Petrolheads could soon be driving around the Lydden Hill race circuit from the comfort of their armchair after the venue was included in a video game for the very first time.

The track, just off the A2 outside Canterbury, has been added to DiRT Rally by programmers at Codemasters.

Bosses at the software business have teamed up with organisers of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, which visits Lydden every May, and will include the one-mile circuit in their latest update.

The game, which is not yet fully complete, is available on PC in beta and the Lydden track will be added towards the end of the month.

Once the PC version is complete, game makers will then consider releasing it on consoles.

Codemasters community manager Lee Williams said: “Everyone can look forward to the game.

"With racing games people always go for the headliners when thinking of race tracks but this is a tiny track in the corner of England and we can show people how much of an awesome circuit it is. There’s plenty of excitement.”

Designers at Codemasters – creators of the popular Formula 1 racing games – visited the circuit on a research trip to take photos of the site before transforming it into the game.

They captured the circuit in thousands of images, measuring the width of the road and height of the barriers.

Mr Williams added: “It sounds like a long, drawn out way of making a racing circuit but I kind of liken it to having a table made by a carpenter or having it made by Ikea in a factory.

"You can get a lot of the details.”

Players of the game will be able to drive virtual versions of the 600bhp supercars that compete in the FIA World Rallycross Championship.

To help develop the product, current racers from the championship tested the game earlier this month.

• DiRT Rally is available on PC via Steam Early Access. For details visit www.fiaworldrallycross.com