EA Sports WRC Review

British game company Codemasters, known especially for its car racing games, has gained a special place in the hearts of game lovers with the games it has released since the mid-1980s. Some of the company’s notable popular car racing games are the DiRT series and the F1 series, which we all know well. EA Sports WRC Review In our article, we take a closer look at the company’s new addition to the WRC series.

In Codemasters’ most well-known series DiRT, we focused on rally races and competed on tracks all over the world. In the F1 series, the official game of Formula 1 races, we gave players the experience of the life of an F1 pilot. We also competed in a wide range of races, from street racing to professional track racing, with the GRID series, which we know well. Although the company has other racing series, the game I enjoyed playing the most was undoubtedly Micro Machines. For this reason, I approach all racing games released by the company with a special love.

The game, which was released last year as WRC Generations, started to be called EA SPORTS WRC after EA acquired Codemasters. The new game is the official video game of the FIA ​​World Rally Championship and retains the award-winning team behind the highly praised DiRT Rally series. After briefly remembering the history of the company and the game, let’s take a look at how WRC was.

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

WRC Generations was a bad rally game. It emerged as one of the worst racing games we have ever seen, with the game’s dynamics, shifting center of gravity, poorly defined speed sensation standards and many other features. When it was announced that Kylotonn Games would no longer be developing official WRC games, and would instead be produced by the team behind Dirt Rally and Dirt Rally 2.0, I was extremely confident that I would be faced with a racing game that could be great again.

EA Sports WRC has as many cars as Dirt Rally 2.0 and the physics engine is the same, everything else is new. Codemasters has replaced the old proprietary Ego Engine with Unreal Engine 4.8. This has made a significant contribution to the fact that while the previous game had a 19-mile rally road, the new production includes more than 65 miles of roads. In addition to 17 countries, 204 stages and 82 cars, there is a career mode, a car building mode where you can build your dream car, online game modes that allow daily challenges, and of course tournaments where the world’s best virtual rally driver will be crowned. To say that EA Sports WRC is rich or full of content would be an understatement.

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

The first thing that caught my attention when I loaded the product and started the practice laps was the advanced dynamic handling system. This system is a technology that simulates how vehicles react in different road and weather conditions. It realistically models the interaction of the vehicle’s tires with the road, the behavior of its suspension, and the overall weight distribution. A vehicle’s physical and mechanical properties, particularly its suspension system and tires, determine how it will perform on different types of surfaces – such as asphalt, dirt, gravel or snow – and in different weather conditions, such as wet, dry or icy.

In EA Sports WR we also race on various surfaces such as dirt, asphalt or snow. We also have the opportunity to race on a snow-covered road, whether dry, wet or sprinkled with ice. If you want, we can also choose different seasons that can create different racing conditions. This increases the diversity of the races. I don’t know if it’s because there’s so much variety or if not enough time has been spent on the physics engine, but I think the handling system is not reflected accurately. Because I hope it is not my incompetence that the vehicle sometimes goes out of control even when driving on a smooth asphalt road.

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

On the other hand, I cannot miss a point that caught my attention in rainy weather races. As I walked through the rain, I did not encounter any puddles anywhere. Whether you’re racing on asphalt or sand, it’s the same. If we could calculate the realism and make our instant decisions accordingly when we cannot get support from our co-pilot, we could have a much more enjoyable driving experience. The fact that our vehicles grip the road as expected on asphalt and the decrease in traction on wet and snow-covered surfaces reveals the importance of adjusting the balance perfectly in order to maintain momentum.

In previous versions, controlling cars with powerful engines was much more challenging than in EA SPORTS WRC. However, this game convinced me that I could switch to top-level vehicles and complete the stages successfully. Although the handling and driving experience are satisfactory, I feel that the difficulty level of the game has increased. It is not possible to go at full throttle all the time in rally races. The fact that the wheels tend to slip even on a straight line slightly affected the perception of realism of the game.

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

The career mode, which was missing at the beginning of Dirt Rally 2.0, was introduced with the “Colin McRae Flat Out” update. With EA Sports WRC, Codemasters has designed a career mode similar to those found in Kylotonn Games’ WRC 10. The vehicle building mode, where we can create our own rally car, is a fun mode to offer a more detailed perspective on the intricacies of building a competitive WRC car. However, it was disappointing that vehicle construction was not subject to specific regulations and tended to create more fictitious vehicles.

One of the most important advantages of the career mode is that it offers the opportunity to experience the entire official WRC calendar. You can skip the stages you don’t want and become a part-time driver like Ogier and Loeb, or you can change the atmosphere of the race with historical vehicles and themed events. Sponsorships put a certain pressure on players, giving them the chance to set goals, which is a very functional mechanism; You can start comfortably because the initial entertainment level is not so low that you need to worry.

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

The presentation of the Moments mode can be a bit confusing. At the start, you’re presented with only three scenarios (two real-life and one fictional), where you’re expected to earn one of three different types of medals based on your performance. Even stranger is that the additional two scenarios are offered for an extra fee behind EA Play’s paid service. This mode gives players the opportunity to relive historical races or jump back into current races. It is also renewed daily to provide players with a new experience every day and the chance to test the game’s various cars.

WRC also has a Rally School for players who are confident and want to improve their racing skills; This is a section that encourages players to learn the intricacies of motor sports. Although it is not a direct licensing test, it has a similar structure with short-term tasks that will help you gain experience.

There is no Ray Tracing technology in the game. This also adds some negativities. Some reflections may look strange. Although, assuming there is a serious performance problem on low-end systems, I don’t know what adding ray tracing would do to the game.

EA Sports WRC Review / PC

We said above that the game was moved to the new engine. This provides improved driving physics and greater detail in all stages. There’s a ton of greenery on every track, whether it’s grass, rocks, or trees. Draw distance offers the same level of foliage, with each location feeling full. EA SPORTS WRC is only available on current-gen consoles and PC, but it doesn’t offer the same look as on PC, and I’ve seen in other reviews you’ve read that it has performance issues. Although I did not feel the slightest stutter while playing at 4K at ultra settings with the RTX 4070 graphics card, with the RTX 3080 at 4K ultra, without the help of upscaling technology, there was enough lag to disrupt the driving during the race.

In light of all I’ve said, the game was still one of the most enjoyable rally races I’ve played recently. I am sure that technical bugs will be fixed over time and ray tracing technology will be introduced. If what you are looking for is a game that is one step further than Need for Speed, with realistic racing but with a slightly lower simulation level than F1 games, I recommend you give EA Sports WRC a chance.