WRC 5

[Wilk5280]

So I've been playing this more and more lately and I've got to tell you, I'm really liking it. I've been foaming at the mouth for a true rally game and this one has really begun to satisfy my appetite. Now, there are some framerate issues in some of the rallies (take Finland in the rain for example) and some minor pop-in, but overall this game has been a nice little surprise..

The handling falls more in line as what people call sim-cade I guess, rather than being unforgiving, but it's certainly not over the top arcade by any stretch. I'd venture to say it's not far off from CMR 2.0 in the way it plays. The rallies have a lot of nice variation in distance and and there's a lot of change in elevation. While the graphics won't blow you away, the game's not fugly by any stretch either. I know McRae rally is coming to consoles in a few months, but this is going to more than fill the gap until then. It's a worthy traditional rally game, something the videogame market has been lacking.

Not sure what it's going for in terms of price these days, but if you enjoy rally racing games I have no reservations with recommending this one. It's a lot of fun for sure!

[Jimmydeicide]

Yes i was waiting for a price drop on this and then Dirt 3 maybe coming to console distracted me.
Gonna check the price and maybe add something to my list to Santa.

[pk500]

Would be very interested in this title at $25, not $50.

[F308GTB]

Hold out for Dirt Rally.

[AcemanPR]

Since I got $25 as a bonus for being a Rewards member, I decided to bite and get this game because like Wilk, I've been wanting to play a rally game on the Xbox One for a long time. I know DiRT Rally will be out in April and I am very much looking forward to it, but this game will definitely feed my appetite for the next 4 months until it comes out. It doesn't feel very much like Colin McRae 2.0 which is a great thing. Forces you to not be careless because the damage will catch up to you. I lost the Poland Rally by less than .1 second last night because I made a critical error in the final stage, causing my 5 second lead to disappear.

[Wilk5280]

I'm glad you're liking it. I don't know why, but the game isn't getting the review scores it should. I even read one review that said it was a lot like Sega rally. WHAT? It's not like any Sega Rally I played. Don't get me wrong, I like Sega Rally, but this game is nothing like that at all.

I don't know if it feels, or doesn't feel, like CMR2, but it was the closet thing I could think of in the way the cars handle. It's obviously been years since I've played that game, even though I still have the PSX version at home in my collection. It's not an unforgivable sim like say Richard Burns, but it's not over the top arcade either. The game is a very solid rally racer. The stage design is actually some of the best I remember racing in a long time. Those 3 stage days are killing me, too, because my tires and breaks are always shot by the time I get through that final stage for the day and hitting some of the switchbacks are tough.

[AcemanPR]

There is a demo for WRC5 on the Xbox Store. I've recently got back into playing this and having so much fun with it! Definitely a good rally game to hold me over until DiRT Rally finds its way to consoles in early April.

[pk500]

There is a demo for WRC5 on the Xbox Store. I've recently got back into playing this and having so much fun with it! Definitely a good rally game to hold me over until DiRT Rally finds its way to consoles in early April.

Great to know! Thanks. I was about to pull the trigger on this game. The WRC season starts this weekend with the Monte, and I'm jonesing for a proper rally game between now and DIRT Rally arriving on consoles.

[Rodster]

I've played it on the PC and it's above average. DiRT Rally is the real deal.

[pk500]

I've played it on the PC and it's above average. DiRT Rally is the real deal.

Cool. Thanks. I don't mind "simcade" if it's fun.

[pk500]

I tried the demo at lunch today and was a bit mortified at first. I won the Monte stage on my third try and the Australian stage on my first try despite being sloppy.

Then I realized the default difficulty was Medium and cranked it up to Expert. I ran the Monte stage and set a personal best by about five seconds and still lost by 15-18 seconds. BINGO! Tried the Hard difficulty and won the stage by nine-tenths of a second.

This game gets a bum rap from reviewers and fans. It's not Richard Burns Rally, which I've had the honor and privilege of playing on PC. It's not DIRT Rally, which I have not played.

IT'S NOT A SIM. IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE.

Someone offering rare praise for the game in a forum compared WRC 5 to Colin McRae Rally 2.0 or CMR 2005. I agree 100 percent. One of the lead programmers for this game also worked on the vastly underrated V-Rally series in the 1990s and early 2000s on the PlayStation and Dreamcast, and this game reminds me a bit of that, too.

This game is sim-cade, all the way, even with all assists turned off. As Wilk correctly said above, it's not Sega Rally, but it's not RBR, either.

You need to use the brakes, listen to your co-driver and control your speed. But you don't need to use micrometer-like precision to maintain control. It reminds me a lot of the driving model in F1 2015 -- another game I enjoy -- with medium traction control enabled. You feel like you're a competent pro, and the game becomes a matter of concentrating and finding a rhythm to shave seconds and deciding when to take extra risks. You're not exhausted after a stage just for keeping the car straight and out of the rocks and guardrails.

I can feel the difference between ice and wet tarmac on the Monte. And those grip levels feel different than the gravel of the Australian stage. I wish the cars felt a bit heavier and the force feedback was a bit stronger and more precise, but both are passable. The cars don't slide nearly as much as the CMR or DIRT series, but that's also much more realistic. WRC cars are set up for far more point-and-shoot driving -- popularized by god Sebastien Loeb -- these days than the power-sliding of Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen that raised the pulses of rally fans in the 90s.

The graphics never will win awards, but they're not horrific. DIRT 3 had some of the nicest graphics on the 360, and this game's textures and driving models are only a moderate improvement over that. But the lighting is far better than DIRT 3, which adds a bit of immersion.

People also b*tch there are no split times provided during the stage. Guess what? The WRC banned stage split times starting last season, so that's another nod to realism.

Sound won't bowl you over, either. But the engines don't sound like the flatulence described by some. The co-driver sounds robotic, which is EXACTLY what real WRC co-drivers sound like when calling out the notes. Minor quibble: The co-driver can be a bit slow on the notes. I still miss the brilliant Nicky Grist from the CMR series.

I don't know if this game is worth $50 if you're not a WRC fan. Look for a discount, stick to the rally modes in the Storm Island expansion pack of Forza Horizon 2 or play DIRT 3 with backward compatibility on the Xbox One.

But if you're a WRC fan or looking for a fun, simcade rally game with real drivers, cars, liveries and all of the rallies from the 2015 season, WRC 5 is a hell of a lot better than most reviewers depict it. It's a solid 7/10 game. And the demo is FUN.

[Wilk5280]

Hmm, I wonder what I compared the game to earlier this thread???!

Glad you've seen the light. I tried to tell you fellas.

[pk500]

Hmm, I wonder what I compared the game to earlier this thread???!

Glad you've seen the light. I tried to tell you fellas.

You are the rally Nostradamus.

[cfiore]

Just wanted to add for those on PS4, you can get the demo off your UK account. No demo on the US psn store. Downloaded the demo last night and can't wait to try it.

[pk500]

Just wanted to add for those on PS4, you can get the demo off your UK account. No demo on the US psn store. Downloaded the demo last night and can't wait to try it.

There's also a Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo demo on the EU-based PSN and Xbox Marketplace. Grab it Fiore, and let us know what you think, especially compared to WRC 5.

But I'm not sure Loeb Evo is coming to the States, either in physical or digital format.

[dbdynsty25]

Just wanted to add for those on PS4, you can get the demo off your UK account. No demo on the US psn store. Downloaded the demo last night and can't wait to try it.

Actually it's there for the US. Thought I was going to have to switch to the UK, but ultimately I found it in the store. It was waaaaay at the bottom of the list of Free Trials. I still hate the way the PSN Store is setup for games, it's hard to navigate.

[cfiore]

Just wanted to add for those on PS4, you can get the demo off your UK account. No demo on the US psn store. Downloaded the demo last night and can't wait to try it.

Actually it's there for the US. Thought I was going to have to switch to the UK, but ultimately I found it in the store. It was waaaaay at the bottom of the list of Free Trials. I still hate the way the PSN Store is setup for games, it's hard to navigate.

Apologies all, I did search for it on the US psn store and all that came back was the full game. Agree completely about the psn store.

[GB_Simo]

Just wanted to add for those on PS4, you can get the demo off your UK account. No demo on the US psn store. Downloaded the demo last night and can't wait to try it.

There's also a Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo demo on the EU-based PSN and Xbox Marketplace. Grab it Fiore, and let us know what you think, especially compared to WRC 5.

I can't say for certain, mate, but I suspect Loeb Evo on XB1 would drive you nuts. It's not a bad looking game and the demo stage in San Remo is suitably narrow, winding and convincing as a representation of Italian rural roads, but I can't make it handle. It feels like - and I'll say "Hi, XB1 Project Cars!" here - a game that would be absolutely terrific if I had a wheel, one that's had a reasonable stab at believable vehicle physics and landed somewhere close to the mark, but that isn't quite translating to a pad, with the result that I can understeer into a tree or oversteer into a rock face but can only get between them by driving very slowly.

The thoughts of others on this would be greatly appreciated, though, because there's a chance that I'm just rubbish. Also, from what I've read, the demo build isn't entirely representative of what's coming to retail. There's a demo on Steam now featuring a Monte Carlo stage, so I'll give that a shot and see if it's any different.

WRC 5's demo is really good fun, much more entertaining than I expected it to be. There are rough edges - the frame rate starts to chug a bit every so often and I had the co-driver just stop talking to me halfway through the Australian stage once - but there are far more positives than negatives, all of which PK, Wilk and Aceman have nailed already. PK's comparison with Codemasters F1 games is spot on, in that the fundamentals of the handling model immediately reveal themselves to you clearly enough that you can be semi-competent right out of the box, while still possessing enough depth to hold your attention past those initial stages. You can understand how WRC 5 drives very quickly, but mastering it will still take time.

[pk500]

Thanks for the Loeb feedback, matey. Highly unlikely you're rubbish, mate. You and Terry are the Senna and Gilles of DSP.

I just don't understand development studios that port a PC game to console without tweaking the controls to suit a pad first. The VAST majority of console racing gamers use the default pad, not a wheel. Forza is an example of a game designed for a pad first, without dumbed-down controls lacking precision.

A real head-scratcher.

I bought WRC 5 used today for $39.99 at Gamestop. Really eager to dive in this weekend, in between watching the real Monte!

[Dave]

I finally had a chance to try this out and agree, the demo is a lot of fun. I'll have to consider getting it if the price drops.

Simo - you mentioned the co-driver going away during a stage. I think that might be tied to the damage model, it happened to me every time. I also got stuck in 3rd gear every time, so I'm assuming the radio goes out after a certain amount of damage.

[pk500]

Simo - you mentioned the co-driver going away during a stage. I think that might be tied to the damage model, it happened to me every time. I also got stuck in 3rd gear every time, so I'm assuming the radio goes out after a certain amount of damage.

Correct. Your co-driver's voice disappears if your electronics are damaged beyond a certain level. Another neat smidge of realism in a fun sim-cade game.

[GB_Simo]

I finally had a chance to try this out and agree, the demo is a lot of fun. I'll have to consider getting it if the price drops.

Simo - you mentioned the co-driver going away during a stage. I think that might be tied to the damage model, it happened to me every time. I also got stuck in 3rd gear every time, so I'm assuming the radio goes out after a certain amount of damage.

That's entirely possible. I don't recall if I hit something at the time he stopped talking but given the number of things I hit before that, it'd make sense. I hit many, many more things after he went away, mind.

Tried the Loeb Evo demo on PC while forgetting it was a Milestone PC game. It's badly optimised (I have to run low-res car textures and everything turned down to get an acceptable frame rate, on a rig that runs every other racing sim I can think of on high and ultra settings without complaint), wheels aren't fully supported and unless I end every process linked to Steam through Task Manager after quitting the demo, Steam thinks the demo is still running and stops me loading anything else. It did feel better with a pad than the XB1 demo, though...

[cfiore]

Hi all, downloaded Loeb and tried both WRC & Loeb back to back. Milestone makes Loeb, they also make MotoGP which I really like. I used to be a hardcore sim racer, the more realistic the better. Now with 3 kids and work, I am just a console racer with very little time. So I am not the best racer but I still look for a fair amount of realism but something where I don't have to spend hours developing a set up just to find those couple tenths that make a difference.

PK hit it on the head, F1 2015 definitely does this! It is very easy to pick up and have fun quickly without having to spend hours on a set up if you don't want to or don't have the time to, YET, I can still do full practices and qual and 50% or 25% race and save wherever I need to. Often I will run a few laps in practice then leave it in the garage and get stuff done around the house while in the garage, (laundry etc.)

Back to Loeb, it is visually a pretty game, it looks as though it could have been a lot of fun with the damage model definitely cool, on one of my runs I tagged something on the left front right off the bat and immediately my car and handling were screwed, paused and went to free camera and my left front tire was flat with damage to the left front of the car too. The stage looks beautiful, like I said the graphics are very nice. The test track was fun too, being able to practice driving the car and getting used to it. The options for changing the set up of the car were also fairly detailed too. However, GB hit the nail on the head with the control, it is just not right. At first I thought it was because the car has more "weight" to it, but I think it is the control. I also thought it was maybe because I am playing two completely different games and I am just not used to Loeb's control style. I don't think so though, something is just off with the control using the controller. I don't know if given time and practice you could get used to it. It is too bad because it is better looking and I think it could be a really fun rally game. At this point I think I have to go with WRC 5 as my rally game. I will be interested to see if Milestone addresses the control or that is just the way it is going to be. I would also be interested in other people's thought on the demo.

UPDATE:

After spending more time with both, I am definitely going with WRC 5, I was too harsh on the graphics, they actually are pretty good and the driving model is fun. It is very much like F1 2015, is it sim, no, but it is not full on arcade either, especially with the damage turned up to heavy and having it affect handling. I found myself watching the replays and I found where if I drove smooth I was definitely faster. On one stage early on I was way too hard on the tranny and I ended up stuck in I think 2nd or 3rd and my stage was toast. I really ended up having a blast with it, and really want to start a career. I enjoyed it so much that I will be trading in RB6 Siege to put towards WRC 5. I am not a huge on-line guy and just miss a single player campaign in RB6. WRC 5 will definitely hold me over till Dirt Rally hits consoles.

[pk500]

I'm struggling to think of a current-gen game as unfairly screwed by media and gamer reviews as WRC 5.

OK, WRC 5 is not an all-time great like TOCA 3 or Forza 6. But this game is really fun and hits a nice sweet spot between accessibility and realism. It has flaws but is very satisfying and FUN to play, especially if you're a WRC fan.

Screw the world: I'm enjoying the hell out of this game for what it is. A licensed, FUN rally game with enough realism and a ton of "let's do that one again!" factor. My sons dig it, too. Bonus!

[Wilk5280]

Right?!?