Publisher Black Bean, along with developer Milestone, will be taking on DiRT from Codemasters as they've just inked a three-year deal for World Rally Championship.

They plan on turning it into an annual franchise with the first due in spring on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Milestone has "a lot of respect" for their rivals, will try to "match and possibly beat" them.

"We have a lot of respect for the team at Codemasters and Dirt 2 is a fantastic game," Simone Bechini of World Rally Championship developer Milestone told MCV.

"But for sure, we will do our best to match and possibly beat that game. The racing genre is very well populated with great franchises. But WRC is very unique." DiRT 2 continues to sell high in the charts since its launch last month. Rally racers are back in fashion?

Black Bean sees nothing but good things in the future: "We like to see this as the beginning of a long friendship between WRC and Black Bean. We will use the WRC to help guarantee to our suppliers and retail partners that there will be strong marketing activity for this game."

"We are helped by the overwhelming support of the WRC and their sponsors. There will be a strong campaign on this title," says the publisher's Francesca Tognoni.

Have you gone and got some DiRT? Do you enjoy the rally, or are you more a street person?