It seems some cajoling from both the racing sim community and Oculus itself has gotten through to DiRT Rally (2015) studio Codemasters, because the upcoming sequel, which was once slated to release only on consoles and PC, is now coming to the Oculus platform this summer.

DiRT Rally is currently one of the best racing sims available on VR headsets, so when fans of the series heard that Codemasters was making DiRT Rally 2.0, it was clear we were in for another highly-polished off-road adventure. However soon after the title’s announcement in Fall last year, it appeared the studio had other plans, saying that VR wouldn’t be apart of the launch roadmap.

“We’re focusing on making the core game experience before launch – and after that, if there is demand from our community, then we’ll explore the possibility,” McGrath told USGamer back in September.

SEE ALSO
The 5 Best VR Racing Sims for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive

DiRT Rally 2.0 is set to release on February 26th, and while that won’t initially include VR support, it appears at least we’ll be getting Rift support sometime this summer.

There’s no word on whether the VR version will be an Oculus exclusive at this point, but considering the tweet from Codemasters below, it’s possible Oculus helped fund VR development on the title.

DiRT Rally 2.0 includes a new authentic handling model, tire choice, and surface deformation. Off-road environments span New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Poland, Australia and the US.

The game boasts eight official circuits from the FIA World Rallycross championship, complete with licensed Supercars and support series. Events and championships will be available in both a single-player Career Campaign and a competitive online multiplayer.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Raphael

    Sad to see another rift exclusive. I certainly won’t be buying a game that excludes non-oculus hardware and I won’t support a developer and encourage them to exclude my hardware.

    • Ombra Alberto

      Without Oculus funding you would not be sad.
      The VR version would not exist.
      No VR no sadness for you?

      • Raphael

        Plenty of VR games exist without octopus funding.

        • Alexisms

          Indeed they do. BUT you’re here complaining that a game you presumably want doesn’t natively support your headset. So do something about it or stop moaning!

          • Raphael

            You’re right. So my plan is to obtain a copy of the source code (hacker) then do the vive support myself.

          • Francesco Fazio

            AHAHAHAH SURE RIGHT :) We have Kevin Mitnick here looool. Grow up kid you just bought the wrong headset go cry somewhere else.

          • Baldrickk

            Why should there have to be a “right” headset?

            It’s like console gaming – want to play game A? buy an Xbox, game B? buy a PS4, what about both? oh, you have to buy two different consoles, when really, either (or a PC) would play the game perfectly well.

          • Raphael

            I could easily afford an octopus rift. I don’t want all my usb ports used up or USB cables trailing across the floor. I went with Vive because of the cable-free tracking and laser precision. The other thing is that I no longer have a steering wheel so I wunt be doing any racing anyway.

            If I really wanted to play dirt rally I’d use reVive.

        • Ombra Alberto

          Yes … so this would not even exist without funding.

          And you would not be here to complain. Quite right?

    • Torsten Balle Koefoed

      I agree that exclusivity sucks, but the way that tweet is worded I get the sense that it only happened because of Oculus stepping in with a bag of money (most likely with the word ‘exclusivity’ written on it). With this it’s at least playable on other headsets through Revive – without there would be no VR at all.

      But I do agree that open and wide HMD support would be much preferred.

    • Tommy Cheatham

      I prefer native Vive/SteamVR support, but I am not above using ReVive.

      I’m not buying this until the VR support has been added and it’s verified that you can get it to work on a Vive though.

      • Raphael

        Funnily enough the last time I used reVive was for dirt rally and assetto cornetto. There is less excuse for making rally octopus-only in 2019 though so I ain’t supporting that dev with an octopus store sale.

        • namekuseijin

          dude, that autocomplete of yours is seriously out of help xD

    • Alexisms

      Then pressure Vive to cough up the cash to get Vive support! It’s not rocket science!

      • Raphael

        Shouldn’t need to bribe a dev to support a platform.

        • Tags I812

          by a different game. be happy get drunk

          • Raphael

            This is good advice.

        • Rosko

          They are there to make a profit, unfortunately they have to make decisions that are going to let people down. I’m certain it will eventually get full support, probably an exclusive.

    • Tags I812

      what about Nintendo? has there own exclusives what about Playstation? what about Sega? what about Xbox? its done to bring business and customers. what about Vive trackers? tpcast? what about ????????????????????

      • crim3

        This was a usual discussion a few years ago. Consoles are non-compatibled closed systems. But this is a question of supporting a PC peripheral.

        • airball

          For better or worse, we live in a ‘walled garden’ world now. It started with consoles, became the norm with mobile, and has now infected almost every platform.

        • Baldrickk

          Oh come on, under the bonnet, the current consoles are just PCs. They may be built onto one board, but the actual hardware is just PC hardware.

          • crim3

            Yikes! Touché :D

    • Ragbone

      Exclusives are horrible. I’m still waiting for res evil vr to come to PC. It just punishes fans.

    • Francesco Fazio

      Oculus is the best VR headset on the market under any possible aspect. Oculus Quest in just a month will open finally the world to VR. From a niche to a massive worldwide increase of players base :) Millions of people in VR means developers will invest a LOT in VR games and every title will be first VR based and then for the rest of cheap bastards on flat screens :P

      • Raphael

        Oculus rift is great value. The negative aspect is the usb burden and USB cables trailing across the floor. It’s the single biggest turnoff for me and the reason I haven’t purchased one as a second hmd. I do recommend rift to people wanting to buy vr though. Octopus quest won’t take vr to mainstream due to the 399 price and the fact that ultimately it’s still mobile powered vr. It should have been no higher than 299. Even at 299 it won’t take vr mainstream. Mainstream won’t happen over the next 5 years in spite of the amateur journalism claiming it’s just around the corner. VR won’t dominate before 10 years but it will continue to penetrate consumer entertainment steadily.

        • Francesco Fazio

          I play wirelessly since a long time. It took time and quite a bit of tweaking to have it work flawlessly and exactly as it would with the cable but now I am cable free and I enjoy it a lot. Without cables it is totally a different experience. You can turn on yourself as much as you want without the hassle of the god damn cable in the middle of your legs.

          My specs:

          i7-8700k
          MSI GTX 1080ti
          16 GB DDR4 3200 mhz
          SSD 1tb Samsung
          Oculus Rift
          4 sensors ceiling mounted
          TPcast modded with OpenTpcast

  • namekuseijin

    I don’t understand how there can be in 2019 racing games not supporting VR or wheels.

    • airball

      It’s all about ROI on dev costs. With current market penetration of HMDs, it’s very challenging to have anything approaching ‘blockbuster’ status for a VR game, so what you end with is indies and paid-for exclusives like this. It’s just the reality of the industry right now.

      • Francesco Fazio

        This is because we are surrounded by cheap bastards. People still running Windows 7 and not updating their hw for decades,

      • namekuseijin

        it’s not a VR blockbuster game, it’s VR support for a blockbuster flatgame – acknowledging the camera is stereoscopic and tied to the player head motions, basically along with optimizations and downgrades to get going smoothly

      • corey

        They already had it in Dirt Rally and its the same core engine.

  • Niklas Fritzell

    Yeeees!!!

  • antonio mora

    Great news yes but I hope it comes to Steam at some point because Oculus Store is much more expensive (at least in my country). Besides is not like there is a shortage of Racing games and at very good prices, PC2 is $20 in Steam right now and Dirt Rally is like $5.

  • Best new ever, I’d like to run this game but without VR it’s a no go for me.

  • Graham J ⭐️

    I don’t want Rift support for 2.0, I want Vive support for 1.0.

  • chaos_in_ashland

    I’ll wait until there’s a Revive version of it… but I’m still glad Codemasters decided to do this!

  • Pizzy

    about time they woke up

  • mirak

    I am not buying this until my headset is not supported without a hack.

    • Raphael

      I agrees.

      • Andrew McEvoy

        It will still work ok more than likely though right? :)

        • Raphael

          Will work with ReVive. Not used it for a few years. Once in a while I consider installing octopus rift drivers + revive out of curiosity.

  • Bartholomew

    Thank you Oculus!

  • Rosko

    whoooo

  • gothicvillas

    That’s racist!! Why not Vive? Oh wait, Oculus paid and made sure no kids on other side gets to play this. Wankers.

    • Alexisms

      No, without Oculus Dirt 2.0 would not have VR support at all.

    • Pre Seznik

      It was either this, or nothing. If Oculus funded VR support, it makes sense they would do it this way.

    • Francesco Fazio

      BECAUSE VIVE IS SHIT GET OVER IT

  • Ragbone

    Finally another pc vr driving game. I hope they make one that lets you just drive about roads without having to race in tracks too. Got a racing seat and wheel/pedals/gearstick for these :D Shame the vibrating racing seats are so expensive.

    • david vincent

      “I hope they make one that lets you just drive about roads without having to race in tracks too.”
      Euro Truck Simulator ? ^^

      • Ragbone

        I think that’s the closest there is at the moment. I love that game but it’s old now. I want someone to make a vr mod for carmageddon too :p

    • jlschmugge

      Drive to Work Traffic Simulator spring 2020. Coming summer 2020: errand DLC including exciting grocery run challenges and dropping kids off at school and soccer practice.

  • Ragbone

    Exactly, there should be quite a few out by now. And a racing stunt game, or like Carmageddon VR. I hope someone makes a VR mod since it’s usually fans making the mods instead of the companies.

  • Thomas Hall

    Happy happy days! DR1 is the best PSVR title out there, and one of the best Rift. I was gutted when DR2 was announced with nothing VR. This news has made my week!
    Thank you Occulus, and I take back all the very very rude things I thought and said about Codemasters!

  • Pulley

    “DiRT RALLY is currently one of the best racing sims available on VR headsets”

    hmm well it’s behind RFactor2, iRacing, Assetto Corsa, RaceRoom Racing Experience and the pCars Series for VR implementation. Just turn your head 180degrees and you’ll find a blank wall where the rear of the car should be! A good experience all the same, but one of the best? nah.

    • ummm…

      yeah these people dont simrace……..nor do they have a vive. insulting business model, and ive already got plenty of sims with groups to race with……..they dont need my sale.

  • corey

    So they make VR Support for Dirt Rally but couldnt do it for the second one? Then they decide to do it because “Oculus” said something when a huge part of the fan base was already screaming at them for not having it…..?