Dirt 5 Playgrounds: How to create the perfect track

In our Dirt 5 Playgrounds guide you will learn:

  • What you need to know about the Dirt 5 track editor
  • How to create a popular Dirt 5 playground
  • What the best Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips are

Dirt 5 is the latest spin-off of Codemaster's well-known racing game series for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The next-gen version for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is also already in the starting blocks. One of the biggest innovations of the off-road arcade racer is the Playgrounds track editor, where you can create your own arena courses and share them with the community. In order to make your playground famous, we'll tell you the best Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips and tricks in our guide.

Check out our Dirt 5 tips and tricks guide if you need a little help getting started in the off-road racing game. We also introduce you to all the cars and vehicle classes in Dirt 5 and tell you which Dirt 5 achievements you can collect.


Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips: How to create the perfect track

In recent years, route editors have almost fallen into oblivion in racing games. Rare exceptions were the Route Creator from Forza Horizon 4 () and the Trackmania 2020 track editor. However, none of the aforementioned builders were available for all platforms.

Therefore, Dirt 5 Playgrounds is a welcome change for all creative racing fans. And moreover, the first ever track editor for the next-gen consoles Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S (). Take the following Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips and tricks to heart to ensure your playground is celebrated by the community.

Build big and especially high

Before you start building tracks, decide on an arena. Arenas vary in surface type, design, and size. We recommend that you create your first playground in a large arena. Because the small version lives up to its name, your creativity will be limited by the narrow arena boundaries.

Unless, of course, you think in terms of height. In Dirt 5 Playgrounds, you can place tracks and structures on multiple levels. This not only gives you much more building space, but also lets you make your creations more impressive and terrifying. When certain spots can only be reached by a perfect jump, and otherwise a fall into the depths is imminent, the thrill on your track is pre-programmed.

Dirt 5 Playgrounds Tips: Activate the "Manual object height" in the editor settings. You can then place all objects in the air without having to build an associated foundation.

Select the appropriate game mode

After you have determined the base area for your Dirt 5 playground, the next momentous decision follows. You have to choose one of three game modes. In order for your track to score points with the community, the parkour must be adapted to the game mode. In addition, different objects are available to you in the editor.

To save you unnecessary trial & error, we'll introduce you to the three Playgrounds game modes below:

  • Gate Crasher is the classic arcade mode. As in the tracks of the Trackmania track editor checkpoints are placed on your track, which must be passed as quickly as possible. Whoever drives through all the checkpoints and achieves the fastest lap time wins.
  • In Gymkhana events , you place various obstacles, jumps and trick fields in the arena. There is no set route or even laps. Instead, all drivers move freely around the Dirt 5 playground. Tricks and jumps are used to collect as many points as possible within a given time period.
  • Smash Attack is a mixture of the other two game modes. Here, point objects are distributed in the arena, which must be destroyed. There is no fixed route and no time limit. Instead, each driver decides for himself which route to take in order to reach the target number of points as quickly as possible.

Dirt 5 Playgrounds Tips: Start with a Gate Crasher track and create a circuit. The game mode is great for getting a feel for the editor and creating a balanced track even as a newbie.

Think about the feelings of the players

Always put yourself in the driver's perspective. If you want to create a popular playground, even inexperienced drivers need to feel like heroes. You can do this by testing big jumps well, so that even worse riders have a high chance of hitting the landing ramp with pinpoint accuracy.

However, the speed at which a good or bad driver sets off to jump differs, so you can't always find the perfect balance. With one difference: If your track starts with a straight line followed by a spectacular first jump, all test persons will take it with the same speed.

Take the chance and place the most phenomenal jump right at the beginning of the track, so that all riders feel like heroes and want to explore the entire arena. Right after that you can place a difficult obstacle, as the player is still motivated by his sense of achievement.

The end of the track, on the other hand, shouldn't have any major surprises, because nothing is more frustrating than screwing up a good time just before the finish. If you want your track to be celebrated and shared, end it with an obstacle or full-speed drift that is as spectacular as it is simple.

Even beyond that, you'll need to keep players' frustration tolerance in mind. If your arena plays like a Dark Souls on four wheels, you will only entertain a small target group. Because of the few rides, the track will be penalized by the algorithm and will never make it to the Playgrounds top lists. Always keep in mind that most players want to be rewarded, not punished.

Place clues and objects correctly

Place clues before dangerous turns or obstacles. To do this, you'll have a variety of objects at your disposal, such as flashing directional signs in Dirt 5 Playgrounds. There are no limits to your imagination. The main thing is that all drivers make fewer mistakes and at the same time have more fun on your Dirt 5 playground.

Optimally, the hints and decorations are set only discreetly, so that the players at most notice them unconsciously and feel like the best racers in the world after they have mastered a difficult spot. In addition, you should refrain from unnecessary distractions so that the focus is always on the track.

Sprinkle in wild special effects during big jumps to excite and intrigue racers while they have no course of action anyway. This can be done with TVs, fire effects or huge block artwork in the background - there's no limit to your imagination!

Speaking of big jumps: for the perfect jump, first build a small ramp and then bigger and bigger ones, one right after the other. This way the car doesn't touch down before the jump, which provides better handling and a higher jump speed. After landing a giant jump, steep curves that can be driven through at high speed are particularly suitable, so that you can keep the braking distance shorter.

Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips: Take the time to place your ramps correctly. They should not be placed directly behind a turn. Also, drivers who take a jump at full speed should not overfly the following turn. The best Dirt 5 playgrounds rely on few ramps, but they are perfectly balanced.

Use checkpoints wisely

Think carefully about where and how you set checkpoints in Dirt 5 Playgrounds. On the one hand, you use the checkpoints to make sure that you really have to pass through the obstacles on the track and that you don't take any shortcuts. That's why you place a checkpoint in front of every challenging obstacle.

Always leave the necessary distance! The drivers must have enough run-up and be able to reach the required speed when they start from the checkpoint. If the checkpoint is directly in front of a ramp and the players have to back up to gain momentum, this will cause unnecessary frustration. The same is true if the checkpoints are built behind a rise and faster riders get stuck on the top edge of the gate.

Plan from the big to the small

If you want to create the best Dirt 5 Playgrounds , you need a plan. We recommend that you start each track with an idea and lay out the course with rough building blocks at first. Then go into more and more detail, trying out different curves, straights, obstacles, jumps and design elements until you have the perfect community track.

Feel free to take inspiration from real race tracks and adopt your favorite curves or passages. Also, test other community tracks to incorporate the best curves and sections into your course. You don't always have to use the prefabricated parts. On the contrary, creating curves with the help of obstacles or other objects will give your playground a special flair.

Always keep the racing line in mind. With loose objects, such as tire stacks, you can playfully guide the drivers to the right line, without a deviation being punished with a serious accident. However, if you want to provoke such crashes, the best way to do this is in the old Trials Fusion manner: place appropriate obstacles right after the finish line !

Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips: Regardless of this, we recommend that you don't keep the corners of your Dirt 5 Playground too tight and include an appropriate run-off zone. This way, worse drivers won't be punished right away by crashing into the barrier. Instead, they can pull off a fat drift if they missed the right braking point.

As a rule of thumb, the faster a corner is taken, the larger the run-off zone should be. However, don't forget to tighten up the track again afterwards to avoid boredom!

Test, test, test!

No matter how good your idea is and how beautiful your Dirt 5 playground looks in the track editor. Test each section meticulously and perfect it down to the smallest detail before sharing your playground with the community.

It's important that you assign a vehicle to the track early on and optimize it for that. Check out our separate guide where we introduce you to all the cars and vehicle classes in Dirt 5.

If you implement our Dirt 5 Playgrounds tips, your playground will surely be celebrated by the community!

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