All 35 cars plus the bonus ones are classified into 7 categories: Trophy Trucks, RallyCross Cars, Rally Cars, Trailblazer Cars, Raid T1 Trucks, Class 1 Buggies and Stock Baja Trucks. All these vehicles have their performance measured from 1 to 10 for acceleration, top speed, and handling. All three parameters combined together for each car will result in different handling support, giving you the chance to choose the right car for the right track. Every vehicle can be upgraded by purchasing mandatory kits to enter higher leagues but also to gain access to different event types. The problem here is that the rally cars are used also for rallycross and for trailblazer events. I was hoping to get access to special cars for these types of events as in real world, but instead I received the same list of cars with minor body modifications and different specs.

If you feel that this is not enough in order to make a perfect race, you can play with the settings of your car. There's not much to choose from, but at least you can modify your downforce, gear ratio or differential response without too much trouble, as every parameter is explained accordingly. Liveries and interior decorations are a welcome addition to the overall 'good looking' vehicles. From the visual point of view the cars will be covered in dust and mud depending on the terrain you drive on, and can also suffer deformations after a crash. You can choose the damage to be only cosmetic or to have also impact on your vehicle's handling. Even if you choose the latter option, the handling of your vehicle won't be affected too much. The good news is that you can total your car which can mark the end of your race. But the so praised Flashback option - used for the first time in Race Driver: GRID - has been revamped here. That's why you can replay up to five times per race the last 10-15 seconds before a terminal crash in order to retake control of your car and avoid the collision.

Travelling around the World and taking part at all the events in order to become the most successful driver, you need to have your own HQ. Your HQ is actually a mobile home from where you can choose all the menu options. These options are scattered in and out of the HQ forcing you to navigate in first person in order to pick the next event or to take a look at the vehicles present in your garage. This first person menu helps you think that you are a professional race driver taking part in world tour along your crew.

The singleplayer career starts by getting the chance to drive Colin's latest car which he drove it before his death at the X-Games in LA. Besides this reference to his persona you can also play in a special event starring all his friends: David Coulthard, Valentine Rossi, Ari Vatanen, to name only a few. If you win the event you will get to see a special video featuring a collection of greatest moment from Colin's career as a rally driver. In the beginning of your singleplayer career, the opponents will play easy on you. If you still feel that the races are too hard to win, you can set the difficulty at the start of every event. In this way anyone can complete the career and unlock all the bonuses. If you are a true fan, you just have to increase the difficulty. There's always a setting for everybody.

DiRT 2 brings some new racing modes to this series. You can play in a Gate Crasher competition where you have to crash as many gates as possible from a Super Special in order to gain extra time. Last Man Standing is an elimination race where a counter decides when the last opponent should exit the race. But probably the most interesting one is the Domination race where you compete against other opponents to achieve the best times on every sector of the circuit. In this race you can win even if you don't pass the finish line in the first position. This special mode can become extremely attractive in online sessions due to the fact that the player has to fight until the last second and his chances to win can remain intact even if he suffers a crash during the race.