WRC Generations review: A greatest hits goodbye

In my WRC Generations review, I see whether the last official rally game from Kylotonn for at least five years goes out in a blaze of burning rubber.

It would have made sense if the latest official WRC game was called WRC 11. After all, the one before was WRC 10, WRC 9 before that, WRC 8 before that and, well, you get the idea.

However, this particular outing is special – which is why it ditches the usual naming convention, costs less and is by far the most comprehensive. You see, at the start of 2023, Codemasters and its five-year WRC deal begins.

Therefore you can think of WRC Generations as a rally-based Now CD or greatest hits of everything from all seven WRC rally games since French studio Kylotonn took the reins for WRC 5.

Whether or not you are thinking ‘yay, good riddance’ or ‘boo, hand me a tissue’ depends on your view of each series. But before you pick a side, remember that EA’s biggest crime was killing Westwood Studios. Rest in peace, old friend.

Anyway, before I delve into my WRC Generations review, allow me to use the end of one era to talk about the next. Will we see V-Rally 5? I am unsure. Kylotonn says the priority is Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. An open-world racer with road cars set in Hong Kong.

KT Racing, as the developer is also known, also admitted that it will not leave sim racing behind and says it has other related projects in the pipeline. No doubt Kylotonn-style rallying will be back in spirit.

For now though, here is my verdict of WRC Generations – available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch (as of the 1st of December 2022).

Please note: This is the script from my YouTube video, click play above to watch or go here.

WRC Generations: What is new?

In some ways it feels as if Kylotonn has boobytrapped the WRC licence with its parting gift to fans. Perhaps envisioning an EA and Codemasters cash grab or having seen the weaker value of Dirt Rally 2.0, everything and the kitchen sink has been thrown at WRC Generations.

It features a whopping 85 cars, 37 of which are historic, and 21 countries with 165 unique special stages. Even after all DLCs, Dirt Rally 2.0 tops out at 13 countries.

That sizable collection includes all locations from the WRC 2022 season plus bonus rallies from Argentina, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Sanremo, Corsica, Turkey and Wales.

Leagues

The biggest new attraction of WRC Generations is something called Leagues. This takes the idea of daily and weekly challenges and dials up the rivalry. As the main competitive mode, it is here where players can enter the Hall of Fame if they are fast enough.

To make things fairer, there are six leagues: Beginner, junior, rookie, professional, champion and legend. Leagues can be done solo or there is a Team Leagues option where all player points combine for an overall total.

I will not bore you to death with all the details, but I will say that Kylotonn has introduced a comprehensive system that should keep competitive players hooked.

Cross-platform functionality

Also new to WRC Generations is cross-platform functionality. Not the co-driver mode, which also makes a return, or online multiplayer or split-screen. I am talking your liveries, stickers, driver cards, in-game friend list, quickplay ghosts, leaderboards and leagues.

Basically, it means you can see how you rank in the game against not just the platform you are playing on, but the PC, PlayStation and Xbox community as a whole. This is cool because you can see how close you are to the best and which platform is fastest.

Rally1

Last of the main changes, we have the new Rally1 hybrid cars from three manufacturers. These are heavier, less downforce savvy but that additional 100kW of electric motor oomph means you gain speed with absurd pace.

It also means you can select from three different electric motor modes as in real life. One allows you serious bursts of speed for a short time, which can prove handy in tighter courses.

Or you can go the other way and give yourself a smaller boost but for the longest time, which is useful on a course where fast straights are plentiful. Or stick to a mix of both with the middle option.

Livery creation & sharing

WRC Generations also lets you share custom liveries and stickers with the community, unless you make something exceptionally offensive. The system is layer based, as seen in Forza Horizon 5 and other games.

Whether or not you are very artistic, it is cool to be able to make your own team and car as it makes it everything more personal.

Teams

Plus there is in-game team creation and management for merry bands of rally game enthusiasts who want to compete against the world together as part of those aforementioned Leagues.

Missing rallies

Unfortunately despite the comprehensive nature of WRC Generations, Rally Australia from WRC 8 and Rally Poland from WRC 7 are both missing. The latter features but only as the test area so does not really count. Rally China is also absent.

Kylotonn has been transparent about the lack of Australia and Poland and says it has no plans to add any of them, which is a shame as the full set would have been nice.

On the plus side, development manpower was spent redesigning Corsica from WRC 8 and Rally Sweden, which moved location for the 2022 series.

Furthermore, the 120Hz mode has been removed on console. Players can still choose between performance mode for 60FPS at 2K resolution or 4K resolution at 30FPS. On Xbox Series X and Series S supposedly you can have 4K and 60FPS. Despite what the option menu tells you.

As for those of you craving virtual reality support, unfortunately this is absent too. If F1 2022 and Dirt Rally 2.0 are anything to go by, the next WRC game from Codemasters is likely to tick that box.

The career mode

Now, if you have played any of the recent WRC games, the career mode will be familiar. You get to choose your staff (no, not that kind), the events you drive if any, research upgrades, tune your car, choose the right tyres and pay for repairs if you treat your car like a rental.

One does not simply jump into the new hybrid Rally1 beasts, of course. More on those in a second. Instead you choose either WRC 3 Junior, WRC 2 Manufacturer or WRC 2 Private. No longer do you need to complete a season to make your own team.

Then as you win events to raise manufacturer standing and not fall over at the annual Christmas party you can rank-up to the next tier.

I think this method works as it helps you learn the new handling and extends the longevity. It is also essential for new players, who may bite off more than they can chew at top-tier level and subsequently give up.

In any case, experienced drivers can get a promotion to the next tier of racing in rapid fashion – particularly if you choose shorter rallies, lower the difficulty and drive like a boss.

While the career mode may not be as in-depth as, say, F1 22 or other racers, WRC Generations is more advanced than its ageing Dirt Rally 2.0 rival. But if you want to get your overalls out and go nuts with car tuning and upgrades, you will be disappointed.

You are kept busy in other ways though. There are short and sweet maintenance stages, full rallies, historic events in older machinery, extreme challenges in broken machinery, training and more. Nothing new, but it works well.

The graphics & performance

Moving to graphics, unfortunately the homemade engine is showing its age in some areas. It seems to be that open environments still have a previous generation vibe, but then in dense forest and bad weather the game can look real. Even with some pesky pop-in on PC and console.

Honestly, the revamped Swedish rally in Umeå is an absolute visual treat. By far the closest I have seen to reality and this is despite the fact my settings are only ‘high’. Those with an RTX 4090 that has not burnt its power cable could go ‘very high’ and it will be glorious.

Basically, some rally locations are far superior than others however the lighting is vastly improved across the board. Weather effects look great too although, if being super picky, snow never lands and rain never washes mud off. Good for local car wash companies.

Anyway, at least there is usually much to see as you Scandinavian Flick past grapevine-heavy countryside, icy lakes, wooden fencing, steep drops and rocky outcrops.

What about the console version? Well, my capture card did not seem to like recording anything but a juddery mess. Never had this before with any other game.

I digress. The reality is that the lighting and overall detail on Xbox Series X is not too far behind PC when in motion – it just lacks the same overall sheen. Although puddles do look like snow at the moment. Bit weird.

Frame rate-wise, the Xbox Series X tries and succeeds at keeping steady. Only a few particular scenes cause issues, as they do on PC with my current setup. Link in the description.

Quite why that aforementioned 120Hz option is missing I do not know, Kylotonn did not respond to my email. Those who enjoyed WRC 10’s extra smoothness and lower input lag will miss it.

At least the PS5’s haptic feedback returns, giving those on controller a more compelling and communicative experience. On Xbox Series X, less vibration feedback is fed to your hands but it still enhances the experience.

WRC Generations is not without its flaws in this area. Most are unproblematic however an occasional game crash can ruin a good race and it is hard to pinpoint the cause.

Given that the game seems better optimised, allowing me to hit 4K at 60 FPS with high settings using an RTX 3080, and has faster loading times, it is a shame these infrequent play-ending moments exist.

The stages

And now we come to a strength of the Kylotonn WRC experience – stage design. As with previous games, A to B is as epic as it gets. Honestly, the last time I had this much fun in a rally game was RalliSport Challenge on the original Xbox.

Whether it is a rapid-fire series of tight hairpins between rocks in Argentina, trying not to snowplough the untrodden powder of Sweden or run over a giraffe in the vast open plains of Africa, the experience is wonderfully rewarding and technically challenging.

Play on a controller and you will have a fun time. Cars do not change direction as enthusiastically and so steering is easier. I still reduced the sensivity out of taste, but there is less of a need.

Of course, bust out a steering wheel such as the officially supported Fanatec GT DD Pro seen here and WRC Generations becomes an even more realistic beast – not to mention a decent workout if you crank up the force feedback.

After a few hours of testing my arms were aching, my brain was fried and my eyes had melted. No other rally game (or maybe any driving game) offers such intensity and is as mentally demanding. The sensation of speed alone is really something.

Yes, WRC Generations can be a punishing experience as you pick bits of rollcage out of your face. But, no, it is not as unforgiving or frustrating as Dirt Rally 2.0.

The handling

Now, for those who felt WRC 10 and WRC 9 were too floaty, WRC Generations feels heavier and more predictable. It still flows beautifully, allowing you to glide between corners with the grace of a highly trained ballerina. But those chunkier, faster-accelerating hybrids require more care.

Rally1 machinery changes the dynamic of the top-tier racing and, in my opinion, for the better. The time it takes to reach the end of a stage is not much slower (sometimes faster) it is just that the cars are more reluctant to change direction, more prone to understeer and generally more of a handful.

It is those negatives that help Rally1 cars feel more grounded, intuitive and natural while WRC 2 machinery feels beefier too. Once you get to grips with the handling tweaks, you get a more satisfying, predictable and consistent drive.

This is especially true in Wales, where the kerbs of WRC 10 could send you off course like you had just been hit by an asteroid. In WRC Generations, the resulting jolt is softer and more manageable.

At WRC 3 Junior levels, there is challenge to be had for veterans. These cars have the least downforce, much less grip and take a while to slow down. As a result, chucking them around is bags of fun.

Historic cars, meanwhile, offer a different kind of drive. In the case of the Audi Quattro A2, it is as fun as it is savage in the acceleration department. The rear end feels unruly, not quite Dirty Rally 2.0 levels, so the need to grab it by the scruff feels authentic and rewarding.

As for the physics, I am unsure why your car lands from a jump with all the grace of a breezeblock, knocking the wind out of you and your co-driver. There is this thing called suspension.

Overall though, WRC Generations does well. Tyre types, for instance, have a dramatic effect on handling so you need to be mindful of weather conditions.

So much so, in fact, that you need to put research points into a meteorologist and accept that some parts of a stage will require reduced pace.

In Monte Carlo, for instance, my setup meant a slow uphill struggle before coming down on tarmac like a bat out of hell. The contrast in surface feeling is pronounced and realistic.

Likewise, leaving tarmac onto grass or dirt can ruin braking or cause you to understeer into a lamppost.

Honestly, WRC Generations makes it easy to get into a groove, so you feel like a professional, only for one momentary lapse in concentration or skill to remind you that is not the case.

If the current Leagues challenge in Sweden does not wow you with satisfying handling and visuals, then maybe you are the problem.

The audio

A much maligned element of the WRC series, I am of course talking about the audio. Specifically, the engines, as everything else is pretty solid. Now, it is hard to do a direct comparison as the audio equipment in a Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally1 car will not be the best.

What I will say is that perhaps it is the brighter game audio and synthetic twang that some players dislike. The reality is that it is pretty accurate – It just sounds a little overdone on the transmission whine.

Meanwhile in the Audi Quattro A2, its rev-happy nature and turbo whooshes are present and correct. It is just that, once again, the transmission whine dominates more than that throaty petrol lump.

Is it perfect, then? No, but for most enthusiasts it will more than suffice and at least there is a level of authenticity in the engine recordings. At least, the ones I tested.

What about steering wheel support?

Steering wheel time. Unfortunately the force feedback from the Fanatec GT DD Pro is just okay. Going off piste, hitting things and other larger details are obvious, but I would have liked more surface detail when things are going right – particularly on tarmac and gravel.

Overall though, the GT DD Pro performed well – rainbow shift light and all. A few tweaks in the menu to the not-so-good default settings help the cause.

Some early players have reported force feedback issues though, depending on the wheel, as we saw with Dirt Rally 2.0 at launch. Hopefully the developers get all wheels up to speed.

Should I buy WRC Generations?

Whether or not WRC Generations is an essential purchase will depend on how big a rally fan you are, how much you want to relive the 2022 season, and experience, for the first time in a game, those absurdly fast Rally1 racers.

It may also depend on how much time you spent in every WRC game to this point, particularly WRC 10 and WRC 9. Because there is a reasonable amount of familiarity and overlap – particularly where presentation and stage design are concerned.

But then, minus a few rallies, Kylotonn’s last official rally game for at least five years (maybe ever), drives off into the sunset as a polished, entertaining and comprehensive rally experience. You can really feel those seven generations of incremental improvements.

I just hope it keeps polishing WRC Generations into the send-off this extensive chapter in rally game history deserves.

Maybe a little more last game fireworks would have been nice and perhaps a copy and paste of WRC 10’s year-early anniversary mode, but overall I will say that this is now my favourite rally game.

Gaming PC setup used for the review