Dirt 5 Stadia Review

 As Google Stadia continues to expand its game library, we will continue to take a look at some of the most popular games available on the game-streaming service and our experiences with them. Today we look into the experience of Dirt 5 on Stadia, the latest installment in one of the most successful rally car racing franchises of all time.

Dirt itself is a wonderful title that was one of the first games to be fully optimized for PS5 and Xbox Series X. For our full review of Dirt 5, CLICK HERE. But back to Stadia. As anyone who has read one of our Stadia articles will know, we at GamesReviews have had an almost universally exceptional experience with Stadia gaming as a whole. The versatility, performance and convenience it offers are truly a remarkable step forward in the gaming landscape. While it may not be suited for all, there is certainly a place for it on the path ahead.

For the most part, this overall experience is maintained with Dirt 5, and I must say that Google does an excellent job in bringing the right games to their platform. Due to the very nature of Stadia, it makes excellent sense to include games that are easily picked up and put down. After all, the convenience of moving between different locations and not needing to save your game locally are part of what make Stadia unique.

To that end, Dirt 5 is a perfect fit. It immediately drops you into races with very little ado and the game runs flawlessly. After all the hours put into Dirt 5 Stadia edition, not once did we experience any frame drops or glitches. It seriously cannot be overstated how impressive this performance is when it is offered free of charge. Of course, for a monthly fee you also get access to an array of games that you then do not have to purchase and can continue to play as long as you are subscribed.

The one negative that I did notice was that while the gameplay was exceptionally smooth, the graphics seemed just a notch lower than that of their next-gen counterparts. This is a minor enough difference not to be noted during the races themselves, but during the in-between and upon close inspection, the cars and other details just lacked the same sharpness one would experience on a PS5 or Xbox Series X. This was tested on a 144Hz 4K monitor using a gigabit ethernet connection.

While it doesn’t take away much at all from the gameplay, it is a little disappointing that this is the first game I have played on Stadia that had a noticeably lower graphics threshold than the competitors. I am sure that this is a solvable issue and perhaps as games progress Google will need to redistribute its server resources to allow greater performance for players. Either way, Dirt 5 is definitely worth a play, but if graphics are all-important to you – it may be worth considering grabbing it for a console instead.