Codemasters Teases Dirt 3 Gymkhana With Ken Block - Techtree.com

Drifting - a Rally staple over loose tracks and otherwise a Japanese obsession - was truly popularised in India by The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. However, an even more advanced discipline, dubbed Gymkhana, has piqued the interest of auto enthusiasts elsewhere in the world. Codemasters has incorporated this emerging automotive fad in the latest instalment of the DiRT franchise. The upcoming racing game DiRT 3 (D3), which we were the first ones to preview, gets Rally driver and Gymkhana expert Ken Block to walk you through this promising addition to the DiRT franchise.

Unfortunately, the preview code didn't allow us to partake in the Gymkhana madness, but as we count down to the 24th May release, Codemasters has released a video where Ken Block goes apeshit crazy with his souped-up Ford Rally car on a Gymkhana course improvised out of London s Battersea Power Station. For those who came in late, the new racing discipline pits drivers against time in a multi-surface obstacle course, where they are expected to string together 180/360 degree spins (doughnuts), massive drifts, crazy jumps, and other flamboyant driving manoeuvres otherwise not seen in regular racing events.

D3 will allow gamers to run amok around Gymkhana courses set around the Battersea Power Station and other locations around the globe. These courses will demand precision drifting manoeuvres in and around obstacles to let gamers exhibit their skills, chain together moves, complete challenges, or simply hang out online with friends. Think you're world class? Well, D3 will give you a stab at becoming an internet celebrity (not really) with its capability to upload your Gymkhana runs to YouTube.

The Codemasters' video embedded above features Ken Block executing crazy powerslides and doughnuts around a moving mechanical digger. However, the best Gymkhana video is undoubtedly the one where Block shows Top Gear's James May the eyeball spin-dryer. Considering it was shot with a budget of $2 million, it had better be.