New multi-platform official WRC game!

[Inspector Fowler]

The WRC has licensed out a new multi-platform official game (http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=6221&desc=The+WRC+in+your+home+-+it%26rsquo%3Bs+game+on%21)!

They've been talking about this for a while, and now they're releasing some of the first details. They have been saying that they want it to be so realistic you should be able to achieve the same stage times as the actual WRC drivers.

I know nothing about the developer, Black Bean Games (http://www.blackbeangames.com/), except that their website sucks and they seem to have developed some of those bargain bin History Channel games. Yikes.

Still, this has me super stoked. Richard Burns Rally was the last real rally game. DiRT and DiRT 2 were fun, but they have very little rally in them (odd considering who narrates the bulk of both games). I'd like a game with some official licensing and whatnot. The old PS2 WRC games weren't really very good by the standards of the time but they were still pretty fun.

I do kind of wonder why they didn't just approach somebody like Codemasters. Surely with their engine and physics already developed Codemasters could have offered them a very competitive deal to develop an officially licensed game. But regardless, this has me hopeful and I'll be looking forward to playing in the WRC and beating the shit out of the arrogant Frenchman. And you know who I mean if you follow WRC.

[Wilkz07]

hopefully it turns out well and can compete with Dirt series and doesn't go the way of Sega Rally.

[Inspector Fowler]

They had licensed ones for a few years but they went away. They weren't exactly a technical masterpiece. The physics were arcadey but fun - drifts and hairpins were pretty easy to pull off and you felt like a Rally hero. But you could also see stuff during the replays like the light from your headlights clipping through an entire mountain! Hmmm.

Although, a truly accurate WRC game would be pretty boring, now that I think about it. Citroen and Ford are the only manufacturers left, and most privateers run their cars. As long as there was something of a selection....

What I really want is Richard Burns Rally 2. Since he's passed away, I can even deal with them calling it some other name or something. But it was freaking hardcore and when you won a rally you really felt like you were kicking ass.

[Karak]

Rally Sport Championship 3...the only game I will ever get excited for in this genre...please...please.

[Inspector Fowler]

To totally necro-thread this:

There is finally a trailer up for this game:

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And a developer's blog as well (http://blog.milestone.it/tag/wrc/).

It's looking decent, I guess. It will all come down to how it plays, I suppose.

I still wish that somebody would just take a working existing race engine, like Forza's, and make a rally game out of it. How can this be that hard?

[J Arcane]

I know I'll damn near get pilloried around here for bringing it up given the thrust of this site's allegiances, but GT5 has officially licensed WRC races as well.

[Inspector Fowler]

I know I'll damn near get pilloried around here for bringing it up given the thrust of this site's allegiances, but GT5 has officially licensed WRC races as well.

Yeah, and don't think that doesn't make me regret not having a PS3. Depending on how my fall works out time-wise, I may work some overtime again to pick one up (I had planned on skipping all the football games this year because I hate working them, but a PS3 would be very tempting just for GT5).

My problem is that most games "with rally in them" basically throw you a bone every now and then with a rally race - in between all sorts of other stuff: import tuner races, GT1 races, vintage muscle car races, etc.

What I really want is a game that is all about the discipline of rallying. Richard Burns Rally was perfect. It was hard as balls but it was also fun as hell - when you beat a stage on anything but the easiest difficulty you felt like you'd really earned it. The stages were essentially just like you see on TV - narrow and dangerous and very, very fast.

I am guessing the official licensed game won't be that difficult so everybody can be included, and that's okay. I just want a fun rally experience.

[J Arcane]

I've been getting my rally goods from Sega Rally Revo. For a game that looks this arcadey, I've been really surprised by the quality of the physics in the game.

[Thanasimos]

narrow and dangerous and very, very fast.

That's what all racers should be, really, in order to be most fun.

That's why I still play Podracer, eleven years later. It's also why I still can't get first place in every race.

[Inspector Fowler]

God have mercy on us all.

I just played the PC demo of it...it's....um...not what I expect a racing game in 2010 to look or play like.

It releases today in Europe, but for God's sake I hope people save their Euros/Pounds/Whatever weird money you have.

It is barely functional, with terrible controls and honestly some awful graphics.

As mentioned above, I will be purchasing a PS3 this fall so hopefully GT5 can get me some kind of rally fix. Hell, maybe it has Euro RallyCross in it, too.

I still don't get why the WRC didn't just go to Codemasters and say, "You have engine, we have license. Let's make sweet love (and lots of cash)."

[Vandabo]

That sucks. It seems like such a no brainer of a franchise game.

Rally racing is an amazing sport, it's too bad that most Americans can't be bothered with it.

[Inspector Fowler]

That sucks. It seems like such a no brainer of a franchise game.

Rally racing is an amazing sport, it's too bad that most Americans can't be bothered with it.

+1,000,000 to this.

Last year Rally America changed its name to "Rally Car". They dropped 3 actual rally events from the circuit. They added 3 non points-scoring Euro-style Rally cross events.

RallyCross, or SuperRally, or whatever the fuck they're calling it, is cool - no doubt. It's fun to watch and it looks like crazy fun to drive. But it's not rallying.

You know what, though? I don't even get that pissed that people don't market this stuff in the US - it sucks but there it is. I get pissed that there is only one channel that carries it and I'd have to pay $70 a month to get that one channel.