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WRC9 is the racing game I didn't know I wanted.

mentallyinept

mentallyinept

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,403
A bit of background first...

My father was really keen on buying me a video game this Christmas for some reason, something that he hasn't done in years since I'm 35 year old man.

Being a 35 year old who just buys things when he wants them by budgeting for them, I don't really know what to tell him so I went on to GameStop and just looked for all PS5 games that were out.

At first I told him to get Dirt 5. It got pretty good reviews from DF for its visual fidelity so I figured even if I didn't like the game it would be a nice thing to mess around in and be amazed at how nice it looked.

My father told me it was sold out. Oh well, I'll find another game. I go back to the list and saw WRC9. I like rally cars and it's only $49. If it sucks my father isn't out much money.

I booted it up today and my god this game speaks to me on a level no other racing game has.

It's you vs the track on insanely tight roads barely wider than your car. Every turn is a knife edge where your courage is the biggest limiter to your speed.

The live track call outs start to seep into your mind by the sixth or seventh race and you stop looking at the top of the screen and just drive.

Your car is taking a *literal* beating as you race and various systems like your suspension deteriorate over time affecting how the car responds. I feel like I'm in an actual *fight* with the track and the feeling of "hitting" a section of corners at speed is so damned good, I can't really compare it to any other racing game I've played.

It's almost midnight here and all I can think about is playing another race.
 
Mechaplum

Mechaplum

Enlightened
Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,832
JP
Totally agree, it's the best racing game I've played. The DualSense implementation is fantastic, hoping the next GT will match or exceed it.
 
riverfr0zen

riverfr0zen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,165
Manhattan, New York
Absolutely. I've played quite a few of the Dirt/Dirt: Rally games and enjoy them a lot (especially Rally), but this was the first time I tried WRC. Got it since I saw they did some PS5 work and I wanted another game using the new features.

I'm not sure what the initial release looked like, but the current version definitely seems to have a lot of polish. Everything works as expected, a functional but enjoyable game loop, no crashes. A few seeming oversights/bugs (UI kinks and such) here and there, but overall very stable.

And it runs beautifully on the PS5. So smooth, and that really brings out the surfaces modelling and car physics. As others have noted, the Dualsense stuff is great. One thing I thought was particularly clever was that, I suppose depending on certain damage, the gas button gets stiffer and harder to get juice out of. Surface-related haptics are great too...feels really gravelly and all that.

Very impressed as a newcomer to the series.
 
Karish

Karish

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,528
Loving dirt 5 but I regret not getting WRC9 When it was on sale over black Friday
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,641
WRC 9 has been a real sleeper for me, which is funny because I like rally games a lot. (Other big sleeper of the year: art of rally, definitely look into it if you're on PC.) I think I just had this impression that the WRC games were licensed trash compared to Colin McRae and later Dirt Rally, which might have been true at one point but clearly is not now.

Between WRC 9 and EA's acquisition of Codemasters, I'm kind of sad Kylotonn's losing the license. They've shown that they can do right by it.

riverfr0zen said:
And it runs beautifully on the PS5. So smooth, and that really brings out the surfaces modelling and car physics. As others have noted, the Dualsense stuff is great. One thing I thought was particularly clever was that, I suppose depending on certain damage, the gas button gets stiffer and harder to get juice out of. Surface-related haptics are great too...feels really gravelly and all that.
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+1 for the Dualsense haptics. It's really neat to be able to feel the damage you've done to the car. The gas pedal getting stiffer seems to indicate engine/turbo damage, but I think you can also feel the gearbox grinding a bit (imagine the feeling of sand getting stuck in the controller trigger a bit) if you damage it. Hearing gravel and debris plink against the undercarriage of the car is a nice touch too.
 
Faintcolt388301

Faintcolt388301

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,013
I've played a few rally games and decided to pick this up on sale to have a racing game to go with the shiny new system. Same thoughts as you. It is fantastic. The races are so tense. 5 minutes. You and the track. One wrong move or dip in attention and your run is ruined.

My biggest thing though is that the career mode is actually good. It mixes up events well, adds enough side management that is simple and easy to understand, andoverall gives you stakes and progression.
 
TechnoDisaster

TechnoDisaster

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,266
USA
If you get a chance, plug some headphones into the controller and switch to the cockpit camera. It's an amazing showcase for 3D audio.
 
Ryengeku

Ryengeku

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,663
Georgia, US
Yep, I was pleasantly surprised about how much I loved WRC 5 back on the PS3. It was a PS Plus game at some point and I never really played a Rally game before. I was hooked until I got the Platinum, so this + the Dualsense is just sublime.
 
Neuromancer

Neuromancer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,760
Baltimore
Agreed on all points. It's a fantastic rally game that feels particularly great on PS5 thanks to the adaptive triggers/haptic feedback/controller speaker.

On a side note does anyone know if the Thrustmaster T500RS racing wheel works on PS5? I tried Dirt 5 and WRC 9 today but I couldn't get either to work with my wheel.
 
Belvedere

Belvedere

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,684
I just got this for Xmas and was sort of hyped as I haven't played a Rally game seriously since PS1.

Can't wait to dive in, thanks OP.
 

ThisIsBlitz21

Member
Oct 22, 2018
4,662
WRC9 (and Dirt Rally 2, try that out as well) are fantastic rally games, and Im happy that subgenre is alive and better than ever.
 
Foffy

Foffy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,389
Neuromancer said:
Agreed on all points. It's a fantastic rally game that feels particularly great on PS5 thanks to the adaptive triggers/haptic feedback/controller speaker.

On a side note does anyone know if the Thrustmaster T500RS racing wheel works on PS5? I tried Dirt 5 and WRC 9 today but I couldn't get either to work with my wheel.
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This apparently works, I recall reading a post from the simracing subreddit that they tested it on GT Sport and Driveclub.

Dirt 5 only recently got wheel support, and it appears that was sporadic.
 
Neuromancer

Neuromancer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,760
Baltimore
Foffy said:
This apparently works, I recall reading a post from the simracing subreddit that they tested it on GT Sport and Driveclub.

Dirt 5 only recently got wheel support, and it appears that was sporadic.
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Ok thanks. I'll try it with GT Sport just to make sure that works. Then I'll hope for the best for the other games getting support soon.
 
TheZynster

TheZynster

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,285
This is why I am so excited for test drive unlimited solar crown. The luxury and depth of the unlimited series combined with WRC's handling model.

I think we are in for a treat
 

Mung

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,435
Really enjoy this game. I love the dualsense features, especially how the triggers change with each car and with damage.
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,580
I bought it on sale around launch and it's fucking dope. Great dual sense implementation, too.
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,641

furfoot

Member
Dec 12, 2017
598
Would have soooo picked it up on PC if it had VR. Dirt Rally 2 VR with a wheel is so so good.
 
arcadepc

arcadepc

Banned
Dec 28, 2019
1,925
On Steam all wrc games have the same price. Even wrc5 from 2015 costs 40 euro.! Ridiculous
 
Type VII

Type VII

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,305
Have only heard great things about this, adding it to my to buy list.

It's more accessible than Dirt Rally too, right?
 
riverfr0zen

riverfr0zen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,165
Manhattan, New York
Type VII said:
Have only heard great things about this, adding it to my to buy list.

It's more accessible than Dirt Rally too, right?
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From a campaign workflow perspective, i.e. the way you manage your team, car, and events, it's very straightforward and accessible. Not sure if it is more so than the Dirt Rally games (both are pretty deep yet presented well), but it is on par.

From a driving perspective, I think the defaults are actually harder than Dirt Rally, but the game provides a plethora of aids and difficulty settings. The difficulty really varies by track/event -- some are easier to get through, others can be pretty challenging, as has been noted above. But the campaign follows a "calendar" flow, so even if you lose one event, you just move on to the next date on the calendar.
 

Deleted member 10795

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,302
I think I prefer Dirt Rally 2.0, for reasons that are probably splitting hairs in reality.

Both are extremely good racing games and I appreciate the way WRC9 offers such a comprehensive career mode - something you can't take for granted in racers anymore.

Dirt Rally 2.0 and WRC9 are also the only two games where I think "The Dark Souls of" is actually a true statement. Rally games are at their best when they make you feel like you haven't blinked for 5-8 minutes. Where hauling these machines around snowy hairpins and eventually over the finish line offers a legit sense of achievement, that you often learn to do through previous failure. They're extremely intense experiences but so rewarding.
 
OP
OP
mentallyinept

mentallyinept

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,403
Oh man, thanks for all the replies, I made this as a midnight musing sort of thread and didn't think anyone would respond.

riverfr0zen said:
Absolutely. I've played quite a few of the Dirt/Dirt: Rally games and enjoy them a lot (especially Rally), but this was the first time I tried WRC. Got it since I saw they did some PS5 work and I wanted another game using the new features.

I'm not sure what the initial release looked like, but the current version definitely seems to have a lot of polish. Everything works as expected, a functional but enjoyable game loop, no crashes. A few seeming oversights/bugs (UI kinks and such) here and there, but overall very stable.

And it runs beautifully on the PS5. So smooth, and that really brings out the surfaces modelling and car physics. As others have noted, the Dualsense stuff is great. One thing I thought was particularly clever was that, I suppose depending on certain damage, the gas button gets stiffer and harder to get juice out of. Surface-related haptics are great too...feels really gravelly and all that.

Very impressed as a newcomer to the series.
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I didn't even talk about the DualSense implementation in my post, and you are 100% right. It's an awesome implementation, with the triggers and haptics, especially when you drive over the really gravelly\rocky surfaces and you hear the rocks hitting the undercarriage from below you... such a smart little touch.

Faintcolt388301 said:
I've played a few rally games and decided to pick this up on sale to have a racing game to go with the shiny new system. Same thoughts as you. It is fantastic. The races are so tense. 5 minutes. You and the track. One wrong move or dip in attention and your run is ruined.

My biggest thing though is that the career mode is actually good. It mixes up events well, adds enough side management that is simple and easy to understand, andoverall gives you stakes and progression.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I haven't touched career mode at all. Almost my entire play session was quickplays while the rest of the game was installing. Glad to hear there's a good campaign as well.

Transistor said:
It's such a good game and the DualSense implementation is wonderful.

I just wish I didn't suck at it 😋
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Oh, I'm *garbage* at this game, don't get me wrong.

My first race I didn't finish due to car damage. Afterwards I stepped down to the "junior" league since I noticed it was 100 hp less so I figured it was like playing at 100cc vs 200cc in Mario Kart so it should be easier. That's when the game started clicking for me.

Honolulu Blue said:
I think I prefer Dirt Rally 2.0, for reasons that are probably splitting hairs in reality.

Both are extremely good racing games and I appreciate the way WRC9 offers such a comprehensive career mode - something you can't take for granted in racers anymore.

Dirt Rally 2.0 and WRC9 are also the only two games where I think "The Dark Souls of" is actually a true statement. Rally games are at their best when they make you feel like you haven't blinked for 5-8 minutes. Where hauling these machines around snowy hairpins and eventually over the finish line offers a legit sense of achievement, that you often learn to do through previous failure. They're extremely intense experiences but so rewarding.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I didn't want to use the "Dark Souls" metaphor in my post because I feel like it's a bit cliche and turns people off, but I'd be lying if I wasn't thinking it, lol.
 
Blent

Blent

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,174
East Midlands, England, UK
Kylotonn's WRC series is woefully underrated.

It's not my favourite racing franchise by any means and it is doesn't change too much between each entry for my liking, but if anyone wants to get a taste of rallying you could do a lot worse than WRC9
 
HighspeedRefleX

HighspeedRefleX

Member
Feb 8, 2018
2,570
Tight roads makes me less interested in it tbh. While it's the closest to the real sport it sounds frustrating so I have preference for wider stages that let you drift more frequently and longer such as the ones in Dirt 3.
 
Dave.

Dave.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,153
I wish I'd bought it for 50% off last UK PSN sale, I can't bring myself to pay full price now I've seen that. Should have taken the chance! 😔 Hopefully it goes on sale again soon!
 
Oneself

Oneself

#TeamThierry
Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,775
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Best rally game along with Dirt 2.0 ...
The stages in WRC9 and variety are unmatched. Also, in WRC9, the career mode isn't an afterthought.

By the way, updates so far are also reaaally good. This week, stages were added as well as a quality mode & a 120fps mode (for a total of 3 modes, kind of like Spidey/Miles).
 
Huey

Huey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,201
If i didn't find WRC 7 and 8 very compelling - I kind of bought them mainly on era recommendations + eurogamer - will 9 change my mind? The 60fps will be a nice boost on ps5...
 
Tappin Brews

Tappin Brews

#TeamThierry
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,879
Huey said:
If i didn't find WRC 7 and 8 very compelling - I kind of bought them mainly on era recommendations + eurogamer - will 9 change my mind? The 60fps will be a nice boost on ps5...
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This is definitely an iteration on 8. It's basically the same base game but with new locales and improved physics/handling. If you didnt like 8, you probably wouldn't like this (though 60 fps is a huge benefit itself!)
 
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