Editing config files to improve visuals and/or performance

As many are now finding out, WRC can run like crap and/or just look like someone sprinkled pixie dust all over the road.

You can mitigate some of this by having a fiddle with the engine.ini file common to all UE4 based games.

How to do the thing

1. Open the file engine.ini located in c:\users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\WRC\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor

2. As an example, add the following to the end of the that file, feel free to change the values if you want to experiment:

[SystemSettings]
r.ViewDistanceScale=4
foliage.LODDistanceScale=4
r.Color.Mid=0.48
r.MotionBlurQuality=0
r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing=1
r.PostProcessAAQuality=4
r.Tonemapper.Quality=1
r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=1
r.TextureStreaming=0

[/script/engine.renderersettings]
r.CreateShadersOnLoad=1
niagara.CreateShadersOnLoad=1

(This changes AA to FXAA, lowers gamma a little, turns motion blur off, turns texture streaming off, and forces shaders to compile immediately.)

NOTE: with r.TextureStreaming set to off, your game may crash if you do not have enough vidmem and system RAM. Game still looks terrible at night, that'll need a patch.

3. Save it and exit your text editor.

4. Optional step: Right click on the file, choose properties, and tick Read Only. Game may crash as it wants to add stuff to this file now and again.

5. Run Dirt Rally 2.5, sorry EA WRC.

You can add other UE4 console commands to this if you want to experiment - these are a short google search away.

Enjoy.

Addendum

Other settings you can try for increased fidelity, some of these will need testing with your setup. Comment out using a semi-colon settings which you don't want to use.

[SystemSettings]

;Base
r.Shaders.Optimize=1
r.GTSyncType=1

; Post Process related
r.BlurGBuffer=-1
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=2
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=3
r.RenderTargetPoolMin=400
r.LensFlareQuality=3
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=1
r.EyeAdaptationQuality=2
r.BloomQuality=5
r.FastBlurThreshold=7
r.Upscale.Quality=3
r.MotionBlurQuality=4
r.Tonemapper.Quality=5
r.ToneMapper.Sharpen=0.5
r.TonemapperFilm=1
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=1
r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusion=1
r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusionStaticFraction=1
r.DefaultFeature.LensFlare=1
r.ParticleLightQuality=2
r.LightFunctionQuality=3
r.HighQualityLightMaps=1
r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusion=1
r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusionStaticFraction=1

; LOD related
r.ViewDistanceScale=1000
r.SkeletalMeshLODBias=-1
r.MipMapLODBias=-1
r.StaticMeshLODDistanceScale=0.25
r.LandscapeLODBias=-1
r.LandscapeLODDistributionScale=3
r.LandscapeLOD0DistributionScale=3
r.LODFadeTime=2
r.UITextureLODBias=-1
r.LevelStreamingDistanceScale=10

; Foliage related
foliage.DensityScale=1.0
grass.DensityScale=1.0
foliage.DitheredLOD=1
foliage.LODDistanceScale=4

; shadow rendering related
r.ShadowQuality=5
r.Shadow.CSM.MaxCascades=5
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=8192
r.Shadow.MaxCSMResolution=8192
r.Shadow.RadiusThreshold=0.03
r.AllowLandscapeShadows=1
r.Shadow.DistanceScale=3
r.ContactShadows=1
r.Shadow.FilterMethod=0 ; set to 1 for ridiculous quality
r.LightMaxDrawDistanceScale=5
r.Shadow.CSM.TransitionScale=2
r.Shadow.Preshadows=1

; FX related
r.RefractionQuality=3
r.ReflectionCaptureResolution=1024
r.SSR.Quality=3
r.SceneColorFormat=4
r.DetailMode=2
r.TranslucencyVolumeBlur=1
r.MaterialQualityLevel=2
r.SSS.Quality=1

[ConsoleVariables]
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdates=1
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdatesDuringGamethreadUpdates=1
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdatesEditor=1

Also reference here - https://framedsc.com/GeneralGuides/ue4_commands.htm

Disclaimer

I'm not responsible if you choose to test any of this stuff out, it is just a basic guide for you to forge your own path in melting your GPU.