I've got a literal lifetime of experience playing rallying games, including all of the WRC games and all of the Codemasters rallying games (CMR, DiRT). I'm writing this review just after I've gotten to 100% on EA SPORTS WRC.

It's a good blend of what you'd expect from the two franchises. It's got the variety of cars and classes you'd see in a Codies game, and a Career mode and Scenarios mode format that you'd expect if you're a veteran of the Kylotonn WRC games. It also has a similar blend of realism from the two games - you can have changing weather in the stages like in the older WRC games, but the handling and physics are an evolution of DiRT Rally 2.0.

However, there is a blend of some of the negatives from the two series. Even with a 40-series GPU, there are occasional stutters in frames which I wouldn't experience in DR2 but did experience in the older WRC games. This probably wouldn't be too surprising since this is the first Codies rally game on Unreal after they've used their own engine for over 15 years. There's also a slight issue for rally nerds where the WRC stages use official stage names but don't always use the roads that these stages use in the real world. That's a legacy of this game starting off as DiRT Rally 3, before Codies had the WRC license which - oddly enough - even covers the roads used in the real world. However, these roads that are used do exist in real life, unlike in the old KT Racing games.

There are also a couple of concerns that the fanbase has for the future. One is about future content releases, with fans hoping this will be more like DR2 which had new content releases added in rather than the typical annual release cycle of WRC games. Another is about the impending implementation of Kernel-level anti-cheat, which fans are worried won't be effective as an anti-cheat software and will lead to errant bans for things such livery mods being installed.

Nevertheless, I still love this game. In many ways, it's an evolution of DR2. The handling is generally more realistic, and there are more stages and rallies which in some cases have more kilometres to them than in DR2. The car choice is also more varied, with the returning classes gaining more cars to them compared to DR2 with some of these cars being fan-favourites that were unfortunately left out - the most noticeable ones being the Xsara WRC as well as the Escort and Astra F2 Kit Cars. I just hope that it won't be part of an annual release cycle and that, if it is, future releases will only add content (such as the Yaris Rally2 and new WRC events, or even the ERC events).

I've got a literal lifetime of experience playing rallying games, including all of the WRC games and all of the Codemasters rallying games (CMR, DiRT). I'm writing this review just after I've gotten to 100% on EA SPORTS WRC. It's a good blend of what you'd expect from the two franchises. It's got the variety of cars and classes you'd see in a Codies game, and a Career mode and Scenarios mode format that you'd expect if you're a veteran of the Kylotonn WRC games. It also has a similar blend of realism from the two games - you can have changing weather in the stages like in the older WRC games, but the handling and physics are an evolution of DiRT Rally 2.0. However, there is a blend of some of the negatives from the two series. Even with a 40-series GPU, there are occasional stutters in frames which I wouldn't experience in DR2 but did experience in the older WRC games. This probably wouldn't be too surprising since this is the first Codies rally game on Unreal after they've used their own engine for over 15 years. There's also a slight issue for rally nerds where the WRC stages use official stage names but don't always use the roads that these stages use in the real world. That's a legacy of this game starting off as DiRT Rally 3, before Codies had the WRC license which - oddly enough - even covers the roads used in the real world. However, these roads that are used do exist in real life, unlike in the old KT Racing games. There are also a couple of concerns that the fanbase has for the future. One is about future content releases, with fans hoping this will be more like DR2 which had new content releases added in rather than the typical annual release cycle of WRC games. Another is about the impending implementation of Kernel-level anti-cheat, which fans are worried won't be effective as an anti-cheat software and will lead to errant bans for things such livery mods being installed. Nevertheless, I still love this game. In many ways, it's an evolution of DR2. The handling is generally more realistic, and there are more stages and rallies which in some cases have more kilometres to them than in DR2. The car choice is also more varied, with the returning classes gaining more cars to them compared to DR2 with some of these cars being fan-favourites that were unfortunately left out - the most noticeable ones being the Xsara WRC as well as the Escort and Astra F2 Kit Cars. I just hope that it won't be part of an annual release cycle and that, if it is, future releases will only add content (such as the Yaris Rally2 and new WRC events, or even the ERC events).