DiRT 5

I've put plenty of hours into Gran Turismo 7, and that game will show up further down this list for a reason: its split-screen feels bolted on next to what Dirt 5 does. This is a racing game built around four-player split-screen from the ground up, not a sim mode with a second camera added as an afterthought. Split the screen four ways and the game barely blinks, framerate holds, the readability stays intact even with four tiny viewports stacked on a 55-inch panel. Arcade handling means nobody needs to have driven a real car to be competitive within a lap or two. It's short on realism. It's long on actual couch-night mayhem.

Dirt 5's color palette is doing a lot of work, neon rally-cross tracks under stadium lights, and it's the kind of arcade off-roader you can hand to someone who has never touched a racing game and have them competitive within ten minutes. I put it on for a rainy Sunday with my daughter, and she was drifting confidently by the second race. Split-screen still works, which matters more than it should on a list where plenty of current-gen racers have quietly dropped the feature. The career structure is thin next to Motorfest or Horizon, and the content has aged since 2020. Still, for an afternoon with someone who wants to slide around a rally-cross circuit without thinking about tuning setups, it still does the job.

Good modern split-screen racers that are not kart games are rarer than they should be. DIRT 5 fills that gap. Four-player local support, arcade handling that does not require sim-racing knowledge, and a visual style that stays readable even when four screens are squeezed onto one display. It missed the top ten because the overall game quality and mode variety sit below Sonic Transformed and the racers above it. But if your group wants something with actual cars and mud rather than go-karts and shells, DIRT 5 is the most competent option currently available on modern platforms.

Off-road racing does something the tarmac games cannot: the surface itself becomes part of the fight. On a wet rally stage in DIRT 5, two cars with the same pace will still have completely different races because one hit a rut and the other found clean grip. That moment of chaos keeps mixed-skill groups engaged even when the lead has pulled away. The handling is forgiving enough that a first-timer can complete laps without frustration, and the playlist-style event flow means hosts can run short rotating cups without fiddling with settings between races. It is not the deepest game on this list. It does not need to be.

Dirt 5 is the most approachable off-road racer on PS5 and the clearest option for split-screen play in the genre. Vivid presentation, varied surfaces, and handling that does not punish new players while still rewarding cleaner lines. I tried it expecting a casual throwaway and it held my attention through a full evening, which is the honest test for any racing game in a genre I already play regularly. It does not reach the mechanical depth of the serious rally games, and the progression is lighter than the top tier, but for pick-up-and-play off-road racing it is the right call.