You’re not interested in rally games at all? Me neither – but EA WRC has an exciting plan that could change that
That this article is appearing once again borders on a minor miracle. Because back in February EA Sports invited me to Sweden to extensively test the new rally game from Codemasters, EA Sports WRC.
However, I was not allowed to write about the game at first. Everything still top secret until April, it was said at first. That this plan on the part of EA did not work out, you can of course think for yourself, if you look at the date.
Instead, there was radio silence from the developers for months – and this article became a running gag in the editorial office. We have never experienced an eight-month embargo. But now I can finally tell you if it was worth the wait.
Full Disclosure: EA covered the cost of the trip to Sweden as well as the accommodation, but had no influence on the subsequent reporting.
The Trip to Snow Hell
But first I have to tell you about my trip to Sweden. As a real rally noob – I only played Colin McRae Rally 25 years ago – I was the best choice. First we were allowed to test the new WRC game at the headquarters of Battlefield developer DICE in Stockholm, then we went to the small town of Umeå in the picturesque north, to the real Rally Sweden.
First item on the agenda: a twenty-minute or so march through ice and snow to the training track. We were told to pack warm clothes, but I didn’t expect to be up to my waist in deep snow and to put my foot down at least 15 times. And that too in jeans and vans. Well.
Luckily, I’m comparatively tall. A Spanish colleague, who is obviously used to other temperatures, I had to free a dozen times, because he sank again and again up to the chest. Then every step became a battle with nature – and that you can sweat so much at minus 15 degrees, I would not have thought. Ah yes, the magic of the north.
After we had successfully braved the elements, we went to the so-called service area. This is where the teams have their warehouses, where the cars are prepared for the race. As a highlight, we were allowed to look behind the scenes at Hyundai and talk to Irish driver Craig Breen and team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
The other members of our tour group are brightly excited, after all, not only journalists are invited, but also eSportsmen, Racing-YouTubers and rally drivers who bombard the professionals with detailed questions. So that I don’t sit around completely useless, I tell Craig Breen that he … has beautiful eyes and at least I can provide a few laughs.
In the evening the race is waiting: It’s still eerily cold and eerily dark. The Swedish Prince Carl Philipp opens the event with a welcome speech and Klara Hammarström, quasi the Swedish Helene Fischer, belts out a few of her hits. We are standing right next to the track next to a small hill. The cars shoot past us every five minutes, their engines roaring, their lights cutting through the darkness, the crowd cheering. Very cool, all of it.
A racing game for professionals
What I know now: Yes, rallies are really exciting and quite a spectacle. But I also know that racing game fans make up at most a small fraction of our readership. We even have to look for rally fans with a magnifying glass.
While playing in Stockholm, I realized that EA WRC is an incredibly difficult racing game. Despite dozens of hours in Forza Horizon, The Crew and Need for Speed, I can barely keep the car on the track. But as previously mentioned, I’m a rally noob.
(Guillem Serna), a Spanish rally driver and simracing expert, was also invited by EA. And he could at least confirm to me that Codemasters is on an excellent way with their latest work.
For Serna, who has sunk thousands of hours into Dirt Rally 2, EA WRC immediately feels even more realistic. Codemasters, has managed to blur the line between the virtual and real worlds of rallying once again
His enthusiasm struck me as very authentic, so rally fans probably can’t go wrong with EA WRC.
This is how EA WRC wants to convince rally noobs
Most of you like RPGs and strategy games – and I’m no different. Luckily, one Codemasters has a plan to convince us too, as Senior Creative Director Ross Gowing revealed to me.
The steep learning curve: During my disastrous racing attempts in Sweden, we played in simracing mode without any driving aids. The pros loved it, I despaired. While EA WRC is still largely aimed at pros and experienced players, the developers’ stated goal is to get interested beginners to the point where they can eventually enjoy this highly realistic mode.
Diverse driving aids such as stability and traction control are part of the standard repertoire of every more demanding racing game, but there’s not much left of the high degree of realism. If you want to do without these aids, you can complete the new Rally School instead. Here you’ll learn the basics of car control with a less powerful car.
You’ll also begin Career mode with low-powered companions, such as a Mini Cooper. Gowing says:
It’s about teaching people what they need to know to succeed in the world of rallying, holding their hand a little bit at the beginning, and then letting them grow so their skills grow.
Keep an eye on this mode: All right – so apparently we don’t have to worry about the steep learning curve anymore. Nevertheless, it will be difficult for EA to convince the typical GlobalESportNews reader with this racing game. But Codemasters has a plan for that as well.
The new Builder mode is meant to appeal to people like you, role-playing and strategy fans. Here you can build your own rally car from scratch, customize it down to the smallest detail and upgrade it with your earned prize money.
Ross Gowing wants to win over role-playing game fans, that means you:
Just like you can create a character in those games that you invest in throughout your playtime, you can create a car in our game that becomes your character in our build mode. And then you can decorate it however you want in our paint editor, imprint your identity on it.
The developers at Codemasters are well aware of the challenge of creating a game that will delight both hardcore racing fans and rally novices But with the combination of realistic racing simulation and creative elements like the builder mode, they may have achieved just that.
At least they’ve got me in their pocket now – after all, I only spent dozens of hours in Forza Horizon 5, too, just plowing through the countryside with my ugly Opel Manta in Manta Manta livery. And yes, this Manta has become the expression of my identity as a Ruhrpottler.
I may not be able to drive a Manta in the forests of Sweden, but I still feel the same fascination flaring up again With a rally car that I designed and modified myself from the ground up, the personal connection and the feeling that every race, every win and every loss becomes a part of my own unique story is probably even stronger
I won’t know if it really works out as well as I hope, however, until November 3, 2023, because that’s when EA Sports WRC will be released at a price of 50 Euros for PC (via EA App, Steam and Epic) as well as Xbox Series X/S and PlayStaton 5.
