WRC 9 - PS5 Review

WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship by developer Kylotonn and publisher Nacon—Sony Playstation 5 Review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Back last September I was treated to perhaps one of the most interesting racing simulators that I had ever tried with Kylotonn and Nacon's WRC 8 for the XB1. Having released a year later around the same timeframe, WRC 9 took to both the PS4 and the XB1. With the launch of the newest PS5 and the Xbox Series X though, I was really curious on how both how the sequel holds up and how well the DualSense's haptic feedback changes the feeling from the traditional rumble that we've all used for so long.

One of the aspects that really stood out to me when loading up WRC 9 on the PS5 was simply how damned pretty it was. I know that the newest consoles are capable of a lot more, but between Bright Memory for the XBSX last week and now WRC 9 for the PS5, true high end graphics are finally in my hands as my laptop’s 1060 could never bring me this close to capitalizing on my Samsung QLED’s 4K HDR optimization. I’ve truly felt like a kid on Christmas and wished my father was still around to see these jumps in technology as he was constantly surprised just how far video games have come. Seeing what I saw especially between a dark and stormy night or Sweden's bright snow field, he would have loved to sit back and watch this.

It’s not just graphically though. Load times are damned near non-existent where I once had the chance to get up and go grab something in between, now? Now you make sure what you have as you just don’t have to wait from the time that you’ve set things up with your team as to what you’re going to do next. Hiring staff, setting up your schedule for training, racing, or resting, all of those are done in a minimalist office-like environment to make it go faster so that you can go back outside and really do what you’re here for. Driving really fast on off road tracks while trying not to destroy your car and keep your sponsor on their good side.

I remember the first times taking to the track in WRC 8 and feeling like I was doing fairly badly as I was both trying to figure out a driving style that I’ve never done with the pathways called out to you, while simultaneously trying to measure just how much pressure to put on the gas or the breaks to make those turns… and failing spectacularly. I had loads of fun, but my career went nowhere fast. Knowing what I was in for though made the entry a little smoother this time around but it’s also due in part to how sensitive the new DualSense controller felt to me over my Elite Series 2 for the Xbox. Racing through dirt, mud and snow at 50-120km/h, I felt like I had so much more control when easing into or out of higher speeds. Even drifting felt more controllable and I wasn’t always ending up in damn near last place, which for the record, is great for morale.

Now perhaps the one thing that I truly enjoyed above all else was the sensation coming from my controller while racing around. It’s extremely hard to explain, but there’s a sheer difference between the rumbling features of old and the haptic feedback of the DualSense. Part of me not having issues this time around comes from the fact that I already knew what I was in for. The other? I think it was the controller as you can feel from one end of the controller to the other how your car is handling the road below it. It’s wild. The bumps, the smoothness, the nitro boosts at the back right hit my palm making me jump the first time wondering what happened. But feeling how your car is handling had an automatic reflex on slowing down a bit if it felt too rough or speeding up if it was feeling really smooth.

Between the graphics and the controller, there’s one more aspect that I felt simply steals the show for the immersion and surprisingly, it’s the lack of music. There’s a ton of music while you’re in the menus and getting ready for the races but the second you actually start revving up the engine while holding onto that handbrake, the audio dips so that the only thing that you can hear is the sound of the motor purring and the sounds that come from how your wheels hit the ground on every bump or how relaxed they feel on a smooth service. Hours went by and I hadn’t even noticed which is the mark of a great design.

Sometimes... sometimes... it's that close...

I honestly hadn’t expected to be blown away this much from simply one version down the line. Would I be interested in seeing how it works off of the PS4? I’ll be honest, no, if for the only reason that I don’t want to shatter the amazing image that I currently have of it from the high end graphics being displayed and the crazy new controller that has been put into our hands. It looks and feels roughly the same while it’s “off”, but once it’s been connected to the game and to the developers whims? It creates something new all of its own.

Summary

So if like me you had skipped WRC 9 as you had enjoyed or are still enjoying WRC 8, I would honestly suggest taking a look at WRC 9 on the PS5 if you’ve already made the jump. From the solid off-road driving mechanics to the graphics and the sounds, this is one that I’ll be coming back to often enough if not to get better, then just to have fun.

Score: 9 / 10

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TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2 - PS4 Review

TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2 by developer Kylotonn (KT Racing) and publisher Nacon (Bigben Interactive)—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

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TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2 is the latest realistic racing simulator from Kylotonn and publisher Nacon who most of you would still know better as Bigben Interactive. Given a motorcycle and the license to drive over 200/kmph, you'd better learn how to handle those speeds fast otherwise you'll be finishing in last place.

If there's one thing I've learnt in the past year is that I suck at real world simulators. WRC8 while a lot of fun to tackle was tough in its own right as you needed to follow directions from your copilot. But Edge 2? You're given guided lines but it's figuring out how fast to take them, when to lean into a turn and when to hit the brake that's going to be the real challenge. That said, it's a good thing then that Edge 2 is very accessible. Given a quick tutorial and how to ride, the final decision on how you want to drive is up to you. There are five different styles from the most basic and hand holding to the most advanced that only pros would want to use. Honestly I spent my time on "help me get through this in one piece" and the semi-pro which while it still helps you out, makes you rely more on yourself than the training wheels.

And the above is the very aspect for me that makes me enjoy these types of experiences. They are new, they are fresh. Sure, once upon a time I mastered Pod Racer, Mario Kart “Insert whichever one you want” and say Mod Nation Racers. But more realistic simulators like this one bring a whole new challenge to the table and with the more realistic approach, you can’t do what you’re generally accustomed to doing in games. You really have to stick to the road. Not take the corners too fast or you’ll flip over. You’ll crash. Being on a motorcycle this time around if you accelerate too fast you’ll wipe out backwards because your front wheel lifted, throwing you off and costing you even more time in the race. Learned that one the hard way…

All of the woe is me aside, this game is gorgeous. The landscapes. The bikes. The sound of nothing more than your motorcycle cutting through small towns and open roads. Edge 2 looked fantastic and I’ve never been happier than to have both a PS4 Pro and a QLED television as that visual as you are coming up a hill with a setting sun? Fantastic. It’s not just about the visuals though. Edge 2 handles very well and while there are some longer initial load times, the overall performance is there and there’s never any choppiness or framerate drops which would honestly be the biggest detriment to an experience like this one.

 

So other than riding your motorcycle, what do you actually do? So like a lot of these more realistic experiences, there’s a schedule for upcoming qualifiers and races that you can take part in. Qualifiers will have you race against others in terms of time as you’ll all leave one after another while races you’ll all leave at the same time and actually race to get #1. Both are pretty much the same “mechanically” and should be taken seriously enough as if you’re not getting into good spots or winning the races, you aren’t going to be able to buy upgrades to your bike or even new bikes anytime soon.

Otherwise, there’s a large map available to either practice on yourself or to go through a series of challenges that are laid out before you. These challenges are really where I started to learn to really ride and figure things out as I went back up to the semi-pro settings taking off the training wheels that had finally let me keep other racers in sight. Having this giant map to ride on I think was possibly one of the biggest and most important features in terms of accessibility as it lets someone learning the ropes and someone who’s brand new figure things out without the frustration of flunking another qualifier or losing another race.

 

While realistic simulators like TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2 may not be for everyone, I would suggest at least checking it out if you’re interested in something new and different. Amazing in the visuals department, there’s an accessibility to the entry that curbs that steep learning curve that would otherwise exist allowing people not familiar with the style to get just as much enjoyment as those riding up near the top and looking for new challenges that the latest entry provides.

 

Score: 8 / 10

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WRC 8: FIA World Rally Championship - XB1 Review

WRC 8 is the latest in the off road racing series to grace consoles and PCs alike. Finally giving up my more fantasy Mario Kart career for a much more realistic one, was I seriously in for a rude awakening. Super responsive, not being able to just hit the pedal to the medal, and the sheer beauty of the environments had me re-learn how to drive in a video game and enjoying every minute of it.

From the very beginning, once everything has been installed as prior to that you can only free drive on whatever track is ready to go, you’re put through testing to see exactly where you should be started. Doing… ok at best, I went into the lesser of the two tiers that meant while I couldn't modify my car at will, I was provided with one that should be able to learn off of while going out and racing through dirt and snowy roads. Having this option set me at ease because there’s a level of control to this style that I was wholly unprepared for and for the first time in YEARS, I was happy for both the XB1 and PS4’s sensitive triggers as they are very much needed in order to control your speeds.

Me being bad aside, well not really as that's the basis of this review, it did take some getting used to figuring out how hard to press for how fast I wanted to do. Happily marked down in km/h, I felt at home especially on the snowy tracks as my car slide this way and that as it would if I was driving on a forest road at 70-80 kh/h. The learning curve for someone not used to this may be a bit larger but the options present to help someone like me out are fantastic. You can set up certain options to assist you until you feel brave enough to turn off the training wheels and then move onto the actual championship mode and do all of your own customizations. Unlike some other titles that simply state “get good or get out”, there are accessibility options to help you smooth in which I found great as it caters to both a new possible fan base and your current one alike with the tougher mode.

Going into career mode, you are presented with loads of options for setting up your crew, unlocking new perks like a meteorologist to help you prep for weather ahead and reducing the time it takes to do repairs on your cars between rallies. These points are unlocked by leveling up with the experience that you gain while either doing training, special crazy things such as driving in a broken car down a tight slope in the dark and the pouring rain, or in the rallies that the previous two help out with. In any of these cases, learning how to control your car and figure out exactly how to move is key in order to make the right checkpoint times to win.

What I really enjoyed is that you aren’t racing against other people on the track. You’re racing against their times. Most parts of these tracks are narrow and you wouldn’t even want to come face to face with someone if you were driving regularly as there’s just no space. So driving at 60-70-80-90-100+ km/h, even the slightest mistake can wreck your car as you flip off the track and ruin your suspension, hit a tree and break your wheel well or your bumper and then have to drag it. Don’t even get me started on losing my steering… You need to be careful, but at the same time, you need to go fast as your opponents do and if you think you’re going fast enough, you probably aren’t.

Putting the controls aside, putting the features aside, hell even putting the physics aside, WRC 8  is one of the prettiest games that I’ve had in my hands in a long time. Everything looks amazing. The dirt tracks, the snowy trees, the campers off to the side for the people that are there to watch, and the cars themselves. The level of visual design only boosts the rest of the features up that much more for an entire package that just sells itself.

It seriously did take me a long time to learn how to drive in a more realistic racing simulator but it was worth it. I was never made to feel like I should just let go of the controller, instead I just felt like I needed to keep pushing so that I could start to take off the assist options to get into that other mode to be a lot more free in my racing choices. Am I there yet? *laughs hysterically* no. Do I plan on getting there? Better believe it!

So overall, WRC 8, FIA World Rally Championship, is a fantastic racing simulator for players of all skill levels. Brand new to the style? Go for it. Coming back for more? Just load up the pro side of things and do what you do best. With plenty of options for everyone, I’m just sad that I’ve waited this long to do some offroad racing.

Game Information

Platform:
Microsoft Xbox One
Developer(s):
KT Racing
Publisher(s):
Bigben Interactive
Genre(s):
Racing, Simulation
Mode(s):
Single Player, Multiplayer, Online / Local Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
INSERT

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Getting started with Simulation Racing - Gaming Thoughts

In my experience, if you ask just about any serious sim racer how they got started, you’ll typically find they’ll be glad to relate the story behind what it was that got them strapped into the world of virtual racing. For me, it was a friend that had both actual track time racing midgets earlier in his life and past sim racing experience, whom desired to convert an old racing arcade cabinet into a new age racing simulator. I saw firsthand both how easy it is to monetarily invest in this hobby greatly as well as how it can potentially be quite easy to get started with only a minimal investment as well. If you’re on the fence about becoming a virtual sim racer, let’s see if we can get you properly strapped in without a fuss.

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