Community Question: Do you Prefer DiRT Rally 2.0 Or EA Sports WRC?

Cover Image.jpg
EA Sports WRC vs DiRT Rally 2.0. Image: Codemasters & EA Sports

Do you prefer EA Sports WRC or DiRT Rally 2.0?

  • EA Sports WRC

    Votes: 143 30.5%
  • DiRT Rally 2.0

    Votes: 273 58.2%
  • neither (please specify in comments)

    Votes: 53 11.3%

  • Total voters
    469
The rally niche within sim racing is a competitive battlefield of dust, dirt and debris. EA Sports WRC and DiRT Rally 2.0 are two modern heavy hitters in the genre - we want to know: Which one do you prefer, and why?

Opel Manta DR 2.0.jpg

Opel Manta Rally Car. Image: Codemasters

Reputation​

Ever since its launch, WRC has had a number of issues when it comes to the opinion of its community. The EA anti-cheat that was implemented in version 1.9.0 drove a lot of skeptical players away from the sim and outright disabled the game for all Linux users.

A hit to a title's reputation within a niche audience normally spells disaster, but the most recent DLC has been reecived more favorably with the addition of Rally Poland and Rally Latvia. There has been a small surge of players returning to the sim, but the player numbers still do not match its older counterpart, DiRT Rally 2.0.

Rally Poland Puma.jpg

Rally Poland spec 2024 Ford Puma Rally1. Image: EA Sports

If you love rallying, you have more than likely played WRC's industry predecessor, DiRT Rally 2.0. If you decided to leave WRC when that update came out, then Codemasters other rally title was more than likely the title you fell back on. The other classic option for rally fans is the fantastic Richard Burns Rally, but that is an entirely different beast.

Does this new update and roadmap for WRC attract you back to the title if you have been back playing DiRT Rally 2.0? Are the new official 2024 cars and Rally Poland and Rally Latvia enough to tip the balance in WRC's favour?

Driving Feel​

Upon release, EA Sports WRC was heavily criticised for over-complicating the force feedback. The title had an empty feeling and a lack of communication between the wheelbase and the game itself for some. Over time, this has been improved, and with the right settings, you can have a great experience. However, a lot of rally fans still turn to DiRT Rally 2.0 for that immersive and gritty feeling that a Rally game should give the player.

Latvala YarisRally2 Finland.jpg

Yaris Rally2 Finland livery replacement. Image: Rodrigues27

What WRC does have over DiRT rally 2.0 is some of the stage variety and length. When you are locked in and are driving a stage at ten-tenths, the scenery flashing past you, you get lost in the dynamic world of the stage you are driving. The longest stage in WRC stands at a staggering 34.4km. That is over double what DiRT Rally 2.0 offers with its comparable longest stage being capped at just 16.4km.

With the improvements to WRC's force feedback over time, is it comparable to DiRT Rally 2.0 on your setup? Is it considerably better or worse? The driving physics is always a personal preference, but that is what we want to know. Which do you prefer?

What truly matters to players?​

It is clear that a large majority of WRC's fanbase was not impressed with the anti-cheat update, but DiRT Rally 2.0 has also had its fair share of issues and bugs that have forced players away, especially with game performance at launch.

Skoda Fabia Colin McRae.jpg

Colin McRae's Skoda Fabia in DiRT Rally 2.0. Image: Codemasters

However, looking past these issues what is the main thing that draws you to either WRC or DiRT Rally 2.0? And, perhaps even more interestingly, what would EA Sports WRC need to pass DR2.0? Let us know which additions, features, adjustments or fixes you would like to see in order for EA's current offering to draw you back in. We will make sure to highlight them in a follow-up article!

Let us know in the comments below which title you like to play, WRC or DiRT Rally 2.0. Feel free to make comparisons to other rally titles as well if you prefer something a little more niche!
About author
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

I was happy playing EA WRC until they pulled the EAC card. Then I uninstalled it (after EAC was announced but before the update even got released) and went back to DR 2.0 although lately I am playing RallySimFans more than DR 2.0
 
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For me, if I was recommending a new user: DR2

I couldn't play WRC because of the crazy stuttering for the first few months. It does now (as of Oct '24) seem to be resolved, but even if it is I have a problem that WRC doesn't have game modes I want to play.

In DR2 I loved the career championships - the AI was well done and crucially there was no clutter like the WRC one seems to. And best of all, the season's events were truly randomised. With WRC, not even the stages within the events are random; they apparently follow the same order each year. Even with the '24 DLC, there's a single fixed calendar. WRC also only really has a career for the three modern classes, the historic classes are sidelined.

OK, so career isn't for me; solo play. But in solo play rallies or championships I can't select the classes. So if I want to role play Vatanen's Escort or Alen's Fiat 131 I have to run 60th on the road with fully rutted stages behind a load of Group B and Group A cars. How hard would it be to have a toggle to turn off multi class?

Last resort; dailies. I loved the 'you have one shot' approach in DR2 to these... but no, they're gone. Replaced by a 'moments' stage which, ironically, you can run over and over.

The UI is also much worse IMO - DR2's menu was great in its simplicity, big blocks and a consistent approach throughout. WRC one I find inconsistent by comparison (and I turned the music off, which I never did in DR1 or 2).

Back to graphics for a sec... WRC has made the switch but it looks far worse for the performance. The water effect of rain and splashes is poor compared to DR2. In DR2 cars got caked in mud whereas I can run a wet Kenyan stage in WRC and the car still looks cleaner than the Skoda in my driveway.

But, importantly WRC has better tarmac handling and far more stage mileage. I like having the choice for a female codriver and some of the car list is truly inspired, such as the Talbot Sunbeam and Hillman Avenger (although some terrible class groupings remain, like the Stratos bundled with Group A cars instead of the other '70s machines). That said, DR2 had the superb RGT class, which is one of my favourites - it's such a pity we can't combine these with WRC's tarmac handling.

WRC's DLC structure adding new stages to existing locations to further increase the unique KMs of events like Monte Carlo and Portugal is great too, this is something DR2 lacks, and having 60km of unique stage for some countries makes a huge difference compared to the older game.

A shout out to RSF for adding single player back to RBR with their latest update: a single-player with opponent drivers and cars who have varying properties, are editable and for having rallies with a proper itinerary broken into 'days'; you know, how rallying works.


Still filthy I didn't get a refund on WRC.

I spent more than the first hour of ownership of WRC locked out of an EA account because I used it for a FIFA demo more than five years ago. After EA support helped unlock it (genuinely very helpful), I had less than an hour fiddling with settings trying to fix the stutter. I left it and waited for a patch, but this didn't fix it so I asked for a refund; no dice, because I'd 'played' for 2.5 hours. However, the significant sale discount on the '24 made me try it again and I'm happy to say it has improved to resolve the performance issues and I look forward to spending some more time with it.
 
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As I am not able to run EA Sports WRC due to the AVX lock (really should be specified on Steam’s mininal requirements, as my CPU is far better spec than the one mentioned on Steam, it only doesn’t support AVX), it’s DR2 then. I also like the old rallycross. I would love to be able to play EA Sports WRC, because I love the roster of classic cars (from 90s)
 
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Also when I want to play on keyboard instead of a wheel (for a wheel the RSF-RBR is the ultimate choice) I usually stick to classic DiRT2/3 or the good old Mobil 1
 
Premium
DR 2.0 is by far the better rallysim. UI is way more comprehensible, good FPS, replay/screenshots is way less annoying and the cars are physically just (very) good at gravel/snow(depending on the car...) Tarmac not so much... but just try DirtFish FreeRoam with any of the cars. Brilliant handling/physics (talking about any RWD old stuff Gr A and Gr B awd included) !

EDIT , 5 years ago I made this very crappy soundless video. I love(d) DR 2.0

WRC: Big deception!

Cheers
Robin
 
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Little column A, little column B. They're both good in their own ways. If i had to pick? WRC.

Why are people saying RBR? That wasn't the question. This is a like-for-like comparison between two simcade's from the same studio. Not 'which one is the most realistic'.
 
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EA WRC.
For me the bad thing about WRC, is that in lifeless compare to Dirt Rally 2.0. It needs to improve. The stages need more life and immersion, they must bring random events to the game. I don't know if they can bring ERC and WRX to the game, but at least they need to include the Special Stages, so we can have more depth to the game and some similar to Dirt Rally 2.0 and of course a Free Roam option, Dirt Fish place should make a return.
 
I tried WRC previously but I had to refund it because with AMD GPUs the framerate goes down by 40-50% towards the end of a stage (not rendering related, with reverse stage the performance at the same spot is good, it's very weird problem, and it's documented on YT as well as the EA forums, but no fix yet, barely acknowledged). Otherwise I must say I liked it, I though the FFB was communicative, handling felt better than DR2.0, the graphics were also better and it didn't run as bad as some UE titles (apart from end of stage problem), I liked the customization though I barely had time to get into it. Graphically I find the interiors quite lacking in DR2.0, that's why I was looking forward to WRC. But unfortunately performance issues disqualified it.
 

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Author
Connor Minniss
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