WRC Generations Beginner's Guide: 5 essential tips to get you started

WRC Generations is finally here.

With KT Racing losing the WRC license this year, WRC Generations marks the end of an era as KT Racing's final entry in the series after seven years and seven games.

With 165 stages, 21 countries, and a new Leagues mode, it’s the biggest and best WRC game yet and a glorious send-off for the series.

WRC Generations beginner's guide

Rally games have a reputation for being some of the hardest racing games to master. By nature, rallying is challenging and unforgiving. These brave drivers battle the elements against the clock in some of the world’s toughest off-road stages.

There are no gravel traps to save you when it all goes wrong. Instead, trees, rocks and walls will catch you out if you make a mistake.

Don’t worry though. If you're new to the WRC series, our WRC Generations beginner’s guide has all the essential tips to help you start your rallying journey.

Start in WRC3 Junior or WRC2

WRC Generations introduces the new Rally1 cars that debuted in the 2022 WRC championship. New regulations mean these Rally1 cars are equipped with hybrid powertrains for the first time.

Not only are they more efficient, but they are also much more powerful than last year's cars thanks to electrical assistance providing an extra 100kW of power.

Initially, the Rally1 cars aren’t unlocked at the start of the Career and Season modes, but you can try them in Quick Play. These cars are fun and exhilarating to drive and will test your skills even if you're an experienced player. However, they are intimidating for beginners.

Instead, we recommend honing your skills with the WRC3 Junior and WRC2 cars. With 220hp coming from a 1.5-litre EcoBoost engine and four-wheel drive, the WRC3 Junior Ford Fiesta cars are light and nimble, making them easier and more predictable to drive than the Rally1 cars.

Rally driving is very different to traditional track driving. Loose surfaces have less grip than tarmac so you need to transfer the weight of the car. Hitting the brakes will transfer weight to the front tyres, giving more traction.

Getting sideways slows you down in track racing. In rallying, however, this is the fastest way to get around a corner.

Counter steering and balancing the throttle to slide around corners without losing too much speed takes practice, but you soon develop a rhythm. Starting with the WRC3 Junior and WRC2 cars will help you practice these techniques before advancing to the Rally1 class.

Apply assists

When you first start WRC Generations, we recommend taking the optional driving test if you’re new to the series. This will assess your skill level and adjust the driving assists accordingly based on your performance. After the driving test, you can change other settings to suit your preference.

If you’re using a controller, we suggest turning down the steering sensitivity. To do this, go to Options and select Controls. In the gameplay menu, scroll down to steer left and steer right and turn down the sensitivity.

Rally driving requires smooth and precise inputs, so reducing the steering sensitivity will make WRC Generations easier to play with a controller.

Driving without assists gives you a better feeling of the car but applying driving assists will improve the car’s stability if you’re new to rally games. To toggle driving assists, go to Options > Gameplay Settings > Configure.

Here you can enable assists like ABS and traction control. Switching ABS on will prevent the wheels from locking up under hard braking while traction control will prevent the tyres from losing grip.

You’ll also want to switch the gears to automatic so you don’t need to worry about shifting gears manually initially. As you gain more experience and confidence, gradually disable the assists.

Listen to your co-driver

In rallying, your co-driver is your friend. As you navigate a stage, your helpful companion sits alongside you and shouts out pace notes describing the route of the stage to help guide you.

Pay close attention to your co-driver’s pace notes because this will help you avoid hazards, adjust your speed to prepare for approaching corners, and post faster stage times.

Each corner type has a corresponding number between 1 and 6. These numbers indicate the severity of the corner.

For example, a “left/right one” means you need to slow down for a sharp corner, while a “Square left” indicate a 90-degree turn. On the other hand, a “left/right six” signifies a slight right corner you can tackle at high speed without lifting off.

Your co-driver will also warn you of upcoming hazards. If you hear “don’t cut,” it literally means don’t cut the corner unless you want to crash into a protruding rock or tree.

You can also change how early or late your co-driver delivers a pace note before a corner. To do this, go to Options then Gameplay Settings and select Co-driver.

We recommend changing the co-driver timing to early if you’re new to rally games. This will make your co-driver deliver commands a few seconds before the corner giving you plenty of time to react and avoid making mistakes.

Choose the right tyres

Before a stage, there are numerous options to adjust your car setup. One of the most important options is tyre selection. Like in many racing disciplines, choosing the right tyres can make the difference between winning and losing.

In WRC Generations, you can allocate up to ten tyres for a rally. Doing shakedown events will also give you four extra spare tyres. Checking the weather forecast will help you decide if you need to allocate any wet tyres.

Choosing the right tyres is crucial – driving on the wrong tyres will slow you down and affect grip if they aren’t set up for the correct surface. For example, don’t use wet tyres on a tarmac surface if the weather is dry.

Choosing the right compound is also important. Soft tyres provide more grip but hard tyres last longer, so choose the compounds depending on the stage length.

These compounds also degrade over time. You can check the condition of your tyres, which is represented by a percentage, after each stage, replace them with fresh ones or alternate the front and rear tyres if required.

Also, don’t forget to repair your car after each stage if you sustained damage as this can affect your car’s performance.

Spend skill points

Career mode returns in WRC Generations. While it follows a familiar format for returning players, there’s a lot for new players to learn.

The career mode takes place at the Team HQ, where you can plan events in your calendar, manage staff members, and upgrade skill trees.

To get started, you’ll need to add events to your calendar. These range from rallies to historic events, manufacturer tryouts, and resting periods for your team. The latter is essential to improve your team’s morale and skill levels.

You can also manage team members from mechanics to meteorologists. Each staff member has a skill rating, with higher skilled staff costing more money to hire. For example, hiring a skilled meteorologist will make weather forecasts more accurate.

As you complete rallies, you’ll earn skill points that can be spent on research and development. This is represented in a skill tree. Don’t waste them because these points can improve your team’s skills and your car’s performance and reliability.

When starting a career, we recommend spending points on the Great Victory skill in the Team tree branch. This increases rewards after winning a rally.

Also be sure to unlock the ability to hire a Meteorologist in the Crew skill tree as soon as possible. Meteorologists can predict weather conditions for each day of a rally, helping you set up your car and choose the correct tyres.

Unlocking an Engineer in the Crew tree branch will also increase R&D points earned. Another useful skill to unlock is Special Tyres in the Performance tree branch. This increases grip for rain, snow, and mixed-surface tyres.

WRC Generations review

Does WRC Generations end the series with a bang or a whimper? Find out our verdict on KT Generations’ final WRC game in our WRC Generations review.