WRC games have a long-standing history on home consoles and PCs, with each release bringing that extreme automobile sport many love and enjoy to new heights. Naturally, when EA purchased Codemasters, they did it to establish dominance in the sports racing genre. Enter EA Sports WRC, a title that unsurprisingly changes hands from Kylotonn, promising to bring an authentic WRC experience. Codemasters have had experience with the WRC sports, with their DiRT titles gaining critical acclaim over the years. Hence, it was only natural to hand them the baton (this IP) and let them produce another magical experience. But is it going to deliver? Let’s find out!
With the launch a few months away, the developer gave us access to a preview build of EA Sports WRC. The current game featured most things touted by the upcoming title, giving us a great idea of what to expect. Furthermore, just a heads up, we played WRC on a PC using a controller. Hence, if you want a detailed preview based on a sim setup, we unfortunately cannot deliver that. With all said and done, here is an overview of the EA Sports WRC preview from someone who judiciously does not follow the sport but enjoyed the DiRT rally games.
A WRC Experience for Everyone
The developers of EA Sports WRC constantly pointed out that they want this entry to be an accessible experience for everyone. This means casual players like me and experienced fans, like some of you reading this, can enjoy the title to its fullest. Fortunately, the same reflects on the game at numerous levels.
When we first booted up the game, we were presented with a choice of our play experience. I went for beginner, which took me to the rally school to teach me the essentials about WRC and rally driving. Rally School has every discipline, starting from something as simple as basic driving to advanced stuff like hand braking and speeding. Having something like this in-game creates a welcoming experience, and I always appreciate it. With the basic training out of the way, onto the tracks we go!
The moment you race around in WRC, the beginner-level selection is also reflected in car handling. For me, EA Sports WRC fine-tuned the car to make it feel arcady. I didn’t have to worry about the precise fine-tuning and the sim settings. The game did everything for me. Called the Dynamic Handing System, it made playing the preview build a joyous experience on a controller.
The game adapts the handling based on the terrain, so for once it did not feel like uncharted territory. For players who want more control over their driving, there are multiple options for you to tweak in settings. These options further reaffirm the dev’s commitment, as they’re not trying to limit the WRC experience to enthusiasts. All racing game fans can give this a go without much hesitation.
Choose Your Game Mode
Once you are out of the rally school and finally understand the essentials, the game opens up and presents you with its true potential. The preview build of EA Sports WRC allowed us to try out various game models some of them being:
- Quick Play allows you to generate a Rally Championship and play through it. You have numerous events to pick, different conditions to decide, and even fine-tune the racing experience. This is for players who want to enjoy the game in their free time.
- Moments are real-world highlights from the history of WRC. You relieve these moments and play through them. It’s a great addition for WRC fans who want to enjoy some of their favorite moments from the game.
- Career mode is your staple simulation experience, where you run a WRC team from scratch. You create your banner, manage your teams, and ultimately ensure that you win a WRC season from the ground up.
Content-wise, you have tons to work with if sports racing games are your jam. Even though the preview build didn’t have online features unlocked out of the box, you have a lot to work with, and such variety in choices ensures you decide on your experience. For example, we played quick matches more than career or moments. Since I wanted a simpler experience, this suited my needs.
A quick match ensures you have a lot of content in the game. It auto-generates tracks, events, and cars for you to pick. From then onwards, you can add or omit whatever fancies you. Before each match, you can fix and customize your vehicle (more on this below) and go through shakedowns to get a feel of the track.
I love the content on offer in sports games, and EA Sports WRC has a lot to work with. WRC allows you to pick your experience and keep playing it as you like. If there is one thing I know, racing games never get dull. Fans and newcomers will have a lot to work with when the game launches on 3rd November 2023 later this year.
Build Your Own WRC Car
Another new addition to this upcoming EA game is a car builder. This is completely made for enthusiastic fans, where you can build your dream EA Sports WRC car from scratch.
From the chassis to the engines, you have free rein to what you want your sports car to look like. The option to fine-tune and create your WRC car in the builder was immaculate. You fine-tune the wheel handling, braking system, and much more. It does not end there, as EA Sports WRC also added a livery creator to make your custom livery for the car. The full release will allow you to share your creations with other players. I can see a dedicated fanbase for the creations.
While I don’t see the casual fans exploring the builder much, this is definitely made for the hardcore fans, for the ones who want the WRC experience but cannot afford to take part in the events. For them, they will appreciate this offering.
EA Sports WRC: Worth Your Salt DiRT?
For someone who doesn’t enjoy sports racing and prefers arcade racing, EA Sports WRC was a fun experience. Be it the diverse gameplay options or the newcomer-focused features, the game feels like Codemasters utilized the 50 years of rich history to create a game for sports racing fans.
While there were some inconsistencies, which are understandable from a pre-release build and can be polished by release, EA WRC felt very much like a DiRT game numerous times. The developers are bringing their knowledge from that series to this title, which shows. Overall, we cannot wait for the game to launch and share more details. Are you excited for EA Sports WRC? Let us know in the comments below.
