to uphold. In an effort to do so, the game features an enormous selection of vehicles ranging from rally cars to high-powered rock crawlers, and picturesque locations coated in wild dynamic weather. It also takes a significantly more arcade-y tack than its predecessors. We found a lot to enjoy in the game, but as you'll see below, we can't yet recommend picking it up due to a laundry list of bugs and glitches. These will probably be fixed in updates to come, but will be enormously frustrating for early adopters.

We tried the game out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will go on sale for both consoles as well as PC on November 6. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions will be available as launch titles for both systems, and a free upgrade to the next-generation consoles will be available for buyers of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.

News Editor Joel Stocksdale: I had high hopes for "Dirt 5." The series has been consistently good, even up to last year's "Dirt Rally 2.0." And I was excited to play one of the numbered Dirt games with a wider array of vehicles and racing types. And the early copy I was playing on my plain PlayStation 4 (not a slim, not a Pro) was generally living up to expectations. It's extremely pretty with detailed cars, environments, long draw distances and excellent lighting and particle effects. The physics are a bit more arcade-y than I expected, feeling closer to something like Sega Rally than Dirt Rally, but that means it's easy to pick up and play and not nearly as punishing as more serious simulation games. The different environments and cars all feel distinct and interesting, too. You'll be able to tell when you hit icy or wet patches and whether you're driving a heavy four-wheel-drive trophy truck or a slippery classic rear-drive rally car. There are some fun, unexpected cars included, too, like the VW ID. Buggy and 1967 Ford Mustang. The career is the meat of the game and features a bit of a story relayed by folks from Donut Media and famed video game voice actors Troy Baker and Nolan North. It's not a particularly interesting story, but they tried. More importantly, there are a nice selection of events to work through, and you can work your way around events you don't like. I avoided sprint car races like the pandemic. That's the one race type that I think needs its own tutorial.

Not everything was perfect, though. It's a bit disappointing that you can't do any kind of fine tuning to your vehicles. Every car has its own settings for gearing, suspension and torque distribution, and they can't be changed. There are a number of cars I'd like to play with more, but don't because I can't drive them well to start with, and there's nothing I can change to make them easier to handle. The livery and driver tag customization are a bit disappointing, too. The vinyl application system is rudimentary compared with most other modern racing games, and it's further hampered by having to unlock patterns and paint styles through the career mode. So you might not be able to get your car just right until close to the end of the career mode.

And then there's the bugs. Both Erik and I encountered loads of them. At first I seemed to be better off. I would run across some strange glitches now and then, such as textures that didn't load fast enough, some odd sky effects and occasional screen tearing. I chalked these up to the game being a slightly early release, and any updates would fix them. An update came through earlier this week, and after installing and starting up the game, there did seem to be a graphics improvement. Unfortunately, a game breaking bug had been introduced. Anytime I tried to create a custom paint scheme for a car — any car, with any color — the game would crash to the console menu and erase all progress. I repeated this multiple times to make sure it wasn't some really obscure thing. I never want to play the tutorial race again. Erik ran into some serious issues, too, as you'll see below.

I think "Dirt 5" will eventually be worth picking up, but wait a while for some more patches to be introduced. You'll just be frustrated otherwise.

Multimedia Producer Erik Maier: I’ve been excited for "Dirt 5" for what feels like forever. It seemed like a game that was basically made for me. I’m a sucker for anything arcade-y and drift-y. Even the logo aesthetic had me excited! It was colorful, it just looked “fun.” I finally had the chance to boot it up and heard New Found Glory’s "Hit or Miss," a now 21-year-old pop punk banger and absolute anthem of my youth. I couldn’t believe it. Everything seemed to be coming together to make this the game I had been waiting for. Until everything started going wrong.