WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 39
  3. Negative: 15 out of 39

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  1. anfil18
    Sep 6, 2020
    6
    Caidas de FPS constantes mal optimizado. No vale 70€ solo trae 3 rallys nuevos, los demas son los mismos del wrc8. Graficos bastante malos. Solo se salva que las etapas son muy divertidas y que tiene modo carrera/historia
  2. urzu_se7en
    Sep 9, 2020
    4
    I give you a 4, I had fun failing around the tracks. I can't decide if I'm a rookie with bad reflexes or the car just simply won't turn whether I go fast or slow. It feels like the car has only weight with no traction whatsoever. The graphics are OK for this kind of game, but the sounds are very cheap. The optimization is simply non-existent, though I fixed the frame-pacing by changing toI give you a 4, I had fun failing around the tracks. I can't decide if I'm a rookie with bad reflexes or the car just simply won't turn whether I go fast or slow. It feels like the car has only weight with no traction whatsoever. The graphics are OK for this kind of game, but the sounds are very cheap. The optimization is simply non-existent, though I fixed the frame-pacing by changing to fullscreen.… Expand
  3. titanus
    Sep 6, 2020
    3
    This is simply hack-work: instead of creating new game or at least working on improvements, developers play with numerical parameters of their engine, change a bit some of them, and then start sells. Nor realism, neither quality -its NOT their aim. Now, so great thanks, three new locations (with price of full game), Japan and NZ are even good, Kenya ugly and nothing interesting, especiallyThis is simply hack-work: instead of creating new game or at least working on improvements, developers play with numerical parameters of their engine, change a bit some of them, and then start sells. Nor realism, neither quality -its NOT their aim. Now, so great thanks, three new locations (with price of full game), Japan and NZ are even good, Kenya ugly and nothing interesting, especially in comparison with the same location in V-rally 4 (produced by the same developer two years before).

    Picture remains of low-cost type: often you feel like your screem is blurry with dirt. Many years we made excuse for developers, ignored this problem, but now me personally cannot suffer it more. Enough, for the ends of all! In 2016, when Kylotonn started his work with WRC series, Milestone released Seb Loeb Rally Evo with clear, absolutly no-soap bright picture... so, looks like, its time to put WRC license back to Milestone!

    As for car handling... my opinion is so: here they need NOT work hard. Of course, me personally would prefer SLRE engine also, but for such massive game more simple system of V-Rally 4 is more suitable. Just here they produced optimal balance of their (Kylotonn) engine parameters. Its quite realistic and very funny.

    But they refused this their own achevement, playing up to Dirt community. Just in this game they simply parody DR 2. On the one hand, we can mention, that they succeed and made something more interesting and funny: no such viscous sliding, no this plastics car and plastics surface feeling, like in DR. Also I feel myself better, than in WRC 8, without that unnarural and ugly "simulating" ) travails.

    But, on the other hand, the result is TOO unrealistic. Especially brakes are wild: usual brake affects car more, than handbrake in any rally game I can recall. Also acceleration extremely powerful, and despite we dont feel car is too hard, with such jerks car keep greep and as a result bolid again recieve furious driveability. So, at twisty roads with endless surprizes installed at each meter, crash probability is too high, but in the same time with many attempts you can find solutions for passing these dangerous track elements at wild speed, using convulsive controller movements, measured with pharmaceutical scales. As a result we have gameplay type of LAP RACING games, NOT rally! This gameplay consist of endless track sucking and building freezed solutions, each time reproducing in the smallest detail. Its the opposite pole for true rally experience, which we find in RBR, SLRE and other good games and which presuppose improvisation and creativity.

    Really, I always make long brake playng WRC series, many month and even years, but now, entering the game, I feel, that I simply cannot see these tracks - bored too much with them. But no such effect in SLRE! Its not by the reason of picture quality, but rather because each time there, passing track, I can find a hundred of different creative solutions for each virage, and I reach high results not by each turn sucking, but by reproducing car behaviour feeling for the track as the whole.

    Its absolutly clear, that such series deveopement is dead-end. Such game is not needed, especially while codemasters continue in the same way. Only realistic physics can give some sense with playing same tracks each new year (with good picture, of course). Other way - creating track generator, based, for example, on huge world of FUEL type using. No thousand of stupid surpsizes, but simple road - each run new.

    So, now it simply nasty to think for me about regular playing this game. On the other hand, playing for fun is also impossilble, because without endless sucking you will crash too often even with mid pace. And online playing again killed with stupid penalties, by which they with maniacal obstinacy continue to spoil their game. Especially enrage when they mandatory return you to track with giving penalty in situation, when you can do it with your own without game destruction. Impossible to understand, for what they do it.

    Then we can ascertain ZERO level of anticheating protection: in first day of playing at online leaderboards for each track we see on top 0,01 sec results. With it they go to orginize esport competition again! How is it possible? I think, the most credible version is that they make competition just for cheaters and between cheaters: who can cheat better? I met many arguments for it last years, but most interesting - just in this game: they finally destroyed ghost system! You still can download, as if, ghosts from leaderbards' top (if you are not in Russia or in some other countries - there you must use special software, substituting your location, for avoid blocking) - you can, but, 1) you dont see these ghosts at 1st sector, and 2) when they appear, its visual absolutly dont correspond with time gaps system show to you. Clear: they made it for prevent cheating evidence recordings. No techsupport&community page!!    … Expand
  4. rallycelica
    Sep 8, 2020
    9
    Great physics, feels awesome to drive on both wheel and controller. Graphics are nice and well optimised. The career mode is very fun and almost addicting. Stage design is superb! Audio is also great altho the cars don't sound quite as raw and angry compared to the real ones. Online is simple, fun and stable. Altho whenever someone leaves the lobby the game unreadys everybody in the lobbyGreat physics, feels awesome to drive on both wheel and controller. Graphics are nice and well optimised. The career mode is very fun and almost addicting. Stage design is superb! Audio is also great altho the cars don't sound quite as raw and angry compared to the real ones. Online is simple, fun and stable. Altho whenever someone leaves the lobby the game unreadys everybody in the lobby so that needs fixing. All and all it's a solid game, definitely recommend.… Expand
  5. MinePlay512
    Sep 5, 2020
    8
    It's a solid racing game, even if it decline a bit. I still see WRC 9 as a good racing game. It's close to great, but it's a good racing game.
  6. Unicone
    Sep 5, 2020
    9
    Game is good. The main "issue" is its engine, physics synchronized to framerate, so you want to run it on 60 fps flat and vsync, otherwise it lags (low-medium pc). Motion blur fixes the lag if you want higher fps. If you have high-end pc, you can try choosing 100 fps option with vsync probably, disable motion blur.

    Also, it could be more immersive with a better engine/graphics, but it's    Game is good. The main "issue" is its engine, physics synchronized to framerate, so you want to run it on 60 fps flat and vsync, otherwise it lags (low-medium pc). Motion blur fixes the lag if you want higher fps. If you have high-end pc, you can try choosing 100 fps option with vsync probably, disable motion blur.

    Also, it could be more immersive with a better engine/graphics, but it's fine really.

    I'm not giving Codemasters money for Dirt 2.0, haven't tried it, but played first one. WRC9 does some things better physics wise, no major drawbacks in this department, it's very enjoyable (playing on realistic with only ABS). The tracks are better too, and there is more of them (but a bit less cars to choose from).

    Overall, screw greedy, annoying, not game-as-a-service friendly Sh*tmasters, get this better game instead.    … Expand
  7. SegoNdog
    Sep 8, 2020
    1
    WRC 9, it's the ninth installment for real, how does this game survive this long? I think on some ways they're going downward and on some little ways improved!

    First of all, this game isn't playable! I can't finish even finish the 1st manufacture chal.enge (career mode) on time because my car keep sliding as hell! I can finish only by driving the car like normal person on normal road,    WRC 9, it's the ninth installment for real, how does this game survive this long? I think on some ways they're going downward and on some little ways improved!

    First of all, this game isn't playable! I can't finish even finish the 1st manufacture chal.enge (career mode) on time because my car keep sliding as hell! I can finish only by driving the car like normal person on normal road, driving 100km/h top, and it never past the targeted time!

    Cons:
    - This game's car physics sucks! No matter wether you're on tarmac, gravel, or mud, the physics behaves like you're driving hellspeed on ice all the time. Like when I'm going on 60kmh on good dry tarmac road will still make me slide left and right nonsensically when you turn the wheel a bit.

    - I suspect that this game has steering latency problems, steering latency is that when you turn your controller or driving wheel, the game will actually turn the car some slight times after that. But this game, in my opinion, doesn't respond the steering input fast enough

    - Poor graphics & optimization, it's comparable with Dirt Rally (released 5 years ago) and you can still see that Dirt Rally will give you better graphics with much higher fps. It's a shame that this game requires much graphics computing power but doesn't deliver even what games years ago capable of.

    - Ridiculous features & game size, with much features that gamers don't even need grant this game a ridiculously high size for a racing game that deliver a small bunch of cars and repeated maps. Just give us the career mode, quick game, and multiplayer (that is actually working ugh smh) and gamers will be reaaallyy happy, ignore else and save some size.

    - Cars!!!! So small choice of cars and in career mode you can't actually buy the cars like WRC 4 did, you need contracts with teams to be able to play the car. You can't actually modify your cars you just give it some small buff and paintings, with no real modification at all.

    Pros:

    - Career mode is doing better than the WRC 8, improved management, schedule systems, money, etc etc. Actually the only thing I like from the game is the career mode. Not the racing gameplay though, the design of the career mode!    … Expand
  8. ZOX91
    Sep 19, 2020
    0
    This game is not worth buying.
    WRC 9 game is just a joke.
    The cars do not have a steering feel/ no such weight feel. it feels like a boat sailing on an ice track. Controller tried too. The controller cannot play at all. Being the worst rally game I have ever played, the same is the case with other wrc games The PS2 wrc extreme was the last decent wrc game. Even in a V-Rally 4 arcade    This game is not worth buying.
    WRC 9 game is just a joke.
    The cars do not have a steering feel/
    no such weight feel. it feels like a boat sailing on an ice track. Controller tried too.
    The controller cannot play at all. Being the worst rally game I have ever played, the same is the case with other wrc games The PS2 wrc extreme was the last decent wrc game. Even in a V-Rally 4 arcade game, a better driving feel than in this rubbish pile. WRC should take the model of Dirt / 2.0 model of how the driving feel is made good for both steering wheels as well as the controller
    Career is practically the same as WRC 8.
    The game is rubbish that goes by the name of the WRC. Maybe it was time to give the game to someone else who knows how to make game    … Expand
  9. Mandala
    Dec 14, 2020
    10
    CodeMasters is review-bombing WRC because it's a much better game than anything they've done since DiRT Rally 1, or even DiRT 1.
  10. Raistafoda
    Nov 5, 2020
    9
    Usually, I don't do reviews, but this game is amazing and absolutely underrated!

    Bear in mind you will maybe have to tweak the steering and camera settings, if you don't, the car "turning" capability might feel weird. Oh boy, but once you find that proper setting and you get the feeling of the car it's so fun and challenging! Of course, having more tracks would be amazing, the    Usually, I don't do reviews, but this game is amazing and absolutely underrated!

    Bear in mind you will maybe have to tweak the steering and camera settings, if you don't, the car "turning" capability might feel weird. Oh boy, but once you find that proper setting and you get the feeling of the car it's so fun and challenging!

    Of course, having more tracks would be amazing, the graphics optimization still isn't perfect, the interior cameras are too "dark" and hard to see the track, the engine and exterior sound still needs some tweaking but I find everything is on a proper track for a great and realistic rally game.    … Expand
  11. Hochbichler
    Oct 2, 2020
    4
    WRC 9 is the ninth installment (since its reintroduction in 2010) of the official licensed WRC racing (despite the fact that rallying is a competition and not racing) video game series. For the past decade, a new game in the WRC series is coming out every year. And that usually spells trouble. Changes from one year to the next are usually marginal and minuscule. I personally find thisWRC 9 is the ninth installment (since its reintroduction in 2010) of the official licensed WRC racing (despite the fact that rallying is a competition and not racing) video game series. For the past decade, a new game in the WRC series is coming out every year. And that usually spells trouble. Changes from one year to the next are usually marginal and minuscule. I personally find this concept to be unforgivable and unacceptable. But lets look at the positives first. The game does not look awesome, but the graphics is decent enough (although it is pretty bad when compared to lets say Dirt 2.0). Car models are pretty enough. The sound is a different story. I do not know why this is, but in every single rally game the cars sound like awful. There must be some technical problem, which I do not understand that is preventing the developers to make the car sounds more realistic. The number of cars is pretty low, but that is a problem of the WRC organization and not a problem of the game. They also added few historic cars this time. The stages are mostly the same as in the previous years. The overall length of stages is grossly misleading. I have nothing against running the same stage both ways (that is something commonly used by amateur rally organizers around the world), but cutting up the stage and presenting the segments as additional special stages, that is pretty lame. I also have a problem with the pacenotes. I do not know whether an actual rally driver checked or made the pacenotes for this game, but I doubt it. The pacenotes in WRC 9 are a description of the stage rather than a description of how to drive through the stage. That is a common beginners mistake, but I believe an official WRC game should not make such a mistake. The career mode is pretty straightforward and entertaining for the 15ish hours it takes you to become a world rally champion. No microtransaction and no SJW crap.

    Overall an average game for rally fans, but when compared with Dirt 2.0, it really looks pathetic. Final verdict: 44 %    … Expand
  12. sam16
    Sep 15, 2020
    3
    Worst racing game ever. Controls??? No there are no controls. Cars physic are unrealistic. Carear mode is boring, I regret that I instal this game on my PC.
  13. Martn0570
    Oct 23, 2020
    5
    Luxurious racing tracks, but not perfectly worked out cars, dirt water, of course, this is not ideal, but you can still play it......

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. KeenGamer
    Dec 17, 2020
    87
    WRC 9 is a step up from its prequels and it does exactly as advertised. The game has tons of content that you can immerse yourself in. There are tens of cars, dozens of tracks, different countries and championships, giving a huge replayability value. While there are ample positives, there are also some major negatives. The main issue is with the control scheme which seems to favour wheel users over gamepad/keyboard. It's not a deal-breaker but it was definitely a frustrating experience for me to master the mechanics using a controller. But once I was comfortable with WRC 9 on a controller, there was no looking back.
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  2. GameSpace
    Dec 7, 2020
    90
    Overall, WRC 9 is one of the most realistic racers that I have had the fortune of playing recently. It is full of great graphics and a level of realism I would want for many of my other games. Be careful as you drive down these back roads and paths as you race against the time of other drivers and have fun with it.
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  3. Games.cz
    Sep 25, 2020
    60
    This year’s rally arcade is just too similar to the previous game. A few details have been added, but overall, the content isn’t especially rich - which isn’t helped by the strict connection between the game and the official license.
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