Dirt 5 is an off-road racing game for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles and PC. In this video we’ll be focusing on the console versions of the game, with all footage captured on a PS4. The game has several settings which can potentially make the game a more accessible experience for some players and we’ll be focusing on these settings and how they may help.
In the main menu, if you head down to Profile and then down to Settings you will find several options. You can also access these options by pausing the game at any time during gameplay. First of all we will look at input settings where you can remap your controller. First click on your device – here we are using a wireless controller – and by clicking on that we go to Input Bindings. Dirt 5 allows you to remap your gameplay controls but not the controls for the menus. Therefore, for full menu control you will need access to the Left Stick, face buttons and either L1 and R1 or both bumpers on both Playstation and Xbox. It is possible on Dirt 5 to remap digital controls to analogue and vice versa. Therefore, you could map Accelerate and Brake to Forwards and Back on the Left Stick and play some races and game modes using the Left Stick only. Please note that you may need other buttons such as Handbrake in certain races and game modes. To remap, press the Cross or A buttons to select the control you want to change, then press the button or stick direction that you would like to change it to. If you would like to reset the individual control that you have remapped back to default, hold down Square or X. To change all controls back to default hold down Triangle or Y.
Press R1 or RB to move across to the advanced settings. From here you can fine-tune your control options to suit the control device that you are using to play the game. You can adjust these settings to best suit your needs. Hold down Square to reset the individual setting that you have just changed back to default and hold down Triangle to reset all of the settings back to default.
Going back into the menu click on Driving Aids to see a range of different assists. There are five different difficulty settings ranging from very easy to very hard. There are also three different presets for the various assists. The standard is intermediate, with all assists set to low and auto brake set to off. Advanced switches anti-lock brakes to low and all of the other assists are switched off. Casual changes all of the assists to high with auto braking on. Changing any of the assists to a different setting within a preset changes your preset to Custom, which means you can tailor how high or low you want each assist to be. Holding down Triangle or Y resets back to the intermediate default settings. With the full assists on you can race by holding down the accelerate button and using the Left Stick for steering. The braking assist means that even with the accelerate button permanently held down the car will slow down at corners. The game does require the accelerate button to be physically held down with no toggle option for accelerate. With Auto-braking on you may find that at times you need to come off the accelerate button to get around some of the more difficult corners. You may also want to brake manually at times to avoid crashing into other cars.
Dirt 5 has an Arcade mode where you can select a track and a variety of different cars all of which handle differently and take part in offline races and time trials. This can be a great way to play the game but also as a way to practice to see which assists work best for you before heading into the Career mode or racing online versus other players.
Many thanks for watching this video. If you have any questions about video game accessibility then please contact SpeciaEffect.
Dirt 5 (PEGI 12) is an off-road racing game developed by Codemasters and is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles and PC. The game has a range of settings, from controller remapping to auto braking, that may be helpful for some players. This Settings Overview, filmed from home with SpecialEffect OT Joe, looks at the console version of the game when played with a controller, with all footage captured on a PS4.
More posts on accessibility features in games can be found on our site using the Accessibility Feature tag.
If you have any questions, please visit the ‘Contact Us’ page.
Video by Cara Jessop
Music: Mood – Instrumental Version by WEARETHEGOOD from artist.io
Developer Resource:

For more video examples of how developers have improved the motor accessibility of their games, please visit https://specialeffectdevkit.info/