Dirt 5 Playgrounds: 5 tips to get the most out of the new racing mode

Hey everyone – Chris here from the Codemasters team, back with something we’ve been dying to show you for quite some time… 

Dirt 5’s launch on PlayStation 4 on October 16, followed later this year by PlayStation 5, has already been shaping up nicely. Whether it’s the star-studded Career mode starring Troy Baker and Nolan North, the 10 new and stunning racing locations with over 70 routes, four-player split-screen, livery editor or plenty more, we’ve had fun showing you what Dirt 5 has to offer. But, all the while, we’ve kept something hidden up our sleeves – until now.

Welcome to Playgrounds – Dirt 5’s all-new mode, where players design, edit, share and race on user-created racing arenas. Let loose your creativity and use a huge suite of objects, from drift zones and jumps to rings of fire and loop-de-loops, to invent all manner of dream racing maps, and search through the database of community of designs to compete on the most stunning creations. 

We want everyone to create, share and discover in this all-new mode, but as it’s such a fresh addition for the franchise, I figured you could do with a few pointers to get you started. So, make a note of the five tips below when you dive into Dirt 5’s Playgrounds mode! 

1. Smash, crash or drift?  

Every Playground you create or download to race on will be centred around one of three event types. There’s Smash Attack, where racers are challenged to find and collect objects in the quickest time possible, avoiding the dreaded penalty objects; Gate Crasher is a time-attack style event, with checkpoints to race through as quickly as you can; and Gymkhana allows everyone to design their own arenas full of jumps, donut markers, drift gates and more, scoring points for speed, style and flow. 

Each event is a very different experience, so test out a few of each in our database of Playgrounds to find out which your favourite is. When creating a Playground, in the pause menu is where you’ll find the option to change your event type – and doing so will make the relevant objects available to place. So, make sure you’ve chosen a Gymkhana event if you want to place those drift markers, speed gates and 360 spots! 

2. Think big

Verticality. Get it in your vocabulary people, because you’re going to need it. 

In Playgrounds, there isn’t just a huge amount of scope to what you can create on the ground. Think bigger – think higher! Our tools allow you to build routes, structures and more, high up in the sky, adding a new layer of challenge and awe to anything you create. Build death run Gate Crasher routes, where the slightest error could cause a spectacular fall from grace. Build a Gymkhana arena where certain trick spots are only accessible if you nail a jump to an island in the sky. 

All this and more is possible, and allows you to stretch those creative muscles in a unique way for a racing game. Just one piece of advice: Don’t. Look. Down. 

3. Pick the perfect ride 

Regardless of what you create in Playgrounds, any car from our roster can be chosen as its assigned car – from extreme off-road trucks, to modern rally machines, to Sprint cars, and so much more in between. The design of your Playground should have the assigned car’s characteristics kept in mind, just to make the experience and flow is spot on.

If you’re going with a vehicle like our monstrous rock bouncer, or our rough-and-ready trucks and buggies, they’ll be more capable of handling anything you throw at them in terms of bumps and jumps. Our classic off-road stars, like the Fiat 131 Abarth Rally or Ford Mustang Fastback Rally, may need some smaller gaps between those jumps, but are more manoeuvrable between and around objects. 

Subtle design choices based on the car you’ll be tearing around your Playground can be the difference between a decent design, and an outstanding event that rakes in the Likes from the Dirt 5 community, sending your creation into our Featured categories. Speaking of which… 

4. Tune in to the discovery channel 

The Discover area of Playgrounds is the place to find every single design uploaded by the Dirt 5 community. Browse and search to pick out the Playgrounds that take your fancy, download them, take on the event, and post your top score or fastest time to the event’s global leaderboard. Retry the event as many times as you want, or head back to Discover to find another Playground. 

As there’ll be a huge variety of arenas to search through, make sure to use the options and menus we provide to narrow down your search. Discovery will have sub-menus that show the Playgrounds that have been played the most, or have been Liked the most by other players. On top of that, you can use a classic text search to find a specific design, or choose to only see Playgrounds that include specific labels or characteristics that match what you’re looking for. 

The Dirt 5 team will also be regularly hand-picking some of the best creations to place in Featured areas of Discover. Design something amazing and you just might have your name up in lights, as we showcase your Playground both in-game and the official Dirt social channels!

5. Join the community 

We’ve mentioned that there’s the ability to ‘Like’ Playgrounds after you’ve played them, which is just the beginning of how you can interact with this mode to help shape it with us. You’ll have options to Like or Dislike any Playground post-event, which contributes to its stats that are visible to other players, and help us decide whether to feature the design in Discovery. There’ll also be an option to report a Playground, so we can take a look at any designs you have a concern about. 

Finally, we’ll constantly be chatting with the Dirt 5 community about their Playgrounds creations and experiences. Over on our official Discord server, we’ll have dedicated areas for players to discuss the mode and share their creations, so others can easily find them in-game. 

Interact with players, show off your creativity, and find a constant stream of new creations to take on. That’s what Playgrounds is all about – and we can’t wait for you all to dive right in. Playgrounds will be available on both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of Dirt 5, with any creations and progress you make carrying over from current-gen to next-gen!