It might be the first of its kind, and it's super-interesting, although maybe not all that surprising. Codies' DiRT Rally 2.0 team conducted research around the impact a seasoned co-driver has on driver confidence and success, versus the impact of a complete rookie in the co-driver seat.

Both co-drivers had just one stage to help rally driver, Jon Armstrong, complete at the London Rally School. Experienced navigator Noel O’Sullivan helped Jon complete a time of 2 minutes, 32 seconds, while novice co-driver, Chris Codey, did not help much, with Jon finishing the stage in 9 minutes, 44 seconds. Again, largely expected, but a cool experiment nonetheless.

Jon Armstrong said of the experiment: ‘it was extraordinarily difficult trying to string a few corners together with Chris as my co-pilot. He couldn’t tell his left from his right, and spent his eyes closed for the vast majority of the run. The closest instruction he gave was “watch out, there are bends”... Not ideal. It would have been easier if I’d have used Google Maps. At least Google Maps doesn’t scream.’

Dr Jasmine Masters, lead researcher on the study, concluded: ‘with a staggering time difference of 7 minutes 12 seconds – the equivalent of taking 284% longer – the importance of a capable co-driver cannot be understated. Heck, even a coherent co-driver helps. It’s a good job that Codemasters used a number of world class co-drivers to create the pace-notes and co-driver calls for DiRT Rally 2.0 – if we’d have left it to Chris, then in my professional opinion, we’d have been screwed.’

You can watch a video showcasing the research experiment embedded below.