Developer: KT Racing
Publisher: Nacon
Platform: Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
WRC Generations: The FIA WRC Official Game – Review
Every time a new WRC game comes out we have the honor of trying it out for ourselves. If you have been following the site for some years then you’ll surely know the fall and rise of this franchise. This year should have marked number eleven in the WRC series, but as a little surprise from Kylotonn Racing, this year’s WRC title will bear a new name: WRC Generations: The FIA WRC Official Game. As the previous titles have always scored pretty high on our site it means that they have a standard to hold. Luckily for the fans, it seems that this year’s release is as great as last year’s.
Story
It feels like the developers wanted to give the player a little bit more freedom in this iteration. You get the option to either manage and drive for a junior team, an existing WRC 2 team or create your own from the ground up. Again the tried and true concept of starting from scratch and having to prove yourself is back and seems to be quite the same as in WRC 10. During your career as a rally driver, you must prove your worth over and over again to your team and sponsors. Another returning feature is the legendary races, where you have to drive a legendary race and try to be as good as the legendary racing driver was back in the day. These are fun distractions and fit in nicely with the lore behind WRC.
Graphics
Visually the game gets better as years go by. Another big bonus is that the game has been optimized well to run on higher settings and keep a stable frame rate. Driving around the world feels like going on a sightseeing tour and yeeting yourself off a cliff actually looks frightening. Everything in the game looks fantastic, from the details of the cars to the sand and snow coming out the back of your vehicle and making it dirty. The damage model has also been upgraded, making it look even more realistic with scratches and cracks forming on the bodywork, windows, and lights. Just like in previous titles, you still have many different camera viewpoints to select and each one is nicely detailed, from the third-person view to the many different cockpit or hood views.
Sound
What makes a racing game fun are the sounds of the vehicles and these are amazing in WRC Generations. Every car sounds unique and has a realistic tone to it, so you hear the exhaust popping, the turbo whistling, and the gearbox whining when you fly over the gritty asphalt. Another fixed value is your voiced co-driver. He gives you crystal-clear instructions and will comment on certain situations that happen on the road. One shortcoming in the sound department is the music. In the menu, all you can hear is just some generic soundtrack which may as well have come from a royalty-free website.
Gameplay
WRC Generations is a rally racing game that has you managing a team while competing in rally stages all over the world. If you have played the previous titles, then you’ll notice how close this apple fell to the WRC 10 tree. At first, it just feels like an improved version of that game but there are some highly appreciated updates. First of all, there is a new era of rally cars and the biggest trump card is their hybrid powertrain. Just like in F1 games this hybrid setup allows for better acceleration and will be recharged by braking. You’ll have to adjust what mapping to use for either strong launches or gradually boosting your speed. Furthermore, there are a bunch of new cars added to the game and more locations to test your skills.
The story mode begins as always with a free choice between the junior league with limited management options and the WRC 2 league that now features a freely created team. In this mode, you’ll have to decide what sponsor you want to drive for, what car to use, and how to design your own livery. What makes for an interesting feature is that with the custom team mode you can switch out cars after each season, so you can mix and match the different manufacturers to find the car best suited for your style. Managing your team was pretty intimidating in the previous game but this time around it all seems a bit dummied down and more accessible for all types of players. Upgrades are much easier understood and the game now gives clear indicators of what benefits you will gain with what type of event you do. There are also some new events available on the calendar. You’ll now have to respect the integrity of your vehicle, and playing more events will cause your car to break down more easily. Be sure to keep it in good shape or you might encounter breakdowns in the middle of the race.
The racing portion of the game itself has remained as good as ever. The cars feel like they are connected to the road and this makes picking the right tires essential for the job. You start to notice that your traction reduces the more worn out your tires are and you’ll find yourself switching them out more often. Certain surfaces are almost impossible to traverse with standard tires and as the A.I. seems to be oblivious to this, it could net you some serious winnings if you pick the right set of rubber for the job.
Again you are free to choose the difficulty and the length of rally events. You’ll have to keep your car in tip-top shape if you want to aim for a podium finish but playing the game on normal difficulty seems like the perfect middle ground for your average racing fan. If you are a person who enjoys realism then feel free to try out all the realistic settings, and take it from us, it is a really good simulator.
Conclusion
WRC Generations looks and feels like a direct upgrade from WRC 10 while bringing some new features to the table. Thanks to the new content, there are plenty of tracks and cars to discover, and the story mode returns as strong as ever. It feels that the management portion has been made simpler to understand, and this makes the career mode even more enjoyable to play. The game retained its many settings so you can adjust it to your liking, and thanks to the amazing sounds and graphics, this is a masterpiece to behold.
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[…] is only days ago that we reviewed the PC version of WRC Generations and this game was again a masterpiece. To bring this gem to everyone, especially now with the […]