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Gaming
EA Sports WRC test: Over hill and dale to the championship
With the official WRC licence safely in the glovebox, Codemasters wants to conquer the throne of rally simulations. In the EA Sports WRC test, we find out whether they have succeeded.
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Four and a half years after the excellent DiRT Rally 2.0, the team at Codemasters are finally back on the starting line with a new off-road racing simulation. With the official WRC licence package, a huge scope and cross-play multiplayer, EA Sports WRC aims to inspire. But just how authentic is it? We find out in the EA Sports WRC test.
- The whole world of off-road motorsport:Exciting stories, cool videos and much more can be found in our WRC hub
01
Game modes and scope
EA Sports WRC has a lot to offer in terms of game modes. In addition to the option of completing fast stages or creating your own championships, newcomers to the genre are carefully prepared for the pitfalls of virtual off-road motorsport in the Rally School.
Another exciting feature is the Moments mode, which is based on the F1 Replays from the current Formula 1 spin-off F1 23 - one of the coolest features of the F1 World Hub. Here you can relive iconic (and fictional) moments from 50 years of the World Rally Championship and rewrite history. New challenges will also be added over time.
The new stages are up to 30 kilometres long and demand everything from you.
© EA Sports / Philipp Briel
The centrepiece for solo drivers is of course the career mode, which is somewhat lacking in fresh ideas. As a rookie, your goal is to win the World Rally Championship - you manage the racing team in a familiar way (as in the My Team mode of the Formula 1 games), taking care of staff, sponsors and more. Nice, but a breath of fresh air would be nice.
And yet: with over 600 kilometres in more than 200 stages, its new builder (more on that soon) and a multiplayer with cross-play support, the racing game has a lot to offer.
- What is the WRC? Our 'WRC Unfiltered' show takes an exclusive look behind the scenes of the World Rally Championship.
17 min
Rally Mexico
Get the lowdown in WRC Unfiltered from our team of experts ahead of Rally Mexico right here.
02
Vehicle selection and builder
With 78 cars in 18 classes, the EA Sports WRC fleet is highly impressive. In addition to the current cars from the 2023 WRC, WRC 2 and Junior WRC classes, you can also get behind the wheel of iconic cars such as the Citroen Xsara WRC, Subaru Impreza or Audi Sport quattro S1; which of course have their own special characteristics and varied handling.
An exciting new feature of the racing game is the aforementioned Builder, in which you can cobble together your own rally car. Here you can choose between the three current classes WRC, WRC 2 and Junior WRC, with which you can then compete in the career and in multiplayer.
The huge fleet of vehicles is extremely varied to play
© EA Sports / Philipp Briel
In a simple but powerful editor, you can customise every screw of your car yourself. From the drivetrain and mechanical parts to the exterior and interior fittings, there are various options to choose from, which differ in terms of durability and performance, but also in price.
Fortunately, there is no upper budget limit, so you can draw on the full range of options to create your very own customised off-road racer. And it's obviously worth it: shortly after the game's release, the builder vehicles dominate the EA Sports WRC online rankings.
03
Gameplay: Convincing on the track
The greatest strength of EA Sports WRC undoubtedly lies on the track. Codemasters demonstrates that when it comes to racing gameplay, no one can beat them, especially in terms of handling and driving physics, where the rally sim flexes its muscles and sets itself miles apart from the competition.
From the weight of the cars to the drive and the various road surfaces, the WRC racing game tightens the simulation screw and makes even its excellent quasi-predecessors look pretty much like their predecessors.
Although not as difficult as a Richard Burns Rally, EA Sports WRC also plays quite crisply. This is mainly due to the fact that the courses are much tighter. Be it on the mountain roads of the Chilean rally at dizzying heights or through the icy piles of snow in the Swedish winter forest.
Every driving error is mercilessly penalised on the tight courses.
© EA Sports / Philipp Briel
This makes the new stages, some of which are now 30 kilometres long, an intense tightrope act. On the toughest special stages, you will be on the road for more than 20 minutes, with every driving error being mercilessly penalised thanks to the realistic damage model.
- Finnish rally world champion on ice: In this 'cool' video, WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä takes on pro snowboarder Eero Ettala in an off-road car.
5 min
Eero x Kalle
Kalle Rovanperä, the future WRC prodigy, and Eero Ettala, perhaps the most well known snowboarder in Finland, combine the thrill of their sports, with Rovanperä towing Ettala with his WRC2 car.
Further gaming highlights
04
Multiplayer: 32 players with cross-play
EA Sports WRC also has a lot to offer in online multiplayer. On the one hand, you can compete with up to 32 drivers in fast events - even simultaneously.
Online races with 32 players are possible, cross-play is also available.
© EA Sports / Philipp Briel
On the other hand, there are the new clubs in which you can create your own championships and even organise competitive leagues. It is even possible to organise different vehicle classes in one championship, suggesting there's certainly esports potential with the off-road simulation.
05
The technical side
While the early beta version of EA Sports WRC had a lot of room for improvement, especially in the graphics department, many of the problems have been eliminated in the finished game. Nevertheless, the technology remains the clear weak point of the game, as the Unreal Engine 4 cannot quite keep up with the quality of the Ego Engine from DiRT Rally 2.0. This is particularly evident in the somewhat lifeless and poorly detailed environments, but also in the lighting and weather effects.
Technically, the new rally sim is not entirely convincing.
© EA Sports / Philipp Briel
Then again, there are situations in which the combination of lighting, weather and the detailed vehicle models creates an enormously dense atmosphere. However, the graphics of the off-road racer cannot quite keep up with the best racing games. Unfortunately, the PC version in particular suffers from stutters and frame drops from time to time.
Acoustically, EA Sports WRC impresses with rich and detailed engine sounds, which vary enormously depending on the vehicle and class. Here and there a few details are missing, such as the rattling of stones in the wheel arch, but otherwise the rally game sounds excellent.
Even if EA Sports WRC doesn't reinvent the wheel and could have done more from a technical point of view, the WRC licence debut from the racing game professionals at Codemasters is a pleasing one. Racing fans thirsting for a fresh challenge have reason to rejoice.
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