World Rally Car Racing; 800 Million TV viewers, 3.6 Million spectators, the second best known motorsport after Formula 1 Racing. All of these things combined are why Creative Director at Kt Racing Games, Diego Sartori plunged ahead with his vision for World Rally Car 5, the fifth entry into the World Rally Championship series.
Based off of the 2015 Rally Car season, WRC 5 incorporates all 51 drivers, 65 stages, and 13 official rallies into the high-octane, fast paced game you see before you. After having received massive amounts of feedback and customer desires from WRC 4, Diego and his team set out to create the most realistic Rally Car experience for fans and new comers alike.
The main showcased feature during my playthrough was the use of physical damage and wear and tear on your car over the duration of the race. The physics and look of the damage seemed almost realistic and it made me think twice before taking corners at “GTA V Speed”. I was incredibly impressed with how the game looked and sounded in this early stage and the controls handled amazingly well running on the PS4 using a Dual Shock controller. It only took me a matter of moments to figure out the best use of the controls and I was off to the races--no pun intended-- It was also revealed to us that the game would allow for some pretty interesting customization options when it comes to how your car handles and feels while driving. You will also have the ability to make repairs on your car. If you cannot afford a repair, you can either drive the car damaged and risk something else going wrong, or you can do a half repair and hope it doesn’t damage itself again during the next race.
I can easily see the appeal of WRC 5 for Rally Car fans and racing genre fans in general looking for something that is different than anything else offered on Xbox or Playstation at this time. WRC 2015 will release in October of 2015 on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 4, Playstation 3, PS Vita, and PC.