EA Sports WRC Coming 3 November, Pre-orders Open Now

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Following last week’s announcement, the newest WRC game finally has a reveal trailer. Releasing on 3 November, this is EA Sports WRC.

Image credit: EA Sports

The time has finally come, rally fans. Indeed, months of speculation, rumours and slowly disappearing hope have come to an end for those looking forward to a new official WRC game. Taking on the baton from Kylotonn, Codemasters and EA now have five years of the WRC licence ahead of them.

The pairing known for the F1 series of games finally released the reveal trailer for the upcoming game. Releasing 3 November, EA Sports WRC is set to feature a number of changes from the Dirt Rally series of old. Here is everything the trailer reveals.

Unreal Engine​

The first thing fans will notice from the reveal trailer is the graphics: They are far flatter and more realistic than those of Dirt Rally 2.0. Whilst less pretty, this will surely not be a bad thing as immersion will certainly come with the improved engine.


Indeed, the game will run on the Unreal Engine, a popular option for games of all realms in recent years. Much like Assetto Corsa Competizione, EA Sports WRC will adapt its own physics into the graphics engine.

Speaking of physics, EA is firm in its statements that the new game will indeed be a sim racing title. This should put to rest the fears that the title would cater solely to a beginner audience whilst omitting the more hardcore racing fan. However, there will reportedly be simplified pace notes and several driver aids to help newcomers get settled in.

Content in EA WRC​

Built upon the physics engine of Dirt Rally 2.0, the game will clearly also feature many cars from the previous rally game. A selection of classic cars feature in the reveal trailer, including the Lancia Delta HF Integrale and Subara Impreza WRX STI. Reportedly, a total of 68 cars will feature in the game at launch.

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Subaru Impreza EA Sports WRC. Image credit: EA Sports

Elsewhere, thanks to the official WRC licence, the game will obviously feature the trio of hybrid Rally1 cars one can see roaring up stages in the real series. The junior categories WRC2 and 3 will also join the game with a number of models each.

Speaking of stages, 18 of the 19 rally locations in this year’s WRC season will feature in the game at launch. The Central European Rally will join at a later date via a post-launch update. These 18 locations will account for 600km of roads covering asphalt, snow and gravel.

EA Sports WRC Game Modes​

One interesting game mode will allow players to add to the current line up of manufacturers. Much like F1 23‘s My Team, players will be able to create their own car meeting Rally1 specifications. How one will go about putting together the styling in this so-called ‘Builder’ mode is as yet unclear, but it will offer something unique in rally game spheres.

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Builder mode lets you create your own rally car. Image credit: EA Sports

Elsewhere, the recent F1 23 addition of real world scenarios is trickling down to the upcoming rally game. In fact, Moments will put players in actual scenarios of the real world season. Furthermore, Moments using classic cars will also feature.

A whole host of online racing options will be available to rally fans. From the aforementioned daily Moments challenges with leader boards and a Clubs section in which groups can organise rallies of up to 32 players, there will surely be plenty to do.

Pre-orders Open Now​

EA Sports WRC is available to pre-order right now. Available on Steam, Epic Store, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, it does away with the previous generation of consoles. As a result, one can expect a leap in graphical and physical rendering from the likes of DiRT Rally 2.0.

By pre-ordering the game, players will gain access to five VIP Season Passes as well as the Team Apparel pack. The biggest perk must be the three-day early access, meaning fans will get to play from 31 October.

Currently available at a discounted rate of €44,99, the full game will come in at €49,99 at launch.

OverTake’s own Jonas “Champion Joe” Schulz was on hand to react to the reveal trailer. Check out what he thinks of the news here.


Are you excited for EA Sports WRC? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

Comments

So there's just the Standard Edition? That's all I see on Steam, and on Xbox there's no page for the game yet.

I'll most likely get it for the Xbox, as my PC isn't going to be enough for even minimum specs and play it with a controller (my wheel doesn't support Xbox). Could be a fun game on a console, I really like DiRT Rally 2.0 on a controller, sure, it's fun with a wheel but it's perfectly playable with just the gamepad.
 
One thing i learned with time and 3rd party examples: do not perorder anything from EA.

As for myself, i am patient:coffee:
 
Premium
The F1 2023 game was good and it looks like the WRC game will also be good. Should be fun to use my hand brake again.
 
I really hope EA having a hand in this doesn't mean that the DiRT series will take a nosedive. I've been invested since Colin McRae, and it would hurt to see EA get their grubby hands in Codies.
 
Last edited:
Sorry, but this is not lookig promising. With only 2 months left... is this everything they show? Looks a lot like WRC 10. Like, really:

I doubt anyone will get convinced to pre order the game if not only to support the devs.
I love Codies but I'm afraid being bought by EA and put to work in another annual franchise was terrible form them.
 
Still enjoying Dirt 2.0 but this title is intiguing to me... Another racing game on Unreal...

Will be interesting to see how this handles as Unreal might become a very popular choice for sim racing companies going forwards...
 
Premium
Hoping someone can implement quality VR in the unreal engine.

Let this one be the one.

Looks like going forward its going to be the sim-engine of choice for many devs.
 
I'm a big Rally fan, but I'll not buy anything from EA. It's a shame, that RBR is still unmatched.
 
Okay, so I am glad that they are ditching the old engine, I never thought it looked good. TAA was too blurry, MSAA was too grainy, etc., the whole graphical presentation just wasn't a coherent package in DR2.0. While I am not happy it moves to Unreal, the system requirements seem decent (hopefully also accurate). I hope this will be a decent UE implementation... and if that is the case I am hoping they are refreshing the F1 series as well because even though they have a lot of experience with their EGO engine, it just gets blurrier and heavier (and running worse) by every release.

As far as specific UE features are concerned, I hope FSR will be implemented similarly as in ACC. This might even help a few users here, if you find ACC to be too blurry, choose FSR with custom resolution scale and put it at like 120% with some 40-50% FSR sharpening. Sharpens up the image quite a bit, turning is also less of a blurfest compared to TAA, and you can further tweak it based on you preferences and what your PC is capable of.

Still, waiting for reviews, both from the aspect of simulation (handling/FFB) as well as the technical state of the game (performance/stuttering/image quality) before any decision.
 
The only really important question is, will there be an Opel Ascona B 400 in it.
I really want a rally game that has FULL WRC championships of past decades AND regional championships featuring a bunch of iconic cars,drivers and routes,even if i have to pay for them as DLCs.
 
I really want a rally game that has FULL WRC championships of past decades AND regional championships featuring a bunch of iconic cars,drivers and routes,even if i have to pay for them as DLCs.
Woah, if DR2.0 was over 100GB, this would have to come with a new SSD (if Codies didn't change compression). :p
 
Woah, if DR2.0 was over 100GB, this would have to come with a new SSD (if Codies didn't change compression). :p
The compression will of course be much higher. But it's important that they don't put all resources in one archive. Updating ACC (and any other UE game) is torture for me :(
 
Rally sim on Unreal Engine? Doubt that.
Why? Milestones' MXGP and Supercross, THQ's ATV vs MX look and play good. I don't see any problems, UE use for graphics only, and I hope that Codies has the right hands (unlike the developers of Dakar Desert Rally).
 

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