DiRT 2 Arriving in 2009 for PC and Consoles

Codemasters has taken the wraps off DiRT 2, the sequel to the 2007 off-road racer expected next year for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

The game will focus largely on improving upon the original DiRT, and executive producer Gavin Raeburn promised that the game's graphics, physics, single-player career, and multiplayer features will get some extra attention from the internal Codemasters studio working on the game.

In territories outside North America, the game will still be called Colin McRae: DiRT 2, in honor of the legendary rally racing driver who was killed in 2007 in a helicopter accident. The new game will also take inspiration from McRae's late career, according to Raeburn.

"His ventures into events such as the X-Games, Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions have inspired us to look at events covering the extremes of off-road motorsport," said the producer to IGN UK.

The game is set to use an evolved version of the EGO engine that powered the first game as well as on-road racer GRID. "The development team have learnt a lot from the development of GRID, and have strengthened massively in their ability to get the most out of the hardware," Raeburn stated.

DiRT 2 is also expected to see bolstered replay features and a single-player career mode featuring real racing personalities such as Travis Pastrana and Ken Block. As for the multiplayer features, which were critically panned in the original, Raeburn offered, "It's all new."

The sequel is set to release in 2009 on the same platforms as its predecessor: PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.