The 2024 Season expansion for EA Sports WRC is about to launch, including new stages and two new locations. Michel has checked out the expansion in detail.
Image: EA Sports / Codemasters
EA Sports WRC has been out for 11 months now. After several updates with performance improvements, the Central European Rally, a VR beta and the introduction of the controversial EA Anticheat, Codemasters is not releasing a new game this year, but is updating WRC with new cars, the new teams, a bunch of liveries and the two new rallies, Poland and Latvia.
They even have two more expansions in the pipeline for the coming months, too. This is something that fans have been asking for years, instead of an annual full-price update like the F1 Games. We have already been able to test the first part of the 2024 Season expansion for a few days - the Locations & Cars update content pack - which will be released on October 8. Let’s see if it is a “big jump” or rather a “small crest”, and if there are any “cautions” with this DLC.
EA Sports WRC 2024 Season Expansion Review
What I really like is that as a new buyer of EA Sports WRC you will automatically receive all the upcoming new content within this 2024 expansion. I think this is a fair offer as for around 30 Euros or USD dollars as a bundle price we get more than 100 km of unique stages, according to my calculations. At the end of this article, I tell you more about the Winter and Spring packages - and these sound really interesting.Image: EA Sports / Codemasters
Cars
Let's start with the five new new cars, however. For Rally1, these are the familiar Ford Puma, Hyundai i20 N and the Toyota GR Yaris. Now you might be thinking "yep, it's just a Teams & Crews update with the new liveries" - but that is not quite it. Have you noticed the slightly larger roof scoop on the Hyundai?
The new Hyundai scoop (left) vs. the old version).
Joking aside, Codemasters has actually worked on the sound of the top class to make them pass as new cars. The Puma has completely new recordings and the sound of the others has been refined. It now sounds much more aggressive, and the anti-lag is much more audible in all situations. Also, the good thing is that the old cars do not disappear - you can of course still use them and drive 2023 seasons.
The Rally1 cars feel brutal and go fast! But beginners will feel right at home in the Rally3 Fiesta Evo, which visually follows the facelift of the road-going Fiesta for 2024. There are 17 crews in total this year and they have all been recreated with great attention to detail. A big shoutout to the graphics department, well done!
And, of course, to Junior WRC champion Romet Jürgenson. And to Fabio Schwarz, who I met years ago when he started his rallying career. I think he will be happy to see his car in the official game. The fifth car in the bunch is the only "real" new car in the form of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, which is involved in a close battle for the WRC2 title this year with the Finn Sami Pajari behind the wheel.
The two turbocharged three-cylinder engines with all-wheel drive and sequential five-speed gearboxes sound quite mechanical and deep, and the cars turn beautifully on gravel. It is a rich driving experience. And I have to say that Codemasters is at the forefront now when it comes to engine sounds. Rally2 has also got a bunch of new liveries with the 2024 updates for the Ford, Citroen, Skoda and Hyundai cars already in the game, including Oliver Solberg's new Fabia design.
Again, the old ones will all stay in the game. Spread across the 3 classes, there are 52 new designs for the 2024 crews.
2024 Season
If you want to lead Thierry Neuville to his well-deserved first WRC title, you can choose the 2024 season in Championship mode, where the new points system has also been implemented. A rally is now divided into a Primary Leg and a Final Leg. This can also be seen in the event overview, which can be accessed via the tyre menu, for example. Together with the Power Stage, you can now score a maximum of 30 points.While I do not really like this system in the real sport, as it is too difficult to follow, I do like it in the game, as you get a second chance to limit the damage to your championship ranking if you crash your car into a tree on the Primary Leg. So, there are still 12 points up for grabs in the last part of the rally.
I have noticed that the season no longer starts with a wintry Monte Carlo, but rather in spring. This is certainly due to the nature of this year's rally, where the drivers did not have the challenge of ice and snow. But it is cool that Codemasters have taken this into consideration to reflect the real-life event.
New Rallies - Latvia & Poland
An important part of the 2024 season and the core of this update are the two new rallies. Poland and Latvia are both locations that strike a similar chord to Estonia or Finland in real life. Gravel and high speeds - this was good news for me, as they were among my favorites so far. With 12 stages, both locations fit in well with the others and have the familiar structure. That means two longer, unique stages, which are divided into reverse runs and sections.And it has been better than my expectations, especially regarding the Polish rally. There are about 27 kilometers of real roads here and these stages are some of the bests I've driven in rally games in recent years, even better than Poland in DiRT Rally 2.0. The flow and variety are just really good, stages like Kosewo are extremely technical and challenging.
Image: EA Sports / Codemasters
As great as I think Poland is, Latvia falls down for me. It is basically like Poland or Finland, but with fewer scary moments, fewer jumps, less drama. It is wider and much clearer. I now understand why this is a favorite rally for young talent, as mistakes are forgiven here. I like the second part, the 10km Podnieki stage and its variations, more than the first 16.6km stage.
Of course, you can increase the challenge a bit by taking advantage of the different seasons and times of day and driving the rally in winter with poor visibility or at night. Latvia also looks very nice in autumn with its red trees. And do you also feel that Codemasters have a better handle on the Unreal Engine now? The new locations look very atmospheric and always have a nice lighting mood. There are also fewer pop-up objects, and I never noticed a performance drop like I did when WRC came out.
Image: EA Sports / Codemasters
Is the EA Sports WRC 2024 Season Expansion worth getting?
As always, it is up to you to decide whether you are such a big WRC fan that you want to spend the money on the new tracks and cars. For me, Poland is at least in the top 2 locations and utilizes what EA Sports WRC has already done best: good gravel physics and a solid feel to the direct drive wheel with a huge selection of cars. The fact that you can now drive the 2024 season is the icing on the cake.But the experience is still best in the online Rally Clubs such as our OverTake Rally Club for Premium Members, because the AI times are still not optimal and tend to be uneven and inconsistent, especially when the weather changes. And I almost forgot, our running gag: The podium ceremonies are still not fixed, our car is still alone on the podium. In the end, I am sticking with it, good updates, good content, I still really enjoy WRC.
What's next?
Of course, I still owe you the prospect of the next two packs. Le Maestros is coming this winter and will bring us classic stages that expand on existing rallies. For Monte Carlo, the 14.55-km long Briançonnet will be added, and Portugal will finally get the legendary 11.18-km long Fafe stage. This was not included at launch as Codemasters originally developed DiRT Rally 3 without an official WRC license. It is really cool that this is being made up for now, if you ask me. Hard Chargers in spring 2025 will then expand Sweden with the Umea stages and add a 14.42 km stage in Greece, which is also very nice.There might even be more in the second package. Personally, I would like to see some more historic rally cars from the 90s, I have to say.
What are your impressions of the EA Sports WRC 2024 Season Expansion? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our WRC forum!
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