WRC4 WRC 4 The Game

[Bram Hengeveld]

On the iOpener website there is a very interesting article about an upcoming World Rally Championship simulator:

World Rally Championship's next game: Racing live against rally heroes

The next generation WRC computer game will allow players to 'compete' in live rallies", states ISC chairman Neil Duncanson in the April version of SportBusiness International magazine. ISC, the global promoter of the World Rally Championship (WRC), mentions WRC's ultimate goal as building up an online gaming world championship alongside the real thing.
ISC and the computer gaming industry believe the next step in gaming is this 'live' competition between gamers and real drivers, made possible through iOpener's patented technology.
ISC CEO Simon Long says: "Now we are a global promoter, we want this to be multi-platform, multi-publisher, multi-territory."
For Long and Duncanson the new game is part of WRC's broader efforts to appeal new fans beyond the hardcore enthusiastics. FIA's chairman Max Mosley has said the virtual champion will be honoured at the WRC's annual end-of-season awards ceremony in Monaco.

Source: iOpener Media

Last April we already brought you the first news about iOpener Media's beta testers recruitment for their Real Time Racing project.

The news about this technology where virtual racers can compete against the real drivers on the track in real time is now spreading amoung the simracing communities.

iOpener is still looking for the worlds best simracers to join their beta test program that's about to start soon. If you are interested in joining then you can sign up on the RTR website

 

[Marcel vd Aa]

wooooot!!!!

 

[Edgar Herrero]

OMG! :O this is gonna be awesome

 

[Konrad Stanczak]

I got excited and seconds after my enthusiasm was extinguished.
Mentions only about console and no words regarding real game genre planned. "WRC video game" does not sound like a pretender do dethrone RBR as a rallysim.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

The most important part is the technology itself, all the system that tracks the WRC cars... then different companies can use that for their titles, I think won't be just a single game release.

 

[Gaëtan Legastelois]

It's fantastic, but it raises issues that are hard to treat. Much harder than on a racetrack.
I look forward to seeing more. :thumbup:

 

[Søren Holm Pedersen]

I got excited and seconds after my enthusiasm was extinguished.
Mentions only about console and no words regarding real game genre planned. "WRC video game" does not sound like a pretender do dethrone RBR as a rallysim.

Agreed, the mention of only a console game is not mere peanuts. As gamers (a big portion that is), to have specific details whether it is a console game or a pc game, or something completely different, is essential. This detail was crucial to me, and I was put off by it too. However, regarding the latter part of your post, I did get tickled a bit by this: "We will be able to deliver a unique and realistic gaming experience featuring exclusive opportunities and a technological breakthrough." this very sentence put me on again, since the obvious fact is, that an iOpener Enabled WRC game requires it to be hardcore sim'y.
Something being obvious suggests no need for explanation, but humor me: This is obvious because naturally, if we take a powerslide, you need as precise details translated into simulative motion as possible to make it look like the iOpener Enabled rally car, which you just spectated (in-game or on live television broadcast) do said powerslide around a medium left.

I ofcourse have my doubts about the quality as it is now, seeing as the V8 Superstars game by Black Bean Games was a letdown of dimensions undescribable. considering the above however, I believe the potential contender to battle with (and not necessarily dethrone) RBR, is actually coming with this release.

 

[Ramon van Rijn]

This is great news for all fans of the WRC and race gaming in general i would say!

All the news merges nicely into each other it seems. I mean Abu Dhabi is the sponsor of Ford and WRC driver Khalid al Quassimi and are now also involved in the conjunction with iOpener.

I am curious about the end result: a WRC rally in Abu Dhabi in the near future? Would be an amazing location to add to the calendar.

 

[Bay1956]

The thing that sets Richard Burns Rally apart from the rest is the physics handling of the cars.
It affords those with any semblance of ability the chance to utillise the speed, power, inertia and weight transfer of the vehicle and convert it into a reasonably realistic rendition of what it may in fact be like to drive a rally car.

It commands respect for what in fact those real life rally heroes do.

To create and populate a visually pleasing and object rich environment ( in terms of what can be achieved on a PC ) is well beyond the ability of underpowered consoles.
What we need is a company to take on RBR 2 and give us sim purists what we have long been crying out for: a modern Rally Simulation for the PC.

Any movement on the rally gaming front is welcome, but I, like Konrad Stanczak, became immediately disillusioned at the mention of the word console.

 

[Eddie Mann]

Official FIA WRC 2010 game release

For those interested.. chk www.blackbeangames.com for details on the FIA sanctioned WRC game due for release in Q3 2010 on ps3, 360 & most importantly PC.
Not since WRC evolution (Sony PS2, 2002-3 i think) has there been a FIA licensed rally game, sony has been sitting on the rights for sometime and not done much with it since then.
However, PS3's GT5 has recently been confirmed for 2 Nov release this year (about time!) and will include WRC content along with 3D viewing support and judging frm the trailers a full damage model (one of my gripes with the GT series).. i don't expect to see a full blown WRC season in GT5 but i so hope to be proved wrong on this, as GT5 final was one of 2 reasons why i brought a PS3, blu ray being the other.

Unfortunately Blackbeans PR dept has dropped a bomb by making claims that this will be the most realistic rally game ever created (cough!) sounds like PR spin BS to me, wasn't this the kind thing they siad about Dirt 2?
Hopefully the dev's hve done their home work and played RBR or better still contracted the services of Eero Piitulainen (physics lead on RBR and dev on EA's NFS Shift)

Rbr has set the realisim bar quite high in terms of handling imo, anything less than that would be a big fail for me, so if this game lives upto it's claims i'm hoping the transition will not be to difficult.
I assume the same expectations amongst the F1 sim community with the soon to be released F1 game frm codemaster's, were Live 4 spd & R factor will be the likely handling comparisons.

Could this be the successor to RBR? who know's if so, what would it mean to the RSBR community would everyone drop the old for the new.

By the looks of things, this year is going to be an expensive one.. more eye candy= new video card, 3d support= 3d tv.. not just yet for me 3k+ for 1st generation tech a gamble imo. however i am a big advocate of 3d in games the 2 are a marriage made in heaven, having played flight slimulators games in 3d on an old 22 inch crt monitor(high refresh rate req'd) for a few years now it certainly changes your perspective on playing games. The intensified depth of field allows you to judge distances with more ease, i almost shed a tear when i played in 3d for the first time, thats the kind of effect it has on you it's like a new world opening up on the familar.

Anyway enough from me , keeping my ear to ground with this one.

 

[Mark Birney]

Codemasters never said Dirt 2 was going to be remotely realistic. A journalist interviewing a dev even asked him about the simulation aspect and he said that it is aimed more at the arcade audience and is not a simulation.

 

[Christophe Berton]

:bang: sound nice

dirt 2 wasnt a sim, but nice to play on a console

 

[Warren Dawes]

I have my fingers crossed that this will deliver what we all hope for.
However, I'll reserve judgement until it is released for the PC. Past history has shown that these games are primarily developed for the console mass market, and basically ported across to the PC, Somewhere in the transition, the priority is always on great graphics, at the expense of realism (compared to the likes of RBR).

So in the end, you need a top end PC system to run it, but have to compromise the level of realism. RBR has realism in spades, far and away better than any other Rally Sim, so the bar is very high.

I'm hopeful, but not overly confident.

 

[Damien Jones]

It is going to be iOpener enabled (apparently) so at least the stages would have to be pretty accurate. Even with 'Dirt' physics running on some of these real stages would be fun. Hopefully it will have a decent physics engine and the option to tweak everything, just like is possible with RBR.
Fingers crossed.....but not holding my breath.

 

[Mark Birney]

Well if they are using iOpener it HAS to be a simulation. Unless they make it arcade and make everyone feel faster than Loeb.

 

[Christophe Berton]

new trailer
looks amazing

they say it will become a realistic rally game for everybody
so i think it will be a nice rally game, but not on the same level of RBR

 

[Mark Birney]

Guys, to be fair, would you have expected RBR to be the sim it is after seeing Warthogs other games?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warthog_Games

 

[Péter Bártfai]

Great video! Thanks!

 

[Søren Holm Pedersen]

WRC 2010 Game - Discussion regarding official video

Hi there people!

About the whole WRC 2010 Game show, I've got my own, uh, a little sumthin'-sumthin' to add.

Looking at the video, I already notice something being quite flawed. Mind you; I realize the game is very much still in production, and with around 3 months, tops, left of development, there is still much to be done. I'm merely observing the video that they've made official.

The handling, comparing with Richard Burns Rally, as opposed to that of WRC 2010 Game, is quite responsive. But TOO responsive, considering it was on gravel surface. To me it looks like the downforce is unrealistically high compared to the speed at which the vehicle(s) were driving in. Sort of like a Formula 1 car (or even a Dallenbach special) taking gravel'y corners at 120kph without even a hint of a slide. Admitted, there is a slide occurring in the depicted race, but small and.. Yes, unrealistic.

This along with other small but important details have been bugging me since I saw the video. I've been watching it again and again the past 5 or so hours, reviewing the above situations depicted, and I can't get my mind off it.
If a WRC game of this caliber should compete with RBR or any other simulator out there, especially considering it is iOpener Enabled, essentials such as realistic downforce depiction rather than positively visible downforce exaggeration is crucial. The sliding too is crucial, seeing as it, along with thousands of other factors, can result in loss of valuable seconds.

Do anybody else agree with me on this subject?

As Warren Dawes and most likely many others, I'm just hoping they don't go full-on eye-candy at the expense of realism, but so far, it really does look like it's aiming more at the mass public more than at the simracing fans. I can respect that to a certain degree, since they have to make some sort of money on it, and handing out a hardcore sim-to-the-bone for the general public doesn't really do that job. I do also respect the fact that some sim-oriented games out there have made it so, that the possibility to choose between simulation and arcade racing is present. This is why I would hope that BlackBean did this too.
My only concern in that matter is, that many developers tend to ignore the negative feedback aimed at them (or other developers and their games) and rather stick with their own gut on every aspect of the product.
The real question that the developers should ask themselves, is whether they want to earn a living off of a product made only for the general public, rather than both the general public and the simulation community that so long have prayed for a well-worthy successor to Richard Burns Rally.

Ideas, opinions, ideas.... Opinions... People, I want them! Feel free to discuss!

Thank you for reading this far - I hope you have something to add.

- Søren Holm Pedersen

 

[Warren Dawes]

Looking at the video, I already notice something being quite flawed.

Can you provide a link to the video you refer to, I'm not sure which one you mean??

 

[Rick Bamford]

Just watched the video, and, oh dear

Listen to the section at 4:00 - 4:30, how can it be a simultor if they are not using the FULL stage length? How will you "compete against the real WRC drivers" if you are not using the whole stage?

Guys, the graphics are great, and they might get the physics almost right (really there wasn't a large difference between WRC evolved and RBR) but a TRUE rally sim will not be for the MASS market. I think it will be another joke unless they include someway of extending the stages on-line or something.

I'm not holding my breath.