Our hopes for EA Sports WRC 24

F1 24 is launching in May and after that it's most likely time for Codemasters to showcase WRC 24. What can we expect and what are our thoughts on it?

EA Sports, as we all know, makes annual sports games and has done so since time immemorial, including Codemasters' own cash cow: the F1 series. Every year, a new take with small improvements that could just as easily have been delivered with a simple patch, but still thanks to enough clever marketing and seasonal content, fans flock and pay full price year in and year out. In the case of WRC, Codemasters bought the licence before EA bought the studio and there have been whispers that WRC will not be released every year, but that there will be two games in the five years EA holds the licence, which will be updated in the form of DLC. I don't think that will the case. Too little has happened with EA Sports WRC for it to live on beyond 2024. I think the next game will be announced at the end of June and released in September.

A lingering feeling after 200 hours with EA Sports WRC is that it's too easy compared to Dirt Rally 2.0. The cars don't break down in the same way, the stages are more forgiving with less ruthless ditches and the sense of speed is lower.

The sound, like the graphics, is noticeably worse in WRC than in the now five-year-old Dirt Rally 2.0, which is rather absurd.

A lot has to happen - although time is tight - for WRC to flourish and grow at the rate that Formula 1 titles have done over the last 10 years. Not that EA Sports WRC is a bad game (quite the opposite) but because it is, after all, markedly inferior to Dirt Rally 2.0, which is more than five years old by now. Codemasters knows this. EA Sports WRC hasn't become anywhere near as popular as Dirt Rally 2.0 was, and still is, which means that much of what was rolled out in last year's rally game needs to be revised, logically.

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What is so consistently good about WRC is the range of cars and the feel of the cars as well as the variety of all the different countries and stages.

Codemasters promised true triple monitor support but unfortunately it never materialised.

For my part, the focus needs to shift a tad. From a controller-focused game with casual-stylised stages primarily in Finland and Croatia to a game that first and foremost embraces the sim-racing fans and then brings the rest of the players along. Just like Assetto Corsa did, which turned out to be a stroke of genius. Focus must be placed on steering wheel support and even better feedback is important for the next game. As are much better graphics, in fact a big leap forward is needed here. It needs to flow and perform better, there needs to be proper support for triple screens, and the stages need to be filled with ditches, rocks, logs and all the typical rally hazards that makes this kind of motorsport dangerous, like in reality. This, alongside much more ruthless (gameplay, not visual) damage to the cars, and more realistic terminal damage scenarios for those who have activated the Hardcore damage system. If you smash into a rock at 100 km/h, that rally needs to be over, without question.

Given that cars rarely fail (mechanically speaking) in WRC, it's no problem to collide with an embankment like this one (left of the car), which in Dirt Rally 2.0 would often result in a puncture.

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The sound in Dirt Rally 2.0 is several times better than in EA Sports WRC, thanks to more reverb and more bottom/clash.

Dirt Rally 2.0 was released in February 2019 and was based on Codemasters' own Ego Engine, as perhaps EA Sports WRC should have been.

The sound needs more punch and reverb, VR support needs to be there from day one, and Codemasters may as well throw out the Builder mode altogether. It was, and remains, completely pointless. But, we'll see this summer how it turns out. If, contrary to my belief, Codemasters decides to simply update the existing game, I think they will have a hard time maintaining interest, yet on the other hand, they have proven with the Formula 1 games that they can go from strength-to-strength with relatively small development teams and costs once the engine is properly warmed up.