WRC8 WRC 8 The Game

[Paul Jeffrey]

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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[aka2k]

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/wrc-8-mods.29473/

That certainly looks interesting. Thanks for the tip, mate.

 

[Case_]

LOL, from the description of the mod:

"As everybody's imagination of how the cars should behave is different I made multiple versions of the mods, to give various results. Try them all out to see if you like any of them."

Translation: "I have no idea about car physics, so here's a bunch of them and you choose what you want."

Best mod ever (But I mean...I kinda respect his honesty. No sarcasm.)

 

[aka2k]

LOL, from the description of the mod:

"As everybody's imagination of how the cars should behave is different I made multiple versions of the mods, to give various results. Try them all out to see if you like any of them."

Translation: "I have no idea about car physics, so here's a bunch of them and you choose what you want."

Best mod ever (But I mean...I kinda respect his honesty. No sarcasm.)

It can't be really worse than the default physics if the videos of the mod are accurate.

 

[turbo86]

Is there quite a bit of difference between WRC 7 and 8?

There is a difference but not much. The handbrake works much better, powersliding around hairpins comes easier. Other than that the handling on gravel etc is pretty much the same.

 

[Birddogg66]

This gets a nine from me.

As far as rally games go I don't honestly think any current game can be judged to be a true sim so I judge on playabllity, immersion, and tension, and I think this delivers all that in spades. Not to mention the content in this game is huge, albeit with a lot recycled from previous WRC games (but at least you don't need to pay extra for the old content).

Playing, I feel way more connected with the car in WRC8 than I do in DR2.0, and from an immersion and tension point of view I get a very good sense of how violent the sport of rally driving is, something that DR2.0 doesn't really give me.

It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but IMO it is the best rally game out of the current modern crop.

But if you we're to ask me which game I feel has the most natural off road feeling, then unfortunately I'll have to keep quiet as we haven't discussed that one yet

Is it still Blackbean developing this? They are a developer that once upon a time I felt had pretty good focus and direction but seemed to ignore some of their core issues that got repeated on down the ladder. You say that your opinion is based on PS2 which leads me to believe there is decent controller support wonder if that is the case with the PC version???

 

[turbo86]

Is it still Blackbean developing this? They are a developer that once upon a time I felt had pretty good focus and direction but seemed to ignore some of their core issues that got repeated on down the ladder. You say that your opinion is based on PS2 which leads me to believe there is decent controller support wonder if that is the case with the PC version???

BlackBean was a publisher, not a developer.

 

[erba72]

With this bif physics and gravity mod avaliable on Racedepartment, this is a really really good rally, sim. Yeah It's a sim.
The only downside in WRC 8 is the sound, there is something not right with it, it feels like it's coming straight from a robot voice.
so for me it's a 8/10

 

[gamer19]

LOL, from the description of the mod:
"As everybody's imagination of how the cars should behave is different I made multiple versions of the mods, to give various results. Try them all out to see if you like any of them."
Translation: "I have no idea about car physics, so here's a bunch of them and you choose what you want."
Best mod ever (But I mean...I kinda respect his honesty. No sarcasm.)

He didn't mean that - at all.
Like it's a first mod here with multiple options... jesus...
You should go out more.

 

[Birddogg66]

BlackBean was a publisher, not a developer.

Sorry I meant Milestone been a while. I totally forgot about Bigben Interactive.

 

[DRDNA333]

WRC 8 is freaking awesome;
WITH GAME TUNING.
GREAT FFB! Mostly Better than DR2.
GREAT PHYSICS! In some ways Better than DR2.
GREAT WEATHER SYSTEM! Better than DR2.
GREAT GRAPHICS!
GREAT TRACKS! Equal to and in some ways better than DR2.
Great Damage modeling with car physics!
GREAT Hand Break support! AXIS ANALOG! Better than DR2.
Not so great of a car selection (at least so far)
Not Great are the car sounds (but way better than WRC 7)
Not Great is the cockpit view on the WRC cars.(Historic Car cockpits are perfect)(i suspect a patch for WRC cockpit view though, i hope!
IT IS A MUST HAVE FOR ALL RALLY ENTHUSIAST!

 

[Rally_1337]

It can't be really worse than the default physics if the videos of the mod are accurate.

Not everyone is looking for max. realism.

If you want easy fun and athmosphere, go for WRC 8, if you want realism and challenge, go for DR 2. WRC 8 is an accessible sim-cade game for the masses. Can be fun, but probably not what a sim enthusiast wants.

 

[Jugulador]

I just played a couple of stages and didn't liked it. I can't understand why, but is the same felling that I had with Dirt Rally, that something is off, but I didn't cared enough to think about it.

FACT: WRC8 and DR1&2 ain't no Richard Burns Rally, that still king.

PS: As I didn't played enough will not rate it, just hate.

 

[MarkR]

8 on the Xbox One version I picked up played and traded.

I enjoyed the driving experience, FFB and stages and that's the overall impression it left me with as a decent rallying game.

I enjoyed the career mode and played it all the way to becoming WRC Champion but, and it's a fair-sized but, the bugs in the career mode made it more of a grind than it should have been. Team members randomly disappearing - often leaving no staff members of that type available was the worst of the problems. I still applaud them for attempting to innovate and create a more engaging career mode but a lot more attention to detail is required next time. Adding VR to future editions would be a big plus too.

 

[GRaFkiyv]

Good rally.

 

[Kranky Pantz]

No standardized motion-platform/telemetry output support (D-Box only)
No VR
No TrackIR
No STEAM for 1 year

Where's the "0" rating option????

 

[Tomasz Ciborek]

Hi. I have Windows 10 Pro and in wrc8 my Times on epic stages dont want save! Please help me!

 

[MJP1979]

Not RBR outta 10.....so a 7

Like already mentioned, cars are a little floaty and the sounds are off. It's not a bad game but I prefer RBR and the Dirt's over this.

Gonna have to try that overhaul mod now though....

 

[BorisK]

Hi! What is affected by the WRC8.Physic.HighPhysicSimulation parameter
In file usersettings.cfg? It set to false by default.

 

[Rally_1337]

When enabled, the physics data is updated with a frequency of 60 Hz, when disabled with 30 Hz only. When your PC delivers 60 fps or more, enable it in order to get a smoother or more precise car behavior. It can be also adjusted in the menu of the game.

 

[Bigbaloo64]

Hi from FRANCE,
I can't manage to set my device to have a proportional digital handbrake slider.
Everything works fine for acceleration and brake on my T300RS, but I can't assign anything else than a simple on/off button for handbrake. It neither work with my Microsoft joystick (maybe not compatible with WRC8, but working on DirtRally2), nor with a pedal of my T300RS.
Any ideas ?
Bigbaloo64