WRC 8: General Discussion (Release: september 2019)

@cjr3559

Ohh very nice indeed thank you!

 

Just finally picked this up after loving WRC7. So far I'm pretty happy with everything, except for the puddles. They feel like a lottery, and I feel like getting a good run for a leaderboard time on rainy stages will depend on luck with the puddles as much as anything else.

I do have a question though... for the "weekly challenge" or whatever they are calling it, one of the Finland stages in the rain this week, why does it sometimes not record your time? I had a pretty lucky run through the puddles that would have put me #1 on the board, but when the stage was over and I checked my time it was still showing my old time that was like 16 seconds slower.

There's also a really annoying invisible puddle on a slight incline with a bunch of stumps off to the right of the weekly challenge stage. I noticed the splash and noise butcouldn't see the puddles, but it didn't disrupt me the first few times through... then it flung me off the track like the next 6 times in a row so I finally stopped and tried to figure it out. If you put your car in the left half of the road it's not as violent, but if you go too far to the left weird stuff happens sometimes. So far I've had my car come to a dead stop once, pull a weird wheelie with a crunch noise a few times, and one time my right side tires popped up like I had hit something in the middle of the road and I nearly rolled onto my door.

 

@Morbid65 yes the puddles are bastards. The only way to get through them safely is to slow down, drop a couple of gears etc. When playing career there are a couple of r&d points which allow faster speeds through puddles. And another thing, when deciding on a damage level in career mode, I would think very carefully about setting it to 'realistic', depending on the round it can be brutal and stop you winning ! The AI stage times seem to indicate that they are not using the same damage level so it's kind of unfair.

 

@MrCrynox
I confirm everything. I play at realistic damage mode and you have to be indeed f*ing careful how you drive.
Just one bad hit and it can trasform your perfect healty car in a Chrystmas tree with every indicator f*ing red.
It happened to me on many occasions screwing up THE ENTIRE rally..
I have to say on the other hand that playing in realistic damage add up a whole new layer of deep playing.
You can't drive only with the pedal to the metal, easy peasy (hi Jimmy!) with a front crash to a wood energy pole.
You have to really pay attention "how" you drive and the trajectories you take on the track.
Making a "clean" circuit (mostly driving in the center of the road) can make a real difference on the epic stages.

Unfortunately this very good layer of complexity is totally unfair toward the player
because i've NEVER seen a randomic screwing up of the AI, or a suprising "retiring" with 0 points of the AI.
This happened instead on WRC7. A real, real pity indeed.

The pool argoment is just another strange thing. Personally i thing it's just badly calibrated.
I can believe the car can take strange directions when you hit them with 2 wheels, max speed.
But i can't buy that a pool can do make a car a full donut like you've passed on a flypaper with glue.

I forgot to mention another bug I think present on a German track (i don't remember what).
Coming down from a uphill, steep left corner, but if you are a little late in the steering (that is you are on the far side of the corner road) the road has simply no grip, and you're flying like an airplane right in front of a car parked on the other side.

 

@Tlen It certainly does add a layer of complexity. I've got a love/hate relationship with it at the moment. I'm playing with realistic, and just finished Rally Mexico. Day 2 presented El Chocolate as stage 3 and then also as stage 4, but in reverse, at night and it started raining halfway through ! on medium difficulty !!! Needless to say I started day 3 with quite a bit of damage. Another thing, sometimes you see competitors broken down/crashed but then at the end of the stage, everyone's present ? Like @cjr3559 said a brutal game, but at the same time an amazing game.

 

Yes, and you can't imagine how ranting is when you get FOUR consecutive Chile stages with rain and rain and fog and wind..
You just end up looping repeating wtfwtfwtfwtfwtffffffffffffffff

Oh, now i'm rememebering another strangeness. You play a perfect first 2 part and you get TWO REDS on the left bar.
I call this competitor "The drugs". And you get 3 green and another 2 reds.
You are just getting paranoid and deconcentrated... and.... you end up with 15 seconds and first place. WTF!!!!
The AI is broken down to unknown deep.

Oh, and just a last repeat. The weather is something unbelievbly (pc version) simulated.

 

Today I had one of those ‘this game is amazing’ days.

Quick background:

Started a new career save a little a while ago. Medium difficulty, realistic damage.

Completed JWRC in a quick season and graduated to WRC2 with Ford. Spent two seasons with Ford and then was offered a couple WRC2 Pro rides. Opted for Citroen whose team focus was ‘performance’.

So now that I’m understanding the career tree better I’m able to use my R&D points more effectively. For this particular team the skill tree was favored towards performance and reliability, and the team and crew branches were relatively light. And as a matter of fact, the financial director wasn’t even unlocked. Now it’s clear how I mismanaged the team aspect in my first playthrough. Used a skill point and unlocked the FD. Probable fiscal monetary problem solved.

I ran the first event at Monte Carlo and it was no short of amazing. With the performance and reliability trees mostly branched out I had a good car to compete.

First day was two mainly asphalt stages in daylight and dry. Drove cleanly and confidently and finished the day a few seconds ahead of P2.

Day two gave me a 7km stage and the beastly 21km Epic stage. Both daytime. But with only one of my three meteorologist trees branched, I only got the first part of the weather forecast. It’s anyone’s guess what to expect, but my competitors hedged on rain and most ran on wet tires.

Here’s where it gets interesting. My team objective was ‘do not use hard tires in the next rally’. Well, with 28kms to drive my crew recommended hard compounds so I went with softs to make the team brass happy. Hm.

Stage 3 was uneventful. And when you have a 10 second lead heading to the final monster stage of the event, ‘uneventful’ is what you need. Tire usage was about a quarter down. Will they have enough life to last?

Then up came the final stage. The monster, the longest stage in the game.

Conditions were clear and dry. And here’s where this game really shines. About 2/3rds through the stage it started to cloud over. The tires were already feeling the strain and then it started to rain. Needless to say it felt like sitting on pins and needles as I watched my tire gauge dip into the yellow as the road started to reflect water.

But then the weather started to clear! Salvation!

However the weather break didn’t last long. Before the road had a chance dry out, it started to rain again. Tires were now in the red and in critical condition. Where is the finish? Will this stage ever end? Fighting for grip and keeping the car on the road and off the guardrails was my only objective.

With the tires literally worn all the way to the nub I crossed the finish line and breathed the biggest sigh of relief I’ve had in this game.

And finished first. Podium.

This is what this game is all about.

 

You've hit the nail on the head. Every round feels like a fight, an ordeal. The end of a championship really does feel like you've been in a year long battle.

You never quite know how it's going to pan out in regards to weather or damage, you scruntinise your tyre choices as there is no chance at all to change your mind once the decision has been made. I remember playing that Monaco ES leading with all my tyres worn to 0 & then absolute catastrophe, I clipped a rock at the side of the road whilst in 6th gear, the car was wrecked, all the damage lamps were lit yet it was my last chance no more retries available so I had to carry on, I dropped from 1st to 6th when I limped across the line feeling totally gutted but at the same time thankful that the car was not instantly withdrawn, it must have been so close.

I'm now on my comeback after Mexico, back upto 2nd in the overall standings !

The damage is on another level compared to 7, the only round that slowed me down was Poland, all the rest were just pedal to the metal.

Stating the obvious now but I find the more I try to push the more it goes wrong, if I just try to stay calm & relax, drive at 8/10's it seems to work, this, DR & SLRE are the only games that have this stress effect, all other games I can pretty much drive consistently at max attack lap after lap. Perhaps it's because I can't see my progress, (I turn it off).

Another cool touch I noticed was on my last stage of Mexico the weather forecast started clear to changeable in the last sector, whilst I didn't really notice it when driving, when I watched the replay I noticed the trees were moving about in the wind in that last sector whereas at the start & middle everything was calm. It felt that a storm was probably on its way. Its these weather touches that really add to the atmosphere, you really never know what's going to happen at all. Magic.

 

@cjr3559 and MrCrynox
You described perfectly the atmosphere.
I was not so fortunate when i tried to make happy the team "Do not use hard tires" and chose to drive Montecarlo with soft.
I ended up in the last super-epic stage, 3/4 from the end with all 4 tires to Red 4
and my face was a mix from a drooling camel and a costipated one. I was like "bwaaaaa.... MMMMM.... leeeeeeeeeeemmmmft....".
But the track was too long, I was late on chicane and got the car broken and 0 point after.
That was the begin of an action film between me and OTanak, entering the last Australia stage with him first 1 point ahead on me on position 2.
And then the final shot. First 5 stages, position 1 by me on 3 seconds ahead of him.
Last epic stage, first quarter, I hit a tree on a long left, everything yellow. The car is starting to shaking like a bull.
Halfway stage, I'm not able to avoid going into deep pit outside road. +9 seconds (oh f*k..... ).
Driving desperately, the road on that part of the stage is luckyly australian long, bumby but not sharp angled.
Everything green on the left, but i have +9 penalty. Will i do?
And finish..... Second position.... +1 second on me. End of the rally. First position with +1 second on him.
Won the season with Otanak second with + 3 points.
**** Otanak! This game is damn brutal indeed, not for faint of heart.
What a pity that experience is capped. It would be really catartic to crush the others with R&D totally full.
Well, time to start thinking buying Dirt Rally 2.
Wow, what experience.

 

@MrCrynox @Tlen

Great stories!

 

Hey @MrCrynox, i know you have both wrc7 and 8 and use hood view in 7, not sure in 8, i know there is new views like dash view.
How would you compare the smoothness of 8 to 7? Some say it's pretty rough sometimes with slower framerates..

 

I'm not sure how it feels in dash view as like WRC7 I only use hood view in WRC8. I will test it but I'm at work atm, (12hr shifts), for the next 3 days so will get back to you. I would add that I'm playing on XB1X, not sure if that makes a difference. I do notice slight screen tearing here & there, I don't think it's as optimised as DR2.

 

Well guys, just started the rallycross career with Dirt 2.0.
I think a quick comparison can be useful in this thread too.
First the graphic, I play on High (2560x1440) and no a micro-stutter, so it's better optimized.
Visually, I find consistently better. It's more refined, more "dusty", more... realistic on average.
It makes me feel me "in there" instead of "over there" as Wrc.
The weather, the rain on the glass is just ridiculous. It seems some volcano lava is melting the glass. Wrc it's just astounding from this point.
From a physic simulation point, it's better. The configuration are really perceptible even on small variations,
and the response on the track i find much more realistic.
The sensations. Playing DR 2.0 it's like making a sporting competition, you are concentrated, relaxed and you pay attention what you do.
In WRC is always like you're fighting for life. Like the world is ending. It's totally fearing.
In few words. WRC it's like a fantastic hardcore arcade with a (very) good sense of simulation.
DR2 it's just a very good sporting simulation.
So they are just 2 different (very different) tastes.
Onestly i suggest to have both, first one or the other depending on oneself personality (ahaha) .

 

Hehe i see, not easy long shifts. Hang in there. But i would prefer that to a 5 day work week, and have 4 days off instead while working just 3 days on 12h shifts.

Well i don't mean to ask you to test it for me in other views but thanks if you can a little. Just wondered if you use also hood view in 8. And how it compares. But it be great to know if its. better in other view like dash..

Ouch tearing on an x1x, my god i wonder on my std ps4 how it would be.
Tearing is one of my pet peeves, i find it unacceptable in any game, even more in a fast game or race game.
There's no option for smoother gameplay on the x1x i thought?

I agree pretty much sir. On my g29 on ps4 DR2 is wonderful in feel and control, and smooth as can be.
If you didn't try the standard rally stages yet though, i think you will find it exciting dangerous too hehe. But not too exaggerated and pretty realistic and good physics even on landing big jumps and on crashes. I don't know if you use a wheel or controller.. Also in dr2 you have the older cars which are really fun to control on a g29 at least, front or rwd or 4wd. And the sounds are amazing. And replays too.
I don't have wrc8 yet but i do have 7 and dr2 but i did check out wrc8 on videos.

I have the same feel comparison for wrc7 and dr2, wrc7 feels like a relaxed arcade with nice physics, or should i say realistic feel, and dr2 feels like an satisfying and exciting sim. But i do use a controller in wrc7 because the wheel just doesn't feel right and has lag in it.
And of course i use my wheel in dr2.
I should mention also the driving view you use can give a different impression. I use cockpit view in dr2 and prefer it. And the 3rd person view is less satisfying than in dr1.

In wrc well i use hood mostly, sometimes 3rd person. In hood it's easier to control and feels more realistic and looks good. In 3rd person its more fun and exciting maybe hehe. And sounds a little better.

EDIT: I just noticed , unless i imagined it, that you keep the tire wear you just had in your run if you restart it in wrc7? Cool little detail if so, gives you a penalty for retrying. i have 2 retries in the junior career per stage.
I wonder if it's like this in wrc8.

Makes me wonder also when you are sure you'll finish last in the stage, if you give up the stage you will at least save in your tire wear? Might be a good decision if there is no maintenance stop before the next stage.. I mean you only give up the current stage right?
EDIT2: i imagined it lol, just did a retry and the tire wear was reset.
Cheers.
Edit 3: wrc7 i mean has nice physics but simplified handling probably suited for gamepads.
Im having alot of fun with it in career junior with the fiesta r2 in 3rd person, love the sound in that view of this car.
I really like the tour de corse la porta valle di rostino stage, with varying hairpins on tarmac.
Also like the so small parts of replay that are in tv style view. I'll be glad to have full tv replays in wrc8.

 

Hey @Jtheripper, yes you will like the replays in WRC8, they are mostly roadside exterior, a vast improvement.

I don't know if you have ever tried Sebastian Loeb Rally Evo but if you haven't you should, once you get passed the graphics & sound I think you would be presently surprised, it has the most sim handling out of all the current gen titles, loads of cars that the others don't have a huge career mode and is simply a joy to play. You can pick it up for pennies now. It has Pikes Peak including the complete old gravel version if you buy the DLC.
Its a very underrated game as most skipped it for DR due to the better graphics and sounds I know you like these games, why not give it a try ?

 

Well i have SLRE since a long time, but i get really bad stutter in tighter curves especially, on std ps4, i tried with my G29 and i don't know, doesn't feel that great. Also physics seem weird and when you scratch a side wall you can flip your car in a crazy way. I was thinking to try it again, you use a pad with it? And which view?
Edit: also i did try it with a pad but it was pretty twitchy.

 

Yes I use a pad. It is twitchy at first until you acclimatise with it. I've been playing it again for the last few days and that's exactly how I felt coming from the other two games. I play either onboard or dash. My first play through was on PS4 standard, I don't remember it stuttering, perhaps it was updated... Your right about the crash physics, you can be sent into a crazy flip sometimes. But if you stick with it, trying different cars, suddenly it's magic will shine through

 

Just checked my disk copy, it's the day1 edition with the old Pikes peak. I remember now, been a while.
Well we'll see, I'll give it another try, but i did really like it back when i got it and found it realistic compared to most others but then got fed up with its quirkiness and weaknesses. If i remember, i found it really bouncy too.
And of course the sounds are cringy, the graphics for me are fine and nice.
Also i remember liking the replay and presentation.
You never know, i was fed up of PCARS2 also and just retried it now and love it lol.

EDIT: just reinstalled and tried it, loaded pikes peak asphalt. The game freezes for 1 or 2 secs each 20 secs, and the car ends up on a tree. Seems much worse now then, maybe it's even less compatible with new ps4 system updates i dont know.
Are you @MrCrynox on ps4? It installed the game update 1.02 , same as i remember in the past seems.

 

Hmmm, I've got it on both, I will check it out on my PS4. Pikes Peak with what car ? I don't remember it stuttering at all..

 

Its the old Peugeot 506. Well it seems to lessen after restarting the run.maybe there's loading on the 1st run.
Well i don't know, nice physics and the ffb makes you feel the bumps and all that but the feel of steering and loss and grip of traction is peculiar for me. Tried with pad and wheel, doesn't feel like im controliing the steering of a car.

I did check all settings etc. I'll try other cars later on.

 

Ok so I played on my PS4 version, it's on version 1.04 !?, played Pikes Peak, same car as you, no stutter whatsoever. Handling felt fine, same as Xbox although interestingly, (not relevant), the version no. is completely different, 1.0.0.8. Will it let you update it on PS ?

Edit: getting back to WRC8, your question about the framerate when on board or dash cam, I've tested & on the XB1X, completely smooth, no difference compared to hood cam

 

On my PS4 Slim, SLRE sometimes appears to have trouble keeping up with streaming the data to load Pikes Peak as you drive along, like some open world games occasionally. I don't recall ever experiencing that issue with the other rallies.

 

I'm on1.02 and there's no other update, but i think it's just a regional thing about languages. 1.04 is a pretty old update too. Well it is better after a 1st run but it happens for me even in shorter regular stages. I was testing on tarmac this 1st time back on slre, im guessing the old car it's normal to have a floaty steering feel. I tried a modern car and it is better, but stil weird steering feel to me. I almost prefer it on the pad, but you do feel much more the road bumps etc of course with ffb. Physics are nice but doesnt seem like it reacts enough like when on pikes i go off a little into the dirt. Will try it more later on.
Thanks Mrcrynox for the test of wrc8, well I'm on base ps4 so cant be sure. But im sure ill get and try it out at some point on a good discount. I have alot of fun with wrc7 so, especially in 3rd person with the hyunday f2 in career. EDIT: using a gamepad on wrc7. And wrc8 is just better in many ways, just hope it will be smooth enough, but wrc7 is better for me in 3rd person, in hood view it can be choppy and tiring for the eyes.

Hey wolfe, yeah too bad im getting this on many stages especially in sharper turns so i think it might be streaming issue still.

Edit2: well i just can't get the steering to feel good, it feels laggy floaty with wheel even more, but pad too. The ffb is great to feel the bumps and when you touch the side of the road etc but it just doesn't respond well for me. Been like 5 or more times i reinstall this slre lol. Oh well i dont know..

 

@Jtheripper it's a shame it's not working out for you. At least you gave it a good go...

 

Anyone know if kylotonn is still making wrc or rally sim style games? Since i heard they are busy making a new test drive unlimited, makes me wonder..
Also do they still have the license to wrc?

 

I hope they do, I would be interested to see them continue to improve the WRC series.

Anyone doing the eSports thing for Mexico?

 

@Morbid65 I want to but I'm working all four days that it's on

 

I missed the first two days of it...

Mexico was always my 2nd worst rally in WRC7, so my hopes are pretty low. I got screwed on my 2nd run where I had a great first stage but then my game crashed while loading into the 2nd stage so it used up one of my tries. I ended up 6th overall yesterday when I finished my 4.5 runs, but overnight I've dropped to 10th so I'm probably going to be pushed out by the time it finishes.

I left an easy 10 seconds on the table that would have come from making a clean run on the epic stage, but just like in WRC7, there's always someplace I trip over something at El Chocolate.

The weekly challenge stage at Chile is awesome. I still haven't had much time to play this or get started in the career, I've only been doing the weekly runs so this is my first time at Chile and whatever the stage is called, it is super good. I've yet to get it completely right, but it's a super satisfying stage, particularly the jump into the square right that's about 1:45 into the stage or so.

 

Yeah El Chocolate is just too long to not mess up! Chile is my next round in my career, as it's new I've yet to play any of its stages.. Congrats on getting into the top ten that's an amazing achievement. However if it's anything like WRC7, expect to get knocked down over the weekend, it seems the bulk of the players complete their runs during this time. I think the best I got with WRC7 was 37th on maybe Germany.

 

Yep, got bumped to 19th overnight. Even with the easy 10 secs I could have had would have only been like 16th.

In WRC7 I only did 2 of them very seriously, got 11th both times, so just outside the points.