Official WRC Series Returns: EA Sports WRC, to Launch November 3 on PC & New-Gen Consoles

[AttackDickie]

Honestly im surprised that Group B rally cars are featured in racing games.

Group B despite being the golden days of rally was also dark with the numerous fatalities.

Due to the numerous fatalities you would perhaps see some resistance in putting these cars.

Then again Motorsport will always be a dangerous sport no matter what. Its much more safer today due to technology along with rules and regulations. But still death can happen at any moment in the sport.

I get where you're coming from but you could say the same about circuits in racing games including Le Mans then and two people were sadly killed on the Nordschleife just last month.

 

[SestoScudo]

I get where you're coming from but you could say the same about circuits in racing games including Le Mans then and two people were sadly killed on the Nordschleife just last month.

Group B gained such a notoriety. Then again many could be said about F1 and Dakar in particular. Dakar has one of the highest mortality rates in motorsport and still continues to kill.

1955 Lemans disaster was so horrific. I seen the footage also graphical descriptions of what happened to many of the spectators.

Im just happy we get to enjoy these cars and these past eras.

 

[doblocruiser]

For ages you can kill people in games and replay 'war scènes' from the past. Compared to that racing games are very gentle even when taking a group b monster on a rally stages or racing a 70'ies V12 at le mans.

 

[Pfei]

Gameplay deep dive tomorrow:

 

[AttackDickie]

Gameplay deep dive

tomorrow

 

[evldave333]

Just watched the gameplay video, looking very compelling to me. The seasons / weather for each track should give it some nice variation, and the sheer length of them is a real positive (Up to 30km stages, with 200 variations over 17 locations) im sold. Been revisiting Dirt 2.0 this week, im not ashamed to say I will be using some assists on the new game if it has such long stages I can only concentrate for so long lol. I rarely pre order, but this is going to be an exception.

 

[paulpg87]

Looks insane

 

[PJTierney]

Just watched the gameplay video, looking very compelling to me. The seasons / weather for each track should give it some nice variation, and the sheer length of them is a real positive (Up to 30km stages, with 200 variations over 17 locations) im sold. Been revisiting Dirt 2.0 this week, im not ashamed to say I will be using some assists on the new game if it has such long stages I can only concentrate for so long lol. I rarely pre order, but this is going to be an exception.

Nothing wrong with using assists, that’s why they’re there! 🙂

 

[CarreraGT]

Ok so what difference is there between this and WRC Generations other than the 2023 car roster and created by EA rather than Kylotton?

That's exactly it. It's created by EA (well, Codemasters) which means it won't be total crap. The sound in particular in WRC Generations was laughable.

If you know Dirt Rally, you'll know the difference

 

[MrCrynox]

The sound...is going to be amazing.

 

[paulpg87]

The game looks amazing. The only thing that is not looking so amazing are the graphics, maybe it will improve over time.

 

[MrCrynox]

The game looks amazing. The only thing that is not looking so amazing are the graphics, maybe it will improve over time.

I dunno bit by bit as they show it, looking good to me. Very hard to tell with YouTube. It's like the new Forza doesn't always look great but when ever has Forza never looked amazing ? I think the same for DR 3.0.

 

[UKMikey]

It looks like an improved DiRT Rally 2.0 to me and better than KT's games. Any problems seem to me to be with the lighting rather than the geometry and are more to do with the uncanny valley than "ugh, this looks like a cartoon".

I'd like to hear from people who thought DR2.0's stages were too wide as driving through that narrow village section looks like brown trousies time to me.

 

[UKMikey]

Well, well, well... seems the moving footage is from a months old build and the better looking screenshots are from a more up to date one according to Sim who thinks criticising the final graphics based on the deep dive video is a bit of a fool's errand. Same goes for the handling is which is more likely to be a dev playing on controller than Jon Armstrong on a wheel. Of course that doesn't stop people in the comments sticking their ha'porth in given any opportunity to do so.

Something still looks odd graphically, glimpses of certain clips look good but overall, looks same as dirt 2.0, or even the older Dirt Rally 🥴

The thing with a trailer having ingame footage of an officially licensed title, is that there's a lot of bureaucracy involved, especially when it comes to exterior shots. There are so many people that need to sign off on allowing to use a specific clip. That includes people from the real manufacturers and so on. It takes weeks, if not months, before everyone responds and/or agrees on the terms of usage. In other words, those external shots are usually from game builds that are several months old and thusly far less polished.

That explains why not everything seems of equal quality. People usually don't realise how much of a hassle putting these things together actually is. It's not just jump in, record, edit and release.

He also predicts it's probable a lawyer-friendly version of the Martini livery will show up based on the placement of the Lancia logo on the bonnet of the Delta in the vid amongst several further authentic liveries as evidenced in the car selection screen.

 

[Pfei]

First I spotted the RaceDepartment article mentioning dynamic weather and changeable grip levels depending on starting order. Now Car and Driver reveals a Rally México tidbit:

"18 miles of Rally Mexico's El Chocolate and the insane Fafe jump from Rally Portugal are in this game, to name a few of the some 372 miles of rally sector."

Source: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45250449/ea-sports-wrc-video-game-preview/

I find it odd that this info is coming from non-EA sources given how little we know about the specifics of the game. Are these outlets just making stuff up or do they have a list of things that EA has not revealed yet?

 

[lilcat89]

First I spotted the RaceDepartment article mentioning dynamic weather and changeable grip levels depending on starting order. Now Car and Driver reveals a Rally México tidbit:

"18 miles of Rally Mexico's El Chocolate and the insane Fafe jump from Rally Portugal are in this game, to name a few of the some 372 miles of rally sector."

Source: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45250449/ea-sports-wrc-video-game-preview/

I find it odd that this info is coming from non-EA sources given how little we know about the specifics of the game. Are these outlets just making stuff up or do they have a list of things that EA has not revealed yet?

I don’t recall hearing about the El Chocolate stage at all yet, but the Fafe jump was shown either on the deep dive video or the original preview video. I don’t remember exactly which, but I definitely remember seeing a side-by-side of real and in-game footage of the Fafe jump. I believe the dynamic weather was in the deep dive as well.

 

[Pfei]

I don’t recall hearing about the El Chocolate stage at all yet, but the Fafe jump was shown either on the deep dive video or the original preview video. I don’t remember exactly which, but I definitely remember seeing a side-by-side of real and in-game footage of the Fafe jump. I believe the dynamic weather was in the deep dive as well.

Yes, the Fafe jump was in the deep dive. But there has been no official info from EA regarding El Chocolate, surface degradation by starting position, nor dynamic weather. Despite that, reputable outlets like C&D and RD are "leaking" this information.

 

[PJTierney]

I find it odd that this info is coming from non-EA sources given how little we know about the specifics of the game. Are these outlets just making stuff up or do they have a list of things that EA has not revealed yet?

A handful of media got to watch a presentation about the game and ask questions. The first embargo for that lifted on Thursday, covering similar topics to the official deep dive.

El Chocolate was mentioned in the blog post accompanying the deep dive.

 

[UKMikey]

I'll just keep posting this bloke's vids until someone tells me to stop. He seems to cover everything even though he jokingly griped about no one inviting him to the recent briefing. @PJ is in the comments as a fan of the sax music so the invites are clearly not up to him, lol.

Sim has to go back to work soon so I hope he has time to review this week's gameplay video on 27th September.

Quick summary:

• Hardcore damage mode with progressive deterioration of car performance based on which components are hit
• Damage is both cosmetic and mechanical
• Historic cars have a separate damage model from modern cars due to the difference between metal bodywork and carbon fibre
• "there are limits on how much we can damage some cars, and we work closely with each manufacturer to make sure we respect their requirements"
• Dynamic weather and time of day within individual stages
• Progressive surface degradation with each individual car instead of groups of cars as with DR2.0
• No lootboxes, virtual currencies or monetisation as confirmed by the official EA Sports WRC account in the official video comments
• Rally 1 audio heard in last week's video is from a much earlier build since Codies have only had the WRC licence since January of this year and scheduling audio days is hard during an active rally championship and takes careful scheduling to get approval. It should be better in the released game

Articles referenced in the video:

https://www.overtake.gg/games/ea-sports-wrc-gameplay-what-to-expect/

https://videogames.si.com/features/ea-sports-wrc-preview

 

[PJTierney]

I know Sim, he’s a regular in the Discord. The sax thing is a bit of an in-joke, I keep telling him to use the music in his videos 🙂

He did apply for the EA Creator Network, but that’s not part of my job or something I have control over when it comes to who gets accepted. His channel is growing though, so that helps.

 

[PJTierney]

No lootboxes, virtual currencies or monetisation as confirmed by the official EA Sports WRC account in the official video comments

To clarify.

The only monetisation is the ability to upgrade your Rally Pass to a VIP tier.

However, if you pre-order you get 5 VIP seasons for no extra cost, so if you don’t want to pay above base game price to get things, that’s the way to go.

Definitely no lootboxes or virtual currencies (ie: currency you buy with real money) though.

 

[MagpieRacer]

To clarify.

The only monetisation is the ability to upgrade your Rally Pass to a VIP tier.

However, if you pre-order you get 5 VIP seasons for no extra cost, so if you don’t want to pay above base game price to get things, that’s the way to go.

Definitely no lootboxes or virtual currencies (ie: currency you buy with real money) though.

That’s great to hear.

 

[paulpg87]

I don’t get why the price point is so low. Probably they don’t think the brand is strong enough and they want to push sales considering the season is also almost over.

Anyway already pre-ordered.

I have mixed feelings. Content wise is top notch stuff in terms of cars and stages. Also career mode and moments surely will be top tier (imo a weak point of dirt 2 was not having a proper career together with tarmac physic).

I understand the trailer is from a Very old build and there is a huge difference vs latest screenshots but i’m not sure graphics will be top notch even if it’s only next gen (maybe 30km stages and seasons require a downgrade).

I’m reading everywhere that unreal engine will ruin the game as it is not optimized for racing titles… but if i remember well assetto corsa competizione is running with unreal and it is the best simulator out there.

To clarify.

The only monetisation is the ability to upgrade your Rally Pass to a VIP tier.

However, if you pre-order you get 5 VIP seasons for no extra cost, so if you don’t want to pay above base game price to get things, that’s the way to go.

Definitely no lootboxes or virtual currencies (ie: currency you buy with real money) though.

I would have paid 150€ straight away just for the basic disc ahah

 

[MagpieRacer]

I don’t get why the price point is so low. Probably they don’t think the brand is strong enough and they want to push sales considering the season is also almost over.

Anyway already pre-ordered.

I have mixed feelings. Content wise is top notch stuff in terms of cars and stages. Also career mode and moments surely will be top tier (imo a weak point of dirt 2 was not having a proper career together with tarmac physic).

I understand the trailer is from a Very old build and there is a huge difference vs latest screenshots but i’m not sure graphics will be top notch even if it’s only next gen (maybe 30km stages and seasons require a downgrade).

I’m reading everywhere that unreal engine will ruin the game as it is not optimized for racing titles… but if i remember well assetto corsa competizione is running with unreal and it is the best simulator out there.

Too many people don’t understand game engines and how they can be used. It doesn’t need to be optimised for racing titles when it’s purely the visual engine being used. They’re utilising unreal just for the visuals with the Dirt physics engine being bolted on underneath, would likely have been the first thing Codemasters tried to do before switching otherwise it would have been a very different story.

Like you say as well, I don’t think ACC suffers from being on Unreal. Just from a slightly wonky and long winded console port.

 

[UKMikey]

It's deep dive day again...



4K is already up.



You can bet I'll be going back to Rally School before I even begin to think about attempting to build my own Mikey R4 "from the ground up™ ".

 

[SestoScudo]

It's deep dive day again...



4K is already up.



You can bet I'll be going back to Rally School before I even begin to think about attempting to build my own Mikey S4 "from the ground up™ ".

I think PD should discard rally from GT for good because there is no chance that they compete with this after seeing the make your own rally car.

 

[MagpieRacer]

@Famine @Jordan

Any chance we could merge the 2 discussion threads for EA WRC? Be a bit easier for everyone to find info if it’s one place.

EA Sports WRC: General Discussion

www.gtplanet.net

 

[CarreraGT]

I think PD should discard rally from GT for good because there is no chance that they compete with this after seeing the make your own rally car.

That, and rallying has always been terrible in Gran Turismo

 

[Jtheripper]

Yeah, PD should also let go of pikes peak hillclimb, especially it's exclusive to them and unused, and was cool in dr1.

 

[MrCrynox]

Yeah, PD should also let go of pikes peak hillclimb, especially it's exclusive to them and unused, and was cool in dr1.

Trouble is it's too late now. If PD hadn't stolen it away then it's not unreasonable to think the hill climb category would have expanded in DR2 but that single action seemed to stop CM in their tracks. What rubs salt into the wound is that PD have done nothing except reserve it, for some bizarre reason only known to them. Alwful.