WRC 7 Review — Still Playable Today?

5 min readAug 11, 2024

Within the spectrum of rally games, DiRT Rally by Codemasters stands head and shoulders above the competition. Probably the rally game that came close is WRC from Kylotonn. With WRC 7, game developer Kylotonn is pulling the series out of a deep trough and it seems that a competitor for DiRT has finally emerged. WRC 7 is the official World Rally Championship game and is fully licensed with all the teams, cars, drivers, and rally locations.

Split-screen multiplayer in WRC 7 with cars displaying as wire frames due to texture issues.

Official Licenses

WRC 7 contains all of the official licenses for the 2017 season which comprises stages based upon the 13 rally events situated in various locations around the world including Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, France, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Finland, Germany, Spain, Wales and Australia. However, if you want to go for a bargain, you may as well buy WRC 6, as it is only slightly behind WRC 7 but it may be get for much less.

Two rally cars on a narrow track with no collision detection in WRC 7’s split-screen mode.

Replayability

WRC 7’s replayability is quite extensive due to the quantity of content on offer across a progressive Career mode from WRC Junior through WRC 2 and to the very top of WRC, Quick Game, and Custom Championship modes in single-player which is perfectly complimented by 29 Special Stages, 10 Super Special Stages, and 13 Epic Stages.

Custom Championship

Custom Championship has all of the options and preferences from the Quick Game mode, although Custom Championship allows players to drive in a Special Stage with anywhere from a single rally containing 4 Special Stages through to a championship containing a maximum of 13 rally events in any of the three WRC categories. Custom Championship lets players mix and match the stages of their choice into one championship, and the Career Mode — which is the meat and drink of WRC — gives players the chance to take part in multiple seasons, starting off with the Junior WRC before working up to ultimately become the WRC champion.

WRC 7 split-screen multiplayer lacking the option for horizontal split-screen, making narrow tracks more challenging.

Career Mode

It is an excellent design choice for the Career mode to begin in the lowest formula of the World Rally Championship as it results in a rewarding feeling when you finally reach the main WRC category having progressed from the bottom of the Junior WRC all the way through to the top of the WRC which is a real standout feature for the game as not every motorsport simulation can capture such a sensation.

Car Driving

Driving in WRC 7 is more careful and methodical than most racing games, testing how well you can adapt to sudden turns and slowdowns on off-road tracks. Different terrain elements make a big impact on your driving experience throughout the stages and it is definitely something to take note of. Then, there are also 55 official teams in the game from WRC2 drivers to WRC Junior drives. Each of the 60 stages included in the game provides you a wide range of driving experiences and you need to make sure you pay attention to the terrain you are racing on. It’s easy to drift around a corner on a dirt section of track, but drive the same way in the Swedish snow and you may find yourself spinning around and facing the wrong direction.

No customizable championship mode for Super Stages or rallies in WRC 7’s split-screen multiplayer.

Car Handling

Handling is very authentic to how a rally car would be anticipated to handle in variable weather conditions and terrain as is simultaneously the case with damage modeling as bodywork crumples when the car hits more hazards and punctures occur when hitting a serrated object such as a trackside rock during stages driven on higher difficulty levels. It features a Solo mode for players who buy Xbox racing games, which allows you to do single quick races, and work your way through the ranks in a Career Mode, and a Custom Championship Mode, which allows you to host” your own Championship with as many or few of the different tracks as you like.

WRC 7 split-screen multiplayer with no option to turn off time penalties, affecting gameplay flexibility.

Rally Stages

It offers a good career mode, with all the official tracks of the FIA Rally Championship and many improvements. WRC 7 has all the official rally stages, official drivers, official teams, and cars. If you were hoping for a completely die-hard sim then this isn’t quite it, the developers over at Kylotonn clearly favor a slightly more arcade approach that reminds me of DiRT 5. The cars are fairly easy to throw around the tracks, and on certain stages can feel like they’ve got sticky tires that grip the road so hard that they’ll begin pulling chunks of it up. I never felt like even with all the assists off the car itself was difficult to handle.

Co-driver’s pace notes in WRC 7’s split-screen mode without customizable positioning for better player visibility.

Conclusion

This could be one of the best rally games. Some people say that it feels better to drive than DiRT. Physics is another thing players praised: it is great how the cars react to jumps, how accelerate and break, and how realistic it feels and looks, including crash rolls that are better here than in DiRT. The career build is also done very well (how could have been otherwise when it is the official FIA video game). This is a very good car racing simulation video game and it is worth having it.