WRC9 WRC9 (free) vs. Dirt Rally 2.0 (for cheap) - Quick Review

[Ryan Soucy]

With Amazon giving out WRC 9 for free, I couldn't help but try it out, though I haven't played much serious rally racing since investing a LOT of time in Dirt Rally 1.0. I figured I'd do a side-by-side with DR2 since I had a steam key lying around from a humble bundle or something.

Sidebar - I got completely burned out on DR1 doing the RD rally league. So much practicing for events and so much repetition that I couldn't stand another stage and even quit the series early.

First, WTF is up with the DR2 download size?!!? 110 GB vs. 23 GB for WRC9. That's unacceptable. The fact that we have to download 4 seasons of DLC that we may never buy is totally egregious.

Long story short, DR2 is gone from my hard drive. The stage are annoying and tight. They feel more like autocross courses. I was in slow cars to start, but how frustrating to be in rally monsters and averaging 40 MPH... I can't imagine doing these stages over and over again.

WRC9 has worse graphics - though still pretty good, wider tracks, a better career system, nice challenges. FFB is worse, but good enough. Oh, and its free. If I play it for 10 hours, it won't have been time wasted. But I just couldn't see myself playing DR2 without ending every session frustrated.

 

[newbert]

With Amazon giving out WRC 9 for free......

Really? Free? Usable for only a limited time (as in a trial) or forever? Exactly where can I find this offer on Amazon?

Thx!

 

[dazzyb2k3]

Long story short, DR2 is gone from my hard drive. The stage are annoying and tight. They feel more like autocross courses. I was in slow cars to start, but how frustrating to be in rally monsters and averaging 40 MPH... I can't imagine doing these stages over and over again.

Nice to hear some someone with the same experiece as me. I loved DR1, in fact it's still installed and i play it regularly - I just wish it had more content. DR2 had the content in bucketloads and a lot of nice new features but despite many efforts I just didn't click with it. The stages are quite laboroius and fairly unremarkable, the handling wasn't as raw and i just felt the experience quite underwhelming compared to the original.

On the other hand i've become quite a fan of the later WRC games. WRC9 is my goto (I tried 10 but wasn't keen on some of the handling changes and it had many more of those performance niggles the games are renowned for).

I prefer the cleaner look graphics, the handling is decent enough and much better on tarmac than the DR games. FF is aceptable, sound is a bit meh but the stages are just exceptional. Long challenging and varied to keep you interested all the way through. The career is fun too. It's become my goto rally game over the last couple of years. Hoping to pick up Generations sometime next week.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

Really? Free? Usable for only a limited time (as in a trial) or forever? Exactly where can I find this offer on Amazon?

Thx!

You do have to be an Amazon Prime subscriber. And of course, they make you download a Steam-like launcher. But I now have quite a few PC games that I picked up free as part of "Prime Gaming". But easily one of the best truly free games I have gotten. (I get a lot of value with XBox Game Pass, but I technically pay for those...).

 

[Ryan Soucy]

I prefer the cleaner look graphics, the handling is decent enough and much better on tarmac than the DR games. FF is aceptable, sound is a bit meh but the stages are just exceptional. Long challenging and varied to keep you interested all the way through. The career is fun too. It's become my goto rally game over the last couple of years. Hoping to pick up Generations sometime next week.

I've already deleted DR2 for the space... But, now when I go back to WRC9, and not immediately after DR2 like when I tested both, the graphics look great. Really immersive and with good changing weather effects. I remember DR2 being better, but that fact doesn't detract from my enjoyment.

My only complaint with WRC9 is lacking any audio or FFB when running over large rocks on stage. You get some gravel feel and pebble sound. But my butt clinches every time I'm about to hit one of those rocks b/c you expect a huge audible "DONK" and judder through the wheel, but then you get nothing.

Stage design is very strong though. We'll see if it gets old while going through the career mode.

One more good thing: pace notes and co-driver are among the best I've experienced. I got the feeling at times in DR1 and Dirt 4 that the co-driver was trying to kill us. Never, so far, have I blamed the co-driver for any of my crashes so far. They don't understate dangerous curves and I've found a timing scheme that works just great.

 

[b)b]

I also tried WRC 9 from the Prime subscription and spent a few hours with it.
Then today I bought WRC Generations and after also a few hours with it, it looks like it will be better than WRC 9 overall, including a huge load of content for a very resonable price. More refined FFB and physics I'd say, seemingly lower input lag and a few quality of life things that WRC 9 does not have.
Still WRC 9 is definitely enjoyable for sure !

 

[dazzyb2k3]

Then today I bought WRC Generations and after also a few hours with it, it looks like it will be better than WRC 9 overall...

I picked up WRCG yesterday too. The first thing i noticed was the handling is slightly different. The cars now have much more weight and inertia and consequently slide a bit more than before. I wasn't sure about this initially as the cars feel less 'sharp' but after a few runs I was hooked. You now have to be much more considered about how you place the car as all your moves have consequence for linking corners and going over jumps. Hooking everything together gives a exceptional sence of flow when combined with the amazing stage design is utterly addictive. I spent four hours just trying to perfect the 1.4km Welsh shakedown stage lol.

I had no problem setting up mutiple controllers and the frame pacing issues seem much better this time round (at least for me). Track and car selection is stellar. Haven't looked at the career yet so no idea on that. Generall presentation and polish has gone up a notch.

It's not all roses though, the menus still suck balls on the PC especially during controller setup. Engine sound is probably the worst it's ever been. Simpy having an option to increase engine volume in isolation would help a bit. I'm stuggling to get the FF dialed in this time round. SAT and compression forces are really nicely done but can't get enough surface detail so it all feels a tad floaty when not going over bumps. Still much tweaking to be done on my part though....

So on the whole, i'd say this the best WRC game to date. It's not pefect but if you're coming from any other WRC game then the issues are things you already know.

Is it worth the upgrade from 9 or 10? Well i guess that depends. If you want the new hybrid cars, the most complete set of stages and enjoy the new handling then i'd say yes. Many of the improvements in WRCG are subtle yet significant enough to make it feel like it's own game.

If you tried out the free trial for WRC 9 and want to invest then i'd say jump straight to WRCG. You're really losing nothing and gaining some nice additions.

I hope KT keep making rally games. They have really carved out heir own niche from a very rocky start many years ago and WRCG is the best to date. It may never satisfy the 'RBR or nothing' crowd but in terms of pure enjoyment while having something accessible, challenging and addictive it works for me.

 

[b)b]

I 100% concur with your post. Yesterday, I spent 3h on Monte-Carlo stages in the WRC 3 Junior (in Generations).
Had a real blast. There is so much content to experience !
I'd also say that if someone just tried the free WRC 9 and like it, it is a good idea to go straight to Generations as it is more refined in every way. Except in-car audio apparently, which from what I could read are generally better in WRC 9 and 10.
Next KT game is working on is the next Test Drive Unlimited, using an evolved version of their KT engine used for WRC generations (which can do open world, as demonstrated by the "Test Area" in recent WRC games). They are also working on another car game not announced yet.

 

[Rally_1337]

They are also working on another car game not announced yet.

I hope for V-Rally 5

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I hope for V-Rally 5

Unlikely. Even with sales on sales on sales on sales to the point where you at fanatical can get v-rally 4 for the total price of 0.5EUR right now(!). They have yet to pass 50k owners of the game on Steam. I know the game exists outside of PC as well, but that's really poor numbers.

Even though, if this would be the case, I hope they look at v-rally 3 and try to recreate what made that game great!

 

[Rally_1337]

I liked the high amount of variety in V-Rally 4. Not being tied to the license of a single championship like the WRC gave them a lot of freedom.

 

[TShrimp]

I downloaded WRC 9 per this thread, and can’t get a good FOV and seating position to mesh at all. I found the settings, but am I missing something?