Read on for our full impressions. Read on for our full impressions.
While Codemasters continues releasing annual Formula 1 games and off-road racers, we’ve not seen the studio tackle a VR rally game since 2019’s
. Season 4 recently added PC VR support following the November launch of flatscreen. Following November’s flatscreen launch, Season 4 recently introduced PC VR support.DiRT Rally 2.0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt_s8OY3BkY
and F1 23, every race is playable inside your VR headset with 360deg vision from the driver’s seat. The only other option is to use 2D menus in theatre mode. The only steering wheels and gamepads supported are the Xbox and Thrustmaster steering wheels. During this hands-on I alternated between my Xbox and Thrustmaster steering wheel. The car handling was a fun challenge. I found the tutorials in ‘Rally School,’ which helped me to understand the mechanics of the game. Beginners will appreciate the AI settings that are easier. Once you find your balance and feel comfortable, it’s easy to drive in these challenging environments. This is helped by a wide variety of tracks and cars. The content in GRID LegendsEA Sport WRC is also very good. The Career Mode is a very expansive option that lets you select between Junior WRC or WRC 2 and the main WRC division. Success in this mode will be measured by the performance goals set forth by the benefactor. For example, if your goal was to reach a certain position in the Drivers Championship. ‘Championship’ offers a good alternative that’s just pure rally racing, while ‘Moments’ offers a fun twist on daily challenges by basing events on WRC’s real-life history.
There’s much to like about EA Sports WRC, which makes me wish for better PC VR functionality. The VR functionality is still in beta and was first tested several weeks back using Ryzen 7 2700X with Nvidia GeForce GTX 2070. Even on the lowest performance setting, I noticed that my screen was shaking. Since upgrading to a PC equipped with an RTX 4700 Ti Super, and Intel i9-12900, the screen shaking has disappeared, however, there are still other problems. The issue persists until the game is closed. It happened at least seven times. This severely limits my current play. I did have better success with tutorials, races against AI, and multiplayer online. I mostly stuck with
and Virtual Desktop, though using a
had similar problems.
It’s a shame because EA Sports WRC feels great in VR when it works. The VR comfort options are also quite good. They include a range of VR specific settings such as adjusting the head-up display, crash vignettes, camera settings and much more. It doesn’t matter much if you are unable to play core PC VR gameplay. I just hope VR support improves at full release.Quest 3Following our hands-on, EA Sports offered us the chance to speak with the Creative Director, Matthew Battison. Battison stated in an email Q&A that VR support had always been planned, despite the fact it was only added after the launch. We were able to refine and test VR and then launch it as a beta during the WRC’s first season. This gave us time to create, improve, and test VR and allow our players the opportunity for feedback. Codemasters had previously stated that this was a beta, as it is a brand new project. They also noted that the VR support in Quest 2 came from external sources while EA Sports WRC relies on an internal team. Battison said that this approach was internal, which allowed the team to have full control of the project and create “a more cohesive and immersive experience”. Battison says that the biggest challenges of introducing VR are related to hardware and technical issues. The Codemasters team has added customizable comfort features like crash vignette and a fixed-horizon. We wanted to make VR more accessible, but we also wanted it to be immersive and enjoyable for our players. Our goal was to create an immersive experience that would be enjoyable for the players. We had to strike the perfect balance in creating an immersive environment without making our players uncomfortable. Codemasters had previously stated that EA Sports WRC would remain PC-only, and I asked why they weren’t looking at
compatibility. Battison refused to comment.
As far as the next steps are concerned, Codemasters has been analyzing feedback from players to create a roadmap. Battison describes this as “instrumental” for shaping EA Sports WRC VR going forward. The VR beta does not have a set end date because of this.