Codemasters and EA are now at the helm of the WRC licence and are developing what many are calling WRC 23. Though exciting, there are a few reason why you should lower your expectations for the next WRC game.
Image Credit: Kylotonn Games
One of the major news stories from the end of last year was the release of Kylotonn Games’ final attempt at a WRC game. After making the official WRC game since 2015 and the release of WRC 5, the licence is changing hands.
From this year, EA and Codemasters, the team behind the F1 franchise, will be responsible for the official WRC game series. Following on from the mixed reviews of WRC Generations, the developer shift may sound like good news. A new team with new ideas is certainly the perfect way to etch away the existing issues with the games. Though as you’re about to see, there’s an argument for dampening expectations regarding the next WRC game.
Goodbye Healthy Competition in the Rally Game Market
Despite not holding the WRC licence, Codemasters has put out some good titles capable of rivaling KT Games’ offerings. The Dirt Rally franchise is often lauded for simulating the rallying experience. In fact, the competition Dirt Rally 2.0 has provided to the WRC franchise has often elevated both games to new heights.

Now that Codemasters and EA hold the WRC licence, the rally game market will have just one mainstream offering eliminating any sense of rivalry. That is if you don’t count Richard Burns Rally, the 20-year-old game still often dubbed the best rally game around.
Without a worthy challenger, EA and Codemasters can theoretically get away with producing mediocre content. Where else would rally fans go? BeamNG.Drive offers a realistic rally driving experience, but without any recognisable car models. Assetto Corsa‘s modding community is full of rallying content, but the quality of mods varies greatly. And seemingly no official developer is working on a dedicated rally game.
EA’s Recent Record Doesn’t Lift Expectations
For many years now, the F1 franchise has been in a rut. As we detailed in a recent video, the yearly release schedule doesn’t give Codemasters and EA enough time to add or polish features. As such, we get more or less the same game year on year with current tracks, and liveries. Even then, the tracks from the real season aren’t always present or are recycled from previous releases.
Furthermore, since EA took over the Codemasters team, many feel that the series has gone down hill. Cash grabbing DLC features and unrelated customisation pieces litter F1 22. There’s no need for an F1 game to feature supercars with poor handling or various clothes and accessories for a character you only see in a menu. Especially when F2 content seems pretty rushed and the Formula 3 cars don’t even get their moment in the sun.
These are two major issues I can see bringing down the next EA WRC game. Just like the F1 franchise, content will focus on micro-transactions and character customisation rather than the actual cars. What’s more, due to the yearly releases expected for this franchise, any issues found in the title many are calling WRC 23 won’t get fixed for the 2024 iteration.
Yet Another Rally Game Catering to a Mass Audience
As we all know, EA is a massive games studio. It places itself among some of the largest game developers in the world and is responsible for some of the most valuable franchises in gaming. It hasn’t reached this level by creating niche games dedicated to a subgenre of the gaming industry.

As such, simracers must lower their expectations for the next WRC game if they’re looking for an out-and-out rally simulator. Akin to F1 22, WRC 23 will certainly cater to a wide and diverse audience, most of whom will be playing on a gamepad. Don’t expect this game to feel perfect on your €1,000 direct drive wheel. It will be built with accessibility in mind.
Not all Doom and Gloom for WRC 23
All this is certainly not to say that the perfect alternative is to keep the status quo. Kylotonn Games may have shown brief moments of success during its time in charge of the WRC game, but the recent titles are far from perfect.
In WRC Generations alone, there were a whole heap of sore points. Glitches in throttle application. Sloppy research leading to cars with incorrect features such as differential settings and transmissions. Audio in many cars that wouldn’t even be acceptable in the Colin McRae rally games from the early 2000’s. All these major problems many fans had with the game are still present today.
The heyday of KT’s rally gaming prowess is often described as around WRC 8 or 9. So the series has been in a downward spiral for some time now. It seems a change to the monotony is definitely a good thing.
Furthermore, one can’t overlook the fact that Codemasters has done a terrific job with the gaming aspect of the F1 franchise. If WRC 23 has anything as in depth as My Team from F1 22, the simracing community will surely give the game plenty of love.
Only time will tell if the next era of rally gaming will be a success or a total flop. But if rumours are to be believed, the upcoming game is only a few months away with many calling for a Spring release date. Until then though, I will have low expectations for the next WRC game and I advise you to have the same.
Are you feeling optimistic or cautiously realistic for the next WRC game? Let us know by sending a tweet @OverTake_gg or leave a comment down below!
Harsh but true. EA taking over Codemasters was the worst thimy to happen. License games were always poor but EA takes it to another level. I dream that the game will be a dirt rally 2.0 with the WRC license, but it will probably not be the case.
Well we have to see how it will look. Codemasters decided to sell to them as they probably are not anymore budget limited and with budget problems and have better resources than previously. For example EA could help with giving them a NFL Miami Hard Rock Stadium. Also people forget EA had F1 licensed games in the past, they didn’t fail with F1 22 and so far so good. They are also good at promoting sports games mostly FIFA but with F1 they did a job too so Codemasters just needed that.
Of course myself I am scared because of the change of producers currently including NFS games, guys from DiRT and such, everything might be changed. But i was more worried than about EA if they did just transformed DiRT Rally 3 into WRC with their EGO engine or like some said in the past as speculations started to use the Unreal Engine which I would see as very big issue because then it could not remind a evolution of DiRT Rally game or not give exact good feeling to the physics. But I think personally it’s the case they just did transformed it, they work on the game like 3 years or so, so at least the first game might be a game changer, hard to say for the next years. And i hope everything will be alright.
People need a close to simulation, massive looking WRC game because either DR 2.0 or KT WRC games they are just outdated for now “the potential is much bigger” With all honesty the KT WRC games are really not good in terms of realism or immersion, stages are created by devs just being similar to real ones but sometimes are too tight or maybe even too long or too short there is no balance of terrain the car keep randomly jumping hugging strange things so the connection between them, the physics and car is also terrible. The games are only good in the gameplay to drive career mode and have lots of customization options but nothing more, of course you can still enjoy them how they are. But we need a all round perfect WRC game. Both for the casual players and simulation lovers because often those casual players forget that esports is now a thing and they thing the game is good because it has career mode and such but don’t look at the more advanced and important details in physics and such. They already thing it is realistic enough or it’s perfect but I can assure all, it isn’t 🙂
That’s my verdict on the situation.
Did few quick mistakes when writing my comment here of course I meant at the end the word “Think” of course. Sorry for the issue.
Dunno if my previous comment got properly saved as I wrote a lot. But saying it short now:
We have to see, EA can promote games and did it in the past with F1 too, EA and CM didn’t failed with F1 and they got more budget and resources, of course i’m scared if they did really transformed DiRT Rally 3 into WRC or otherwise, “the first option is perfect of course” or what engine they use etc. etc. but at the end we need a good game because current games are lacking the potential which should be visible now. They’re outdated. And current WRC games are really not top when it comes to physics and immersion. Casual players need to think about the esports and simulation side of things because they think the physics are good enough or perfect but it isn’t We can’t just look at the game modes side of things but quality too, no good sounds not realistic stages, some of them currently doesn’t remind with colors the real rallies. Lots of things to work on. But at the end I believe because CM work on current WRC like 3 years or so it should be a gamechanger at least for current season game, for the future not sure, we have to see.
“The heyday of KT’s rally gaming prowess is often described as around WRC 8 or 9. So the series has been in a downward spiral for some time now.”
“Often described” by whom? That’s just flat out wrong. The games have been getting better with every iteration except WRC Generations. The best of the bunch was WRC 10.
WRC Generations has it’s issues but the physics on dirt, gravel & snow feels muuuch better than the previous ones. Tarmac feels more like DR2 though, really slippery. I like the 10 on tarmac but it has a lot of visibility and performance issues, the wheel feedback can dissappear in the middle of a stage,color grading is strange, and to be honest 9 and 8 feels even better to me on tarmac.
If you’d ask me which WRC you should buy today if you never played one I’ll gladly point you forward Generations with the massive amount of stages and most of the improvements from previous games (and the brand new hybrid cars!).
Though if I needed to choose only one rally game I can’t recommend enough DR2 with the stages DLC’s.
My favorite WRC game is 9 with 10 a close second, I played WRC Generations for a bit, but the stupid throttle BS was just too fucked up, even the supposed “patch” that was meant to fix this issue made little to no difference IMO and this issue basically ruined the game for me. The best part of KT’s WRC games was the incredible stage designs. I really hope EA/Codies understands that more and more people play racing games via a wheel and pedals now, wheel and pedal users have grown like 10x in the last few years. Sim racing is exploding lately and I am praying that EA/Codies put in the effort to make WRC 23 feel like a true sim on a sim rig. I don’t expect the stage design to be at the level of the WRC games, but hopefully they can build on the good aspects of Dirt Rally 2.0 while drastically improving the tarmac physics. DR 2.0 on tarmac simply felt like they just turned up the grip level of the gravel physics and called it a day.
Well, experience shows that it is always better to lower expectations in order not to be disappointed.
As I heard, Codemasters began already developing DR 3.0 when EA took them over. The question is if they discarded the whole thing or could they contribute their work. An indicator will be the VR capability which is sorely missed in WRC Generations and former WRC titles. If they are able to put together the best of both worlds it will become perfect. But – back to my first sentence…