Gamers may tune their rides, a necessity given the various types of terrain, but unlike other racing games, DiRT walks players through everything, thanks to narration by rally racer Travis Pastrana, who not only describes each mode, but also a car/truck/buggy's strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, and in typical rally racing fashion, a co-pilot helps navigate players around tracks, calling out sharp turns and other dangerous obstacles.

Single player offers a deep, engaging experience. Multiplayer, on the other hand, needed more work. Instead of hopping online and smashing into people, gamers select a race type - rally or hill climb - and then compete for the best time alone. There's no head to head racing, which is a shame, given the cool damage modeling and the trash talking it would bring.

Aside from that, the game suffers from long load times and an inconsistent frame rate. Not awful by any means, but it can get choppy from time to time. Finally, the cars don't hug the road, but slip and slide across it, like they're traveling on air and not atop gravel, sand or mud.

These issues are minor, however, and shouldn't affect someone's decision to buy/rent the game. Bottom line, DiRT needs to be played, and Codemasters deserves kudos for crafting an enjoyable rally game.