World Rally Championship 10 / WRC 10

[Sukhāvatī]

Coming 2nd September. Not Epic exclusive this time around.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[7h30n]

I'm hyped and not hyped at the same time. Hyped because it's not Epic Store exclusive, it comes with new Croatia track(s) and I've been closely following real WRC for years now. On the other hand, I'm not hyped because I like driving full-sim mode on gravel and Dirt Rally 2.0 is a damn fine game with cars I like (you can even spot me in top 100 leaderboards)! Will wait for reviews...

 

[forumvisitor#451]

Console version still lack the detail (that grass draw distance, LOL). I feel like the series has not evolved that much. Not like Dirt series anyways. In this day and age, BeamNG is already surpassing any rally game in terms of simulation and possibilities. Minus the nice production and host of content obviously, which might get added later.

 

[Curratum]

Found this at 50% off on a key site, gave in and grabbed a key.

1.5 hours in, it feels like KT actually made a good, fun game. Will post more after more playtime / testing.

Bonus fun fact - WRC 9, the previous game, is releasing on Steam in another 12 days, or two weeks after WRC 10 has already released! Thanks, Uncle Timmy!

 

[KazikluBey]

I like driving full-sim mode on gravel and Dirt Rally 2.0 is a damn fine game

D:R2 is nice and all but I don't think I'd call it full-sim mode. The tarmac physics still sucks, and different generations of cars clearly have some sort of general grip level adjustment that has nothing to do with the "physics" (like rolling over due to too high speed in a tight gravel corner with the most modern cars, where with a generation or two older you would just slide off the road).

WRC 8, 9, and probably 10 (haven't tried it yet) has better tarmac. The handling of the cars can feel a little strange coming straight off of D:R, but I got used to it pretty quick. The stages are mostly great, though, so if you already know D:R2 like the back of your hand, well, I find running fresh stages is way more fun than trying to score high on the leaderboards to show off how well I've memorized the stages. Well worth a try of the "demo" version at least.

Also, have you tried Richard Burns Rally with NGP6? Probably the closest to full-sim mode rally (or maybe BeamNG, haven't tried it). The RallySimFans version sets you up with the base game, NGP6, tons of cars, tons of stages, online leaderboards, and championships.

 

[7h30n]

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't tried RBR as at the time the game released I wasn't that interested in rallying. I also heard WRC 9 does tarmac better than D:R 2.0, so I may take a look at WRC 10 as the new stages are mostly tarmac based.

 

[Curratum]

I actually enjoyed WRC 10 so much that I also bought WRC 8 REALLY cheap, for like 6 eur off a key site, because of the significant differences in events / locations.

WRC 9 is almost the same game as 10, 90% overlapping locations and stages, but in WRC 8 you have FIVE different rally locations / countries compared to 10, which is almost half the calendar.

In WRC 8 you get (colored items not found in 10)
Argentina, Australia, Spain, Chile, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Monte Carlo, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, Wales

In WRC 10 you get (colored items not found in WRC 8, blue ones in a rally game for the first time):
Monte Carlo, Sweden, Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Kenya, Estonia, Chile, Wales, Finland, Spain, Japan (+Belgium +Greece in upcoming free patches)

WRC 10 will also be getting Ypres Rally Belgium and Acropolis Rally Greece as free updates in the next two months, so, together with the Anniversary events and cars, it will become the biggest, fattest rally game ever made, I believe, which isn't a bad thing, considering the handling and physics are enjoyable.

Bonus item: If you are having framerate issues, drop shadows a notch or two down. On my RX 570 I get +5-6 fps when I go from High to Medium and another +5-6 fps when I go from Medium to Low, and the visual impact is not that huge, especially at speed.

 

[KazikluBey]

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't tried RBR as at the time the game released I wasn't that interested in rallying. I also heard WRC 9 does tarmac better than D:R 2.0, so I may take a look at WRC 10 as the new stages are mostly tarmac based.

RBR itself isn't a sim, although it's good fun too. It's really difficult, with too low grip levels but it means you really need to learn all the rally driving tricks - plus it has a "rally school" that walks you through them. I remember that once I had gotten good at RBR I was suddenly much better at Dirt Rally 1.

What takes RBR close to full-sim is the NGP6 physics mod. I still find the effect where after having played RBR+NGP6 I'm better at D:R/WRC, in a way which doesn't at all work in reverse as the other games let you be a lot more careless with your inputs.

 

[fork]

Dirt Rally (the original) is still the best Rally game I've played. Dirt Rally 2 I won't buy because of the procedurally generated tracks wich are, if experience from other games with proc gen and reviews can be trusted, more samey than the limited number of tracks in the original. And WRC always struck me as a casual arcade game, posing as a simcade, which I just don't enjoy anymore. Give me an arcade game like Rumble Racing or something that honestly tries to be at least somewhat of a sim, like DR or, closest to the arcade spectrum I'll tolerate, Forza Motorsport. Anything in between is just bland.

 

[KazikluBey]

Dirt Rally (the original) is still the best Rally game I've played. Dirt Rally 2 I won't buy because of the procedurally generated tracks wich are, if experience from other games with proc gen and reviews can be trusted, more samey than the limited number of tracks in the original. And WRC always struck me as a casual arcade game, posing as a simcade, which I just don't enjoy anymore. Give me an arcade game like Rumble Racing or something that honestly tries to be at least somewhat of a sim, like DR or, closest to the arcade spectrum I'll tolerate, Forza Motorsport. Anything in between is just bland.

Dirt 4 had stages that were randomly assembled from hand-made bits and pieces with not enough pieces which was about as fun as you imagine. Dirt: Rally 2 has hand-made stages, with all the D:R1 stages available as DLC.

 

[fork]

Are you sure? I could've sworn Dirt Rally 2 had procedurally generated stages, which was the reason I didn't buy it, because that news was such a huge disappointment for me after playing so many hours of the original. I might buy Dirt Rally 2 next time it's on sale...

 

[Curratum]

God, the graphical engine is a bit of a fucking mess, isn't it...

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1462810/discussions/0/3038229380

Spent an hour and a half in a few locations on different tracks, testing each setting's performance + visual impact, because I could feel frames dropping and when I looked at the counter, I saw I was hitting the low-mid 40s relatively often. Same system can keep it locked at 60 fps almost always in Dirt Rally 2, maxed out visuals, and I wasn't even on all high settings here.

 

[KazikluBey]

Are you sure? I could've sworn Dirt Rally 2 had procedurally generated stages, which was the reason I didn't buy it, because that news was such a huge disappointment for me after playing so many hours of the original. I might buy Dirt Rally 2 next time it's on sale...

Yes. Dirt 4 was released between DR1 and DR2. In DR2 they fixed the wonky air-physics that allowed you to steer the car in the air, and cars feel heavier/don't fly as far. But it still has the crappy tarmac physics, the over-the-top generational grip level differences, and like in the WRC games shifting down somehow gives you better cornering grip in a way I haven't been able to replicate in RBR+NGP6.

 

[Curratum]

RBR is pure unfiltered autism. It runs on an ancient engine with underlying code that is lightyears away from current-day simulations, both in terms of tire interaction and road surface detail, so I really don't think you should be using it as a point of reference.

 

[KazikluBey]

Yes RBR NGP is autism, which means years and years of loving care. As for road surface detail, that's true, you don't find quite the same kind of bumpy detail in the stages as you do in say D:R Wales, which is a shame. But when it comes to how much is simulated in the car, I believe NGP wins.

As for the specific complaint where I compared with RBR NGP, I seem to not be alone at least. From a Codemasters forum thread on what to improve for the next Dirt: Rally:

Better 'loss of grip' physics (@bn880, @bogani)
Gravel is largely believable, and feels good, however there are a few cases where the cars seem to have too much grip. Flooring the gas pedal in a RWD car and making the wheels spin is no problem: the car pulls away just fine, no fishtailing or spinning uselessly in place. Same in corners in AWD: you can apply full throttle and the wheels just grip, like there's some hidden traction control going on. This seems particularly evident in Monte Carlo on the ice sections - despite the cars not having studded tyres, they seem to have an almost magical ability to accelerate even with wheels spinning.

In particular, the AWD bit. The situation I meant was where you're coming through corner too fast and about to slide sideways off the road if you don't do anything, and you're not redlining the engine: Just downshift and floor it and you're fine. (so maybe it's not the gear but the revs that do it)

In RBR+NGP6 in the same situation, you would be feathering the throttle so as not to overstep your grip levels and make the slide even worse.

 

[fork]

*humble brag*

I doubt WRC offers that.

 

[fork]

Ah men, forgive me guys, but I feel like bragging a bit more. I'm aware that these are pleb times on Xbox, but top10 of more than 10k still feels like something.


2nd place out of 10k+


1st of 1.9k


43rd of 10k

This is my Rally game.

 

[fork]

The point I'm trying to make is that WRC is too casual, and that people who think they might like Rally or Motorsport in general should buy Dirt Rally or Forza Motorsport (instead of Horizon) and disable all assists in these titles, because they take controls away from you, controls which are not only fun, but essential to learn to master if you want to enjoy these racing games.

If you're lucky you might even dominate some sim racing titles such as iRacing and earn yourself a real cockpit. What could be cooler? But you won't achieve that with a shitty game like WRC.

 

[fork]

And the other point I'm trying to make is that the devs of these titles are not emotionally envolved anymore. The last title I felt they took me, as a gamer, seriously, was the original Dirt Rally. Here's my final post in this thread, I'm not sure what position it was, but it was topt50 out of a couple thousand for sure.

 

[KazikluBey]

You haven't played Dirt 4 or Dirt: Rally 2, but you know Codemasters are not emotionally involved and don't take you seriously as a gamer anymore. Ok.

Did you bother even trying any of the last 3 WRC games before slagging them?

 

[Curratum]

 

[Curratum]

I might grab 9 as well, if it launches on Steam with, let's say, another 20% off release incentive from the current 30 EUR price on Epic.

It's insulting enough to sell last year's installment AFTER the latest one released, they could at least sweeten the deal with an appealing pricetag.

I'm willing to drop 20-25 EUR for 9, just to get the full NZ event and the slightly retouched Turkey/Germany/Mexico/Arg. Australia is a bit crappy in 8 and I won't miss France much, considering you have so much asphalt in 10 with Croatia and Spain and Japan.

And honestly, the handling and car-road interaction in 9/10 feels better than 8. Tried the same Turkish stage on both 8 and 9 last night, handling and weight transfer and braking and throttle control out of a tight corner just feel better in 9, on the same turns and bends.

 

[Curratum]

I'll run my arch-nemesis - the Hafren stage in Wales, in all WRC 8, 9 and 10 tonight and upload YT videos of all three runs, for anyone interested in comparing the games. Might install 7 with its horribly floaty, slidy physics too and do it there too, it also has Hafren :D

 

[fork]

You haven't played Dirt 4 or Dirt: Rally 2, but you know Codemasters are not emotionally involved and don't take you seriously as a gamer anymore. Ok.

Besides, Codemasters was shit already before they were bought by EA? Activision? Tencent? I don't even care, they ruined franchises before huge investors expected even higher ROI. Dirt Rally was some kind of interns' project gone wrong (in the sense that it was too successful to ignore). But of course the normies who got tricked into buying it by the great reviews and mouth-to-mouth by the core audience screamed the loudest again. So no, I won't buy Dirt Rally 2, because the few sources I trust say it's dumbed down shit, and honestly that's exactly what I suspected the sequel to a surprise niche hit to be.

Don't try to tell me someone like me would enjoy WRC.