Dirt Showdown hands on preview: why it isn’t Dirt 4

Speed events are about crossing the finish line first, but there’s no rulebook stopping you from ramming opponents off the road or taking shortcuts through the track. Race Off, Lap Attack, Eliminator and Dominator all provide variation – the last-placed car dropping out after each lap, for example. Style modes are home to the gymkhana-style racing found in Dirt 3, but with a tighter focus this time around. Here, you burn about the place like a drunken rude boy in the Homebase car park (but with less happy hardcore on the stereo) and win points for skilful moves.

The game modes might summon images of a Tony Hawk title: Smash Hunter sets you off destroying objects within a time limit, and in Trick Rush and Head 2 Head you’re doing your best Ken Block impersonation around all manner of obstacles to get more points than your opponent, then rub those points right in their stupid face.

Finally, there’s the unadulterated carnage of the destruction modes. Codemasters knows that everyone loves trashing stuff, and game modes like Rampage (Destruction Derby), Hard Target (survivor mode) and King Of The Ring (stay in a central zone while wrecking opponents and keeping yourself un-wrecked) are great places to get those primal smashy-smashy urges out of your system.

In a game that offers a quick fix rather than solo grind, multiplayer action needs to be spot-on. It’s obvious that Codemasters realises this, and the bespoke online modes in Showdown look ripe with potential for laughs when playing with others.

The same goes for split-screen play, which we’re pleased to see included. There’ll be fan favourites such as Dirt 3’s Transporter, along with new modes like the Simon Says-esque Trick Shot – a smash and grab that sees you take an object and make off with it – and a speed skirmish mode in which cars hit checkpoints in any order they fancy before all racing to the finish line in the centre of the course to claim victory. Or, just to crash into each other and make a big, loud metal mess.

If you fall into the hardcore racer category, all this might be making you a bit nervous. It’s a staunchly accessible arcade experience for those who might not have either the time or the desire to spend hours on end shaving tenths of seconds from lap times and worrying about suspension loads. But in the end, Showdown will benefit both the hardcore and casual racer – pulling away from the gymkhana-type events that made the past couple of Dirt games a slightly schizophrenic experience makes a lot of sense.

By focusing on all the larger-than-life racing in Showdown, Codies can also hone in tightly on the more serious, technical aspect of motor racing in Dirt 4. Which is happening, by the way. No more beans are being spilled officially on that one for a while, but the opportunity to create two successful racing franchises rather than one is clear – and if Showdown whips up the arcade crowd into a frenzy, Dirt 4 is free to concentrate its appeal on the hardcore racer.