When we found this interview between ActionTrip and Codemasters Executive Producer Gavin Raeburn, we wondered if the jolt of riding off-road has gotten him too excited. He made a lot of revelations, filling in the gaps in our information on Colin McRae: DIRT (PS3, Xbox 360, PC). And after all he said, we really want to see if Codemasters can live up to their billing.

Let's get at least one detail straight: multiplayer. The game's "multiplayer mode will allow you to pit yourself in real time against 100 opponents." Yeah, there's also the option to create smaller, more private and intimate games. But the game's been designed to "pool large numbers of players together" in a more or less persistent game (for as long as the rally lasts, perhaps).

This is the first Colin game to feature actual races against multiple opponents, ActionTrip observed (it probably is, at a hundred opponents!).

Outside of online, Codemasters worked up the AI to feel more human. As Gavin observed, there are "less ideas for the ideal racing line," and the AI is written along those lines - or a lack of them: each AI personality in the game is geared towards types of courses or aggression into the turn - those sorts of of things.

Besides the Neon engine, they also got to talk about a bevy of new and wonderful cars that the engine will render, and ultimately wreck (although it's not the graphics and physics engine that wrecks a car... it's sloppy driving). DIRT will feature more cars to throw dirt at, including the very latest rally cars such as the Suzuki Swift and Citroen C4, Unlimited Hill Climbers (quite useful for Pikes Peak), Super Buggies, Pro-4 trucks, European off-road SUVs, and a special, DIRT-exclusive unlockable car.