WRC4 WRC 4 The Game

Bram Hengeveld · Jun 2, 2009

On the iOpener website there is a very interesting article about an upcoming World Rally Championship simulator:

World Rally Championship's next game: Racing live against rally heroes

The next generation WRC computer game will allow players to 'compete' in live rallies", states ISC chairman Neil Duncanson in the April version of SportBusiness International magazine. ISC, the global promoter of the World Rally Championship (WRC), mentions WRC's ultimate goal as building up an online gaming world championship alongside the real thing.
ISC and the computer gaming industry believe the next step in gaming is this 'live' competition between gamers and real drivers, made possible through iOpener's patented technology.
ISC CEO Simon Long says: "Now we are a global promoter, we want this to be multi-platform, multi-publisher, multi-territory."
For Long and Duncanson the new game is part of WRC's broader efforts to appeal new fans beyond the hardcore enthusiastics. FIA's chairman Max Mosley has said the virtual champion will be honoured at the WRC's annual end-of-season awards ceremony in Monaco.

Source: iOpener Media

Last April we already brought you the first news about iOpener Media's beta testers recruitment for their Real Time Racing project.

The news about this technology where virtual racers can compete against the real drivers on the track in real time is now spreading amoung the simracing communities.

iOpener is still looking for the worlds best simracers to join their beta test program that's about to start soon. If you are interested in joining then you can sign up on the RTR website

Johnny Russian · Oct 27, 2013

I picked this game up on Friday, been playing it for a couple of days and this is a brief comparison of it to WRC 3. WRC 3 was the first rally game I bought from Milestone so can't comment on how it compares to the first two.

PRESENTATION
Vastly improved from WRC 3. The menus look a lot better, there's no more terrible dubstep and cartoony drawings.

GRAPHICS
Can't notice too much difference from WRC 3, but WRC 3 looked really decent anyway in my opinion. Car models are maybe improved a bit. Gonna have to play more to tell for sure. New lighting conditions are dawn, dusk, and noon, and they look great.

SOUND
This is vastly improved from WRC 3. Engines have a really nice tone to them, and the popping sound from the exhaust is a lot more pronounced.

HANDLING
Pretty much the same as WRC 3. I think it's decent enough, I know other people don't, but I am sure EC Hardware will come out with their advanced physics mod to improve it like last year.

CAREER MODE
This has had a huge overhaul compared to WRC 3. Gone are all the stupid challenges you had to do. It's now a proper career. Start of as a wildcard racer in two rallies, then you get offers from WRC 3 and WRC 2 category teams, and you have to work your way up to driving in the WRC proper. Works on a reputation system where the higher your score (reputation) the better the offers you get. I much prefer the career mode in this year's game compared to last year, although it seems kinda like a copy of CM's career system from their F1 games.

SUMMARY
I think there are enough improvements here to buy the game this year, even if you have WRC 3. It's not the most expensive game out there either, price is pretty reasonable on Steam. The change in career mode especially makes it worth it. Some of the rally stages seem to be re-used a little bit, but there also seems to be some new stages too. I haven't played all the rallies yet, so can't really say for certain right now. If you like rally, not a bad game at all to have in your collection. I spent a good few months playing WRC 3 before I got bored of it, and I'll probably spend equally as long playing WRC 4 too. My biggest complaint is the lack of force feedback! I'm playing on an Xbox 360 controller and I just don't think there's enough. Can't say what the FFB is like on a wheel unfortunately.

Thimoty Decrans · Oct 27, 2013

rossi skin

killf4ce · Oct 27, 2013

looking good!

DjFIL · Oct 28, 2013

A fan of WRC 3 created guides/maps showing how each of the stages work long side each another.
Direct to Zip download: http://www.fsfiles.org/imagehost/uploads/1350461780.zip
His website/post: http://mesa.extra.hu/index.php/en/tests-and-howtos/15-ismertetk/144-wrc-3-rallye-ujjaszueletve

I wanted to see how much has changed to WRC 4.

http://imgur.com/a/k2mvw

Argentina - Unchanged from WRC 3. Y shape layout.
Australia - New region to WRC 4. 3 alternate paths.
Finland - New map for WRC 4. 3 alternate paths.
France - Unchanged from WRC 3.
Germany - New map for WRC 4. 3 alternate paths.
Greece - Unchanged from WRC 3. Y shape layout.
Italy - New map for WRC 4. 4 alternate paths.
Mexico - Unchanged from WRC 3.
Monte-Carlo - Unchanged from WRC 3.
Portugal - Unchanged from WRC 3.
Spain - Unchanged from WRC 3.
Sweden - New map for WRC 4. 3 alternate paths.
Wales - Unchanged from WRC 3.

So it would appear that only 5 countries are new. All the updated regions include alternate paths... but very short sections. Only 2 of the Y stages from WRC 3 (which had 6 Y-stages) were kept. Guessing in WRC 5 that we will see those two Y stages will see remodels. Really wish they would be a bit more creative. I understand they can't create 70-100km's of unique road for each region... but there's better ways they can use a 3km by 3km map (that's my estimate) and create a way where less Deja Vu will occur.

EDIT: Detected 3rd alternate path in Germany. Map is updated.

DjFIL · Oct 28, 2013

It's fun. But it's not realistic.

See my other post regarding world maps. Only 5 of the 13 countries are new, 8 are 1:1 copies (maybe texture updates) from WRC 3. Still loads of deja vu.

900 degree wheel support is a joke, causes loads of dead zone and sluggishness. I needed to use 300 degrees (similar to F1 2013). And force feedback is nothing but variable center spring... no rumble, bumps, etc.

Pedals need to be in combined mode, or again you get huge (50%) dead zone on each pedal. Thought this was a game made in 2013, not in 1999.

There's always traction control on the wheels, you can't turn it off.

Even though all my comments above are mostly negative... I'm enjoying the game. It's a rally game... and ever since DiRT 1, we haven't really had a new one (DiRT 2/3 rally stages were jokes). It's maybe a 6.5 or barely pushing a 7 out of 10... it's far from perfect... but it's playable and enjoyable (with the correct settings.

russvox · Oct 28, 2013

ha anyone had any issues with the multiplayer? Ive set up an account, it worked once then next time I played it wouldn't let me log in saying "you have to validate the email" which I had, so I made another account and its done the same thing again?? Anyone got any clues so I don't have to set up a new account every single time i play...

mikul1991 · Oct 28, 2013

If colors in WRC4 are for you too washed out, need more sharpness and better looking vegetation - try my SweetFX profile in this game.

All you need to do is extract WRC 4 SweetFX 1.5.1.rar in your WRC4.exe directory.

Download:
Version 1.1 (more natural colours, better contrast):
http://www39.zippyshare.com/v/60607952/file.html

If you don't like this mod, just delete all mod files.

Remeber to disable Fraps and program like this before you run the game!

Comparasion screen:
http://sfx.thelazy.net/games/preset/835/

I hope you will like this.

Pascal Herbig · Oct 28, 2013

Hi, I cannot join any online game. I can see all time trial lists but I cannot join any online Server. Any ideas?

Superd00ps · Oct 29, 2013

russvox said:
ha anyone had any issues with the multiplayer? Ive set up an account, it worked once then next time I played it wouldn't let me log in saying "you have to validate the email" which I had, so I made another account and its done the same thing again?? Anyone got any clues so I don't have to set up a new account every single time i play...

Did you use a Gmail account? it Doesn't work with Hotmail.
You can email them at:support@jenkinssoftware.com

Superd00ps · Oct 29, 2013

Pascal Herbig said:
Hi, I cannot join any online game. I can see all time trial lists but I cannot join any online Server. Any ideas?

See above on creating an account, validating it via the email they send you.
Try opening UDP ports 33766:61111

FROST John · Oct 29, 2013

mikul1991 said:
If colors in WRC4 are for you too washed out, need more sharpness and better looking vegetation - try my SweetFX profile in this game.

All you need to do is extract WRC 4 SweetFX 1.5.1.rar in your WRC4.exe directory.

Download:
Version 1.1 (more natural colours, better contrast):
http://www39.zippyshare.com/v/60607952/file.html

If you don't like this mod, just delete all mod files.

Remeber to disable Fraps and program like this before you run the game!

Comparasion screen:
http://sfx.thelazy.net/games/preset/835/

I hope you will like this.

Wow :O Thanks,i'll try it...

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 29, 2013

Do you guys need a modding section in the resource manager for WRC4? http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/resources/

maciejk · Oct 29, 2013

where can i download this mod the links don't work

maciejk · Oct 29, 2013

New
where can i download this mod the links don't work

Manuel De Samaniego · Oct 30, 2013

I got it, once I finally got to race (that is, after staring at the menus with my mouth open for 30 minutes) it left me a very good impression, it has a more serious tone than last year's game and the career is similar to WRC2's career which I found very good, it's still as fun as WRC3, the physics have been improved a little bit, and the sounds are much better, the WRC cars sound very much like they do in reality. The graphics are improved over WRC3 and I found it very nice when you're in a Rally and you finish a day of competition and at the start of the next day the first stage is in the morning or the afternoon and you finish the day at dusk, the different lighting conditions are a nice addition that also make replays look very pretty. I also like that every car that has participated in the WRC this year in WRC, WRC2, WRC3 and JWRC is in the game aswell as the drivers and codrivers with their respective driving suits and helmets and the car's numberplates are changed for each rally as in reality.

There are 10 difficulty settings and the highest levels are exceptionally difficult which I think is nice.

Overall I think it is a nice improvement over WRC 3 which already was a huge improvement over WRC2, I'd recommend it if you're a fan of Rallying or want to try a Rally game, and you can drive the new Hyundai WRC car which will debut next year in the real WRC. I find @itrdc5 's comment funny because I thought exactly that about last year's game, some corners just seem to come out of nowhere when you're concentrating on the road and you need to have good reflexes to react and not crash because the codriver calls the notes late sometimes, though now you can adjust the time the codriver calls the pacenotes. I think the series is getting better step by step every year, when they finally make some long stages, fix the small problems and improve the physics more I think it could be a good successor to RBR as the to-go rally game for rally fans.

The only cons I could add are that the stages are very repetitive once you've driven trough all of them and only some of the Rally routes are new for this year, also there are no more WRC 2.0 or historic cars as far as I've seen.

derVatter · Oct 30, 2013

thx dude ... i was waiting for a good sweetfx config .... nice work!? by the way ... anyone also have probs with ffb ... im using the g25 ... not much, or better, kind of nothing ffb on track ... a friend with fanatec wheel has no probs :-(

Craig Hume · Oct 30, 2013

I got the game last night, but now my pedals are screwed in-game.
I have the Thrustmaster T500 wheel with the Ferrari wheel.
But it wont let me change the pedals and setting. So it makes it the pushing the clutch in is accel, and releasing is braking. And that just sucks.
Tried to google it, but not having much luck finding a fix. Maybe i am just blind.

Thimoty Decrans · Oct 30, 2013

Could we please have a Modding categorie for WRC4, i think there's some mods coming soon

Thnx

derVatter · Oct 30, 2013

Hello,

It was more then disappointing, the FFB on my G25 ... like nothing, so i made my own FFB-Mod ...
If u like, u can try on ur own ... ;-) should or could work on other wheel´s ... !!
I used the files from "ADVANCED Physics Engine 6 - WRC 3" and have made some changes to the strength ... !!

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qx8ice99nveb4r1/WRC_4_FFB_MODDED.rar

"HAVE FUN" ... and greetz ;-)