Dakar Desert Rally launches on consoles and PC today. With an assortment of licensed vehicles from bikes to trucks and a vast open-world, it. However, several key features are conspicuously missing at launch.
Road Book editor and free roam coming in post-launch update
One of Dakar Desert Rally’s standout features shown in the gameplay trailer is the Road Book editor. This innovative mode lets you create your own Dakar Rally stages by mapping out waypoints and changing the terrain. Created stages can then be shared online to challenge other players.
Unfortunately, however, the Road Book editor will not be available at launch. Instead, it's coming in a free post-launch update sometime before the end of the year according to a roadmap on the official Dakar game website.
Likewise, the option to freely roam the massive 20,000-km map in Saudi Arabia is also absent and will be added later this year. There will also be a free Saudi Arabia Extended Map update in October.
Looking ahead, a replay and photo mode will be added to the game in 2023 along with a team customisation option allowing you to create custom team liveries.
It’s a shame so many main features are missing at launch as it makes Dakar Desert Rally feel incomplete, despite its extended development time.
Season Pass content revealed
The roadmap also reveals the content included in the Season Pass that comes with the Deluxe Edition. Two vehicle DLC packs will be released this year including the SnowRunner Pack and Classics Vehicle Pack #1.
A Classics Vehicle Pack #2 will follow in 2023 along with a Hybrid Vehicle Pack and USA Tour map expansion.
Dakar Desert Rally is out today (4 October) on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.