Coming in November on new-gen consoles and PC, EA Sports WRC promises to revolutionize the world of videogame rallying, also thanks to a renewed collaboration with the World Rally Championship (WRC, in fact). A partnership that starts from a series already known to fans: the franchise Colin McRae Rallywhich then evolved into the various games in the series Dirt.
The rebranding move of EA’s sports titles seems to be obvious. After EA Sports FC 24 (here is our review), which officially took the place of the FIFA saga, even the world of rally gets a new paint job. And in the presentation event we witnessed, the innovations do not seem to be just an aesthetic connotation.
EA’s choice is simple: no special editions. EA Sports WRC will only come in Standard Edition format, also available in Italian from launch. Ambassador of the game is the young talent Kalle Rovanperä, also testimonial of the official video that opened the presentation. You can find it below.
All the features of the new EA Sports WRC
With the promise of “realism and immersion like never before in the history of the franchise” – where franchise means the union of the sagas Colin McRae Rally e Dirt – the new game will feature theentire WRC licensing packagewhich therefore includes all the official cars, drivers and crews of the World Rally Championship.
But that’s not all: in addition to 10 official WRC vehicles there will be others 68 historic cars. These can be used on a total of 18 location ufficiali WRC (of which 17 will be available at launch and an eighteenth will arrive with a free post-launch update). Also the official WRC calendar is represented in the game, with aspiring pilots who will be able to respect in the game what happens in real life.
EA’s promises are to publish “the greatest rally game ever made”, and to use the engine Unreal Engine it would seem like the right move to achieve this goal. To ensure realism will also be the Surface DEG technology, which optimizes the physical yield of the soil. From a gameplay perspective, Surface DEG allows for cleaner terrain for the cars that start first, at the expense of a more ruined track for those that follow.
The game modes announced
The focus of the presentation was obviously on the new one Career mode, which now becomes much more strategic. In fact, the player will be asked to better manage his budget, having to balance the team’s competence with the mechanical aspect of the car. As mentioned, it will be possible to respect the official WRC calendar, complete with dedicated special events.
Other modes announced are:
- Quick Play solo mode (single player vs AI)
- Quick Play multiplayer (for a total of 32 players per session)
- Time Trial
- Championship
- Clubs Mode
- Rally Schools to practice and introduce new players to racing mechanics
- Livery Editor will allow you to customize vehicles
- Rally Pass to unlock cosmetics and liveries. The Pass can be purchased separately or available with the pre-order of the game
- Photo Mode
- Momentsa mode that allows you to relive some of the historic moments of the WRC championship
EA also announced two more modes that will arrive as post-launch support. The first concerns the VR per PC, which will be available with standard OpenVR. The second is instead the eSports modewhich will arrive on all platforms in 2024.
When is EA SPORTS WRC coming out?
EA SPORTS WRC will arrive on November 3, 2023 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam, Epic, Origin) at the price of €49.99. The game is already available for pre-order at this link.