Video games firm takes Colin McRae's name off the blockbuster he helped create

Developers of the Colin McRae World Rally series franchise had continued to release games using the driver's name after his death in a helicopter accident four years ago.

Previous games had been called Colin McRae: Dirt and Colin McRae: Dirt 2, but the newest version, released last week, is simply titled Dirt 3.

McRae's name is not mentioned in any promotional material for the game and he has been replaced as the star driver by American rally ace Ken Block.

Codemasters, the developer of the game, said it would still maintain McRae's "driving ethos", but the decision has angered fans of the late sports star.

McRae had teamed up with Codemasters in 1998 and offered technical advice to help it develop the games.

The company released eight games bearing McRae's name, including two after his death, all of which have been huge commercial successes.

McRae died aged 39 alongside son Johnny, five, and family friends Graeme Duncan, 37, and Ben Porcelli, six, when the helicopter he was piloting hit trees near the grounds of his home in Lanark.

A long-running fatal accident inquiry into the crash in September, 2007, finished hearing evidence last week.

Codemasters said the most recent Dirt game, released in 2009, had been a tribute to McRae, and it thought the time had come to remove his name from the packaging.

A spokesman said: "Dirt 2 was very much our tribute to Colin, especially with its climatic Colin McRae challenge as the game's pinnacle race event which, when won, unlocked our video tribute to him.

"For this title we chose not to switch to a new headline name and leave it as Dirt 3.

"There is no question that the memory of Colin lives on in the studio, and will do so in the game."