Perhaps more than any other racing game developer in the scene today, there are more lapsed fans of the Dirt franchise from Codemasters out there longing for a rally racing game done the old-fashioned way. You know, with realistic, exciting racing combined with an eclectic and interesting vehicle selection. If you're one of these fans, you might be very interested indeed in Codemaster's most recent project in conjunction with EA. Set to release in November 2023 across PC, Xbox, and the PlayStation 5, EA Sport's WRC might be the scratch that satisfies your itch. Let's take a look at what we know so far.
After a series of ambiguous but nonetheless intriguing teaser trailers this past summer, Codemasters finally unveiled the fruits of their first collaboration with the titans of the gaming industry, Electronic Arts. It's the first time in the company's nearly four decades in operation that they've received the rights to develop a game directly tied to the sanctioned World Rally Championship moniker; it's a privilege Codemasters surely doesn't take lightly. For the occasion, the latest game in the WRC racing series is coming at us with over 600 km of exciting rally stages inspired by real-life events WRC drivers routinely race upon.
Though later installments in the Dirt franchise were criticized somewhat for playing into the more arcade-heavy aspects of racing games, the influence of EA appears to set future Codemasters racing games back on the path towards honest-to-god, genuinely realistic rally racing that brought flocks of gamers to the Dirt franchise all those years ago. This profound change in design philosophy is in no small part due to WRC's new game engine, the fifth edition of the Unreal Engine from Epic Games. Through this exciting new game engine, every aspect of WRC, from the vehicles to the environments in which they drive and, of course, the gameplay itself, will get a fresh layer of realism and refinement added to it that Codemasters hopes will bring back lapsed fans of their older games.
An exciting mode called builder mode is among the new features possible with the new game engine. Wherein the player is able to design and build a bespoke rally vehicle to the specs of the World Rally Championship and race it against the competition as if they were a newly-entered manufacturer in the series. Other goodies like 68 classic rally cars included with the base game, including Colin McRae's '98 Subaru Impreza, bring that little touch of familiarity to balance out all the exciting new toys on offer with Codemaster's latest racing game. For those who want to get in on the action early, three days of early access will be granted to all who pre-order the game, regardless of the platform. If you ask us, that's a deal worth considering.
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