EA Sports WRC: Simple Settings Change Dramatically Increases FPS

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Since launch, the community has been looking for an EA Sports WRC FPS fix. As it turns out, a simple setting does the trick.

When EA Sports WRC launched, hopes were high, but the game came with performance issues for many. The first update a week after release tried to fix them by introducing shader precompilation, although that did not seem to improve things for everyone.

While the stuttering may have been reigned in, the performance of the game is not great. Even on a high-end GPU, EA Sports WRC tends to run at less FPS than expected. Luckily, there is a relatively simple workaround that immediately boosts the performance considerably without much of a visual impact.

EA Sports WRC FPS Fix: Car Reflections Are Key​

The solution has been mentioned in the sim racing community for a little while. But for anyone who has not heard of it just yet, here is how to achieve a much more fluent experience. The EA Sports WRC FPS fix is applied in mere seconds and does not need any tinkering with files.

Instead, simply head to the Advanced Graphics settings screen. There, scroll down to the Car Reflections option. Set it to Low or Ultra Low – et voilà! You should see a dramatic improvement in FPS instantly. The best part: This does not even impact the quality of your visuals that much.

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At least if you drive using an interior camera. From the driver’s perspective, you hardly see the body of the car, which is where most of the reflections happen. Due to the nature of rally and the omission of such a feature, you will not encounter other competitors in the stages, so you will most likely not even notice that they are missing.

For taking screenshots, you might want to crank up the setting again, though performance does not matter as much in those cases.


Should a workaround like this be necessary? Of course not. The next patch is expected in mid-December, so EA and Codemasters could deliver a fix with that. Meanwhile, we hope this EA Sports WRC FPS fix helps you to enjoy the title without performance headaches!

Did this fix improve your experience in EA Sports WRC? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
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Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

Premium
This certainly works, and you’re correct, there’s hardly any visual impact. In fact, if you happen to be driving one of the Imprezas, changing this setting makes the blue colour appear normal rather than the weird super light blue you see otherwise.

What I would like to see a fix for in the next update though is the crash to desktop you nearly always get on pc when running ultra settings in Monte Carlo… it’s really annoying.
 
This certainly works, and you’re correct, there’s hardly any visual impact. In fact, if you happen to be driving one of the Imprezas, changing this setting makes the blue colour appear normal rather than the weird super light blue you see otherwise.

What I would like to see a fix for in the next update though is the crash to desktop you nearly always get on pc when running ultra settings in Monte Carlo… it’s really annoying.
The only consistent way to avoid the crash on all Monte Carlo stages is forcing the game to run in dx11 by putting "-force -dx11" into launch options on steam . And of course the shader compilation will have to start all over again for this. However, this will not help with insane fps slowdowns during the stage whenever you enter the towns or pass by crowds, even if you turn those down. I get like 36fps at some points, while the game runs at solid 75 all the other time with 4070 ti.
Dont think I've seen that happen on my PC, Alex - which stage/car ?
Any car, and pretty much every Monte stage. Apparently some people got away with putting ground visual to low and using external camera. For some stages it happens within 2 minutes, for others within 5.

The reason the reflections screw up the game btw, has to do with Codemasters bringing in some stuff in ue4 like realtime cubemaps. As DF noted, it's just bizarre how they clearly had to do a lot of rendering work, but then glossed over basics.
 
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Premium
The only consistent way to avoid the crash on all Monte Carlo stages is forcing the game to run in dx11 by putting "-force -dx11" into launch options on steam . And of course the shader compilation will have to start all over again for this. However, this will not help with insane fps slowdowns during the stage whenever you enter the towns or pass by crowds, even if you turn those down. I get like 36fps at some points, while the game runs at solid 75 all the other time with 4070 ti.

Any car, and pretty much every Monte stage. Apparently some people got away with putting ground visual to low and using external camera. For some stages it happens within 2 minutes, for others within 5.
I seemed to get a handle on it by turning the overall graphics settings to High. Even though I can run most other stages on ultra with no issues and a decent frame rate (around 90-100fps) Monte Carlo just seems to be a problem location. I did try the force DX11 and DX12 fixes but I just found the performance suffered compared with other things I had tried.

Btw I’m on an i9 10900k, 32gb ram and an RTX3090.
 
The only game ever that resets my PC when playin long...just awful how this runs.Any fix for that?
8700K, rtx 3070 Triple 27 1080p..16GB RAM 3200 everything on low - mid just Trees,textures HIGH. 4x AA 2x AF. Yes reflections are on ultra low.
Tried DLSS stuttering is even worse and looks awful.
On some stages is unplayable because of stuttering....
Btw I play ACC on mid with 14AIs just fine 80-95 FPS
AC 110-130 on high-very hight CM and CSP.
 
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Premium
The EA in the name should stand for : Early Access here.

What a mess. Not only one (looking at you Forza M.)

Nowdays the optimisation seems that poor to force us consumers to buy the newest graphic card again.

But I see not that much improvement in visuals to my other (older) games to think my 3080 couldn’t handle that.

I don’t like be fooled so I’ ll pass a game or another if this shite continue
 
ultra low reflections gave me weird visuals on night stages. Put it to low and it was fine.
 
D
Another thing is mirrors, same thing, and probably has more impact on interior cameras, you don't need them in rally anyway as there are no opponents to fight against and "what's behind you is not important". :D
Not quite sure how unrendered exterior reflections can affect cockpit view though. Will recheck.
 
I have 4090 13900k, the issue is not the framerate, I have 90-120fps ay 4k ultra, just I have micro freezes in so much turns....and stutter
 
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I'm running high settings with low reflections and mirrors.
Dlss enabled with quality setting @ 3440x1440 resolution.
I5 9600kf with a 4060
Ive never dropped below 60fps and usually sit around 75-95+fps.
I get the odd stutter and frame drops, usually on the first time running a stage.

I just finished running the majority stages at Monte Carlo and didn't experience a crash.
 
Something with "ground cover" on Ultra is fu...ed up.
In my case it caused random crashes only on few Monte Carlo stages.
Ive made several tests where ive started with general high settings and then went step by step up to every ultra setting.
Then it turned out that this mentioned option is faulty.
Reported it already on EA forum....
 
Maybe your eyes don't see the details, ultra is more beauty, more detailed....

I have perfect eyesight, in fact I am a graphic designer and that's probably why I reacted when I stopped in the middles of a stage and watch the details in the surroundings !

High settings certainly don't look bad !

During a race however there is nill time to se the difference anyway and that's why RBR is still relevant !
 
Personally it makes me smile : the fact of having to lower the rate of reflection in a game to obtain more fluidity is crazy in 2023. Today, game publishers are no longer as competent as before. :whistling:
Ten years ago the games were already perfect and completed when they were released, the internet was not necessary, nor even updates. Sooner or later players will get tired of picking up paying a high price for an unfinished product. :sleep:
The problem is not specific to WRC, this is valid for most new games, the developers are not at the best level...
 

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