DiRT 5 from the outside seems like a worthy entry to the series, but after playing it for a bit, I noticed it's a DiRT game in name only like Showdown was.

Not a bad thing exactly, though if you were expecting a sim the likes of DiRT Rally, then this ain't it chief.

Rallying, which is a staple in every DiRT game (except Showdown) is nowhere to be found in 5. In a series centered around rallying, you would think that would be an option, but that's not the case unfortunately. So what game modes are there? Well let's take a look shall we?

Ultra Cross
The standard race mode

Ice Breaker
Same as Ultra Cross but on ice.

Pathfinder
You take a buggy and drive it across excessively bumpy terrain uphill against the clock.

Sprint
Off road oval racing in sprint cars.

Playgrounds
Basically a level editor: create your own stunt course and share it with the world.

Rally Raid
Cross country point to point racing in trucks and buggies.

Landrush
Closed circuit racing in trucks and buggies.

Stampede
Cross country circuit racing in trucks and buggies.

Gymkhana
Perform drifts, spins, jumps, etc. in a closed arena while earning the highest score possible against the clock. Since DiRT 3, any inclusion of Gymkhana in future entries tend to be polarizing. I personally see no problem with it, but YMMV.

In a nutshell: No rally, but there is GYMKHANA!!!

Think GTA 3 era level of damage. There's no mechanical damage either, so if you crash into a barrier at 100+ MPH... BOOM! Engine block is still intact and the car is still driveable. DiRT 1 - 4 had mechanical damage, so why not this one? Manufacturer pressure? If that's the case, then CM isn't really at fault here.

Good:
-The weather effects, wetness of the cars.
-Cars will get dirty overtime from dirt, mud, etc.
-The cars themselves don't look too bad either.

Bad:
-The cockpit has no working mirrors
-The clouds remind me of a 2D skybox
-Some of the texture work
-Badly implemented TAA which looks blurry and pixelated even at 1080p (every resolution setting is set to 1080p) TAA appears to have been fixed as of update 4.00

I mean... DiRT 2 and 3 looked better than this. That's not good.

Specs for reference:
RTX 2060 Super
Ryzen 5 1600 @ 3.8GHz
16GB RAM @ 3000MHz
Running on an SSD

I didn't really notice any stuttering while playing, but I did notice my framerate fluctuating from 45 - 35FPS. The reason was the game's global illumination setting which for some reason destroys your framerates at its highest. Lowering it to high yields a boost to performance with an unnoticeable difference to visual fidelity. Despite that, I still see random framerate drops here and there on some courses. Optimization needs work Codies.

Stop this. Just stop. Haven't you learned from DiRT 2? Not even Troy Baker can make annoying voice overs in a racing game exciting. IT NEVER IS EXCITING

Subjective, but I personally don't like the soundtrack. It's not my cup of tea.

It's a decent arcade racer, but not the sequel to DiRT 4 you're looking for.

EDIT: As of update 4.00, the game still performs poorly.