EA Sports WRC: 5 New Cars Confirmed

Just a few days after the new rally racer was announced, new details about EA Sports WRC were revealed first episode of EA's new racing show, The Racing Line, on Twitch.

Joining the stream was 2023 FIA European Rally Championship ERC3 champion Jon Armstrong, who revealed five previously unconfirmed cars coming to EA Sports WRC.

5 new cars confirmed for EA Sports WRC

EA Sports WRC will include 78 rally cars at launch. Ten of these are the official WRC, WRC2, and Junior WRC cars, including the new Rally1 hybrids. Each platform will have a different cover car from the WRC Rally1 class. While Codemasters has partially confirmed the car list, Armstrong revealed five new cars.

First up is the Ford Fiesta Rally3, Ford’s current Junior WRC specification car. With 4WD and a lower power output, this will be an ideal car for beginners getting to grips with EA Sports WRC. Technically, Codemasters already confirrmed this car, though.

Next is the Ford Fiesta MK8 Rally4, which sports the livery Armstrong competed with in 2021. Like the Rally3 car, it sports a three-cylinder engine and produces a lot of torque, requiring careful throttle balance to find traction.

One of the most interesting cars announced was the Citroen Xsara WRC, one of the most successful and important cars in WRC’s history. Sebastien Loeb won his first world title in the Xsara and it was also the last car Colin McRae drove in his last full WRC season.

A surprise addition is the Colin McRae R4. Weighing only 1,000kg and powered by a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated engine producing 340hp, this project car was designed by Colin McRae, showcasing his vision of the future of rally. Notably, this will be the first time the R4 has featured in a rally game since DiRT 3 in 2011.

Finally, we have the Mini Countryman Rally Edition. With new WRC specification rule changes introduced in 2011, it’s powered by a 1.6-litre engine and utilises a mechanical differential instead of an active one. It also has a manual gearbox instead of paddle shifters. These measures were introduced to reduce costs.

EA Sports WRC will have “super super” long stages

One of DiRT Rally 2.0’s chief criticisms is the short, unauthentic stages. For EA Sports WRC, switching to Unreal Engine has enabled Codemasters to create longer and more detailed stages.

“We knew when we got the WRC license that we would have a lot of locations to make and we really wanted to push the boundaries of the stage’s length,” said Armstrong.

“We have really long stages. We have stages that are 30 kilometres in length, which is super super long. I think in a Rally1 car it takes you 20 minutes plus to complete so it’s a big challenge.” For comparison, DiRT Rally 2.0’s longest stages are around 13km and take under ten minutes to complete.

Marking a new era of rally racing, EA Sports WRC releases on 3 November for PS5, Xbox, and PC. Pre-ordering the game gives players three days of early access starting on 31 October.