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.

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Controller != Console
It might have more dense population on XBox as it's more affordable platform (that also supports wheels and pedals, btw), but Steam alone PC players figure is quite telling to discard it as a "console" game. Anyway, we are way off topic. My last post on this.
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Exactly that. So you proved my point, Forza is a console/mass audience game and AMS2 isn't, it's niche and pc-only and targeted as simmers so you clearly proved my point again by showing these player stats again.
 
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As someone who primarily uses VR for my sim racing, Its pretty easy to see the VR landscape has died and the user base is too small for it to be priority or a necessity.

Its no surprise (though disappointing) when developers choose to ignore it.
True. Sad reality, we live in a commercial world.

That's why I have more hope for VR's future in sim racing with the smaller developers that do things out of love/passion for sim racing than the big development studio's that only care about their stock holders interest.

Let's hope the best of it but yes new titles will probably never be developed with "VR first" in mind...
 
D
What's insuling about telling the truth? I see exactly the same in distance in AMS2 in VR as in real life but ACC is way to blurry compared to real life in the distance even with the 4090 and ACC tweaked to the max. It's just how it is, it's not an opinion. If you see so blurry in the distance as ACC then you need glasses, it's not an insult, it my advice and honest opinion.

Blurry in the distance because of limited GPU power is not simulation of realism and it's not intended by Epic or Kunos. It's a limitation of deferred rendering of ACC in combination with the current available GPU hardware. So is the blur of TAA when moving your head/in corners/in mirrors.

It's not intended behaviour of Kunos/Epic at all. Not sure why you think/suggest that? If you prefer the way that it looks then it's completely fine of course and nice for you. But it was not a "design choice" of the developers.
Why do you see it blurry, is it in VR? I can see details way up to the horizon on Bathurst longest stretch, but this is monitor.
 
D
Exactly that. So you proved my point, Forza is a console/mass audience game and AMS2 isn't, it's niche and pc-only and targeted as simmers so you clearly proved my point again by showing these player stats again.
Mixing terms perhaps, console or mass audience, is AC or ACC for console crowd too because user base is more populated than AMS2?
 
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Why do you see it blurry, is it in VR? I can see details way up to the horizon on Bathurst longest stretch, but this is monitor.
VR only. Resolution, it simply couldn't get rendered as high in terms of resolution/pixels density as all other titles. I run everything in the native resolution of my headset, ACC max maybe around 65-70% otherwise I get framedrops.
 
Mixing terms perhaps, console or mass audience, is AC or ACC for console crowd too because user base is more populated than AMS2?
Oh no surely not. Forza is mainly a controller title. It's a combination of multiple factors but the controllers made the difference for me but it's also aimed at a other audience.
 
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D
Oh no surely not. Forza is mainly a controller title. It's a combination of multiple factors but the controllers made the difference for me but it's also aimed at a other audience.
Forza Horizon, may be, but for Forza Motorspot the only thing that separates it from AMS2 or AC is what we believe a more accurate physics, FFB on FM7 was actually quite serviceable with simplified but convincing physics on OSW DD wheel I've used at that time. The upcoming Motorsport should be even more refined in that area, or so Turn 10 marketing says. :D
Support for DirectInput is included this time, so DD wheels and pedals should work without EmuWheel. Who knows, could be something that will kill AC and AMS2 for not loyal to the very core users.
 
The graphics are inexcusably bad, the road textures are terrible and the actual surface is confusingly flat. The 50-dollar price tag for 17 locations should have tipped people off.
EA seems to have got the Unreal engine interns working on this.
 
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D
The graphics are inexcusably bad, the road textures are terrible and the actual surface is confusingly flat. The 50-dollar price tag for 17 locations should have tipped people off.
EA seems to have got the Unreal engine interns working on this.
I've watched the trailer in 4K and while there is very little of actual in game footage to see as for some odd reason it's mixed with real rally videos, the graphics looks inline with DR and DR 2.0, which makes sense as they are reusing textures and other assets. I am afraid if you go crazy with surrounding details in such fast paced cars the performance (esp on UE) will be "inexcusably bad".
I'd wait for the actual gameplay video before jumping to any conclusions.
But even if the graphics stays the same as in older titles, but physics and FFB (esp. on tarmac) improved, I'd be a happy man.
 
According to the steam hardware survey, 1.92% of their users has a VR headset
Source: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
That is the total user base of VR users on steam that play all sort of games. The percentage of people that use VR on SimRacing it's much smaller. Maybe 0,1% ?. I think more then 50% of "simracers" are on gamepads, keyboards and so on. Now imagine the percentage of VR users !
I really lol when people say, no VR no play no buy. Like the EA's of this world even care.
 
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