Dirt 5 in the benchmark test – ComputerBase : Test |CUP | Specs |Config

tl;dr: With Dirt 5, it’s back on the rally track. However, the new technical framework only left a mediocre impression in the test; both graphics quality and performance could be better. Depending on the scenario, a very fast computer is required to drift smoothly through the curves.

After the Dirt Rally 2.0 (test), a new dirt title for demanding simulation fans at the beginning of 2019, it will be “arcane” again with Dirt 5 at the end of 2020. Short distances, opponents, multiplayer and a lot of show are on the program.

The new engine does the job (not)

So that the contrast works and the title looks good on the next-gen consoles, Codemasters has changed the engine. It is not the Ego Engine from Dirt Rally 2.0 or the Ego Engine 2.0 from the F1 series that is used, but rather the Onrush Engine, which was previously rather unknown. This is because Dirt 5 was not developed by the previous Dirt team, but by Codemasters Cheshire and thus a studio that was bought out a few years ago and who previously took care of Onrush.

However, the first trip with the new chassis is not a success. Dirt 5 by no means looks bad, especially at night when it rains, the pretty screen space reflections in combination with the many “mud particles” are a real eye-catcher and Dirt 5 can also be issued a good visual certificate in a snowstorm. If, on the other hand, only the sun is shining and there is no rain or snow, the graphics do not go beyond the predicate mediocre.

Without the capricious weather or the cover of night, the weak points of the graphics catch the eye. The pavement in particular is surprisingly poor in detail, and the same applies to the cars. The lighting can’t save the Dirt 5 graphics either. What helps is to drive faster so that you don’t have time for the details. It is quite possible that the fact that the game runs on the Xbox Series X with 120 FPS in “dynamic Ultra HD” has an influence here.

Dirt 5 runs on the PC with DirectX 12, another API cannot be set. But the graphics menu hardly offers anything else either. There are five different graphic presets with “Ultra-low”, “Low”, “Medium”, “High” and “Ultra high”, plus some separate graphic options and the possibility to change the resolution. After a patch, Vsync can now be switched on and off and there is downsampling in the game: At least the rendering resolution on the test system could be increased from the native 3,840 × 2,160 to 5,120 × 2880. Dirt 5 runs the absolute narrow-gauge rail in the menu. At least there are brief descriptions of the individual options.

There is also an integrated benchmark, although in contrast to Codemaster’s F1 series, it cannot be configured – neither in the game itself nor via a configuration file under Windows.

Levels of detail with little impact

If you have performance problems in Dirt 5, you hardly have any options to change that. Because despite the five presets, the graphic details can only squeeze a little additional speed. Most of the graphics options hardly have any influence on the frame rate, even between the change from maximum to minimum. The exception is “global lighting”, which can be used to increase the FPS. But you don’t get too far with this either, then it only helps to reduce the resolution.

The menu item “Cloud quality” is also a bit confusing; according to the text description, it should be calculated using ray tracing. This point obviously has nothing to do with real-time ray tracing (DXR), because even on a graphics card without separate RT cores, the option simply does not cost any performance.

Ray tracing is still missing at the moment

Speaking of ray tracing: Dirt 5 advertises on the Xbox Series X with real-time ray tracing for the shadow calculations. These are currently still missing on the PC, at least there is no way to activate ray tracing in any form. At a later date, ray tracing will also find its way into the PC version of Dirt 5. Codemasters does not say when exactly.

The PC version of Dirt 5 was created in cooperation with AMD, and the company logo is displayed accordingly when the game is started. Apparently, however, no effects from the FidelityFX-Suite are used, or they are not explicitly marked.

On the next page: benchmarks, game review and conclusion