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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[CC]

Sound is ****
Physics seems like ****
Co-Driver is a **** robot

Seriously NOT impressed after seeing this and Germany gameplay..

That audio is criminal, worst sounds I heard since the commodor 64 I had when I was 6-7 years old,
car handling looks non existent and the co driver well what to say!
No VR no buy! makes no difference im blind anyways...

 

[Kurupt CDN]

My friends, not every rally game or racing game needs to be Simulator.... Think outside the box please, being bad or good stop asking for "physics" when WRC is international as F1 is and neither games will EVER be a complete Simulator

I fully agree the majority of users play casual race games, choice is nice but.....how many simcades racing games does a niche market need?
It's already over saturated.
Dirt rally
Dirt rally 2.0
Dirt games
Horizon series
WRC series
Dakar
Etc.
Different focus but same genre and similar tech.

When is someone gonna up the game and use some of the tech available in simulators to separate themselves from the rest?

Hopefully with the next gen consoles we will start to see some advancements.

Not like the rally community hasn't been asking for one since RBR.

 

[somake]

R3E....race room rallye experience

 

[Kurupt CDN]

I would love to see a rally experience in R3E one day, but they need to update there engine in a big way first, as it is currently one of the weakest engines of the current simulators.
Dx9, no dynamic features, day to night transition or weather.
Great content and sounds awesome tho!

 

[thewarmer]

I like WRC 7 for its stage feel they were very good but the Direct FFB was bad ,
So I stopped playing it , did they ever fix the FFB in WRC 7 ?
I have seen far better Videos for WRC 8 than this one the outside sounds are poor
and many visual effects like dusts and water splashing seem to be not in place yet.
to me it looks more alpha than beta it needs a bit more work yet , but fingers crossed.

 

[Zoltan76]

I love when an "expert", looking at a video says that car handling is bad... And the sounds...It may sound strange, but when U hear the IRL sound it is almost indistinguisable.

 

[Rory Wetherington]

I liked wrc7 a little bit, hopefully they improve the menu system and the ability to map buttons. Again just like with the truck trailer, the amount of game play using 3rd person chase cam is a bit of a let down.

 

[Alex72]

I uninstalled DR2. Might give this a go.

 

[Marc Collins]

I love when an "expert", looking at a video says that car handling is bad... And the sounds...It may sound strange, but when U hear the IRL sound it is almost indistinguisable.

The video is illustrating handling and car response so bad that you can actually tell just from looking. When it looks plausible in the replay video, you still cannot be certain it is good for real without trying it, but no need to bother with this one.

 

[Alex72]

The video is illustrating handling and car response so bad that you can actually tell just from looking. When it looks plausible in the replay video, you still cannot be certain it is good for real without trying it, but no need to bother with this one.

True. Looks pretty bad. Didnt even Watch the video. Thought this has been going for so long that it surely must be decent.

Back to DR1...

 

[erba72]

I hope physics will be there. Because at the moment, the sounds

 

[MarkR]

Disappointing gameplay footage, I quite enjoyed WRC 7 but I'm not sure about this. The 1940's radio co-driver voice is just weird, maybe it's just me but it sounds like the voice audio has been sped up in editing to fit. DiRT 2.0 seems to get a variable reaction but Phil Mills provides realistic instructions and sounds like he's sitting in a moving car - arguably he's sometimes a bit too easy to hear but that's just my opinion.

I can't see this being better than DiRT 2.0 at the moment.

 

[Case_]

Wouldn't worry about the handling based on this specific video, the first thing coming to my mind while watching it was "I hate to be that guy, but did Bigben really have no better driver available to make an official promo video"? I even checked if it is official, because I thought I might be watching some random journalist having a go. But sure enough, it is.

 

[69Harder]

I love when an "expert", looking at a video says that car handling is bad... And the sounds...It may sound strange, but when U hear the IRL sound it is almost indistinguisable.

Exactly !

There are many many self proclaimed experts who really know nothing !

Most people haven't got a clue !

Kylotonn seems to have done their homework thoroughly this time !
And I'm loving it

The stage design is something Codemasters can only dream about !

Real Life

WRC8

 

[Jayblue]

I bought WRC 7 and had quite a few hours out of it. The stage designs and the inclusion of the real life WRC cars stood out as highlights. The physics were ok, not a full on sim but acceptable for the audience it was trying to reach and challenging enough with a wheel.

Never did the FFB to feel quite right with my wheel however and the game seems to lack a sense of speed no matter what tweaks I made to the FOV.

From what I've seen so far I'm not convinced WRC 8 has made any significant steps on the handling or physics front. This video is clearly driven on a gamepad and I I found the co driver annoying to the point I stopped watching half way through it! I hope they can strike that fine balance between a sim and a game, much like the Codemasters F1 series seems to do so well. At the moment they have a lot more work to do...

 

[Georg Ortner]

WRC 7 was already pretty fun.
And sounds like 8 will come with some decent improvements.

It's not a hardcore sim. But neither is Dirt Rally.

 

[69Harder]

WRC 7 was already pretty fun.
And sounds like 8 will come with some decent improvements.

It's not a hardcore sim. But neither is Dirt Rally.

WRC & Dirt Rally are both Simcades and they share very poor damage models.

The main difference is that Dirt Rally 1& 2 totally lack proper FFB, Road Feel and modern WRC cars.

Mediocre stage design and an incomplete calendar doesn't help either !

And yes I have both !

 

[69Harder]

I bought WRC 7 and had quite a few hours out of it. The stage designs and the inclusion of the real life WRC cars stood out as highlights. The physics were ok, not a full on sim but acceptable for the audience it was trying to reach and challenging enough with a wheel.

Never did the FFB to feel quite right with my wheel however and the game seems to lack a sense of speed no matter what tweaks I made to the FOV.

From what I've seen so far I'm not convinced WRC 8 has made any significant steps on the handling or physics front. This video is clearly driven on a gamepad and I I found the co driver annoying to the point I stopped watching half way through it! I hope they can strike that fine balance between a sim and a game, much like the Codemasters F1 series seems to do so well. At the moment they have a lot more work to do...

Interesting about the sense of speed as I feel the complete opposite !

With WRC 7 the sense of speed is great IMO and awesome to drive on the limit but with Dirt Rally 2 no matter what settings, the cars feel like driving at half speed to what the speedometer says !

Also the cars IMO definitely doesn't feel like they have 200 - 300b/hp !

When it comes to FFB in WRC 7 I believe those who dislike it use way to high settings !
Properly set, the FFB does the job nicely and you feel the different surfaces in a believable way !

Here's a tip: Adjust the FFB at the Novella stage which is a very bumpy Tour De Corse stage !
The other countries will have the proper road feel once the Novella stage feel good !

 

[Jayblue]

The later patch to the game that added many different FFB settings which colud be changed did improve it somewhat, but overall I found the FFB in the Dirt series more convincing.

 

[RaceNut]

I love when an "expert", looking at a video says that car handling is bad... And the sounds...It may sound strange, but when U hear the IRL sound it is almost indistinguisable.

I recently had a conversation with one of the WRC-series developers (Physics). He said the series was never intended to be a simulation and uses a basic physics model that is designed to be accessible and fun for the casual player - period. Nothing wrong with that imo, just don't expect realistic handling.

He said DR and DR2 physics are significantly more advanced.