WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship | Preview, engines between history and nature

WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship | Preview

The call of nature is something essential both for man and for other animals. This is how human beings have tried to overcome their limits over the ages by confronting each time in a different way with the environment that surrounds them. For example, we have come to be able to celebrate the fifty years since the beginning of the noble art of clawing the wilderness aboard a rally car in the world-famous extreme racing competition WRC.

And what better way to celebrate the truest instincts of mankind than with the very close WRC 10, a new chapter in the series resulting from the joint efforts of Nacon and KT Racing? Precisely for this reason we made sure not to miss the preview presentation of the title, also managing to get your hands on a trial version of the game for PC. WRC 10 will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC starting September 2, 2021 and will only be released later for Nintendo Switch.

WRC 10 represents a very important chapter in the rallying saga by Nacon, introducing not only the new official World Rally Championship season, to be precise that of 2021, but, as we said at the beginning, also allowing us to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the WRC championship. Thus, in addition to discovering all the innovations offered by modern competitions, we will have the opportunity to relive all the epic nature of events, tracks and vehicles of the past.

Many ways to play

In the full game there will be many different opportunities to get on board a rally car in both single and multiplayer. In addition to an updated Career mode, we will be able to opt for single races or seasons, to run quickly without worrying about the managerial aspects of the matter. We will have everything we need to hone our skills as a driver thanks to Training sessions, Challenges and through the Test Area, where it is possible to freely test various vehicles and settings.

Also, as expected , a historical mode dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary will be available to us. The multiplayer promises to be rich and articulated with online challenges, offline splitscreen and with the cooperative mode that will allow you to step into the role of the co-pilot. There are also special challenges that will be updated over time. It will then be possible to have fun with the Photo Mode and the Showroom.

We will be able to keep everything under control thanks to the Coach functions, a useful game assistant, and Driver Card, containing all the personal statistics, and for the first time we will be able to unleash our imagination thanks to a varied livery editor with which to customize our vehicles. In addition to the novelties in terms of methods, a lot of new material is expected in terms of content. We will be able to face six new rallies, four modern ones in Estonia, Croatia, Spain and Belgium and two historical ones in Greece and Italy.

In addition to more than fifty official teams of 2021, between the WRC, WRC 2, WRC categories 3 and JUNIOR WRC, it will be possible to get on board twenty-two cars of the past including Subaru Impreza WRC 1997, Peugeot 205 T16, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V and other iconic vehicles, which will be reproduced under license with the original liveries of the time, with lots of of references to real samples and to the preparations of the itineraries relating to the various eras. Other changes, which we will analyze later, concern a personalized team management, improvements relating to vehicle physics and the audiovisual sector.

Numbers, varieties and innovations

According to Nacon's promises, we will have to so expect to race on more than 120 tracks, 40 of which are completely new. We will see the introduction of Shakedowns, small paths that will allow you to test your vehicle. We will travel between 19 countries and settings, of which 13 obviously taken from the 2021 Season and 6 historical ones. In total we will be able to face 12 historic rallies, but not all will be available at launch: while we will be able to immediately tackle the rocky roads of Greece, let ourselves be carried away by the mountain views of Sanremo and brave the cold of New Zealand, for Argentina, Germany and Mexico we will have to wait for some post-launch updates.

Even for some modern rallies we will have to wait for subsequent updates: Belgium and Greece will not be available from the first moment. It will always and in any case be free additional material, to which new routes, cars, events and features will be added in the future. As far as past competitions are concerned, it will be possible to take part in historic races resumed from 1973 onwards and divided into various categories: early years, Group B, Group A and WRC.

Instead for what concerns the present career in WRC 10, you will have to deal with various aspects related to management and growth, with the management of the calendar and team members, with a renewed skill tree, with the control of sponsors, liveries, objectives and the Headquarters. A number of technological advances have also been made with revised physics in handling, electronics, suspension, brakes and aerodynamics. On the audiovisual level, however, the game will make use of the KT Engine, an internal engine by now run-in, mainly intended for driving games. Practically all the sound effects relating to rhombuses and collisions have been revisited and the management of the volumes of the competition grounds and the representation of the vegetation have been improved.

Going on the road with WRC 10

WRC 10 in its test version is therefore confirmed as a substantial evolution of its predecessor. We were able to experience the differences between the four vehicles at our disposal and the various types of terrain that follow one another in the three selectable routes. Between one vehicle and another it is immediately possible to experience a different driving style as well as the different type of grip between asphalted and gravel surfaces.

The WRC 10 control system is very precise, halfway between arcade and simulation. You can play well with both keyboard and joystick. In particular, with regard to the latter, an excellent feedback can be perceived in terms of vibrations: the imperfections of the path and the sensation of floating in the soil are replicated in a credible manner. Instead we were not completely satisfied with the use of the steering wheel, which obviously still needs some additional calibration, with a force feedback that sometimes responds too full and sometimes too empty, forcing forced maneuvers to avoid going off the road. .

At the audiovisual level WRC 10 is presented as a valuable product even if some details of the routes are a little dull. Some nice touches of class such as the possibility of encountering drones intent on recovering us along the way. Dynamic weather and the changing response of surfaces are effective. The damage model is good. The work of Nacon and KT Racing looks really interesting and at this point we can't wait to get our hands on the final version of the game to experience the large amount of content that awaits us this year. In short, after this test we are definitely ready to race through inaccessible landscapes and past eras!

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