WRC9 WRC 9 The Game

[Paul Jeffrey]

WRC 9 is just around the corner, and one of the new locations set to make an appearance in the game is the New Zealand Rally - with some first preview imagery from the states now out in the public domain.

Set to release on console and PC in September this year, with next gen console release slated for a little while afterwards, the ninth instalment of the WRC game series (can you believe we are on number 9 already?!?) looks to be shaping up rather nicely over at KT Racing - so much so that the studio have decided to release some preview footage from an early build version of the title - and already it looks fantastic.

As per usual, the upcoming game enjoys the official licence of the FIA World Rally Championship, this time taking the opportunity to recreate the 2020 season that is currently on hold, and as such returning favourites such as the Safari Rally in Kenya, Rally Japan and the featured Rally New Zealand.

“Roads in New-Zealand are amongst the most beautiful and the most appreciated in the Championship’s history.” tells Benoît Gomes, Lead Level Designer at KT Racing.​

“Famous for its fast chains of turns and a sustained pace rhythm, along with breath-taking landscapes, Rally New-Zealand truly offers a particular experience. A long preparation work allowed us to replicate, as closely as possible, the luxuriant vegetation, the light and unique ocean views, as well as the road’s topography and surfaces, mainly composed of gravel. We’re convinced that players will enjoy taking up this challenge as much as we did in WRC 9.” concludes Benoît Gomes.​

WRC 9 Key Features:

• 3 new rallies: Japan, New Zealand, Kenya
• Over 50 official teams and their livery from the WRC, WRC 2, WRC 3 and Junior WRC
• Over 15 bonus cars that have left their mark on the history of the WRC
• Exclusive new game modes soon to be discovered

WRC 9 will release on Xbox One, PS4, PC this September 3rd.

Want to know more about this new game? No worries, keep an eye out for the upcoming WRC 9 sub forum here at RaceDepartment to engage with your fellow sim racing fans.

 

[Germain Entete]

Is WRC like DR, sim-cad oriented?
When will we ever have a new proper sim for rallying?

 

[Ruy Horta]

You know I wish Kylotonn no bad luck or whatever, but I have decided to stop adding more KT engined games to my collection. I don’t like the engine, I have never been able to get it working completely problem free using different hardware - there always seems to be something off, support, performance and / or handling wise.

WRC5, WRC6 & WRC 7, V-Rally 4 and WRC8.
Unlike many I cannot blame anyone for going Epic exclusive.
Exclusivity has been a part of gaming, since the beginning - platforms, services etc.

I just find it inconvenient with Epic because my oldest son uses my PC for most of his Fortnite play, so any time I want to start up WRC 8 or any Epic game (I have a modest few - not counting free games) I have to log out his account, log in my own and afterwards log in his account. That’s my particular added problem which stops me from embracing Epic as just another service - exclusive or not.

I don’t mind having no VR, although I really like VR (!) in racing games, it is not a MUST have for me - only really nice to have.

That said I do not like the views in KT race games, none of them, they all feel incomplete or not right, add the ever present micro stutter the KT engine seems to have (they share this with pre-Unreal Milestone games) and I am almost never fully immersed in the driving. Look, feel and performance.

There are some very good stages in the WRC series, most reminiscent of some of the good stuff in Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, but just like that title there is always something that makes it feel sub par.

SLRE doesn’t allow me to set up my new wheel for instance - I know different game, different developer.

I will not buy WRC 9 on Epic.
Maybe on Steam one day.

I’ve already seen frame drops in the footage posted here.
Is this early footage yes, but I am only too familiar with the KT engine to just ignore this long known issue that affects many if not most players if they pay attention and care for such a thing.

Again no ill feelings, happy to be proven wrong with WRC 9 and I’ll get the title at the right price level on Steam.

 

[Nevini]

There's no competition if it's an exclusive.

TIME LIMITED not for all time, your argument is null and void. ;-)

 

[Patricio Quevedo]

I love people crying about a game being offered on a different store than the one they like (despite the fact the one they don't like is far more forthcoming to the game developers and publishers). It's so beautifully 2020 level of absurd. It's basically people demanding freedom of choice to be removed in favor of a monopoly because they hate the fact it would take them three clicks to start a different client.


I'm far from an expert, but I believe stores generally work by customers paying for the product on offer.

totally agree

 

[turbo86]

Is WRC like DR, sim-cad oriented?
When will we ever have a new proper sim for rallying?

DR is a proper rally simulator. Don't even compare it to WRC games. WRC 8 is an RPG for the love of god. You can actually make your car take less damage. Magic!

 

[ahmbouth]

Not to mention, probably Epic Fail Store exclusive again

It has been confirmed !

 

[Majuh]

I'm also a PC user refusing to install more than one gaming client.

In this case you could simply uninstall Steam and install the Epic Games Launcher instead.

 

[kmanitou]

In this case you could simply uninstall Steam and install the Epic Games Launcher instead.

Or Galaxy.

 

[Ruy Horta]

I love people crying about a game being offered on a different store than the one they like (despite the fact the one they don't like is far more forthcoming to the game developers and publishers). It's so beautifully 2020 level of absurd. It's basically people demanding freedom of choice to be removed in favor of a monopoly because they hate the fact it would take them three clicks to start a different client.

I'm far from an expert, but I believe stores generally work by customers paying for the product on offer.

Well put, especially the absurdity.

What if the only online retailer was Amazon?
What if the only online search engine was Google?
What if the only OS was Windows?
What if the only way to text was via Whatsapp?
What if the only way to contact business was via Reddit?
Now...

What if the only way to play games on PC was via Steam?

As for time limited exclusives.
You either decide to support this or not.

That’s how markets work (OP -> personally I am pretty left of center, so not even an advocate of the free market mechanism if it does not clearly benefit the customer and society at large).

EA left Steam, now they are getting back.
Microsoft left Steam, now they are back.

Unreal games, well you’ll probably see the same shift with many developers, where exclusivity does not balance out lost market share. Especially since peak sales are during the first month(s) after release.

That said, the message for Valve is also clear, you are important, but don’t abuse your market share.

It is not like gaming industry business practices are more noble than general business practices - surprise mechanics, micro transactions, P2W and the shift towards DLCs to generate the majority of income, all seem to point towards the opposite. That includes the gaming industry press.

 

[Nigel Mansell]

I love people crying about a game being offered on a different store than the one they like (despite the fact the one they don't like is far more forthcoming to the game developers and publishers). It's so beautifully 2020 level of absurd. It's basically people demanding freedom of choice to be removed in favor of a monopoly because they hate the fact it would take them three clicks to start a different client.


I'm far from an expert, but I believe stores generally work by customers paying for the product on offer.

I love people crying about a game being offered on a different store than the one they like (despite the fact the one they don't like is far more forthcoming to the game developers and publishers). It's so beautifully 2020 level of absurd. It's basically people demanding freedom of choice to be removed in favor of a monopoly because they hate the fact it would take them three clicks to start a different client.


I'm far from an expert, but I believe stores generally work by customers paying for the product on offer.

As per normal Martin, you completely misunderstand my point.

The next time you choose melodrama, you could just PM me first - and then attempt to understand what I really said, compared to what you believe to be the case.

 

[Nigel Mansell]

I see, cheers for that.

Epic pays for a set number of sales.
Let's say they need a sale of 120k units on PC to break even, and they expect 150k. Then Epic pays for 150k units sold, and for the 150k first units sold at Epic, they keep all the money. Then they split it for every sale after 150k.

That's my understanding of how they have done those exclusive deals.




I just don't like the way Epic Games does these things, they way they portrait themselves etc. So I stay away.
I have no issues with multiple launchers though, uPlay and Origin is installed and used.

 

[Nigel Mansell]

As a platform, I have no issue using Steam. I only use SP modes though, so...

My ultimate DRM, would be physical media.

In this case you could simply uninstall Steam and install the Epic Games Launcher instead.

 

[BloodSinking]

DR is a proper rally simulator. Don't even compare it to WRC games. WRC 8 is an RPG for the love of god. You can actually make your car take less damage. Magic!

No it's not. WRC 8 has better grip physics than DR2 and better tyre model. Even suspension in some aspects are better and weight transfer. But still flawed

 

[Case_]

As per normal Martin, you completely misunderstand my point.

The next time you choose melodrama, you could just PM me first

Well I'm certainly glad it was as per normal! I like to be consistent. (Too bad I don't remember any of our previous interactions *at all*, sorry.)

And I'll make absolutely sure I PM you first next time I decide to respond to your random post. Though, just for the record, your point wasn't really that profound or difficult to grasp as you seem to be making it, and I'm fully aware that you were trying to make a slightly different point than the one out of context quote I responded to.

 

[tomythto]

There need to be some considerations on WRC 8 before they go into WRC 9 which includes;

1. GUI is so sketchy. No style, no art, it is just high contrast windows form with black background green highlight.
2. Setup slots are insufficient. Setups are like prepared to just give it a sim appearance. Copy paste details, Just numbers around without units, no visual representations.
3. Sounds are too repetitive and gives headache.
4. Cars are like rocketship; you touch gas pedal and it gives all. No torque gaining no turbo lag, stuck at the top rev for more than it should.
5. Same class cars are binary same i guess. They don't have noticable personality about sound or accelerating etc.
6. Game graphics does not allow to use all your graphic card, if you have a high-end gpu. And they are too desaturated no HDR support. Models are just too sharp and lame.
7. Human models are from Tomb Raider 1996.
8. No telemetry supplied for custom phone dash.
9. Cars feels like no weight at all and floating around on replays.
10. Car texture does not comply with track. It is very shiny and colorful than the atmosphere itself.
11. In replay mode from helicopter view for example you can see dust behind the car is generated line by line; no smoothness is applied. Particle generation is bad.
12. Every collision sounds same. Actually any sound in the game is non satisfying.
13. And sure having no VR support(I’m not a big fan of this but community insists on it) and the market choice is disrespectful.

 

[DeVxC]

I love people crying about a game being offered on a different store than the one they like (despite the fact the one they don't like is far more forthcoming to the game developers and publishers). It's so beautifully 2020 level of absurd. It's basically people demanding freedom of choice to be removed in favor of a monopoly because they hate the fact it would take them three clicks to start a different client.

First of all if you go on making new DRM; excuse me "store", you better make it as good or better as your competition. If you putting yourself out there with sh** product expect sh** from customers. Remember how bad Origin got slammed by players and first version was nowhere near as bad as Epic store even now. Epic putting millions to acquiring this exclusives deals, they making billions from Fortnite but can't make a decent "Store" client? no man f... them. Just look for a second on the internet how many features are missing in this amazing Epic store. And don't get me started on refunding policies.

If you don't care about what type of DRM/malware (RIOT client) you installing, than why you even starting this conversation? Defending Epic for what they are doing is are part of the problem. It's just like FIFA players are fine with their overpriced cards, now we have to put with that stuff in almost in every game.
I don't mean to attack you or anything but please see other side. And yes Steam is bad but if some company make something better, be sure I will say it first. GoG is going forward and I hope in near future they will start putting some pressure on Valve to be better.

 

[Case_]

Remember how bad Origin got slammed by players and first version was nowhere near as bad as Epic store even now. Epic putting millions to acquiring this exclusives deals, they making billions from Fortnite but can't make a decent "Store" client? no man f... them. Just look for a second on the internet how many features are missing in this amazing Epic store. And don't get me started on refunding policies.

Can you summarize some of the issues Epic Store has that make it "not decent", or some of the many missing features? I can't really see any when using it. From where I'm sitting, it's pretty much equal to Steam. Then again I don't care at all about collector cards, online chat, in-game overlays and all that, if that's where the issue is, so that might perhaps explain it. I use Steam to browse for games, buy them, install and update them, and obviously launch them. All of that is perfectly functional in Epic Store as well, as far as I can tell. What am I missing?

And what is the issue with refund policies? Granted, again, I don't really have a lot of experience with that, I only refunded one game on Steam (and none on Epic), but the refund policies at a glance seem very similar - both stores allow you to return a purchased game for any reason within 14 days of purchase, provided you haven't played them for more than 2 hours. So again, what seems to be the problem?

If you don't care about what type of DRM/malware (RIOT client) you installing, than why you even starting this conversation?

So only people who share your opinion on an issue should enter conversations about said issues? Or what exactly are you trying to say?

 

[Majuh]

There need to be some considerations on WRC 8 before they go into WRC 9 which includes;

1. GUI is so sketchy. No style, no art, it is just high contrast windows form with black background green highlight.
2. Setup slots are insufficient. Setups are like prepared to just give it a sim appearance. Copy paste details, Just numbers around without units, no visual representations.
3. Sounds are too repetitive and gives headache.
4. Cars are like rocketship; you touch gas pedal and it gives all. No torque gaining no turbo lag, stuck at the top rev for more than it should.
5. Same class cars are binary same i guess. They don't have noticable personality about sound or accelerating etc.
6. Game graphics does not allow to use all your graphic card, if you have a high-end gpu. And they are too desaturated no HDR support. Models are just too sharp and lame.
7. Human models are from Tomb Raider 1996.
8. No telemetry supplied for custom phone dash.
9. Cars feels like no weight at all and floating around on replays.
10. Car texture does not comply with track. It is very shiny and colorful than the atmosphere itself.
11. In replay mode from helicopter view for example you can see dust behind the car is generated line by line; no smoothness is applied. Particle generation is bad.
12. Every collision sounds same. Actually any sound in the game is non satisfying.
13. And sure having no VR support(I’m not a big fan of this but community insists on it) and the market choice is disrespectful.

This is a yearly release. Kylotonn was probably already working on WRC 9 when WRC 8 was released. Apart from that, your list only contains stuff that is typically not updated anymore after a game has been released.

 

[Metla]

Now...

What if the only way to play games on PC was via Steam?

The absurd part is that the PC is the platform, Not steam, You shouldn't need a platform inside a platform in order to run any game, never mind a dozen platforms on the actual platform.

I doubt the console players would accept running a ubisoft GUI over top of the xbox os so they could be forced to be in that retail ecosystem just to launch a game, But PC users defend this nonsense to the death.

Hell, I've launched a game in steam, which launched the ubisoft launcher which then launched the game, wtf, pointless junk, and again, its not for our benefit, it doesn't enhance the experience, Its purely in the interest of the developer.

 

[bururu92]

and if they released it as dlc other people would complain.

I'd love to meet the people complaining about that