Codemasters has announced that Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for the PC has been delayed because of the publisher’s decision to include DirectX11 support. The game will now only be released in December 2009 to allow for an extended development program (DirectX11 is expected to release alongside Windows 7 on the 22nd of October). The console versions of Dirt 2 will still be hitting shelves in September.

Until then, try and enjoy these two new screenshots of the game which the publisher released in an apparent attempt to appease fans.

“While the console editions of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers,” said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters.

“As a leader in digital racing entertainment, we are staying ahead of the pack by immediately taking advantage of key new technologies such as hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0 to deliver the most realistic, immersive and exhilarating racing experiences in the business. The fusion of DirectX 11 with Codemasters’ EGO Engine will raise the technical bar considerably in the racing genre.”