WRC 23 or DiRT Rally 3.0? Who cares? It's Coming in Spring, Maybe!

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As all you rally racing gamers should be aware of, EA has snatched the WRC license from Kylotonn starting 2023. That means EA will be publishing the rally racing games starting sometime next year. While that is a fact, apparently the first EA WRC game will already be coming in spring.

In stark contrast to current release schedules, EA is set to release its first WRC game in spring of 2023. This rumour comes after some reports from GamesIndustry.biz that Geoff Smith of EA will be overseeing WRC until spring, when the game is due to launch.

Why is this such a big surprise?​

Until now, WRC games have been released at the end of the season. KT Racing has been following that release schedule dilligently.

On the other hand, we've got other yearly series from EA like F1, which only comes out every summer, so months later.

Keep in mind, though, this is only speculation. Nothing has been confirmed yet.​

Should this rumour be real, however, it mean we could be playing the next WRC game in 3 months already!

So let me ask you this: Are you looking forward to the new game? What are your expectations for EA and Codemasters? Let us know in the comments down below!
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About author
Julian Strasser
Julian Strasser
Motorsports and Maker-stuff enthusiast. Part time jack-of-all-trades. Owner of tracc.eu, a sim racing-related service provider and its racing community.

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Comments

R
gamma123152 said:
EA's F1 22 VR implementation is the most terrible of all sims, it's simply unusable because of the jittery head movement. It only works if you don't move your head, otherwise it jitters. Of course many sim racers that waited for this for years are irritated by it massively especially because of the communication of EA, they simply IGNORE all comments about this subject on their forum. Hundreds and hundreds of comments about it, zero feedback on this from EA. A good developer/company would at least have given some feedback about it to their buyers but they simply chose to ignore them. So communication is one of the reasons that people hate EA. Second thing is that they quite often ruined franchises in the past, more recent example is Battlefield. It was great before and now there is nothing left of it. Then there is project cars, I was never a fan of project cars one or two but I had hopes that they would have gotten rid of the strange driving behaviour in PC3; but what did they do? They ruined the whole franchise again! They made an arcade game of it instead of improving the title and they did it so bad that they now cancelled all PC games. So yes of course people are now afraid that the same thing will happen to Dirt Rally/WRC 23; more arcade, more woke, aimed at kids audience, terrible vr support as with F1 22 or nothing at all. etc.etc. The worries that you read online are all based on historical behaviour of EA. There are as I described many reasons to be worried.
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In fact project cars 3 has been out before electronic art bought codemasters. And codemasters had bought SMS 8 months before Pcars 3's launch. Pcars 3 is just a full SMS bad decision. We can't blame EA for everything. Battlefield games are not my cup of tea but Battlefield 1 was impressive. 2042 is a mistake, from EA? DICE? both? Who knows? Star Wars Squadron, although it entered the wokism world, was a good and refreshing suprise, and really impressive, and immediatly at a low price. EA produces bad games, good ones, not more not less than other editors. Codemasters was already in the preorder DLC business before being acquired by EA. Codemasters never fix the games : F1 2015 remained with its huge deadzone, whatever controller I tried (and it was supposed to be an apology for the bad 2014 title), Dirt Showdown still struggles with wheels (by chance someone found a fix), race driver games remakn with their starforce system making them unusable. At least, EA gave the opportunity to register your old games DVD keys in Origin. Codemasters could have done that with Steam, as others did (Arma games, Prey...). So EA being the killer of Codemasters' games... I think Codemasters does that very well without any help. Don't get me wrong, I do think EA haven't been able to launch as many good games as before for many years, but at least let's blame this company for what it is responsable for, not for what others do. And Codemasters , although I've been playing many of its games for around 20 years, has always been untrustful, most of its games being pledged by bugs or unfinished aspects, which are not so hard to fix. Will we blame EA when it happens again? Codemasters has always ignored my issues (which were well known issues, forums being full of them), I won't blame EA if CM continue ignoring its community. These companies are alm the same, they just don't respect their consumers. Because they keep on buying their products.

They are all the same because most of their consumers have the same behaviour : preordering, buying day one hoping the bugs reported by reviewers will be fixed, taking the risk of too early access, paying for stupid skins....
 
R
RaceNut said:
Yeah, it's like that. But then, ffb's role varies per person, too. FFB is a big deal for me, one of main reasons I get so frustrated with DR2. DR2 does motion effects pretty well though.

If DR2 physics are sound, why isn't the ffb more dynamic? It makes no sense, especially in regard to tarmac dynamics. I once had a conversation with a CM DR2 dev that admitted they didn't understand what players want by way of ffb, and that (sadly) remains obvious to this day.

The WRC series lacks convincing motion effects but, actually offers a bit more (than DR2) in ffb detail, which seems counterintuitive, considering overall physics at work. Still, both titles ffb is very basic at best. Compare either title to ffb in PC2 / AMS1 / iRacing (Tarmac & offroad), and the differences in ffb become clearer.
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Let's hope CM has hired competent people in the FFB area for the next title! I wasn't annoyed by the ffb but indeed, it is not on par with other titles (don't know iracing but in pcars 2 it feels natural on dirt ; I really hope AMS2 will explore dirt racing with this madness engine).
 
R
testdriver77 said:
Oh no.... i am not hyped not even 1%. The only more or less game from Kyloton (which i own) is TT Isle of Man 1 and 2. Its not a real accurate game and has also not the best physics but as a whole package is ok. Its funny to smash the laps on TT.

Basically Kylotonn & Nacon as combo is a joke. Thats the truth. They released so many litrations of ther game and there is no real evolution. Just copy & paste.
Lot of promises but zero reaction to solve problems.
Generations is probably the same as far i saw lot of videos on YT.
Burnt my fingers two times and its enough.

Test Drive i guess will be a mess and i have more trust in Forza titles than in Test Drive.
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Well I can't say for KT's WRC titles, I just tried the 9, which I got for free and I liked what I experienced.

I expect the physics of KT's Test Drive to be more interesting than those of other open world racing games, we'll see. The team have to do something groundbreaking to launch a series., I expect it to polish the game.
 
testdriver77
roadyroad said:
Well I can't say for KT's WRC titles, I just tried the 9, which I got for free and I liked what I experienced.

I expect the physics of KT's Test Drive to be more interesting than those of other open world racing games, we'll see. The team have to do something groundbreaking to launch a series., I expect it to polish the game.
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You got it for free. Now imagine when you ususally have to pay lets say 50 Euro.
I dont think its worth. Ive paid 20 and this was 15 too much....

Sorry if i have to disappoint you but in the past KT never polished their games. They practise fire and forget...that means after a release they bring 1 patch with pseudo fixes and thats all. I doubt it that they changed their behaviour.
Dont believe all the "nice" youtubers and their useless reviews.
I wish someone would honestly warn me in the past about KTs games like i am doing it now.

Anyway, back to Dirt Rally/ Wrc23.
The big question here is which engine Codemasters/EA have chosen for the next title?
I dont bother about sound because this was very well. Hopefully the FFB and VR will be made properly from beginning and the game itself will focus just on rally/wrc and no other disciplines.
 
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autobot9919
I got Generations and I like a lot, the stages make the difference. It's not perfect but highlights a lot of flaws in Dirt Rally who I feel need to switch things up next time out,
 
G
roadyroad said:
Let's hope CM has hired competent people in the FFB area for the next title! I wasn't annoyed by the ffb but indeed, it is not on par with other titles (don't know iracing but in pcars 2 it feels natural on dirt ; I really hope AMS2 will explore dirt racing with this madness engine).
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Imo the FFB of DR2 is great! DD2 user here.
 
G
roadyroad said:
In fact project cars 3 has been out before electronic art bought codemasters. And codemasters had bought SMS 8 months before Pcars 3's launch. Pcars 3 is just a full SMS bad decision. We can't blame EA for everything. Battlefield games are not my cup of tea but Battlefield 1 was impressive. 2042 is a mistake, from EA? DICE? both? Who knows? Star Wars Squadron, although it entered the wokism world, was a good and refreshing suprise, and really impressive, and immediatly at a low price. EA produces bad games, good ones, not more not less than other editors. Codemasters was already in the preorder DLC business before being acquired by EA. Codemasters never fix the games : F1 2015 remained with its huge deadzone, whatever controller I tried (and it was supposed to be an apology for the bad 2014 title), Dirt Showdown still struggles with wheels (by chance someone found a fix), race driver games remakn with their starforce system making them unusable. At least, EA gave the opportunity to register your old games DVD keys in Origin. Codemasters could have done that with Steam, as others did (Arma games, Prey...). So EA being the killer of Codemasters' games... I think Codemasters does that very well without any help. Don't get me wrong, I do think EA haven't been able to launch as many good games as before for many years, but at least let's blame this company for what it is responsable for, not for what others do. And Codemasters , although I've been playing many of its games for around 20 years, has always been untrustful, most of its games being pledged by bugs or unfinished aspects, which are not so hard to fix. Will we blame EA when it happens again? Codemasters has always ignored my issues (which were well known issues, forums being full of them), I won't blame EA if CM continue ignoring its community. These companies are alm the same, they just don't respect their consumers. Because they keep on buying their products.

They are all the same because most of their consumers have the same behaviour : preordering, buying day one hoping the bugs reported by reviewers will be fixed, taking the risk of too early access, paying for stupid skins....
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I didn't know that. Sounds like the most toxic cooperation in gaming history then it's all true, EA and Codemasters. Let's hope that we both get proven wrong and that WRC 23 is going to be amazing.
 
R
testdriver77 said:
You got it for free. Now imagine when you ususally have to pay lets say 50 Euro.
I dont think its worth. Ive paid 20 and this was 15 too much....

Sorry if i have to disappoint you but in the past KT never polished their games. They practise fire and forget...that means after a release they bring 1 patch with pseudo fixes and thats all. I doubt it that they changed their behaviour.
Dont believe all the "nice" youtubers and their useless reviews.
I wish someone would honestly warn me in the past about KTs games like i am doing it now.

Anyway, back to Dirt Rally/ Wrc23.
The big question here is which engine Codemasters/EA have chosen for the next title?
I dont bother about sound because this was very well. Hopefully the FFB and VR will be made properly from beginning and the game itself will focus just on rally/wrc and no other disciplines.
Click to expand...
Yes I know KT's fame, Codemasters' one isn't really better. It just has published more games than KT, and some are flawless (generally it seems the Dirt games are bug free, excepted Showdown, but someone found a fix years later) , so it seems to have a better image.

But for sure I wouldn't buy any game from both companies on day one and at full price. I recommend reading customers' reviews, this is were you can identify critical unfixed bugs.

You may be right about a WRC title focusing on one discipline and it may happen, as I'm not sure the deal allow CM to mix the discipline with others. But that would probably mean we'll never get other rallycross sims, as I'm pretty sure a dedicated rallycross game won't appeal to a lot of simracers. I wish so that the new title still includes other disciplines. Or maybe later as a DLC, to focus primarly on the rally.

I hope the madness engine will be used but I have no idea whether it is possible to fully develop a 100% new game in 3 years, 3 years including two reorganizations and the covid crisis.
It would be a nice surprise but it would require a full detailed bugs inspection :D
 
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R
gamma123152 said:
I didn't know that. Sounds like the most toxic cooperation in gaming history then it's all true, EA and Codemasters. Let's hope that we both get proven wrong and that WRC 23 is going to be amazing.
Click to expand...
Let's wait for Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, this will be the toxiest cooperation ever :D let's hope it won't happen. And yes, let's hope CM will deliver a good title, it proved it could do it with the previous ones, but we need real improvements. Or it will be a buy on sale ot just a no buy... in Dirt 4 the tarmac feeling had improved a lot, why can't codemasters do the same again?
 
G
testdriver77 said:
Anyway, back to Dirt Rally/ Wrc23.
The big question here is which engine Codemasters/EA have chosen for the next title?
I dont bother about sound because this was very well. Hopefully the FFB and VR will be made properly from beginning and the game itself will focus just on rally/wrc and no other disciplines
Click to expand...
Exactly this. This is the point that I worry about the most, after the disappointment of Rennsport's stupid engine choice regarding VR and since the not-working VR implementation of F1 22.
 
T
Some of you people talk like DR2.0 isn't a thing. Like it never existed. Maybe it's because you've never played it...i don't know. But your complete and absolute mistrust in Codemasters being able to make a good WRC game....baffles me.
Also,from what i get from the comments (most of them make little sense btw), most of the negativity towards EA is because of........VR implementation? Seriously, is it such a HUGE deal for you? Is VR some kind of an addiction or something?
Like, even if 99% of the game is an epic rally experience, you will still crap on EA and Codies if their VR implementation is PERFECT. That's extreme. Chill out with that VR nonsense. I get it, it's cool, but it's not the Alpha and Omega of a racing game.
 
H
I got WRC 7, 8, 10 and generations.
7 - was not too much of a sim, but it was fun.
8 - I hated the physics
10 - really good, but had an issue with multiple controllers
G - felt a bit too much like 10, controller issues included, but has a LOT of content

That said, I have more hours played in each WRC title - excluding 8 - than in DR 1 and 2 taken together. I find them much more enjoyable, with an actuall carreer mode that doesn't just feel like a series of similar stages taken randomly, the car has more predictable reactions and the navigator gives nice directions at the right time.
DR2 also gives me an issue with FFB on my SC2 Sport and I've never been able to sort it out, and to me it somehow almost feels worse than DR1. I'm not really that excited to see Codemasters getting the WRC license, unless they're going to use the madness engine for it.
 
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testdriver77
turbo86 said:
After WRC8, you shouldn't need somebody to tell you not to waste your money on any other of their games.
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Generally yes, agree with that. This was one and only accident. Ive had bit of hope but that was a mistake. Ive paid only 15 Euro so the pain is not so big :)
 
TheRealCeeBee
turbo86 said:
Some of you people talk like DR2.0 isn't a thing. Like it never existed. Maybe it's because you've never played it...i don't know. But your complete and absolute mistrust in Codemasters being able to make a good WRC game....baffles me.
Also,from what i get from the comments (most of them make little sense btw), most of the negativity towards EA is because of........VR implementation? Seriously, is it such a HUGE deal for you? Is VR some kind of an addiction or something?
Like, even if 99% of the game is an epic rally experience, you will still crap on EA and Codies if their VR implementation is PERFECT. That's extreme. Chill out with that VR nonsense. I get it, it's cool, but it's not the Alpha and Omega of a racing game.
Click to expand...
Id hazard a guess that the great gem that was DR2 has gotten lost between all the utter smegma "Dirt" games.. Codies slogan is still known to be "you keep paying for them and we keep will keep farting them out".

Agreed on DR2 though, they got that one right.
 
autobot9919
There's quite a bit of content in DR 2.0 but once you have grinded through it the cupboard is really bare, I burned out on it after unlocking everything I was reduced to doing dailies and the stages became too repetitive & samey. I wish I played more of the the rallycross, asphalt stages were a joke and no hill climb disappointing.
 
François Strat
Meh ... Dirt Rally 3.0, simcad with expensive dlc's and WRC franchise wich are the most unfinished games (even EA is chocked) ^_^

I Wonder wich one i won't buy first :-P
 
uz1l0v3r
turbo86 said:
Also,from what i get from the comments (most of them make little sense btw), most of the negativity towards EA is because of........VR implementation? Seriously, is it such a HUGE deal for you? Is VR some kind of an addiction or something?
Click to expand...
Not everyone who races either has the room or desire to have a dedicated monitor attached to their rig (assuming they even use a rig). I race solely with an HMD so by that very fact I would not be buying a racing title that didn't support VR.
 

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