Dakar Desert Rally launched back in October 2022. Developed by Saber Porto, the open-world rally racer captured the scale of the epic rally race with thousands of square kilometres of unforgiving terrain and an impressive dynamic weather system.
Since Dakar Desert Rally launched, Saber Porto has enriched the game with historic cars, free roam, and a Roadbook Editor. Out now for PC and consoles, the new USA Tour DLC delivers a new sprawling map to explore, completing the Season Pass.
Dakar Desert Rally USA Tour DLC out now
Coinciding with the real-world 2024 Dakar Rally finale this week, the USA Tour DLC introduces an enmormous 256-square-kilometer map spanning the Great American West and Southwest.
Whereas the real-life Dakar Rally is set in Saudi Arabia, the DLC sees players explore locations inspired by famous landmarks such as the Grand Canyon, Nevada desert, and Yellowstone National Park. New events take place in 20 Sport mode stages and 12 Professional mode stages, with 140 new treasures to discover.
Dakar Desert Rally’s final USA Tour DLC is available for Season Pass owners at no extra charge or it can be purchased separately for £8.99 / $9.99 / €9.99.
If you haven’t dusted off Dakar Desert Rally for a long time, now is a great time to jump back in. The underrated off-road rally racer has improved leaps and bounds since it launched thanks to performance improvements and new content.
Professional mode offers some of the most challenging rally racing in a video game with players navigating stages by referring to a roadbook like real-life Dakar pilots.
By contrast, Sport mode offers a more pick-up-and-play arcade experience with checkpoints and head-to-head races. With a variety of vehicles, including bikes, buggies and trucks, tearing up the desert, Sport mode evokes memories of MotorStorm.
With support now ending for Dakar Desert Rally, it remains to be seen if Saber Porto is working on a sequel or a new racing project.
Dakar Desert Rally update 2.1 patch notes
Coinciding with the USA Tour DLC is a new patch update with numerous fixes and game enhancements. More details can be found in the patch notes below.
New Content
- The USA Tour: Explore multiple open-world maps! You can now navigate the global Earth map to select between Saudi Arabia and the USA map.
- The USA Map Navigation: Explore landscapes inspired by iconic North American landmarks, from the Grand Canyon to the Nevada Desert to Yellowstone, in Rally Raid competitions and Free Roam mode, throughout a 256 km2 map size.
- Sport Game Mode:
- USA Tour Qualifications (3x Stages)
- Yellowstone Rally (4x Stages)
- Nevada Desert Rally (4x Stages)
- Grand Canyon Rally (4x Stages)
- USA Tour (5x Stages)
- Professional Game Mode:
- Yellowstone Rally (3x Stages)
- Nevada Desert Rally (3x Stages)
- Grand Canyon Rally (3x Stages)
- USA Tour (3x Stages)
- USA Free Roam & Treasure Hunt Events:
- Grand Canyon I (20 Treasures)
- Grand Canyon II (20 Treasures)
- Yellowstone I (25 Treasures)
- Yellowstone II (20 Treasures)
- Nevada Desert I (20 Treasures)
- Nevada Desert II (15 Treasures)
- USA Tour (20 Treasures)
General
- Fixed an issue where the Roadbook image glitched and flashed on vehicles when using the cockpit camera.
- Fixed an issue where the AI was unable to complete the track due to poor driving, especially in tight offroad curves.
- Fixed the inability to validate very long roadbooks due to AI losing track of the path after a set distance.
- Fixed an issue where the AI got lost during world shift while validating the path in Roadbook Editor.
- Fixed an issue where the game did not support sending a game invitation via in-title functionality after joining a pre-game lobby hosted by another user.
- Fixed crash issues between WP005 and WP006 at Red Sea Rally - Stage 03 (Sport).
- Fixed a soft-lock on the loading screen into the race at some events.
- Fixed a crash on some loading screens.
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