Improved Visuals for WRC (with ReShade)

This guide *showed* you how to enable ReShade for EA SPORTS™ WRC to get the best possible visuals out of the UE4.

EAs Anti-Cheat DISABLES ReShade

This guide/mod does not work anymore, as of 07-19-2024 (Version 1.9.0).

Introduction

As EAs WRC neither runs on the latest Frostbite Engine nor the Unreal Engine 5 I tried my luck with ReShade to improve the visual quality overall.
This resulted in a 'Medium', 'High', 'Ultra', 'Ultra +' and new 'MRC' preset - so there should be at least one for everyone and it's absolutely free, too.
And the whole installation and setup process takes only up to 2 minutes.
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Performance-wise you'll need some more extra GPU performance - depending on your specs, ingmae settings and prefered resolution. With that in mind the following numbers are just a rough estimate of the expected performance loss you will experience:
Med.: ~5%
High: ~10%
Ultra: ~15%
Ultra+: ~20%
MRC: ~17%
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Micro-stuttering also went away for some after using reshade, but I cannot verify that.
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Anyway here's how WRC actually can look like, with some ReShade tweaks enabled:


For lots of comparison screenshots see guide index at your right ========================>

ReShade Presets (Download)

Download Links

Medium/High/Ultra/Ultra+ (incl. their *Winter Edition*) Presets
zip-archive: https://workupload.com/start/y96Kk8jaJ2k

New: More-Realistic-Colours (MRC) Preset
(does not need a winter edition - and is my personal favorite.)
zip-archive: https://workupload.com/file/mfbTGnv9GeN

Installation

Extract the preferred, or simply all, *.ini files from the zip archive (ReShade_Presets_EA-WRC_v_02.zip) into your WRC directory under:
?:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\EA SPORTS WRC\WRC\Binaries\Win64\

Worries? ...dont worry! Just use https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload to check the files. :)

How to install ReShade

1. Go to https://reshade.me/ and download the latest version.
2. Now execute and install the downloaded 'ReShade_Setup_6.X.X.exe'.
3. Follow the screenshots, if you're unsure on how to install ReShade properly.
3.1 Choose Game (WRC in this case) and choose DirectX 11 version
3.2 Skip the preset selection, afterwards select all Effect Packages
3.3 If you did everything correct, press finish.
(ReShade version 6.0.0 was released on January 14th 2024)

How to Setup ReShade Ingame

If ReShade is installed properly, you'll see a short notification at the top left of your screen every time you launch the game.
1. Ingame press 'HOME' / 'POS1' for enabling/disabling the ReShade Overlay
2. Do the short tutorial for ReShade, or
2.1 Skip the tutorial and set everything as shown in the following screenshot.
2.2 Optional: Enable (tick) 'Load only enabled effects', for faster loading times.
3. Finally you just need to choose a prefered preset and enable it.

Comparison Screenshots

'Vanilla'

'Medium' ReShade Preset

'High' ReShade Preset

'Ultra v2' ReShade Preset

'Ultra+' ReShade Preset

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'Vanilla'

'Medium' *Winter Edition* ReShade Preset

'High' *Winter Edition* ReShade Preset

'Ultra v2' *Winter Edition* ReShade Preset

'Ultra+' *Winter Edition* ReShade Preset

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'Vanilla'

'Medium' ReShade Preset

'High' ReShade Preset

'Ultra v2' ReShade Preset

'Ultra+' ReShade Preset

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'Vanilla'

'Medium' ReShade Preset

'High' ReShade Preset

'Ultra v2' ReShade Preset

'Ultra+' ReShade Preset

Comparison Screenshots: *More Realistic Colours* (MRC) Preset

If you prefer less saturated colours in general, try 'MRC' for WRC! The modified 'MRC' preset is based on the Ultra preset but tries to give a more natural look overall. But have a look for yourself...

Vanilla:

'MRC' Reshade Preset (new):

Vanilla:

'MRC' Reshade Preset (new):

Vanilla:

'MRC' Reshade Preset (new):

Vanilla @112fps:

'MRC' Reshade Preset (new) @88fps:

(~20% fps drop @5120x2133 with 'ultra settings' and 'DLSS quality' enabled on a RTX 4090)

Workaround: Blurry Cockpit Bottom

Depending on your car model and if you drive in the cockpit view without the steering wheel visible and use the high/ultra v2/ultra+/MRC preset, you might get a blurry dashboard like seen on the left half in this screenshot:
(...this does not happen in the camera view with the steering wheel enabled, though.)
To fix this quick&dirty you need to disable Depth of Field 'Matso.DOF' from your preset:

Same Bug...

* Sometimes the bottom parts of the cutscenes are blurry too... (@high/ultra/MRC preset)

EA's ANTI CHEAT FORBIDS RE-SHADE

...it's over and I am very sorry. I am doing my uninstall at this very sad moment. And go back to WRC: Generations!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1953520/WRC_Generations__The_FIA_WRC_Official_Game/
=> ReShade Presets are live and working flawlessly:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3293220256

[Weeddrunken]

Regarding my GUIDEs: I will never ever make a guide again thx to steam.
I wanted to free up some space and deleted thousands of screenshots from my disk via the steam screenshot manager. But when you do that, steam will also delete all your screenshots you uploaded to he steam cloud (e.g. for a steam guide) as well - and without informing you about that. WTF Valve
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/4416424435093622017/

[Playinghearts]

No way..

[Weeddrunken]

https://steamcommunity.com/id/weeddrunken/recommended/1849250?snr=1_5_9__402
Plz like, as this ReShade cutoff cannot be true.

[A.G.Racer]

Now Reshade isnt alowed anymore after this SHIT 1.9 ANTI CHEAT UPDATE.! THX EA!1 THIS PISSED ME OF NOW!

[Weeddrunken]

@Sonke: ...for the 'medium' variant, you'll only loose 1-3 fps in most scenarios.
See Introduction for further details.

[Sonke]

Does this drop your performance?

[Weeddrunken]

Don't know sry

[dg1966]

WORK THIS IN VR,?

[dg1966]

WORK THIS IN VR

[Weeddrunken]

@Kirk[999]:
1. To delete reshade from your system simply deinstall it via windows uninstaller.
2. For enabling/disabling/changing preset see 'How to Setup ReShade (ingame)'.