It looks like racing fans will be getting a bit busier later this year as another racing game has been announced. Sorry, rally game.
EA Sports WRC is the next racing game by Codemasters, now under EA. Instead of a new Dirt Rally, Codies’ next rally game now has the FIA World Rally Championship license.
This translates to the game will be featuring all 10 cars from this year’s WRC, WRC2 and Junior WRC season, plus 68 other rally cars for a total of 78. The trailer shows two different Lancia cars and the iconic blue-and-yellow Subaru Impreza present in the game.
And if that’s not enough, EA Sports WRC adds the ability to create your own modern-era rally car where you can pick a the chassis, body shells, mechanical parts and customise the interior and exterior. A livery editor is also confirmed.
18 locations as featured in the WRC, covering asphalt, gravel and snow stages will be featured. Though the Central European Rally will be missing at launch and be added later in a free update.
Fascinatingly, EA Sports WRC is an entirely new game built using Unreal Engine, rather than Codemasters’ proprietary game engine. But the game promises Dirt Rally-style physics. The reveal post describes EA Sports WRC as a sim racer.
Jon Armstrong, the 2018 eSports WRC Champion, runner-up in the 2021 Junior WRC the 2023 ERC3 champion who have done consultant work on Dirt Rally 2.0, is involved in this title as game designer. So like in Dirt Rally 2.0, there’s feedback from rally drivers, including one who is on the team who have track record on going fast on dirt (in real life and in video games).
EA Sports WRC will also support 32 player cross-platform multiplayer. As a tie-in to the WRC, the game will feature Moments, daily challenges that have you to relive scenarios from the 2023 season or a classic event from past seasons.
EA Sports WRC is releasing on November 3 for PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, EA App) and Xbox Series X|S.