WRC8 WRC 8 The Game

Paul Jeffrey · Jan 24, 2019

Kylotonn Racing Games have confirmed this September will see the release of the next officially licensed World Rally Championship video game - WRC 8.

Imaginatively titled as always, the eighth instalment to the steadily improving WRC franchise of games is set to launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC this September, and promises to be an all round improvement on previous iterations of the long running franchise.

New for WRC 8 will be a revised physics system across the many varied different racing surfaces within the game, plus the inclusion of what looks to be an already very impressive looking dynamic weather system, presumably adding a feature to allow the 100+ official WRC stages to be experienced in a variety of different weather conditions.

Of the new dynamic weather, Bigben and Kylotonn had the following to say during a brief press release to accompany the brand new announcement trailer:

"A new dynamic weather system has been developed to add random elements to the driving experience, but also to increase realism in the game. Managing the weather is a real challenge for the drivers: modified grip, car settings adjustments, tyre selection optimization, weather team relationship to ensure the best tips and information on the latest conditions. More than mere visual effects, climatic conditions become crucial, especially in the management of your career"

Of course with the title coming out toward the end of the year, the new WRC 8 release will replicate the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship season, including the latest cars and drivers from the official teams' of the category. Featuring over 50 drivers, including the returning multiple champion Sébastien Loeb in his new Hyundai, 14 different events across over 100 individual stages, WRC 8 certainly lacks nothing in terms of scale.

Most importantly of all for sim racers looking to get their rally kicks, Kylotonn have promised that "WRC 8 will go above and beyond WRC 7, especially in the steering requirements and the realistic physics of the vehicles" - one of the weaker points from previous releases.

As well as the class leading WRC cars, the new game is also set to feature a selection of vehicles from the WRC 2 and Junior WRC categories, alongside a number of historic cars. Team management is also set to play a role in the expanded career mode, with the player able to improve their car by way of upgrades and team developments, of which more details are expected to be revealed in the near future.

Exciting times for fans of sideways action.

WRC 8 releases for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam/PC September 2019.

Check out the upcoming WRC 8 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for the latest news, discussions and conversation prior to the big game reveal this September!

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Pete Mull · Feb 17, 2020

funXtar said:
You should post what version of win7 you are using and if you know the KB updates that effect the connection to online so others can reference them. I had win7 issues and updating to win10 fixed it (sort of overdue) Also win7 is no longer supported by microsoft for updates.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4057281/windows-7-support-ended-on-january-14-2020
4 days of recovery is rough. I havent done that for years. Suggestion, make an image backup of your entire OS hard drive before doing things so you can just re-image if things turn pair shaped. Something like Acronis!

Win7 Ultimate 64 bit. I am well aware of of the lack of support for win 7 and I have Acronis True Image. The sequece of events was that I couldnt run WRC8 because I had an old graphics card, I purchased a new graphics card and installed that and was then able to run WRC8 (without access to the server for recording results).

I then took advice from the win 10 forum and followed their tutorial believing that I could roll back on to my win 7 setup. Win 7 didnt update my ops system, it did a full install and then told me it didn't support my new graphics card. I then tried to roll back to win 7 and that didn't work as the feature that was supposed to be in win 10 just was't there.

I then reinstalled my win 7 setup from Acronis backup, only to find that Win 10 have removed WRC8 & DR2.0 from my F: drive.(which I hadnt backed up).

I then tried to get the GForce Experience software working on my wind 7 machine because WRC8 had stopped allowing me past the initial start screen - why this had happened was just beyond me. Anyway, I couldnt get the Gforece software working and decided to return the graphics card and buy a replacement AMD card. I reinstalled my original amd card and reinstalled WRC8 & DR2.0 and after the reinstall, WRC8 did an update. Later that day, I was running through some stages on DR2.0 and had finished what I had planned to do and then decided to try WRC8 and to my astonishment, it connected to the server allowed me access, I ran a test stage, and it saved my results. I tried two of the KB updates but my system said I already had one of them so I presumed that the reason WRC 8 was now working was because the developers had removed the unecessary checks they were doing in relation to Graphics cards and Server access.

funXtar · Feb 18, 2020

Rally_1337 · Feb 20, 2020

Is it a bug depending on the controller type/setting or car setup? I never had the issue shown when driving trough a puddle. They just slow me down and prevent me from turning the car.

funXtar · Feb 21, 2020

Rally_1337 said:
Is it a bug depending on the controller type/setting or car setup? I never had the issue shown when driving trough a puddle. They just slow me down and prevent me from turning the car.

tbh i dont know. I have only used the xbox one controller and have had issue with them since the beginning.
From what i can gather after looking at my clip quite a few times it would be more towards being buggy. The reasons are: drove through numerous puddles before the "killer". While they did affect the car, it wasnt nearly to the same degree. The particular puddle in question was just after a slight jump. The downward force of the vehicle would have been negated with an upward surge in center of gravity meaning the wheel/s would have had little resistance to a "puddle" and merely shaved the top at best. I know this is more technical but this is a sim right?
To have been spun almost 2 times is super excessive! but who am I and really dont know.
And, yes, I have tried numerous settings and while Im not an expert there has been no remedy with anything tried.
What i do know is that many people complain and like a lot of other things in the game, the developer doesnt seem to care.
Just sucks because i would like to play all types of weather not just in the weekly challenge and cant due to the "lottery" nature of every run.

Out of interest, what do you use to play? and im open to any suggestions

Rally_1337 · Feb 23, 2020

I play with a T 300 RS and T3PA Pro pedals with 540 degrees rotation.
For the car setup, I shorten the gearbox a lot and increase the value for the torque distribution to 60 (AWD cars) and the differential values (unless the last one for braking) also to 60. This prevents at least for me a lot cases where cars snap to extreme oversteer for no apparent reason.

funXtar · Feb 24, 2020

Rally_1337 said:
I play with a T 300 RS and T3PA Pro pedals with 540 degrees rotation.
For the car setup, I shorten the gearbox a lot and increase the value for the torque distribution to 60 (AWD cars) and the differential values (unless the last one for braking) also to 60. This prevents at least for me a lot cases where cars snap to extreme oversteer for no apparent reason.

So when you hit a puddle the force feedback kicks in and give s you the ability to counter correct the steering yes?
Although the severity of the spin in my example is extreme im sure having ffb helps alot in at least having to opportunity to continue driving in "normal" puddle physics conditions. Contoller doesnt have this option....

Rally_1337 · Feb 24, 2020

The FFB effects in the game are only mediocre. When going through a puddle, they primary make steering harder so I'm prevented from steering too much.

Eckhart von Glan · Feb 24, 2020

from the wrc website: https://www.wrc.com/en/news/season-2020/wrc/gamers-spotlighted-in-wrc-talent-programme/

Gamers spotlighted in WRC talent programme

Video gamers will be targeted in a new global scheme to unearth the WRC’s stars of tomorrow.

Hot-shots on WRC 8, the championship’s official video game, are at the forefront of the Rally Star programme, which will launch talented youngsters into funded drives in the WRC’s support categories.
The programme is being organised by the FIA, the sport’s governing body. All 144 national sporting authorities (ASNs) will be encouraged to set up talent detection initiatives for youngsters aged between 17 and 25.
This first assessment will be based around digital motorsport, using driving simulators and Rally Star’s partner video game, or motorkhana, a discipline designed to test candidates’ handling skills in a road car.
ASNs’ top nominees will go forward to one of six finals in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Asia Pacific, South America and North America. They will compete against the clock in XC Cross Cars to find a winner from each final, with a seventh place for a female if there are no lady champions.

The seven will receive a year of training and test sessions as well as six rallies in a Rally 3 car. The top four, including at least one female, will graduate to two seasons in the FIA Junior WRC. Winning the Junior title will net a full season in WRC 3 in a Rally 2 car.
The scheme will be launched at June’s FIA Sport Conference in Thailand and rally director Yves Matton said its targets were clear.

“At a time when the World Rally Championship is exploring new territories, FIA Rally Star will encourage the emergence of a new generation of drivers. By using grassroots disciplines such as digital motorsport and motorkhana, we will be able to give many young enthusiasts their chance.
“The most promising will then benefit from a tailor-made development programme, ultimately enabling them to join the WRC. With FIA Rally Star, we hope to find a future world champion, wherever they are, whoever he or she is,” he said."

pipicolombo · Mar 11, 2020

Just in case someone finds this useful: I found a similar issue online about Dirt Rally (yes, another rally game!), and the problem is the name of the user folder in Windows. It shouldn't have any special characters (I had an Í ). I tried creating another account with just letters and it works!

Cloister56 · Mar 12, 2020

I've tried reporting this to the developers but the support form always leads to an error message.
I've had no reply to Facebook posts or messages nor to an email to bigben support.
The issue is on pc in the career mode.
I've had engineers and meteorologists disappear from the reserve.
I think this happens when you reload. Suddenly they are all gone except the ones that are active.
It doesn't seem to affect the other specialities.
There is no warning, no morale issue, some team members had only just been added and there is still room in the reserve.
I'm looking at running without both specialties at my next rally as there are none available to recruit.
Has anyone else run into this bug or have any suggestions on how to fix it?
Any help is greatly appreciated. Cheers

SuspiciousCopy · Mar 19, 2020

https://wrcsetups.com/setups

Earbud98 · Mar 21, 2020

Hey guys, do anyone know fast way for reaching WRC Category in season mode ? Wrc8

Paul Jeffrey · Mar 21, 2020

The ninth instalment of the WRC game franchise is set to hit our real and virtual store shelves this September 3rd.

Confirmed as due to release on Xbox One, PS4 and PC this September, as well as for the upcoming Xbox X and PlayStation 5 at some stage later in the year, the next instalment of the WRC franchise is on the way!

With the current world health situation at an all time low, it is highly feasible the new WRC 9 game will be out for players to enjoy before the real world series gets back into full swing once again, giving gamers the unique opportunity of driving the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship cars and stages before the real world drivers get much of a chance to try out their own machines!

The new title will once again contain the teams, drivers and cars of the WRC, WRC 2, WRC 3 and Junior WRC categories - adding no less than 50 official teams and liveries into the game, plus following the real world series new locations in the form of Japan, New Zealand and Kenya will join the calendar for the latest iteration of the popular franchise.

For existing rallies carried over from WRC 8, the developers have confirmed these pre-existing locations will benefit from 'completely redesigned environments', hopefully giving the game a fresh look for those experienced within the franchise.

Also new for WRC 9 will be further enhanced physics of the cars, with KT Racing stating the following as part of the game announcement:

To improve and refine certain vehicle behaviours, the developers have again focused on the realism of car physics – including suspensions, braking and mass transfer – to take authenticity to the next level. This attention to detail faithfully reproduces the vehicles' responsiveness on all surfaces and in all conditions found in the real championship. A special focus on sound also provides deeper immersion.

In other WRC news, NACON and KT Racing have confirmed an exclusive licencing deal that sees the studio retain the rights for the yearly game franchise for another 3 years, confirming that WRC 9, 10 and 11 will all be developed over the coming years.

WRC 9 will release for Xbox One, PS4 and PC September 3rd, with release on Xbox X and PS5 and Nintendo Switch to be confirmed at a later date.

Want to know more about the simulation? Keep an eye out for the upcoming WRC 9 sub forum here at RaceDepartment - the ideal place to discuss the new title with fellow fans of sim racing and catch up on all the latest news.

Eckhart von Glan · Mar 21, 2020

How bizarre to be able to do the events the real world drivers won't be able to do. Going to be the same when F1 2020 comes out and you can do Vietnam while Vettel et.al. will not be able to. Doesn't get much weirder than this.