Now that Nvidia has spilled the beans regarding the upcoming VR version of DiRT Rally with the release of optimized GeForce Game Ready drivers, Codemasters jumped on its blog on Thursday to clear the air about when the game will actually receive the VR love. While Nvidia was rather vague about the game’s availability on the Oculus Store in its recent blog post, the developer confirmed that official VR support will indeed arrive next week.
Looking back on Nvidia’s original blog about DiRT Rally VR and the optimized drivers, the Pascal chipmaker has updated its post to reflect the confirmed date, which is July 11, as was reported by Codemasters. On that day, DiRT Rally VR will land on the Oculus Store while the $60 vanilla version sold on Steam will also receive a VR-enabling update. Previously, Nvidia hinted that the VR version would be an Oculus Store exclusive for a short time until the Steam patch arrived later this month.
But, no matter. All is well in the VR world now that Codemasters has cleared the air. And, thanks to the developer’s latest blog regarding the immersive DiRT Rally experience, we’re rather pumped up to see what it’s like to look in all directions while speeding through an FIA World Rallycross Championship race. The good thing about VR racing is that players won’t die if they crash while gazing backwards at the beautiful scenery.
“For those of you with kits in their homes or on their way, it’s time to buckle up – because if you thought DiRT Rally was a bumpy ride before, you’re going to feel it more than ever!” Codemasters said. “When we’ve been playing it in the office, we’ve had people flinching, leaning, and screaming in their rigs, so we can safely say: get ready to have your senses assaulted.”
If you haven’t jumped on the DiRT Rally bandwagon already, the minimum system requirements listed on Steam demand a 64-bit version of Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, or Windows 7. The rig also needs an AMD FX series or Intel Core i3 series processor, 4GB of system memory, 50GB of free internal storage, and Microsoft’s DirectX 11 installed. That latter detail means the graphics chip must support Microsoft’s widely used gaming API, thus customers need a Radeon HD 5450, a Nvidia GeForce GT 430, or an integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics chip with 1GB of dedicated video memory at the very least. Again, those are the game’s minimum requirements.
Question is, what’s the base specs for the VR version of DiRT Rally? After all, the minimum system requirements for the Steam-powered HTC Vive demands an Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350 processor (or equivalent), and 4GB of system memory. On the graphics front, the minimum requirements list the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and the AMD Radeon R9 290. Naturally, if Steam customers running DiRT Rally aren’t sure they can handle the HTC Vive and the VR update, Valve Software serves up a SteamVR Performance Test tool right here.
Given that DiRT Rally costs $60 on Steam, DiRT Rally VR will likely cost the same on the Oculus Store. PC gamers who want the full Oculus Rift experience but have yet to take the financial plunge will see a slight minimum hardware demand when compared to the HTC Vive, especially in the system memory department. Oculus VR provides a compatibility tool of its own that can be downloaded right here.
