World Rally Championship 9 / WRC 9

[Sukhāvatī]

Epic Game Store again like the previous edition

The game will be initially available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 3 September 2020 via Epic Games Store, and later on Nintendo Switch, with a further release date on the ninth generation of video game consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X to be announced.

The last game was surprisingly good; KazikluBey's review of WRC 8:

Spoiler

I did not remove this from inventory, and it's pretty great. I've had more fun with this than Dirt Rally 2.

Most of the stages are great, with many locations, physics are belieavable (asphalt is better than Dirt Rally), the career mode isn't too bad (but you can choose a "season mode" without the team handling BS).

Damage model is good, tire wear is really a factor, and you can really feel if your suspension is going bust, you hear and feel when your breaks aren't working well, you notice the difference in downforce if you crashed the front off, the steering gets wonky if it's damaged, etc.

Weather and weather variation is great, water puddles can be really dangerous when it rains, the feel of the driving really changes during rain, it's not just the same physics with less grip.

Car selection is limited to Junior WRC (FWD), WRC 2/R5 (slower 4WD), WRC (monsters), and only two actually historic cars: Lancia Fulvia Lancia Stratos, both of which required some setup tweaking to feel drivable. There's also VW Polo older WRC model, and a WRC 2 car that was recently homologated but hasn't yet participated in the real thing.

Graphics are ok, and at least they don't abuse the HDR like DR2. DR 2 sounds really great, but the best thing I can say about sound in WRC 8 is it doesn't get on my nerves.

Worst point is that the game has some framerate issues/stuttering occasionally - particularly when there are lots of shadows on the road, or fog.

TL, DR? A video if you prefer, I pretty much agree with his assessment:

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

What kind of cars will it have? Will there be rear-wheel drive only cars? I want to pull a Lancia Rally 037.

 

[Curratum]

I was very positive and happy with WRC 8 until I played DRally 2.0.

Thank goodness Codemasters are getting the WRC license back in a couple of years.

[Edit] And before you accuse me of fanboyism, I actually liked WRC 7 better than DRally 1, because DR1 was way too slippy in a lot of locations and tarmac felt like it's 2001 again.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[Curratum]

Look at those graphics and road surface textures / detail / bumps though...

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[KazikluBey]

What kind of cars will it have? Will there be rear-wheel drive only cars? I want to pull a Lancia Rally 037.

The old rear-wheel drive cars in WRC 8 were pretty bad, Dirt Rally 2 definitely has better old cars.

I was very positive and happy with WRC 8 until I played DRally 2.0.

Thank goodness Codemasters are getting the WRC license back in a couple of years.

[Edit] And before you accuse me of fanboyism, I actually liked WRC 7 better than DRally 1, because DR1 was way too slippy in a lot of locations and tarmac felt like it's 2001 again.

Problem for me with DR2 is I don't particularly like most of the stages (much preferred DR1, and even more so WRC 8 in that regard), the tarmac physics is almost as bad as DR1, and my top pet peeve: The retarded HDR that shifts around the brightness levels unnaturally. Still, my "review" of WRC 8 Sukha quoted sounds a little more positive than my memory of the game.

I noticed there's a physics mod for WRC 8, but I haven't tried it as I haven't played rally games for some time.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

The old rear-wheel drive cars in WRC 8 were pretty bad, Dirt Rally 2 definitely has better old cars.

Ah, that stinks. One of the reasons why I play "realistic" car games is to see what kind of weird stuff I can get on in. Like passing faster cars in a Nissan Fairlady from the '70s or modifying a Dodge Challenger '70 to handle Silverstone no problem.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Gameplay