EA Sports WRC Early Access: How to play early

Codemasters is returning to rally games with the release of EA Sports WRC. As the studio’s first official WRC game after acquiring the license from Nacon and KT Racing, expectations are high. Rally fans are eager to find out if Codemasters' first official WRC game lives up tot he hype, so can you get early access to EA Sports WRC?

If you're itching to get rallying, we’ve got everything you need to know about accessing EA Sports WRC early.

How to play EA Sports WRC early

EA Sports WRC launches on 3 November for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. However, there is a way to start playing a few days early. Most racing games like Forza Motorsport require buying expensive premium editions for early access. Refreshingly, this is not the case with EA Sports WRC.

To get early access, all you need to do is pre-order EA Sports WRC on any platform. Those who pre-order can access EA Sports WRC on 31 October, three days before the general release. There is no deluxe edition: pre-ordering the base game will grant you early access.

Players who pre-order will also receive five VIP rally pass seasons, each containing additional post-launch content and three vanity packs with Ford, Toyota, and Hyundai liveries and apparel. With a £44.99 / $49.99 RRP, EA Sports WRC is cheaper than F1 23’s £69.99 / $69.99 launch price.

There’s no trick here,” senior creative director Ross Gowing told RacingGames. “The game is lower priced than some other games, but it’s in line with our previous rally games and what we feel is a good price. By offering an attractive price point, we hope loads of people will come in and see what rallying is about if they haven’t tried it before.”

Codemasters’ biggest rally game yet

Despite the lower price, EA Sports WRC is Codemasters’ biggest rally game ever. Scrapping the old in-house EGO engine and switching to Unreal Engine has enabled Codemasters to craft significantly longer and more challenging stages.

EA Sports WRC will feature over 200 stages across 17 locations at launch and over 600km of unique roads, with Central Europe coming in a post-launch update. These stages are significantly longer than DiRT Rally 2.0 – the longest will take around 20 minutes to complete.

As for cars, EA Sports WRC will feature 78 vehicles across 18 classes, covering WRC’s 70-year history from legendary Group B cars to the modern Rally1 hybrids.

For more on EA Sports WRC, check out the complete car list and location list. In our interview with Codemasters, you can also find out how EA Sports WRC is reinventing the rally game.