EA Sports WRC is Codemasters’ new Dirt Rally successor, coming out in November

thesixthaxis.com:

EA and Codemasters have announced EA Sports WRC, their licensed successor to Dirt Rally, coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC in just a couple of months. The game’s official launch date will be on 3rd November, but pre-orders can gain early access from 31st October.

EA Sports WRC promises to combine the expertise of the Dirt Rally team with the WRC license for the first time, with 18 official FIA World Rally Championship locations across tarmac, gravel and snow, the current crop of WRC, WRC2 and Junior WRC vehicles, and 68 of rallying’ most iconic historic cars.

One significant change compared to Dirt Rally 2 is that EA Sports WRC will use Unreal Engine 5 for the first time, combining Epic’s  latest generation game engine with Codemasters’ custom physics engine, which has evolved from Dirt Rally 2. There’s a new Dynamic Handling System that can be personalised to help players master the various off-road challenges, which has been designed with feedback from drivers – notably former FIA Junior WRC title contender and 2023 FIA European Rally Championship ERC3 champion Jon Armstong is now a game designer on this game.

Alongside the visuals and handling, there’s also revised audio, with each car replicated in higher fidelity than before, and with new pace notes – there’s new simplified commands for rookie drivers.

Another new feature is the Builder, which lets players create their own modern-era rally car, picking from chassis, body shells and then customising the interior and exterior with a full livery editor. You’ll be able to take this through the career and the World Championship.

EA Sports WRC has been in the works for quite some time now. The license was held up until the end of 2022 by Nacon and KT Racing, who rounded