RallySport Magazine November 2016

WRC 6 GAME REVIEW
BE THE NEXT SEB!
WRC 6 gets the thumbs up!
By LUKE WHITTEN
Due to the obvious competition
from various rally games, the
official WRC game had plenty
to prove.
The RallySport Mag team recently
got stuck into WRC 6 and came to the
conclusion that it definitely holds its
own amongst competitors.
Released on October 14 in Australia
and New Zealand, the brand new
game of the World Rally Championship
is a difficult game to master, yet a
hugely fun and impressive title.
It features all of the current liveries
from the WRC, WRC2 and WRC3
championships, and gives gamers the
chance to compete in all 14 rounds -
including the cancelled Rally China.
When starting the game for the first
time, you compete as a top line driver
bidding for the title on two stages in
Italy and Australia, before the game
gives you its own suggested difficulty
level.
This level may be surprising, but the
stage itself is a fair indication of your
ability.
Unless you’re a clone of Sebastien
Ogier, it’s most likely that you’ve taken
a trip into the scenery. The car handles
like it should, and the body roll is
legitimate and slides around on the
loose gravel like a car should.
Your tyres (either soft or hard
compound) noticeably wear, and you
can feel them fading at the end of a
long stage.
The developers at Big Ben and
Klytonn Games have done a fantastic
job at recreating some of the intricacies
of a real rally.
Intercom failures, being stuck in sixth
gear and passing stricken cars are all a
part of the game. You can even change
a flat tyre mid-stage.
Yet understandably, they’ve still
catered for the ‘non-rally’ person. Some
things are still basic.
The pace notes are more detailed
than in the past, and listening to them
is undoubtedly a key, but these are still
not up to par if you’re driving at ten
tenths.
An ‘acute hairpin right’ or ‘square left’
suddenly appears very quickly when
you’re travelling at 200km/h down a
Finnish road!
It soon became very clear that a quick
change to the pacenote settings was
not just necessary, but vital.
Perhaps the only place you can do
without the pacenotes are the super
special stages, and these are perhaps
the game’s greatest feature
There are 11 stages on a 1:1 scale
with their real life counterparts - many
of which have been live stages during
the season.
The Mikoljaki Arena stage in Poland,
the Harju test in Finland and the
Barcelona street stage in Spain are the
main points of interest.
Identical to the real things, these
are great fun to drive and equally
challenging.
Overall, despite some minor flaws,
WRC 6 ticks all the right boxes in our
opinion.
The game caters for everyone, and
despite hours of play, we still haven’t
mastered it.
It’s a must for anyone’s Christmas
stocking, or if you simply can’t wait,
spoil yourself now.
NOVEMBER 2016 - RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE | 15