With WRC 9 - and this might be due to their official partnership - I welcome the full support for my Fanatec ClubSport V2.5 Wheel Base and the rally-oriented Pedals V3 Inverted.
It sounds like something we should always 'demand' on PC but, believe it or not, even some of the best-regarded sim-racers can have rushed or middling wheel support this far into development (and even at launch), which can make them really difficult to assess before release. There are several new features to talk through this year, but first and foremost I have to stress how much I appreciate when a racing game, even at a demo or early stage, fully supports and recognises my racing gear. And after playing for a few hours, I can tell you that they keep nailing that sweet spot with the handling and that they've made me sweat with the new challenges on offer. I've been playing KT Racing's newest racer for a few hours, the build I tried being an incomplete PC preview version of the full game that Nacon will release on every relevant platform later this year. It's like these realistic sim-racers found the sweet spot that makes them accessible and easy to learn, and then difficult and rewarding to master, but all the while keeping a very natural driving feel, especially if you use a racing wheel and pedals.
Would be very interested to know if anyone else has this same issue.Our Fanatec set is rumbling with happiness and this game feels like the Chemical Brothers.įor me, it's all about the WRC series if we're talking about rally racing, and the Assetto Corsa series if we're talking about sportscars on asphalt that have that special something, that essence that makes them incredibly satisfying to play from the get-go. That, with the aforementioned issue that the AI rarely crash and lose a chunk of time, and never retire a stage, would be a massive welcome to the career mode. The embedded solution it would seem would be to just loosen the difficulty way down for these events, but it feels like such a let off - and something that would be great if they addressed.
This is frustrating for a couple of reasons, mainly that on a rally such as Germany, where the game itself even tells you that drivers have to be extremely cautious, and yet the AI just tear it up no problem, it forces you to risk a massive crash just to keep up and risk losing necessary points (also made worse by the fact that the same drivers always make the top 3 and no-one ever retires, so you can't afford to retire once during a season). On Snow at Sweden, I win by around 30 seconds by the end of day 3, but on tarmac at Japan, Germany and Monte Carlo, I have to push extremely hard to make it close to the top 3, which is especially frustrating on a punishing rally like Germany, as one misstep wrecks the vehicle on a fence or wall. I've been playing career mode and on a second season in WRC (about 5th overall season), and have been playing with AI difficulty at 115% (and all sim damage and driving settings), which on gravel gives a great challenge for me, forcing me to push my pace most stages to achieve a podium and stay in the running for the championship.īut then moving to different surfaces, the AI competency shifts massively. Been loving WRC 9 on the PS5, and despite there being a handful of irritating QoL bugs, the one issue that's bothered me the most is there seems to be a huge delta in the speed of the AI between different surfaces.