EA Sports WRC: General Discussion

[Tool1312]

Looks like we'll have our hands full with 12 new stages and all the cars. Deffo looking forward to this and it bodes well for the Hard Chargers content ( whenever that maybe )
It will nicely coincide with my new Moza R3 which will be arriving on Monday

 

[m355y]

I wonder what Hard Chargers will be now! At the moment I think I’m gonna guess it’ll be a Scandinavian theme, with the Sweden stages and a bunch of cars made famous by the likes of Kankkunen, Makinen and Petter Solberg? Would explain the ‘98 Escort. Maybe a Lancer Evo 3 (Makinen), a 2006/7 spec Impreza, 2012 Fiesta WRC to go with the Polo and DS3 (Solberg) and so on?

 

[MagpieRacer]

I wonder what Hard Chargers will be now! At the moment I think I’m gonna guess it’ll be a Scandinavian theme, with the Sweden stages and a bunch of cars made famous by the likes of Kankkunen, Makinen and Petter Solberg? Would explain the ‘98 Escort. Maybe a Lancer Evo 3 (Makinen), a 2006/7 spec Impreza, 2012 Fiesta WRC to go with the Polo and DS3 (Solberg) and so on?

Chuck in a 307cc for Gronholm and I'm sold.

 

[paulpg87]

Is the new content part of the career?
If I will encounter monte, new stages will be part of the rally?

New cars in the career dealer?

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Is the new content part of the career?
If I will encounter monte, new stages will be part of the rally?

New cars in the career dealer?

Unfortunately not, or not at launch at least. From the bottom of the blog post:

Le Maestros* cars and stages will only be available in Time Trial, Moments, Quick Play and Clubs at launch.

Le Maestros DLC Details - Celebrate French Rally Dominance

Learn more about EA SPORTS™ WRC’s first DLC of 2025, the Le Maestros Content Pack, out January 28.

www.ea.com

 

[paulpg87]

Unfortunately not, or not at launch at least. From the bottom of the blog post:

Le Maestros* cars and stages will only be available in Time Trial, Moments, Quick Play and Clubs at launch.

Le Maestros DLC Details - Celebrate French Rally Dominance

Learn more about EA SPORTS™ WRC’s first DLC of 2025, the Le Maestros Content Pack, out January 28.

www.ea.com

Thanks for taking time to answer.
A pity.

 

[PJTierney]

Career is very complicated when it comes to additional content (mainly due to how things like entitlements and DLC uninstalls/refunds could break saves), but hopefully in the future it’ll be easier to integrate DLC content somehow.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Unfortunately not, or not at launch at least. From the bottom of the blog post:

Le Maestros* cars and stages will only be available in Time Trial, Moments, Quick Play and Clubs at launch.

Le Maestros DLC Details - Celebrate French Rally Dominance

Learn more about EA SPORTS™ WRC’s first DLC of 2025, the Le Maestros Content Pack, out January 28.

www.ea.com

Expected that to be honest with how complicated it sounds to add stuff in career mode.

At least it hasn't been ruled out for the future

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Expected that to be honest with how complicated it sounds to add stuff in career mode.

At least it hasn't been ruled out for the future

If it's complicated I wonder if they'll just wait and do it at the same time as the second DLC pack.

 

[Speedster502]

Very happy with the additional content for this, pretty much everything from my wishlist for this French themed pack! The Polo & DS3 were both from the era that I covered WRC so that's a huge win for me (although wouldn't mind if they added the dark blue livery for Polo).

Really looking forward to getting stuck into these additional stages also.

A great looking pack with way more content that I'd anticipated, and something that'll definitely draw me back in as I'd found myself being less interested to jump on this in recent times. Really keen to see what's in the second DLC pack later this year.

 

[tbtstt]

(although wouldn't mind if they added the dark blue livery for Polo).

I am hoping this might come. I liked all the Polo liveries, so it would be nice to have the choice of a later one as well.

Really keen to see what's in the second DLC pack later this year.

Well we know we are definitely getting two new stages:

Red Barn Arena (Rally Sweden)
Harvati (Rally Greece)

And, based on the chat in the Discord, there seems to confidence that there will be another six cards in Hard Chargers... I am always doubtful about additional car numbers though, as we know how many additions in previous games have been torpedoed at the last minute by licensing issues!

"Hard Chargers" also gives pretty good scope for some varied additions.

 

[Ken134]

Looks like we'll have our hands full with 12 new stages and all the cars. Deffo looking forward to this and it bodes well for the Hard Chargers content ( whenever that maybe )
It will nicely coincide with my new Moza R3 which will be arriving on Monday

Brilliant. Just built my Fanatec podium WRC Monte Carlo wheel. Ready for action.

 

[warp9engage]

This is a bit sudden, but does anyone know if it's still not possible to wash your car in service, if you have no damage? If it still is this way, is it a design choice?

 

[Adam Barber]

I am very much looking forward to this next DLC as aside from the Polo the cars and liveries seem to be laser targeted at me

 

[MagpieRacer]

Brianconnet is looking fantastic.

 

[m355y]

It does. Whole update looks fantastic. Makes me even more excited that there's still Hard Chargers coming too.

 

[fifaburgio]

I hope they ad Telemetry for BT Display ore SIM Dashboard for PS5

 

[Speedster502]

Seems a little sad that Loeb wouldn't give the rights to his name for this. Spotted in the various screenshots / livery list that Ogier's name is present (presumably being a current WRC driver has something to do with that) and oddly enough Daniel Elena's name (Loeb's long time co-driver) but not the main man himself.

Still great that we're getting the liveries though, even without his name on the side windows!

 

[tbtstt]

Seems a little sad that Loeb wouldn't give the rights to his name for this. Spotted in the various screenshots / livery list that Ogier's name is present (presumably being a current WRC driver has something to do with that) and oddly enough Daniel Elena's name (Loeb's long time co-driver) but not the main man himself.

I was wondering about that: is it possible his name is still subject to an old contract or something? Can't imagine why else he wouldn't have it in game?

 

[MagpieRacer]

I was wondering about that: is it possible his name is still subject to an old contract or something? Can't imagine why else he wouldn't have it in game?

Can't imagine the Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo game still has licensing rights to his name, been a while. That said, aside from his own game, I don't remember seeing his name in any non-official WRC game, aside from Gran Turismo 5).

So Le Maestros will be out in just over a week, seems like a good time to speculate on the Hard Chargers pack.

The presence of the S1600 206 in the first pack indicates that the in-game files showing that and the Escort WRC could be accurate. So my guess for car no.1 is Ford Escort WRC '98. I thought, who could qualify as a 'Hard Charger' to enable that addition, well, Juha Kankkunen of course, we already have the Delta and his legendary 205 T16, so the Escort makes sense here as we can't have the classic Toyotas.

Car no.2 following on from that, I predict will be the Peugeot 307cc WRC. Another World Rally Car, but again, one that fits the bill with it's driver being the fearsome Marcus Gronholm. We have the 206, the 2006- Focus, 2008- Impreza, so we're just missing his iconic 307cc.

Car no.3, whilst this car and driver never won the titles, he has the most starts of any WRC driver in history, was a fearsome competitor, with an aggressive driving style. Jari-Matti Latvala. What car of his would we see? Another addition to the new 2012-2016 class and his Ford Fiesta RS WRC from 2012. This would also be a returning car from Dirt Rally 1.

Car no.4. Stepping back from the modern era to one of the most iconic hard charging cars in rally history and one of the most iconic rally drivers. The 1982 Audi Quattro A1 as driven by the legendary Michele Mouton to P2 in the 1982 World Rally Championship.

Car no.5. Unsure on this entry as there are a few blue and yellow cars already, but Petter Solberg for me fits the bill, and almost all of his cars are already in the game, C4, Xsara, Polo R5, 2001 Impreza, 2008 Impreza, mk1 Focus WRC etc. However his championship winning car is notably absent, and is a firm favourite. So my guess is the Subaru Impreza WRC2003.

Car no.6. Last but not least, no conversation about hard charging rally drivers is complete without mentioning Tommi Makinen. We already have the Delta, Galant, Evo 6, Impreza WRC2001, so what are we missing? His iconic, championship winning, 1996 Group A Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III of course.

 

[tbtstt]

Can't imagine the Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo game still has licensing rights to his name, been a while. That said, aside from his own game, I don't remember seeing his name in any non-official WRC game, aside from Gran Turismo 5).

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that this is the case after so long. That said Polyphony have held onto Pikes Peak for years without doing anything with it (and previously Porsche were locked into a license deal they couldn't escape) so perhaps not beyond the realms of possibility?

I am not so fussed about the 307 but, that aside, your picks there would make me very happy if that is what we got in Hard Chargers. The EsCos WRC and S9 Impreza would be especially welcome!

 

[m355y]

I think Magpie’s list is probably quite likely and it’s similar (though not identical) to the one I predicted (at least I think I did, might have imagined it). I think the Scandinavian/Flying Finn theme is very likely, and for that you’re thinking

Juha Kankkunen - Ford Escort WRC, Hyundai Accent WRC, Toyota Celica ST185 or ST205 (I can dream can’t I!)
Tommi Makinen - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3/4, Nissan Sunny GTI, Subaru Impreza Wrc2003
Marcus Gronholm - Peugeot 307 WRC, Toyota Corolla WRC
Hannu Mikkola - Audi Quattro A1
Timo Salonen - Mazda 323 4WD
Esapekka Lappi/Jari-Matti Latvala - 2017 Toyota Yaris WRC

liveries - BP Abu Dhabi Focus WRC (Gronholm, Hirvonen), Martini Lancia Delta (Alen), 1998 Lancer Evo (Makinen)?

So any six from those!

 

[RYAN]

Sorry if its been stated and I've just missed it. Are there any new Steam achievements for the DLC?

Been a long while since I've been into the game. Looking forward to jumping back in yet again on the 28th

 

[PJTierney]

Sorry if its been stated and I've just missed it. Are there any new Steam achievements for the DLC?

Been a long while since I've been into the game. Looking forward to jumping back in yet again on the 28th

No achievements.

 

[RYAN]

No achievements.

Fair enough. It's clear the effort has been well prioritised elsewhere with the 6 cars and the stages 🙂👍

 

[Shuffle]

Looking forward to the DLC on the 28th, some great additions car and livery wise. Makes a big difference even just getting some fresh liveries for older cars, Ogier's Fiesta and the Loeb's Xsara's for example. I think the star of the show for me though is the DS3, seems like it gets overlooked a lot but I think it's a very pretty car. The 2 new stages also look nice, always welcome to get more stages and these two look like a step up in quality too. I still prefer DR2.0 but it's nice to see the already impressive car list of WRC get bolstered even further. I still hop on the game often and this update will definitely get me playing again.

One thing that's becoming a concern with the game though, particularly if the Escort WRC is added in the Hard Chargers pack which seems to be the rumour going round, the World Rally Car 1997-2011 class is getting very bloated. That's not me saying that we don't need these cars, far from it, but perhaps it needs split up into 2 or maybe even 3 classes. Doesn't feel right to me that the Impreza S4 WRC is in the same category as the C4 WRC, I get that technically it would be possible but still. This was already an issue on 2.0, and it's becoming a bigger issue here.

The older cars (and even stuff like the Xsara) deserve their own place to shine IMO. I don't know if it's possible to have cars appearing in more than one class but if that would be possible I think splitting the class up into 3 would be better. Maybe something like '97-'00, '01-'05 and '06-'10. That would mean the Xsara in the middle class could be the powerhouse it was, whilst also still appearing in the later class to represent it's days a privateer, while the C4 also has it's place while not completely dunking on the potentially upcoming Escort and the existing Evo/Impreza S4 etc. I dunno, it's just an idea, I'm sure someone with much more rally knowledge than me could split it up better or come up with a better solution.

 

[Scaff]

The 2 new stages also look nice, always welcome to get more stages and these two look like a step up in quality too.

12 new stages, six for each location.

I know technically it's two new long ones that then get chopped up, but given how the title counts stages, its 12 in total.

 

[Shuffle]

12 new stages, six for each location.

View attachment 1422517

View attachment 1422518


I know technically it's two new long ones that then get chopped up, but given how the title counts stages, its 12 in total.

Absolutely, it's just how I count it personally but I know what you (and they) mean. They're huge stages anyway so it's not as if it's not a lot of content.

Monte will have what 3 unique stages now, is that right? So like 30+km's is pretty damn good.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Absolutely, it's just how I count it personally but I know what you (and they) mean. They're huge stages anyway so it's not as if it's not a lot of content.

Monte will have what 3 unique stages now, is that right? So like 30+km's is pretty damn good.

Around 48km to be precise.

 

[tbtstt]

Doesn't feel right to me that the Impreza S4 WRC is in the same category as the C4 WRC

Yeah, I agree. I mix up what cars I drive based on if they are fun or not but, if you want to set the fastest times, then those older cars are going to get ignored.

Given the number of cars in that class now you could easily split it into two and still have large classes or, as you say, split into three and still have enough to give you a choice.


(FYI: it is an Impreza S5 WRC: no such thing as an S4!)