In WRC 8 I spent whole stages without touching fifth gear, even in straights, because the unpredictably strong weight transfer behind any sudden movement made it more risk than reward. WRC 9 is less floaty, less given to spontaneous fishtailing, than its predecessor. And while I don’t have the most educated palate for virtual vehicle handling, I feel enough improvement in WRC 9’s that I have an “OK, now I’m doing this the right way” feeling about the career. The career mode that is worth a restart - to get everything about my rise to fame just right - is the best one, I have found. Image: KT Racing/NaconĪs much as I wish these rallies were in the junior series, which form a very manageable beginning to the racing career, I don’t mind starting all that over with the same events from last year, to be honest. Better handling in WRC 9 means some camera angles, like the hood view, are more useful, too. New Zealand’s precise routes are a little more familiar to the Wales rally (particularly Wales’ seaside course on pavement) that’s been in this game since 2016. All three are so atmospherically different from last season’s runs through Europe and South America that hauling across the wide-open Kenyan savanna in a one-off, single-player time attack can feel like an entirely new video game. Real life’s loss is my living room’s gain, however. The only rallying in Japan, New Zealand, and Kenya this year is in this game - all three were canceled. And like those two, the World Rally Championship also had its schedule decimated by the global pandemic.
It means that what’s new in WRC 9 are things that serve all modes of play, such as a variable difficulty slider that works better than last year’s all-or-nothing options some refinements in the handling, especially helpful to the faster cars and three lavishly designed and illustrated new rallies, which fans will see only in this game.
All sports games have to be graded on some kind of curve accounting for iteration, so WRC 9’s modest improvements come off as a virtue - the kind of cleanup effort one can afford to do after getting huge things in place, and getting them right. No other licensed sports title in 2019 attempted as much, and then succeeded at it, as WRC 8. Still, I have to allow KT Racing some leeway after last year’s overhaul. WRC 8’s transfixing career mode makes it a rally contender to remember
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