Forget 0-60 – if you want to go from sitting idly on your sofa to a state of pure focus as fast as a turbo-charged Toyota Yaris WRC goes from a standstill to breaking the national speed limit, then there’s really no better fix than your common garden rally game. Nothing else asks so much of its players, busying them with a relentless succession of turns and ever-changing terrain. It’s an improbable sport – I still can’t quite believe people are allowed to thread weaponised hatchbacks around narrow country roads at such speed – that makes for almost impossibly challenging games, and I love both all the more for it.
WRC 8 reviewDeveloper: Kylotonn RacingPublisher: BigBen InteractivePlatform played: Xbox One XAvailability: Out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC
With Codemasters hitting a purple patch with Dirt Rally and its sequel – for my money some of the very best takes on the sport I’ve had the pleasure of playing – it’s a good time to pound some badly-maintained roads, and Kylotonn’s joining the party with WRC 8. It’s a significant year for the series, having taken a year away and returning from its break revitalised and refreshed. In fact, having personally only kept a watching brief on Kylotonn’s tenure on the series since it signed up with WRC 5, it feels like a different series entirely.
Well, that’s not quite true, as the new direction that WRC 8 pursues can’t help but bring to mind Codemasters’ own recent successes. Like Dirt Rally, this is a more serious-minded affair that leans more towards authenticity than accessibility. And, like Dirt Rally, it’s all the better for the approach.
There’s an awful lot to love about WRC 8’s handling model, even if the hard edges ensure it’s not a pursuit for the faint of heart. Firstly, it translates well to a gamepad, where the all-important feeling of weight and shifting levels of grip are translated neatly enough, even if the fidelity isn’t quite there to save you in moments of real peril. A proper wheel is required to fully unlock WRC 8’s potential – and to give your forearms a decent workout, too – and it’s here you’ll discover the real strengths of what Kylotonn has achieved.