While the DiRT series has seen its ups and downs throughout the years, KT Racing’s WRC series has been on the up and up, especially following last year’s WRC 10. WRC Generations is the developer’s next, and sadly last, title with the license, releasing on October 13th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5, and in November for PC. It’s fitting then that this will be the biggest entry yet. Here are 13 things you should know before picking it up.
Modes
There’s quite a selection of modes, with Solo modes ranging from Quickplay, Career and Season to Challenges and Training. Career Mode offers an extended skill tree, which is interesting, but more details are still needed. Multiplayer modes include Leagues, Teams, Clubs, Multiplayer Lobby and Co-Driver. Then you have the modes like Test Area for racing freely and changing your set-up in real-time, Leaderboards, Tutorial to learn all the mechanics, and Split Screen for local play.
Tracks
WRC Generations promises tracks spanning 750 km in 22 countries like Sweden, Croatia, Portugal, Estonia, Finland, Greece, New Zealand and many more. Many tracks from previous games make an appearance and have seen many changes. The Rally Sweden environment has been completely redesigned, while the Umea region has received six new special stages. Some changes can seem subtle at first. Monte Carlo, as noted in early previews, has seen changes to its mountain formations, snowfall (and the locations of snowfall), and so on. Experienced players that have been conditioned to each track can thus expect some fresh new challenges.
Time of Day and Weather Conditions
Of course, you can have different times of day and weather conditions. Times of day range from Dawn, Noon, Evening, and Night while weather conditions consist of Clear, Cloudy, Threatening, Rainy, Storm, and more. Furthermore, you can have Static weather that remains the same throughout a race or Dynamic weather that changes at different points in the race. Dynamic weather settings include Clear to Storm, Storm to Clear, Wet Conditions, Mixed Conditions, and Dry Conditions.
Teams
In terms of team selection, KT Racing is touting 49 from Rally1, Rally2 and Junior WRC in the 2022 World Rally Championship season. However, previews like Team VVV have said that there are 70 official teams. Regardless of which is true, there’s much to choose from, further reinforcing the developer’s claim of having “more content than ever before in a rally game.”
New Hybrid Rally1 Ruleset
The 2022 season has a new hybrid Rally1 ruleset which uses a hybrid powertrain and new chassis. This implements a new electric-based system where players start with a 100kW boost from the 3.9kWh battery, and then must recharge the battery with braking. Three electric power maps are available to select – the first offering more power, the second providing more sustain, and the third acting as a balance between the two. Along with battery power management and conserving it when necessary, you also need to manage your speed. There are also changes to the handling since the cars are now heavier, which means adjusting your driving style so keep that in mind.
37 Legendary Cars
It wouldn’t be a WRC title without classic cars, and thankfully, WRC Generations has plenty to go around. There are 37 to choose from overall, including the Lancia Fulvia and Stratos HF, the Audi quattro A1 and A2, the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 Evo 1 and 2, the Toyota Corolla, Subaru Impreza WRC – 2000, and so on. You can also admire them in the Showroom from various angles.
Leagues Mode
One of the new features which could sustain WRC Generations players for a long time is Leagues Mode. Speaking to True Achievements, creative director Alain Jarniou described it as online but not necessarily “playing online.” “It’s a competition with new events every day, every week, and people are ranked in leagues.” Meant to reward players of varying skill levels, it essentially involves completing events and having a new ranking at the end of the week.
You have special stages with a selected car with two daily events and one weekly event. “So, in a week, you’ve got something like 14 dailies and one weekly. At the end of the week, we give points to people according to their ranking in their league, and they can progress with a new league or they can go down,” said Jarniou. In short, there will be plenty of opponents to face over numerous events for a long period, whether Solo or with a Team, and they’ll be close to your skill level.
Livery Editor
The Livery Editor is back and chock-full of options, from different shapes and patterns to lines, textures, logos, flags, text, cartoons and so on. You can now share liveries with other players and rate others’ liveries, as well. There’s also a spotlight for the best player-created liveries, which can help one discover new designs for their cars. Players that receive numerous approvals for their liveries are also apparently rewarded, though in what way has yet to be revealed.
Progression System
The progression system is tied to your overall progress as a driver. There are 150 levels of rewards. Rewards include cars, liveries, and titles for each level. Multiple Accomplishments are spread across each mode, like signing a WRC3 Junior Contract in Career, completing one Quickplay event with two Legend cars that provide XP and even creating and sharing Liveries. All of this will provide XP, which allows for leveling up and unlocking more rewards.
Team Creation and Clubs
In addition to creating and managing a team, there are no longer any restrictions on the number of people that can be in your Club. Furthermore, it’s now possible to have a single Rally to play. Simply set up all the tracks and their different conditions, and then try it on your own to see how it fares.
Crossplay
Crossplay is confirmed in WRC Generations, but it may not be exactly what fans are expecting. As Team VVV noted in its preview, cross-platform play is supported between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players on Steam and Epic Games Store for League Mode, Challenges, Teams and Clubs, Leaderboards and the Livery Editor. However, Co-Driver Mode and Multiplayer Lobbies are not crossplay-enabled. Since Challenges are solo-only, it’s not quite clear why this supports crossplay (unless it involves cross-progression or is factored in for other modes). Regardless, there will hopefully be more details from the developer en route to launch.
Nintendo Switch Version
While not included along with other platforms, WRC Generations is also coming to Nintendo Switch. Senior marketing project manager Sébastien Waxin told Traxion.gg that Nacon has to launch all versions of the game by the end of the year. An official release date is not confirmed, but the Switch version should launch before Christmas.
No Post-Launch Support
Unfortunately, because Codemasters will have the WRC license for 2023, Generations won’t have any post-launch support. No paid DLC, nothing (though there should still be updates with bug fixes and whatnot). Jarniou confirmed this in his interview with True Achievements while adding, “The game is designed so you can add new content in terms of competition, leaderboards and leagues for years. So, if people love the game, they can play it for years.”