Anyone tried WRC 9 and has impressions?

[Xenial Jesse]

So I noticed that WRC 9 dropped recently. Anyone got some goss?

Opinions on WRC 8 seemed to divide pretty sharply. I remember the stage layouts were vastly superior to DR2, in terms of both visual and geometrical diversity. WRC8 also had many more rally stages at first, out of the box (while admittedly no RX at all). And of course its career mode was much deeper than DR2's.

But at the same time a tonne of things were way worse in my eyes, such as the overall graphical quality, the sound everywhere, the control on a gamepad, the jokey crash physics, and the way it was both super claustrophobic and super polygony as soon as you got 2 metres off-track, whereas DR2 lets you really mess about with a lot of freedom.


A couple of random small-name reviews I grabbed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHNzXKx0Iow&ab_channel=GamingBolt

This one comes from a Dirt Rally background:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcqbZWwut0&ab_channel=SimRacing604


Wow... the interface does look literally identical.
16 countries straight up? Damn, CM take notice please.
Co-driver mode!? O_O

Co-driver mode!? O_O

Still no VR.
Interestingly, WRC 8 actually supports the haptic triggers on an Xbone controller. DR2 does not.

[Snake]

WRC 9 is hot garbage, just like 8.

The physics are hideous. The textures are right out of 2012. The car sounds are bad. The codriver is robotic and the pacenotes are bland.

[walian21]

It has FPS drop issue and stutter. It is pretty much unplayable for most people because of this.

If those two can get fixed, it will be a great game.

[Axe]

Never had a stutter. I'm lucky I am not 'most people'

[BoneS™]

UM YEA I BOUGHT it on epic games website wrc9 is a fiction game bad graphics worse ffb and out of 1-100 percent compared to dirt rally 2, it comes in as 0.005%

[khaoste]

Wrc9 Is better than wrc8, but dr2 is still better than them.

[Ochso]

Just to throw in my "couple o' pennies" Xenial.
Have had the game a good couple of weeks now. (a £20.00 key)
Im basing this on wheel input with no assists.

Its an upgrade from WRC 8 you get 3 extra countries plus the upgrade of a couple of the tracks when released. ( so content wise - a lot of stuff for you money.)

There is no UDP support for motion rigs and as you have said No VR this is a pure pancake game. placing it firmly, in my opinion, in the console port park.

FFB - slight improvement . One thing to note is that the game is set up for Fanatec wheel hardware ( sponsors) . so it has taken me a lot of text file manipulation to get it to feel ok ish (for my TM wheel - but still not overly happy with it - I've a more tinkering to do. )
It often loses settings and can cause crashes if you have more than 4 or so saved presets.
(That's before you start changing the cfg files)

Physics - Again an improvement on 8 but for me, it still feels on the "arcadeyish" side. ( if that makes sense) . But it does suit the game. there does appear to be less of the CoG pivot of previous iterations.
You will have to manually set up your cars to get the best out of them . The stock configs are poor in my opinion especially on the classics. and as has been said the WRC class cars are all pretty samey .

Graphics wise its ok not cutting edge. The caveat being , one supposes that with the imminent release of the new ray tracing capable consoles this may just be the reason little has been done.

The UI is still clunky and doesn't really work overly well :

Single player mode : still the same spider web career .

Sound - For me . Poor and buggy especially if you turn off the menu music you will get misc clunks hisses and rattles on various random screens as it tries to clear its buffers.
In game while driving they just seem wishy washy.


My opinion . WRC9 in its current form is what WRC 8 should have been last year. Its an OK game, that is entertaining for all its foibles .
Its a casual off road rally experience and for me it was worth buying the key. and If I ever manage to get the FFB up to scratch Ill be even happier.
Its not a DR 2.0 by any stretch of the imagination . Will have to wait for WRC 12 ( thats when CM get the game I believe)

[Xenial Jesse]

Ochso, did you notice if any of the WRC 8 stages repeated in WRC 9?

[BoneS™]

dirt rally 2 blows wrc9 away i bought wrc9 and im regretting it every minute i see it on my desktop

[SweetBogie]

HAHAHAHAHA
It's impossible

[Ochso]

Xenial Jesse původně napsal:

Ochso, did you notice if any of the WRC 8 stages repeated in WRC 9?

HI Xenial . On the stages Ive played I would say Yes . with slightly tweaked graphics and lighting effects . . Hope this helps

[OneEyeRed]

Popcorn 🍿 anyone?

[PuNiO | RTP]

Nope.... sorry, I’m trying to lose weight, but enjoy it bro... lmao

[Dani Mcfly]

Dirt Rally 2.0 feels like a Sim, it's hardcore and unforgiving. WRC 8 and WRC 9 are well made Simcades with good FFB and great stage design. Both are great games to have but never at full price :)

[Evolve]

Do all cars still sound the same? Haven't played a WRC game since the 7th

[SweetBogie]

WRC 8 is terrible.
The development is too messy.