DiRT 3 is one of the best racers around. It offers a deep yet accessible racing experience with plenty of variety in disciplines and cars. It’s a beautiful-looking game with remarkable attention to detail, and is also technically superior to many of its rivals. Multiplayer is brilliantly executed, with enough compelling modes to keep you coming back day after day.

DiRT 3 also has a chunky singleplayer mode, which should keep you busy for at least 20 hours before you’ve seen all the content in the game – though that’s not to say you’ll have completed the impressive scope of DiRT 3’s challenges by then.

Let me get a few negative aspects of the game out of the way first. The presentation in DiRT 3 goes back to the floating menus frontend of the first game. It’s not nearly as visually attractive as the system used in DiRT 2 where you could explore your trailer in first-person view to browse and accept races. DiRT 3 also chooses to narrow its focus from the previous title in terms of track locations. There are only a handful of countries you’ll visit in the game – perhaps about seven in total. Each country has a vast number of different tracks, but they’re more or less based in the same area. I found this disappointing because I enjoy the globe-trotting aspect of rally games, and DiRT 3 just didn’t deliver for me in this area.

Despite having a mandatory install on PlayStation 3, DiRT 3 still has far too many loading times which break up the rhythm of the experience. Every time you click on an event you’ll need to wait between 10 to 20 seconds for the race screen to appear. The same is true in multiplayer.

There is also no music during races and no support for custom soundtracks. This is a shame because the music which plays in the menus and leading up to each race is actually very good. It’s a shame to hear a good song cut off as the race begins, and there’s no option to access a song from the menu and listen to it in its entirety.

The online pass system in DiRT 3 (i.e. ‘VIP Pass’) is not the most tactful I’ve seen. If you don’t purchase the game new you’ll need to pay R75 to buy a new one if the code has already been redeemed. You get exactly zero hours of free online trial and the game reminds you about the wonderful benefits of the VIP Pass every time you load it up – very annoying.

You also can’t make use of the YouTube upload functionality unless you have the pass – you’re basically reprimanded for trying to upload without having one and told to get lost until you can produce the proper documentation. DiRT 3 gets a big black mark next to it for attempting to manipulate you into buying a VIP Pass at every opportunity. You should feel ashamed of yourselves Codemasters.

Now that I’ve got DiRT 3’s failings aside, let me get on to what makes it so great. For starters, this is one of the most accessible racing games around. Male and female narrators (who also function as your co-drivers) guide you through each new event and location, and even explain what each assist and driving setup option does. The superbly skilled Ken Block also lends a helping hand by explaining the basics of the new Gymkhana event type to you.

The various driving assists at your disposal can be configured to match your skill level. If you want to merely direct you car around the track without having to worry about braking, oversteering or vehicle damage then you can. If you want to drive with all assists off from the realistic in-car view then nothing’s stopping you from doing so. The game even has a flashback feature where you can rewind time at any point during a race to repeat a section you might have lost precious seconds on. However these flashbacks are limited and rob you of ‘reputation points’ every time you use them.

The DiRT 3 experience is split up into Career, Single Race and Multiplayer. Single Race allows you to practice a specific track and discipline in different weather conditions using one of the unlocked vehicles in that class. DiRT 3 has a comprehensive list of vehicles that must tally at least 100 - there are buggies, trucks, super rally cars, standard rally cars, gymkhana cars as well as classic rally cars from the 90s, 80s, 70s and 60s.

Over and above doing practice laps, you can enter various time trial events where your times are added to an online global leaderboard. This mode features excellent ghost support – you can race against the ghost of the world record holder, or perhaps you want to race the ghost of your friend who recently boasted to you how he tore up that particular track. You can load up to five ghost profiles at once, making your run through each lap incredibly competitive in spite of being the only real car on the track.

DiRT 3’s Career Mode is super addictive, despite the limited number of locales. There are all sorts of different discipline types to keep you entertained, and hundreds of course layouts to learn. There are four seasons in total, along with a number of out-of-season events, challenges and competitions. Each season is made up of three main series, and you advance to the next season by earning a certain number of points to unlock each one’s final event. Once you have won the last series’ final you can proceed to the next season.

You don’t earn cash in DiRT 3 nor can you purchase vehicles. Instead you unlock new teams, cars and liveries by increasing your driver level. This is done simply by winning races and completing optional objectives during each race, such as finishing within a certain time limit.

The controls in DiRT 3 are perfectly executed – the various classes of vehicles handle differently, especially if you turn off a few of the assists. Driving feels realistic and responsive. Each stage features a variety of surface types, so you may transition from gravel to tar to mud all in one race. Some tracks even feature modest potholes which you can “feel” if you have vibration enabled. The stages are well designed and carefully thought out – each setting is believable and every track offers some sort of learning curve to newcomers. DiRT 3’s locations range from Kenya to Norway to Los Angeles.

Gymkhana is a new event type for the DiRT series. It’s basically an exhibition event where you perform various manoeuvres in front of a crowd, Ken Block style. These include slides, donuts, spins, block smashing and drifting. It’s a fun, frenetic game type which is all about showmanship. It’s a great addition to the already-impressive list of disciplines in DiRT 3, and hopefully will be included in future instalments in the series.

Multiplayer is also a fantastic aspect of the game, and one of the best competitive online experiences currently available in the racing genre. Very few racing games offer split-screen support these days, but I’m happy to announce that DiRT 3 bucks this trend.

Online multiplayer features ranked and unranked game types, and finding a match is quick and simple once you’ve made your choice. You can choose between a few different collections of the disciplines found in career mode, or opt for the completely new party mode.

Party mode is raucous fun, with game types like Infection where one car is zombie-fied at the outset of the match and must infect the surrounding vehicles, who are all trying to keep their distance for obvious reasons. Believe me, it’s difficult to keep your humanity intact when there’re seven infected cars and you’re the last one standing!

Online multiplayer is lag-free for the most part, although the frame rate does appear to take a hit on certain tracks. Overall, Codemasters has done a sterling job with this component of DiRT 3 and definitely lead the pack in the online rally racing sphere.

DiRT 3 sounds amazing thanks to throaty, realistic engine noises, believable collisions and completely authentic sound effects for tires tearing it up on a variety of different surfaces.

On the graphics front, the game is definitely one of the best-looking multiplatform racers around. The DiRT series has always been known for stunning graphics and this has never been truer than in the case of DiRT 3. Each track features an incredible level of detail with plenty of animated and destructible elements, as well as beautiful lighting, textures and bloom effects.

The 100 or so cars are all meticulously crafted, and look as close to the real thing as the current generation of hardware will allow for. Vehicle damage is also the best I’ve seen, with every conceivable part of the car being transformable during collisions.

Each vehicle features an in-car view which is recommended if you want to get the most authentic rally experience possible. You can look around the car’s interior with the right analog stick, and this view produces some truly magical moments such as trying to complete a race with a cracked windscreen or driving in rain and watching the droplets wobble as they build up on your passenger window. The attention to detail in DiRT 3 is simply superb.

The latest chapter in the DiRT series is a brilliant game with just a few minor faults which prevent it from achieving legendary status. The graphics, controls, sheer variety of content and thoroughly enjoyable multiplayer modes make this title a must-have for fans of racing games.

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