Colin McRae Rally and Dirt
Genre	Racing
Developer	Codemasters
Publishers	Codemasters Electronic Arts
Platforms	Android Game Boy Advance Game Boy Color iOS Linux Microsoft Windows Mobile N-Gage Nintendo DS OS X PlayStation PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 PlayStation Portable Wii Xbox Xbox 360 Xbox One Xbox Series X
First release	Colin McRae Rally 15 July 1998
Latest release	Dirt 5 6 November 2020

Dirt andDirt Rally (stylized asDiRT andDiRT Rally, formerly known asColin McRae Rally), is arallyracingvideo game series developed and published byCodemasters. Codemasters had acquired the exclusive license to theWorld Rally Championship series in June 2020, which will begin as a five-year deal in 2023.

Started in 1998, the franchise has been a critical and commercial success and is generally acknowledged as a pioneer of realisticrally sports racing games. The series is named after theWorld Rally Championship driverColin McRae, who provided extensive technical advice during development.

After McRae's death in September 2007, Codemasters used his name one more time inColin McRae: Dirt 2, dropping the moniker inDirt 3. The McRae name was then used once again in 2013 in the mobile release ofColin McRae Rally.

In 2021, Codemasters has announced entry into the 2021Junior WRC season as "Codemasters Dirt Rally Team", which was later rebranded in the 2022 Junior WRC season as "EA Sports Rally Team" on behalf ofEA Sports, as a result toElectronic Arts' acquisition of Codemasters.

Colin McRae Rally, the first title in the series, was released for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows platforms in January 1998 in the United Kingdom and in September 1999 in the United States. The game featured real cars and drivers from the1998 World Rally Championship season. Colin McRae's Subaru Impreza was featured on the game's cover.

In Novice mode there are 3 stages per rally, each followed by a Service Area, making it easier to adjust the vehicle to the different conditions of each stage and repair the damage.

The second game in the series, and it features the works-entered cars and the rallies of the2000 World Rally Championship. There are 3 difficulty levels, namely Novice, Intermediate and Expert. New features include Arcade mode, with direct head-to-head competition against AI drivers or another player, and a cleaner and more minimalistic menu system, which would be retained for the rest of the series until the release ofDirt 2 in 2009. The game was a bestseller in the UK,^[46] and again later in the year.^[47] A version for theiOS was released in June 2013.^[48][49]IGN gave it a score of very high 9.4/10.

The first handheld entry in the series was released for theGame Boy Color in Europe in 2001. It was developed bySpellbound Entertainment and published byTHQ. It features2D graphics.

The firstColin McRae game released for the Xbox, as well as the PlayStation 2. It features rally cars from the2002 World Rally Championship. A GameCube version was announced but it was cancelled. It uses an autosave feature.IGN ranked it as the 91st best PlayStation 2 game. The staff praised its improvement and technology.^[50]

This fourth incarnation of theColin McRae Rally series, unlike in the previous three games, has no official WRC team license. All of the cars' liveries are either fictitious or taken from championships other than the WRC.

The 2005 incarnation of the McRae franchise was released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Portable and has over 70 stages spread over nine countries. There are over 30 cars available. There is also a revised graphics and damage engine that enables paint scratches on the car, and a new 'career' mode where the player starts out in the lower club leagues and works their way up to compete with Colin McRae in his 2004 Dakar Rally Nissan Pick-Up. In 'Championship' mode the player takes the role of Colin himself competing in six rallies using any 4WD car.

The game's graphic engine allows for more realistic damage effects and a blurred vision effect if the player comes into contact with a hard object.

An OS X version of this game, renamed asColin McRae Rally Mac, has been published byFeral Interactive and developed by Robosoft Technologies and represents the first Macintosh release of a CMR series game. It was released on 26 October 2007, six weeks after McRae's death in a helicopter crash. The development of the game was fraught with problems.Apple's switch to Intel Macs, some behind-the-scenes changes at Feral and other issues conspired to keepColin McRae Rally Mac from being released until fairly late into 2007, despite it being based on PC-game underpinnings that Windows gamers had been enjoying since late 2004. Feral chose to make this release as independent of the PC franchise as possible to avoid any issues that might date it, calling itColin McRae Rally Mac rather than attaching a year to it. Twomobile game versions of this game were created, a N-Gage title developed byIdeaworks3D and a J2ME title developed by IOMO and published by Digital Bridges. The N-Gage version reused stages fromColin McRae Rally 2.0. Both were nominated for BAFTAs in the Mobile and Handheld categories respectively.

AtE3 2006, Codemasters revealed that a new McRae game was in development forMicrosoft Windows,Xbox 360 andPlayStation 3, titledColin McRae: Dirt in Europe, andDirt: Colin McRae Off-Road in the United States.

The title was released on 15 June 2007 in Europe and on 19 June in North America forMicrosoft Windows andXbox 360. ThePlayStation 3 version was released on 14 September.

In November 2008, Codemasters unveiled a sequel to the successfulColin McRae: Dirt; it was released in September 2009. The game is available onPlayStation 3,PlayStation Portable,Wii,Xbox 360Nintendo DS, andMicrosoft Windows. The game is built upon an improved version of theEgo game engine that powered the previous game, as well as a comprehensive online mode. The game was dedicated to Colin McRae, who had died in 2007, featuring videos and a special tournament in his honor.^[51]

Dirt 3 was released in May 2011, but theColin McRae name was not used in the title.

Dirt: Showdown, an "arcade-style spin-off", was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2012.

The 2013 gameColin McRae Rally shares the same name of the 1998 release but the game's content and driving model are taken directly from the 2000 titleColin McRae Rally 2.0. This version was released oniOS in 2013 and ported toWindows,OS X andAndroid in 2014.

Dirt Rally is aracing video game focused onrallying. It was announced on 27 April 2015, and was released intoSteam'searly access that day^[52] and seeing its full release on 7 December 2015.^[53] Versions forPlayStation 4 andXbox One were released in April 2016.

In January 2017, Codemasters announcedDirt 4. The game launched on 9 June 2017 onPlayStation 4,Windows, andXbox One.^[54]

Codemasters announcedDirt Rally 2.0 in September 2018 and released it on 26 February 2019.^[55] The game is a continuation of the dedicated simulation ofDirt Rally as opposed to the emphasis on accessibility ofDirt 4.

In May 2020, Codemasters announcedDirt 5. The game was launched in November 2020 forMicrosoft Windows,PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5,Xbox One andXbox Series X and in March 2021 forGoogle Stadia.^[56]

It was suspected in 2022 that work onDirt games has been suspended in order to develop the upcomingWRC-licensed game.^[57] On 1 September 2023,EA Sports confirmed that the next game will be titledEA Sports WRC, with a full reveal taking place on 5 September.^[58] The game was released on 3 November 2023.^[59]

• Colin McRae Rally /DiRT rally series atMobyGames

• Colin McRae Rally and Dirt series
• Electronic Arts franchises
• Racing simulators
• Racing video games
• Video game franchises introduced in 1998

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2017