By akademiotoelektronik, 20/11/2022

WRC 10 test: the reference Rally Console Close IGN Logo Comments Comments Comments

WRC returns for its second Crossgen iteration, marking the 50th anniversary of the World Rally Championship.Under official license, WRC 10 promises dantesque content, whether solo, multi and specially designed to celebrate the half-century of the discipline.Even if it inherits some faults inherent in the series, we surely hold the most successful rally game on consoles to date.We settle comfortably in its bucket seat, we attach the belt and off we go to hit the roads around the world on the PlayStation 5 version of WRC 10.

Les 8^e et 9^e épisodes étaient déjà des mastodontes au niveau du contenu.Kt Racing intends to cross a CAP in 2021 and put the small dishes in the big ones.In addition to the traditional fast races, challenges, training or multiplayer (online, or couch gaming via Splitscreen), WRC 10 retains its flagship modes "season" and "career" by adding the dedicated 50th anniversary.In total we are talking about 120 specials, around twenty places including the 4 new features of the 2021 calendar and historic localities like the Acropolis, 52 official teams, and as a bonus about twenty cars that have legend the discipline in the collectionvehicle.It's just huge, and it leaves the door open at many hours, what am I saying, days of play!KT Racing production regularly shows its generosity.

Season and career modes present some similarities.We start at the bottom of the ladder (WRC Junior, or WRC 3), seeking to climb the pilot hierarchy until aimed at the ultimate title of WRC world champion.As much for a new player, starting with this type of vehicle is logical, but for experts and aficionados, it is a shame not to be able to attack a higher level of entry.The season mode is limited to the race part while the career includes a whole management facet which makes it a little more complete and fun!

After choosing our first stable, we (re) discover the main associated interface.Players of the former WRCs, you will not be disoriented, we keep the majority of the existing elements (not to say the whole).The wide management part, but quite simple, can scare on paper.But with intuitive menus and a production accompanying us for a while, difficult to get lost.

Who wants to work in my stable?

We start with the budget, that it is important to hold by balancing entries (rewards) and exits (repairs, access rights or wages).It is surely the most "simple" component to manage, this balance that tends to be done naturally.

We need a competitive staff (mechanic, agent, engineer, physiotherapist, etc.).influencing the overall potential of the stable.Each staff has clean characteristics and bonuses with remuneration varying depending on.It is up to us to choose who recruit, send back and make work knowing that a notion of rarity is in place!Of course, to keep high efficiency, provide for weeks off to recover is imperative.

At each test, we accumulate more or less experience depending on the classification, opening access to improvement tokens: faster repair, greater XP gain, more events offered, etc..We are free to unlock the desired liabilities.

The last point requiring our attention is the schedule.Programmable over 14 days (2 events), we have a wide choice of activity: rally, manufacturer test, extreme conditions, historic race or even training for staff, training, or rest!We are free to select from the 2 or 3 outputs available each week depending on the needs to be filled (money? Rest? Reputations?)

In addition to the ultimate goal of winning the supreme title, we must above all maintain a good term with our manufacturer and the stable.For that, we just have to chain performance, easy, right?Explode the budget, or align the poor results can lead the team to separate from us.This facet really gives the impression of managing its team and not only the pilot, without falling into the complex.Simple but pleasant.

Right 3 steps, on the left pin on the sky

Whatever the level of driving aid activated, we go on more or less realistic simulation.It is a real treat from the first specials even if the slightest fault sanctions the time in the second.So many parameters will modify the pipe: the type of soil (bitumen, gravel, clay, ...), weather (dry, humid, snow, ...), the eraser used, the power and the car.When we start rally simulations, the failures are legion.But the more we play WRC 10, the more we start to "master" the vehicle.Our time improves, as our position in the classification.We really feel that the slightest stroke of a little too sudden can tip everything, but that's what makes adrenaline ride and makes me appreciate the gameplay.Like a Mario Kart and CCs, going to the upper category offers faster and nervous driving.As a result, the possibilities of missing increase.

For my part, I love the circuits alternating clay and gravel / bitumen, combining in turn wide and convoluted.This tends to highlight my skills by radically changing the physiognomy of piloting at all.If in addition the weather gets involved, yum.

The PlayStation 5 version has an undeniable asset with the DualSense.Adaptive triggers are well used via increased resistance during emergency brake blows, or re-acceleration at the output of the turn.Haptic feedback is not to be outdone.On each donkey, drift, slope, or other typological variation we feel the shocks of the vehicle in the controller.Suffice to say immediately, it vibrates almost permanently!It adds a really nice little something in game.The speaker produces a sound at each clicking of the pot during a passage of reports, gravel which bounces under the cabin, accidents, slippages, etc..I had greatly appreciated the care of these features on WRC 9.Frankly, this is what led my choice of support for WRC 10 to the PlayStation 5.

The gameplay part is totally mastered.It’s a real pleasure to pilot with the dualsense.Even if we quickly plant a whole special at the slightest fault, the desire to do better and to explode the next time does not let us go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

WRC 10 offers us to relive certain legendary races, which have made discipline what it is today, in the identical eras conditions in the birthday mode: the original route, the car, the pilot, andweather.We find with pleasure the Alpine A110 of the 70s, the Lancia Stratos or Delta HF, the Peugeot 205 Evo 2, or the iconic Toyota Celica de Carlos Sainz, or the Xsara WRC by Sébastien Loeb on specials like Acropolis, Monte-Carlo, New Zealand, etc..Pure historical and nostalgic moment offered to us.

The difficulty present at the start of the game risks calm the ardor of beginners.The only test available at launch requires beat the reference stopwatch.We must unlock the destinations one after the other.Unlike the career which allows you to modulate aid and therefore the difficulty, the birthday mode is less tolerant with 0 possibility of configuration.It is a fairly surprising choice, given the arms wide open to welcome new players on the career and the slap given here when we disembark.Fortunately, KT Racing lets us enjoy the dedicated content immediately and without concession for the multi, fast races, etc..

Small detail which seems harmless, but which deserves to be listed: the crowd near the routes differs according to the period of the historic rally, in particular the vehicles parked along the road, in order to adopt a vintage look and design.It’s very stupid, but it denotes KT Racing's desire to recreate the adequate atmosphere.

Globetrotter

The variety of environments, coupled with a rather solid technique, contributes to the force of WRC 10.We find known destinations like Sweden or Monte-Carlo with the new features of the WRC 2021 championship such as Spain, Croatia or Estonia.Total change of scenery, between snowy and narrow mountain paths raising the coast, muddy in the forest, engraved near a village, there will be something for everyone.The dynamic weather changes the atmosphere at all during a race, like the period at which we drive (dawn, day, or night).We amaze at certain times, when the sun pierces the clouds after a pouring rain and is reflected on the water persistence on the ground and the bodywork.At several times, we manage to say ourselves "Ha yeah anyway" thanks to a rendering that slaps.Physics also sends.The car deforms and breaks at each impact, or obstacle.

Even if it presents certain inequalities, the technique throws.The management of reflections, lights and shadows are a hit.Certain textures and made less pretty, at full speed, go a little more unnoticed for once (the crowd, the vehicles parked around others, or certain parts of the vegetation) but are always present.I am thinking in particular of certain decorations such as the crowd, around the route that mismatches a lot.A sunrise on Welsh cliffs, or a raid in full sun in the Kenyan plains with the fauna near the path, I say yes!We can clearly see the various particles deposit on the vehicle when passing sand, gravel or earth, the rain drip on the windshield and the body, see the snow cover part of the car.KT really pushed all the knobs to the maxi and I appreciate the concern for the details.

And what about the sound part?Whether it is the co -pilot, the engines, the ambient noises, of accidents, there is meticulous work so that the immersion hung the player.In the helmet, we feel each roar of our car.

The studio offers a qualitative package in every way and gives satisfaction on the majority of technical details.We are still waiting for a new generation engine for one of the next installments, to cross a new gap, and erase certain disparities.

On console, there are also three presets to fill each client: 120 Hz, resolution and performance.The first is far too greedy in concessions to hold this framerate, the overall rendering lacks finesse and details.In resolution mode promoting native 4K, we gain in detail, quality of shadows and reflections, but fluidity is felt with IPS falls, which incompiciously incompicits me.The third offers the good balance between the stability of the framerate and visual rendering.Admittedly, we lose a little in quality in the face of the resolution option, but favoring the constant 60fps and without a hitch, it is quite naturally that I turned to this third Preset.On the other hand, strange fact, it happens that screen tearing appears on very rare occasions, which I do not know how to explain, having a 120Hz compatible TV.