An update to DiRT Rally 2.0 (2019) today has finally brought VR support to the game. Now available for $60 on Oculus and Steam, the game offers support for Rift, Index, and HTC Vive, though developer Codemasters also confirmed that PSVR support won’t come to the PS4 version of the game.

Launched earlier this year, VR support was not initially planned for Dirt Rally 2.0, but the VR community rallied (ahem) to get developer Codemaster to add VR as the studio had done with the original Dirt Rally (2015).

Today it’s finally happened. The game’s 1.7 update adds the VR feature to the Steam version, and the game has also launched for Rift and Rift S on the Oculus store.

While Codemasters says the game offers ‘OpenVR support’, only Index and Vive are listed on the Steam page. Other SteamVR compatible headsets like Rift, Odyssey, and Pimax ought to work too, though we’ve reached out to the studio to confirm.

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“Since launch our community has been very vocal about wanting a VR version of DiRT Rally 2.0, so we’re delighted to bring this to the PC version,” said Ross Gowing, Dirt Rally 2.0 Game Director at Codemasters. “It turns out that for many of our players VR is the only way to experience a rally game, and this will enable them to enjoy playing like never before.”

Image courtesy Codemasters

The Oculus version of Dirt Rally 2.0 also comes with exclusive community challenges and five Oculus-branded car liveries. However, it sounds like some of the game’s content isn’t yet available on the Oculus version, as Codemasters notes, “all Dirt Rally 2.0 post release content will be made available for Oculus at a later date.”

As part of today’s update, Codemasters said they do not plan to bring PSVR support to the PS4 version of the game.

Like every VR supported sim racing game, Dirt Rally 2.0 is going to play best with a dedicated racing wheel and pedals. Luckily we’ve got a great set of recommendations here right here.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • kuhpunkt

    Aftey it seemed they were only going again with Oculus? Now that’s a nice surprise for once.

    • Torsten Balle Koefoed

      yeah, well not without caveats. The Steam version only supports OpenVR, while the Oculus Store version only supports Oculus runtime.

  • antonio mora

    Super!

  • Bartholomew

    1. Thank You Oculus.
    2. It’s a shame Valve doesn’t fund VR games.

    • Jarilo

      Oculus funded Dirt Rally 2.0 VR? Where does it say that ?

      • Torsten Balle Koefoed

        It was in the media about half a year ago. Oculus/Facebook stepped in with a bag of money to get VR support in DR2. I think they did the same with DR1.

        • Jarilo

          ok thx, took a while for that bag of money to work.

    • Adrian Meredith

      I dislike FB as much as the next person but there no denying they’re giving vr the investment it needs. They just need an official quest 2 pc streaming solution and we’re sorted though it looks like the rift s might be doing better than feared

    • Harmoniser

      I think they’re making 3 big ones. Also Valve gave occlus a lot oh help before it got in bed with FB

  • namekuseijin

    “the only way to experience a rally game” Lol

    srsly, it’s the only actual way to play any racing game. It’s a natural fit, you have actual 3D depth to better assess your surroundings, you can just crane your neck to follow curves or see more of the road ahead beyond competitors.

    no VR, no buy. That also means F1.

    • Michael May

      Exactly.

    • Francesco Fazio

      Totally agree with you. NO VR NO BUY.

  • Jarilo

    VR is where racing games go to survive. They finally got the memo.

  • Thomas Hall

    Best news in ages! Buying it as I write

  • Jason Mercieca

    Its made with native VR support for vive, i will buy it then.

  • gothicvillas

    Downloading now! Now while we at it, why not to add VR to F1 games

  • Francesco Fazio

    Just downloaded it this morning for on Oculus Home before going to work. Cannot wait to be back and play it !!!!!

  • leRAFs

    I just tried and I have a very frustrating problem. I have a frame drop every 3-4 sec.
    That’s the only VR game in which it happen. I tried to re-install SteamVR, graphic drivers, game file integrity, nothing change.
    FPSVR shows the drop in the CPU section, but it’s not used more than 50%. If I disable reprojection in Steam, then I see small periods (every 3-4 sec again) where both CPU and GPU usage drop to none.
    I was so hyped to play this game in VR. In Flat version the game is gorgeous and runs at stable 130fps.
    Any ideas?

  • chaos_in_ashland

    Does anyone know how well it works with a Vive now? Will it run with a 1070?

    I love Dirt Rally 1.0 with the Vive, I really want to buy this but if it plays like a slug then I won’t spend 60$.

    • Trevor Jones

      check Kinguin i picked it up for half that.

  • Trevor Jones

    Now if they would only add VR support to GRID we’d be set.

  • gothicvillas

    Unfortunately I had to refund Dirt 2.0. It run so poor and stutter judder was a pukefest :( I’m having a beast PC and Index. Absolutely terrible VR implementation. Now, even if they make f1 VR, I will not buy it until I try it. Codies lost respect in my eyes.

    • Harmoniser

      That’s disappointing. I saw a stream set the settings really low, is it really that bad. Dirt rally was pretty smooth

    • Francesco Fazio

      I can only tell about the version for the Oculus Rift. It works absolutely great. Super smooth no stuttering at all and all graphic settings maxed out to Ultra and even with SS at 1.2. What makes me really happy is that the people that bought a 2080ti spending an insane amount of money have basically no improvements in VR compared to a GTX 1080ti :)

  • Francesco Fazio

    The game is great. Absolutely fantastic. I bought it on the Oculus Home and it works like a charme. Super smooth with all settings maxed out to Ultra and SS 1.2.
    Specs: GTX 1080ti, i7-8700k and Oculus Rift.

    Regarding the missing content on the Oculus Home version it would be very nice if Codemasters would inform us about when exactly this new content will be added. I really want Monaco and Sweden and the additional cars.

  • JesuSaveSouls

    Jesus is my Lord and Savior !

    • oompah

      Ya u go again

  • Rob Den Boer

    I bought PS VR and wheel setup purely for Dirt Rally 1.( bought the game at the same time as the VR and wheel)

    Codemasters said they do not plan to bring PSVR support to the PS4 version of the game

    So I have no plans to buy Dirt Rally 2.

  • Michael Czeiszperger

    I tried the “VR” version, and it’s not a VR game at all; it just displays a 2D rendering of the game on your headset. Not what I was expecting.