NACON and KT Racing have brought their brilliant WRC 9 to next-gen consoles with their latest release. With the release of WRC 8 last year, KT Racing has really outdone themselves with the franchise and WRC 9 moves the franchise even further. This review of WRC 9 is strictly aimed at the performance and difference of the next-gen release of the title. If you want to read our expansive review of WRC detailing the game features and everything else, make sure to check out our original review of WRC 9. We will be sticking to the performance on next-gen consoles here.
For this review, we played and tested the game on all three of the next-gen consoles. This includes Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5. WRC 9 brings all of its content to the next-gen versions including its brilliant Career Mode and all other single-player and multiplayer modes including the eSports mode for players looking for some serious competition. The most striking difference in the current-gen version and the next-gen variant is definitely the frames and how smooth the game feels on the new consoles including the Xbox Series S. Surprisingly, the game ran brilliantly on 4K on an Xbox Series S as well without any major frame-dips which shows that the game is extremely well optimized for the next-generation.
WRC 9 supports 4K with 60FPS on all three consoles and it really manages to push those frames as well. One of the things that I did notice somewhat lacking in the game was that the draw distance was still a little low as compared to the PC release of the title. While this was not really obvious as I was blazing down rally stages in a rally car because you are mostly focused on the road, I only noticed this during the initial, starting menu where the game is showing you the rally stage. In some areas, I noticed that grass on the side of the road was popping in as the camera went forward. While it may go unnoticed to a normal player, it was certainly there. Again, I hardly noticed it while I was actually playing the game.
Sticking to the visual details, I certainly noticed an increased amount of foliage around the rally stages as well. There were more grass patches and rally stages in countries like Mexico and Kenya certainly offered better-textured roads as well. You can see the road cracks and stones and other debris on the road much more clearly especially while playing in 4K. The night stages are much more haunting to look at and the smoke is clearly denser as well for dusty stages. Another thing to note here is the shadows that are in higher detail this time around as well. Rally stages set in forests have extremely detailed shadows and the moving shadows have much higher detail as well.
The gameplay is as smooth as it could be. There were no hiccups in frames or stuttering both in 1080p mode and 4K mode on either of the consoles. I was not expecting the game to maintain steady frames while running on the Series S but to my surprise, the game ran exceptionally well on the console which was a big surprise for me. The game maintained high frames and there was no screen-tearing on any of the consoles as well. Loading times were exceptionally low as well and especially on the Series X and PS5, the loading screen hardly came for about 3 or 4 seconds while loading a rally. This is probably another one of the most notable differences in the generation-comparison.
In case of our review, the game was installed in the internal drives of all three consoles. I did not try with an external drive for the Xbox Series consoles however the loading times were exceptionally fast with the internal SSDs. It is clearly evident that how much faster the loading becomes just because of the newer-gen storage solutions in the consoles. Another hardware feature that WRC 9 takes advantage of is the new DualSense controller of the PS5 console. You feel every stone and bump that you pass over in your triggers and the acceleration and braking stiffen up the triggers as well depending on your playing style. This is a great addition to the console because the game was extremely boring to play with the PS4’s DualShock 4 controller.
Despite the additional features offered by the DualSense controller, I still think that when it comes to controllers, I still had a better time playing the game with the Xbox Elite V2 controller. PS5’s DualSense offered excellent feedback and response however it still felt a little lacking when it came to acceleration and braking response. However, hearing the car backfire through the DualSense’s speaker and the sound of debris hitting the underside of the car coming from the car felt brilliant. While its my personal preference, I think that both DualSense and the Xbox Elite Controller V2 both offer a really great experience so no matter where you play the game, you will still have a brilliant experience whether it’s the Xbox Series or the PS5. The default Xbox controller feels okay as well but if you are a racing fan, try to get your hands on an Elite controller for this game.
Concluding this review, I can say that WRC 9 is a brilliant experience on both the PS5 and the Xbox Series consoles. The developer has optimized the title extremely well and it is almost identical to a decent gaming PC. You get flat 60 FPS even when you are playing in 4K so I don’t know what else you could want out of your console version of the game. The game looks beautiful, it plays smoothly, it utilizes the additional power and features really well and it certainly deserves to be on your must-play list if you are a racing fan. You are getting everything offered in the previous-gen versions but in a better, definitive way.
Final Verdict:
NACON and KT Racing have made WRC one of the best sim rally experiences over the past few years and WRC 9 is probably the best entry in the franchise as well. Instead of switching the whole game again, KT Racing took the same tried and trusted formula from WRC 8 and made it better in every possible way. The latest release on PS5 and Xbox Series is no different. Both versions take full advantage of the additional power and features of the next-gen consoles have to offer and is a definitive upgrade over the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game. If you skipped picking this up on your old-gen consoles, you could now pick up the PS5 or the Xbox Series version of the game and experience WRC in its most definitive edition on the consoles. Highly recommended if you love rally titles and especially the World Rally Championship.
Final Score: 9.0/10
