DiRT Rally 2.0 players will not have access to online Clubs in the game for much longer: EA announced that the function will be shut down soon.
Despite having been succeeded by EA Sports WRC, DiRT Rally 2.0 remains popular with sim racers who love to chuck it sideways on gravel stages - more than EA WRC, in fact, at least on PC. The follow-up to DiRT Rally was released in 2019, improving on the original.
It appears that EA, who purchased Codemasters in 2021, is looking to phase out DR 2.0, however: The game's website will be taken offline on July 8, 2026, and subsequently, DiRT Rally 2.0 Racenet Clubs will not be available anymore from that date onwards. Elements like online leaderboards or events should still remain active, though: "The game's other online features remain functional", EA states in its overview of online service shutdowns for its titles.
A Spanner In The Works For Leagues & Communities
That means that hosting events or participating in Club events will no longer be possible. Clubs serve as a platform for asynchronous online play: Players can participate in events in a given time frame rather than everyone having to race all at once, making it possible for everyone to participate in their own time.
This can be particularly handy for groups of friends or communities who want to compete against each other without having to pick their way through the full online leaderboards, and to set up their own events, of course. Clubs can also be very useful for leagues because of this.
Due to the nature of the sport, rally titles aren't necessarily dependent on multiplayer modes as much as other racing games, but Clubs are perhaps the best way to handle multiplayer for rally games. Considering DR 2.0
still had close to 900 concurrent players on average in March 2026, there is most likely going to be a fair few that are going to miss the feature.
Clubs remain active in EA Sports WRC - but the shutdown of Clubs certainly is a spanner in the works for leagues and communites that prefer DR 2.0. For console players, that leaves EA Sports WRC as the only option for now - but with no further development for the title planned, it may only be a matter of time until its Clubs get shut down, too.
Are you still playing DiRT Rally 2.0 online in Clubs? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our DiRT series forum!