Not long ago, the Dirt Rally series used to be the Ferrari of rallying games, while WRC was trailing behind like a Ford Pinto with a flat tire. The way the developers at Kylotonn have managed to constantly improve this once maligned series into a well-respected and super polished racing franchise is downright heroic. It’s all thanks to a steady amount of upgrades scattered through the years, be it with the amount of content included in these games, to their valiant effort to make a newcomer-unfriendly sport actually approachable. WRC 10 is easily their best achievement yet, and the one game I can easily say that trumps over what Dirt Rally is offering, without a doubt.

This is the first time I’m playing a WRC game on a next-gen console (in this case, the PlayStation 5), and boy oh boy, did Kylotonn work hard in order to polish their hardy (but still a bit janky, let’s not deny that) racing games to a brand new standard. They made their games work on the Switch, so I wasn’t doubting that they would be able to do so. I just wasn’t expecting for the PS5 version of WRC 10 to be so good. More than just a visual enhancement over its PS4 predecessors, WRC 10 features the best controls and physics in any of the franchise’s games. It also has a ton of room for you to tinker its difficulty in order to actually be completely viable for newcomers.

Let’s start with the graphical enhancements. Last year’s WRC 9 was a pretty good looking game for a AA Xbox One title. It ran at a decent framerate and featured pretty environments. WRC 10 makes its predecessor look like Mario Kart 64. Not only does it look impressive, but it features even more detailed lighting effects, and to top it off, runs at a buttery smooth 60fps on its balanced mode, and double that on performance mode. Sure, the latter makes the game look a bit unsavory, even uglier than your average WRC on Xbox One, but let me rephrase that to you: consistent 120 frames per second.

I do think that WRC 10 is gorgeous on the PS5, but let’s not go overboard. I’ve already seen prettier games running at an equally impressive framerate on the system, namely Dirt 5. Whenever you’re racing through a more open environment, you can easily see bushes and trees popping in the distance, not unlike another Nacon-published racing game released recently, RiMS Racing, a game which also shared the same engine as WRC 10. You can remedy these issues by playing the game on its visual fidelity mode, but that locks its framerate to a mere 30fps, which I don’t think is a good compromise. Let’s just say that WRC 10 is gorgeous… for a cross-gen title. I am 100% sure that Kylotonn will be able to improve upon this current foundation in the next few years.

WRC 10 looks great, but that isn’t the best thing about this PlayStation 5 version in particular. The fact that Kylotonn has finally managed to make the gameplay feel equally realistic AND intuitive is. Cars feel more responsive to your steering. Acceleration feels more instinctual thanks to the DualSense’s haptic feedback and analog triggers. You’ll end up driving more carefully due to the constant bumps and sound effects coming out of the controller’s speakers. These act just as if you were driving on a gravel road, afraid of possibly having a big pebble hitting your car from underneath. There are many assists you can turn on and off, such as ABS and traction control, depending on your skill. In fact, the game itself asks you to do a test run at first to assess your racing abilities in order to suggest the best level of realism and difficulty to you.

Even if the amount of modes isn’t very different from last year’s iteration, you’re still getting lots of different tracks (including a few new WRC courses, like Estonia), modes, plus classic and current cars. You’re also getting that sweet livery creator, which is there only to remind us there are tons of much more talented designers than us out there. The franchise’s now staple career mode, complete with RPG and management mechanics, is still its main highlight. There’s also the open training area, which is a perfect place to fool around without having your co-pilot complaining next to you.

I can’t help but love witnessing the noticeable improvements in each yearly iteration of WRC, going from a mediocre rally title to what’s possibly the best franchise of the genre in the market nowadays. WRC 10 is its crown achievement, especially on next-gen consoles. It looks sharp, its controls are more intuitive, and the amount of content included in here is excellent. Racing fans who happen to own a PlayStation 5 need to grab this one, even if rally racing isn’t exactly their bread and butter. WRC 10 is so well-rounded that it’s worth checking out regardless.

 

Graphics: 8.5 It’s a cross-generational game, so it does look better than the vast majority of PS4 games. However, I’m more than sure that this is not all that the PS5 is capable of, especially in its very good looking yet flawed balanced mode.	Gameplay: 8.5 Thanks to the sexy framerate and the control improvements, as well as using some of the DualSense’s features, this is the best WRC has ever been in terms of gameplay.
Sound: 8.5 It maintains what was already excellent in other WRC game. Your co-pilot will constantly shout new directions to you and scream when you crash. Engines sound like they should and the menu music is passable.	Fun Factor: 8.5 WRC 10 looks the part and is a lot more intuitive than ever before. There’s still a bit of jank here and there, but the improvements over last year’s edition are staggering.
Final Verdict: 8.5

WRC 10 is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of WRC 10 was provided by the publisher.