I played the new EA Sports WRC preview

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Having played the EA Sports WRC preview back in February 2023, Codemasters gave me Steam access to the Dirt Rally 2.0 spiritual successor. Has it been worth the four-year wait?

Usually it is the norm, not to mention most practical for journalists and influencers, to play a new game a week or two before launch. Because this is partly how you create interest and generate future sales.

But then as a car guy and gamer it would have been foolish to turn down testing an early build of EA Sports WRC at the EA Stockholm office in Sweden and the chance to experience the epic Swedish rally in Umeå.

So I did. This was, after all, the first time we had seen a non-Dirt title from Codies since 2019. Little did I know, however, that I would have to wait until now to share my EA Sports WRC preview thoughts.

The February build was so early, in fact, that we were not allowed to record gameplay using a capture card. Hence footage of various screens attached to fancy sim racing setups. It was not ideal, but it was better than nothing.

Now I have put 32 hours into a second (also unfinished) Steam preview and, well, there is much to say. Spoiler alert: Codemasters has done a great job though not a perfect one.

EA Sports WRC: Everything you need to know

EA Sports WRC: A Fresh Start

The British developer is, of course, no stranger to rally – its first outing being WRC FIA World Rally Championship on PlayStation in 1998. More recently, we had the more arcadey Dirt series and its more realistic Dirt Rally 2.0 sibling.

Now Umeå be wondering (groan) how EA Sports WRC compares to Dirt Rally 2.0 and WRC Generations? Well, the short and honest answer is somewhere between the two as I shall get to in a second.

EA Sports WRC includes quick play, quick play multiplayer, time trial, championship, career, clubs, rally school, a livery editor, EA rally pass support for cosmetic items (not pay-to-win cars), car builder, photo mode, regularity rally, optional driving assists and accessibility options.

Virtual reality is also coming later to PC via Open VR at an undisclosed date and EA Sports WRC will feature e-sports competition.

Rallies & Cars

In terms of rallies, expect 18 global locations (12 stages apiece) across 600 kilometres, with Central Europe offered as a free DLC before VR support.

There are also 10 current rally steeds from WRC, WRC 2 and Junior WRC. Plus a meaty 68 historic vehicles from the last 50 years. All that I tested sound epic and realistic, making you want to crank the volume up.

The bad news is that only PC and next-generation consoles are supported. So no PS4 or Xbox One. Why? Because Codemasters wanted to give the best experience and older consoles make that “sub-optimal”.

Visuals, meanwhile, are now served by the Unreal Engine 4 as opposed to the Ego alternative used in Dirt Rally 2.0. On top of that is Codemasters own physics engine.

Not only does this mean EA Sports WRC looks better, it allows greater detail, realism and stages as long as 34.8 kilometres or 21.7 miles in old money. Far longer than ever before.

How realistic are we talking? In February, I was told to expect a “serious take on rally” but not a full simulation. EA and Codemasters has since said it will be “the most realistic off-road experience to date”.

Driving to Success

And that is mostly what the EA Sports WRC preview feels like. Ignoring some frame-rate issues in certain rallies, career points not being added up properly and car-flipping pebbles, EA Sports WRC feels good. In three words? Weighty, technical, force-feedbacky.

Yes, when Dirt Rally 2.0 came out I made a video complaining about the poor force-feedback. Later updates improved the situation, but I am pleased to report that, based on the especially controlled environment for the alpha build and my own various steering wheels, you feel a lot.

Combined with the sound of gravel smacking into the underside of your car, the experience is more alive and visceral. Cars are less floaty. Annoyingly unsaveable oversteer, though present sometimes, is less of an issue.

EA and Codemasters may not like to hear this, but honestly EA Sports WRC handles more like WRC Generations. Within minutes of using various Fanatec sim rigs I could manage a decent pace.

It was not just me who found it intuitive either. One of the guests, Jarno Opmeer (a sim racing world champion and friendly chap) was able to blitz through the countryside at high speed in no time at all. Once I had given him some tips and tricks obviously.

WRC Generations just felt more natural than Dirt Rally 2.0 and EA Sports WRC has that same feeling. Even on controller it is easy to judge entry speed, rotate the car as you need and power out. At least, on gravel and snow – tarmac is a mixed bag.

Tarmac Terror

Often cited as a weak link in Dirt Rally 2.0, cars now grip tarmac almost comically well. Where WRC Generations progressively slides the back out if you overdo it with the throttle, EA Sports WRC sees cars tackle hairpins at seemingly unlikely speeds. Even if you handbrake.

Here, the physics makes faster cars feel twitchy and unnerving when using a controller. Confidence felt on other surfaces gives way to the fear you will end up facing backwards. Especially if you build a car and choose to put the engine at the rear in the new builder mode.

Where I could finish tens of seconds ahead of the AI at 70 to 80 difficulty, out of the 100 maximum, in Monte Carlo it often felt like pushing treacle up a hill would be easier than going full-send. Too much grip seems to be the problem.

With a steering wheel, in my case a Fanatec CSL DD (5Nm), things are better as there is more feedback to read the road and react accordingly. Oversteer becomes less scary though the flow and feeling is still not as good as every other surface.

WRC Junior, meanwhile, is fast yet more forgiving and therefore a great place to start. Especially as the career mode lets you have more than one car in your garage. Then compete on a weekly basis in various event types.

Being an old-school rally fan, I used my weekly budget to run a WRC Junior car I ‘built’ myself and an old Group B Lancia Delta S4. Surprisingly, this super lightweight, high horsepower monster proves largely tameable. Either a flick of the handbrake or shifting weight via braking is what it takes to tackle corners fast.

Away from tarmac, it feels as if more is affecting the car as you push on. Kenya’s moments of thick dirt, for instance, makes staying on track difficult. Potholes are a thing, too, while rocks, bushes and trees provide misery if you get things wrong.

Vroom Vistas

Visually, on a PC with an RTX 4090, the EA Sports WRC preview looks largely impressive. You can see Codemasters has gone beyond just stage-side for each environment, helping seat the game in realism and authenticity.

This is especially true as surface degradation is a thing. Meaning running first will be a little different to last. Though most players would be hard-pressed to notice the difference.

It helps that while most stages use artistic licence, some are actually based on real roads. Col de Turini in Monte Carlo and El Chocolate in Mexico being two examples.

There is just a whole lot more to see and feel beneath your tyres as you blast through the countryside. Not that you get much time to enjoy. Sweden, for instance, feels icy, cold, unforgiving and like a dangerous wilderness.

Honestly, some of the views as you change altitude are stunning, especially with day-to-night lighting. Signs violently reflect back your headlamps. Dust trails from hairpins linger as you double-back. Rain may not look perfect, but at least puddles are not super shiny as they are in WRC Generations.

With some locations such as Chile giving you tiny trails to navigate, the sensation of speed is typically excellent and the technical challenge high. One loss of concentration can result in a terminal flip – much like in real life. Should you survive, bonnets and doors can and often do fall off.

Career Familiarity

Unfortunately, career is hardly a radical departure from other rally games. WRC 10 and WRC Generations do it better. Rather than a garage, you get to hear a guy complain about sticking to budget while looking at two monitors. The presentation is slick, but hardly inspiring.

Select an event, compete in it, use staff to lower the cost of new parts and repairs, rest them from time to time and avoid crashing too much so you do not ruin the budget. That is the career mode in a nutshell. Solid, largely enjoyable but nothing we have never seen before.

Except, that is, the builder option. You can make your own rally car though you do not get Mariana Trench customisation depth. With that said, being able to modify the inside and out, including steering wheels, seats and rev counters, is a welcome touch.

There is also a livery editor with every paint colour under the sun and various material finishes including gloss, matte and carbon fibre. Stickers can be layered up too, for those who are more creative than I am. It is just that other games offer a more comprehensive feature set.

I also enjoyed the new Moments mode. The EA Sports WRC equivalent of Historic Rallies in WRC Generations. There is only text on screen to set the scene, but with these being added weekly initially it is a nice change of pace if you get fed up of overspending in the career.

Reverse Gear

Though Codemasters told me there would not be “pay to win” DLC content, only cosmetics, I did notice one of the preview build moments was locked behind the paid EA Play subscription (two are locked in the retail version).

Also not so good and unlike WRC Generations is that EA Sports WRC does not show you on-the-fly tyre degradation. Instead, you can check after a race. You can however earn extra tyres via the showdown and swap accordingly, with conditions and terrain listed beforehand.

Progress was also not easy in career as benefactor goals such as staying within budget for four consecutive weeks were not registering and sometimes the game would forget to say your name (the ‘Goat’, in my case). Known issues, admittedly.

Rallycross is also missing and there are no plans to add it, which may annoy some fans. Nor do we get a co-driver mode, one of the surprise hits of the Kylotonn WRC reign.

Interestingly, Codemasters told me that Dirt Rally 3.0 was never in development. This makes sense as it will have known long before about the bid to secure the official WRC licence. Kylotonn did not even bid to renew it, but then I have heard it is making its own unofficial rally games to compete.

With that in mind, expectations for EA Sports WRC will be higher. Dirt Rally 2.0 was the perfect testbed to see what worked and did not work. The latest game feels like it has learned many lessons, yet it is not as defining as it could have been.

Of course, there is only so much you can do with rally. At its core it is man versus machine and, from a driving perspective, the unfinished EA Sports WRC preview showcases a mostly exciting and brutal take. Exactly as it should be.