![]() ![]() Not all skills can be unlocked until reaching a certain driver level, and the skills can be re-specced at any time, for a price. In between events, players can level up various aspects of their character, unlock new team members, or other options in a rather robust skill tree. Thus, there is a balancing act of which events to choose to run through, versus when to simply take the day off and give your team time to recuperate. So, using a highly skilled team member for a weekend of training and manufacturer tryouts may make them unavailable for an actual rally, which are the events that have the most impact on earnings potential. Otherwise, they become exhausted and are automatically placed on reserve. These team members are also human, and they require breaks in between strenuous events such as rally races. These salaries increase with their skill level, but conversely, the more skilled members add value to the team in the form of more accurate weather forecasts, more experience gained per event, or more rewards earned. Each team member, whether that’s a meteorologist, mechanic, or engineer, costs a salary. Sure, real-life owners of teams may not do the actual racing, but other than that it does show some of the realities of running a team. It also reflects some of the real-life aspects to a career in this sport. It starts off simply, as the game guides players through the basics of picking events on a calendar, racing through these events, hiring team members, answering emails, maintaining sponsor relationships, and more. WRC 8 has perhaps the best career mode in a rally game today. The co-drivers in WRC 8 only speak about what’s coming up on the course, and never react to anything going on around them. The Dirt Rally series gave their co-drivers some personality, as they spoke before and after a stage, and reacted to parts being damaged on the car. ![]() WRC 8’s co-drivers are accurate, but a bit robotic. A good co-driver can make a big difference in a team’s time, since the driver can be confident that the upcoming bend in the road is a short, gentle turn as opposed to a sharp, banked corner that shouldn’t be cut. These are teammates who sit in the passenger seat of a rally car, and call out the course’s turns and other features as the driver makes progress on the map. Just as important as the driving in a rally game is the co-driver. This is a simulation first and foremost, so most players will find a nice challenge in WRC 8. Cars are likely to get airborne when approaching a sharp crest, while turning around a sharp corner accurately requires precise braking and turning. But Dirt Rally is the standard these days, and for the most part WRC 8 feels similar. You may find this hard to believe, but most people don’t know what it’s really like to drive a rally stage, and this writer is no different. The driving in WRC 8 feels about as realistic as one can expect. Dynamic weather is perhaps less intense, but also realistic and can add a variable challenge to some stages. Rain realistically falls on the windshield, which also quickly piles up and generally makes visibility an issue, as would happen in real life. The extreme weather events, where the player is challenged to complete as much of a challenging stage in intense weather while using a crippled car, are showcase events that really allow the player to experience all that the KT Engine has to offer. Specifically, weather effects are more believable in WRC 8. While Dirt Rally 2.0 may have the slight edge in graphics (especially environment detail), WRC 8 is no slouch. It appears the KT Engine is used again, which seems to be made with rally racing in mind. WRC 8 certainly looks the part of a rally racer. Did the extra development time result in a better game, perhaps one that even gives Dirt Rally 2.0 a run for its money? A Good Look The then-yearly series had iteratively improved, but evidently developer Kylotonn wasn’t happy with that, as they took two years to deliver WRC 8. WRC 7 released in 2017 and averaged a 70 on Metacritic. ![]()
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