Buckle up rally fans, because EA Sports WRC has finally been released. This is EA’s first foray into the rally scene since purchasing Codemasters in 2021. Codemasters has been the standard for some time now and most fans are hoping that this new game would be more of the same as the old Codemasters would have provided but with the flair and financial backing of EA Sports. With Fingers crossed, let’s chuck ourselves into the first stage of this game review and find out.

My first stop once jumping into the game was the Career Mode. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good single-player campaign. I was pleasantly surprised with the depth the career mode offers. From managing team finance to car repairs, it’s more than just racing on track. This does add a bit more strategy as I found myself driving more conservatively after having a crash to keep up with my team’s financial objectives. With a plethora of gameplay in various levels of competition, there is no shortage of things to do. The thing I felt was lacking was in the “create your own car” mode. When choosing a car to purchase, there is an option to build one from parts to your specifications and cost. While I did start here, it felt clunky and cumbersome without any real benefit over having selected a pre-built manufacture car. It left me wanting more from a detail standpoint mostly, but also from a “what is the benefit” point of view. If spending an hour building out a custom car doesn’t give me any form of advantage, why not just take the pre-built options? These pre-built cars are the ones you are familiar with anyway and offer more of a nostalgic connection anyway. After trying out the “create a car” mode, I never went back. I was much too caught up in the gameplay to be distracted by it.

THE GAMEPLAY. This is where EA Sports WRC truly shines. The cars feel so dynamic and there is always an adjustment to be mindful of. Now, I am not a professional rally driver, but this game makes you feel like you could be. There are so many adjustments via throttle, brakes, and steering that are happening so fast. You never feel 100% in settled and there is something about that which helps reign in your focus. It’s like if you are constantly at odds with the car, you never have time to question your decisions. Sometimes that ends badly and you end up in the woods or driving off a cliff, but it all adds to the thrill. The biggest change for me from your typical driving game is the length of one driving session. Most games have a 5-10 minute session where the races or stages are designed to end somewhere in that time period. This keeps you getting new game more regularly. In EA Sports WRC, the sessions can last up to 20 minutes, most around the 10-12 mark. This longer period kept me much more engaged in the game and conscious that if you screw up, it’s going to take another 10 minutes to replay the stage. Trust me, having hustled a car through 15 minutes at the Monte-Carlo Rally, then going off a cliff on the last turn will have you questioning your whole life. The entire replay you will be trying to fight yourself while you decide to take it easy or go full on. When it comes to rally driving, I tend to take advice from the late Ken Block – “If you’re not scared, you’re not going fast enough”. My advice for the game is to go fast and pay for the damage later. As a general disclaimer, I have only played the game with my current Sim Racing setup being a Fanatec Gran Turismo DD PRO and a Playseat Trophy, and have yet to play with only a controller. If you are supremely worried about gameplay feel and still using a controller, I have nothing for you except “Please support your local sim racing shop”.

One very easy piece of the game to miss is the graphics. The rally stages are very intricate and exorbitantly detailed. But the truly impressive part is that the stages are so long. This detail is not built into a 2.5-mile circuit you drive around multiple times like in typical racing games. Some of the rally stages are over 11 miles in the game and that is a single stage, not the entire rally. The graphics enhance the overall immersion and contribute to the sense of realism as you navigate your rally car through diverse terrains. The diversity of the rally stages is another welcome change. With 17 different locations to race and more queued up via DLC, there is a landscape for any mood. The only problem you’ll have is trying to decide where and when to race.

As the virtual rally landscape continues to evolve, there’s great potential for EA Sports WRC to grow into a comprehensive rally simulation and fully own the market on rally games. Expanding the depth of the customization options in “Build Your Own Car” could elevate the gaming experience to new heights. I loved the idea, but not the execution. Adding some sort of advantage like major cost savings or a fast car for driving custom cars would push drivers to go that route. Additionally, adding a parts creation and improvement menus like you find in F1 Manager would further add to the realism of running a real rally team. The only other fix I would like to see is the frame-rate shutter that I have seen throughout the game. I won’t harp on EA too much for this as they have already announced this is a known problem and game patches will be rolled out in the next few weeks. Having a PS5 helps with these issues, but ultimately they should be getting these issues ironed out ahead of the game launch. My last point is more of a want than a needed fix, and that is VR support. I absolutely love the PSVR2 experience with Gran Turismo 7. Having the ever-changing surface changes combined with the lengthy but gorgeous rally stages in VR would take this game to the next level. EA has confirmed that VR support will be coming to PC post-launch, but no official word on the PS5 VR capabilities. I will continue to pray to the rally gods until then.

EA Sports WRC is a commendable addition to the rally gaming genre, offering an adrenaline-pumping experience that captures the essence of the sport. While there’s room for improvement in customization features, the outstanding in-game physics, and stellar graphics make this title a promising contender in the rally world. Grab a helmet and your most trusted co-driver because the journey has just begun, and the road ahead for rally fans looks thrilling.