Decided I'm gonna list my wishes for WRC23. I am really excited about this one, I've enjoyed the recent KT Racing efforts but I'm super excited at the prospect of what Codemasters will do given how much I loved the Dirt Rally games and the Colin Mcrae rally games before them.
- I hope that the car list from DR2 remains as much as possible. It's one of the best curatons of rally cars in any game (alongside SLRE) and I hope its retained. I expect to lose the RX stuff and probably R5 (as Rally2 will replace it) but everything needs to stay and be expanded on.
- The WRC license should bring with it more legendary rally cars. As above, DR2 is already stellar, but things like the Xsara WRC, Corolla, Celica GT Four, 03-05 Focus WRC, Audi Quattro A2, just to really bring the list to a feeling of completeness regarding WRC legends.
- Rallies and stages, it would be nice if all the DR2 content stayed, Wales, Scotland, Poland, Australia, Argentina and USA. Kind of like WRC:Generations did with KT bringing back non championship rallies as extra content. Would be nice to just have them there for custom championships, maybe historic scenarios etc. It's a given of course that we will have all 13 rallies from the 2023 championship, to have that number closer to 20 would be amazing. The legacy rallies can stay as is but for the 2023 rallies I think there needs to be a full set of all new stages. It would be too easy for Codemasters to recycle Monte-Carlo, Sweden, Spain, New Zealand etc and somewhat disappointing if they did that, however if they did that and then added some more stages to each alongside what will be all new rallies for them like Chile, Estonia, etc then it will be a pretty content rich experience. 3 long stages split into shorter stages plus reverse, gives a possibility of 24 stages per rally. But they have work to do to match the detail of WRC:Gs epic stages, and it's key they do.
- While on the stages subject, I really want to see the development of the surface degradation mechanic that DR2 introduced. It's a key part of WRC events and if they can take that to the next level, with much more degradation on mud and wet events, more visible degradation, making certain sections treacherous for later runners and low grip for the first cars. DR2 did it pretty well, with gradual layering of degradation, but it needed to be more harsh in the wet and more visible.
- Career mode. DR2s career mode fell short, it was too similar to the first Dirt Rally and didn't offer anything. The Historic championship mode was slightly better but was way too short. They need to try and follow the F1 game formula, have a driver career where you race for existing teams, starting in Rally 3 and working up or even start in WRC (give the player the choice). Perhaps integrate legacy rallies and say, if you are from GB, compete in some national invitationals like use the Scottish rally with R2/Rally4 cars of Mk2 Escorts to make a name for yourself, working up to the world stage. But also a My Team-esque mode, driver owned rally teams are commonplace in rallying and this is an essential mode as WRC:G featured it and Codemasters need to at least match it. Again with a player decided entry point, depth in terms of facility and car development, team mates etc.
- Historic modes. Don't waste the legendary content, if the full suite of cars moves from DR2.0, I'd like to see selectable championships dedicated to Group B, Group A, World Rally Car, and so on. Scenario modes akin to WRC 10 would be amazing and much easier to do with a rally game than an F1 game.
- Liveries. A proper livery editor, I know it's not Codemasters thing, but I don't want an F1 style system with 10 liveries. If we aren't getting a full livery creator then I would settle for the Grid Legends system which still has huge flexibility and lots of possibilities.
- Audio. Codemasters are already top dog in rally audio in my opinion, they just need to maintain that. It would be nice if we had a couple co-drivers to choose from, and if they don't carry on with Phil Mills then it needs to be a real co-driver, recorded in the same way they did for DR2 which is an absolute benchmark for pace notes.
- Multiplayer clubs and leagues. They need to lean on the idea WRCG started with leagues, to boost the already online challenges DR2 does daily, weekly and monthly. Also boosting the clubs mode and try and integrate it into the game as much as possible to take out needing to switch to a browser. The leagues/rivals idea would give a purpose to the continuous cycle of challenges.
- If the rumoured car creator comes to fruition, I'd like to see the possibility of using them in every available mode. If we are able to build cars for any class then it is essential there are modes and ways to use them. Particularly in the MyTeams mode if there is one and custom championships etc. Also, plenty of choice in terms of the design of the cars so they don't all look the same.