WRC Generations

[CrichStand]

@Junker Cheers man! Really enjoyed the German stages. High risk but also high reward. Thought I’d fucked it on the 2nd stage as I overcooked it and drove full on into a barrier at speed. Bonnet flapping about, bumper hanging off, engine sounded knackered, pad was vibrating like mad. Car seemed to handle better after that though and I set faster times than the other stages! 😂

[Junker]

This game can be surprisingly cinematic sometimes. The sun coming up in Turkey. I was in the shadow of the cliff until I rounded a corner and the lighting changed and it felt great. 
 Shitty compressed capture doesn’t do it justice but you get the idea

 

[CrichStand]

Yeah, at times it can look really nice, especially the lighting. I had a go at WRC8 on the Switch a couple of nights back. Oooof!!! 30fps and looks rough as owt. Looking forward to having a crack at this weeks rally, love using the Fiesta! 😁

[davejm]

@Junker I've applied to join the club

[Junker]

Ok, to mirror real life, this week we head to Mexico in your choice of WRC2.

a super special under the lights followed by three stages. 
 

[wullie]

Nabbed this for £20 on the PS store sale so now I've got the last three versions for a touch over £35 in total. Really loved 9 but I struggled to get on with 10 so far as I find it much less precise and skittish. Thought this might be due to being so used to 9 and switching over but on the brief go I've had with Generations it all feels more 'right' so I might just bite the bullet and skip 10 entirely.

[CrichStand]

@spatular Well played on last weeks win! Probably the toughest tracks we’ve done yet too. 👍🏻

[spatular]

^ thanks! it was really close with yourself and Junker, think we all won a stage each. And congrats to yourself for the win the week before

[CrichStand]

@spatular Even closer one this week! Junker and myself were neck and neck on the 1st stage. You then set some cracking times on the 2nd and 3rd making it dead level going into the 4th. Quality!

[Junker]

I was hopeful after stage 1 but yeah I ROYALLY messed up. I’d been playing ACC on Thursday and left my Ferrari rim on my T300. I forgot which button was handbrake which sent me off piste and to compound it I kept forgetting which button was mapped as triangle to reset, so I was stranded for ages. What a numpty.

 Well done @spatularand @CrichStand. if you compare your stage times to the full leaderboards you’re both top 200 or better easily.

[Junker]

This week’s rally is up. We’re “doing it again, brother” but in WRC Juniors. 
 Mexico stages are very good looking and certainly a challenge with lots of “don’t cut” corners where rocks and walls lurk waiting for drivers taking a chance to ignore co-driver’s pace notes.

[CrichStand]

Proper Quantum Leap style “Oh Boy”!

 

This one is going to be crazy close!

[Sane]

I impulse bought this game because it was on sale and I was craving for a racing game. And I love it, it's just what I wanted! There's no annoying announcers, no 700 cars, no upgrading, no racing lines, no open worlds.

 

I love the focus on a smaller amount of cars and tracks so you can really get to know them. I also love the super smooth and clean visuals, maybe something like forza is technically more impressive but WRC let's met see where I'm going better. 

 

It's pretty brutal though! I haven't played a rally game properly since Rallisport 2,aside from some Dirt here and there, and I'm coming in dead last in every rally so far. Any tips for a rally noob? Should I be playing career or season mode? 

[Junker]

@Sane play anything. Also do you want to join the RLLMUK club? It’s under my username “JUNKERDENB” in the “Clubs” bit. Don’t ask how to search as some design choices in the game are a bit baffling.

 Every week I set up a rally for us to compete against on. Good bit of competition but I warn you @spatularand @CrichStand are stupid fast.

 It is a really good little rally game, just a shame they’ve lost the licence as they’ve pretty much given up on it with no real updates or anything since the launch window.

[CrichStand]

@Sane It’s a great game. Feels like a natural successor  to the old McRae titles, which is why I love it so much. As you say it’s pretty brutal though! You can adjust the difficulty to whatever suits you and stuff, plus use the assists I guess to tailor the game to just the right difficulty level. Main thing is just getting stuck in and getting a feel for the cars, surfaces etc. What you can get away with when pushing them! 😁

 

My tips would be don’t overcook it! Sometimes it’s faster to drive slower, if that makes any sense! 😂 Also, sticking as close to the inside of corners as possible and keeping the car in a straight a line as possible is vital for fast times, as is using all of the track width and the weight of the car. Also engine braking, (I think that’s right, @Junkerwill know), switching down gears to slow the car. Slow in, fast out on the corners! Oh, and being as smooth as possible with steering, accelerator, braking etc. I find it’s often better to take your foot off the gas and just coast through sections. Hope that helps! And as Junker says - give the club a go if it takes ya fancy. It’s good fun! Junker does a great job with it and it’s better than the standard Online stuff.

[wullie]

For where in the game to get started, with 9 I had a few rough goes at individual stages but went fairly quickly into career mode, starting at the junior stage offers quite a gentle learning curve I find.

 

One thing with Generations that I love is the rallies in career mode ending with the full length greatest hits stage of all the smaller stages you've already done. Can be a war of attrition but the change in scenery in some is spectacular. Also outside the built-in Astro demo this is the best use of the haptic feedback I've seen yet on PS5.

[ryodi]

I picked it up for XBox a few months ago and have spent most of time driving the WRC2 and surprisingly great sounding Junior WRC cars. I don't have the reaction times for the full WRC cars anymore but even in those slower cars the feeling is still great on the rare occasions I can string a few corners together and get into the flow of it before burying the car in the first lamp post I come across. 

 

The WRC coverage on YouTube has gotten a lot better this season and unlike FOM they let you embed videos so here's an onboard of Evans at Rally Mexico showing you how it's done.

 

 

[Sane]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'd love to join the club, as long as I'm not taking up a slot for a more serious player. I don't think I'll be able to actually be competitive, but I like the social aspect and being able to compare times and such. 

 

Do I really have to scroll through all the pages to find the club? 

 

As for the difficulty, I have abs on, tc off, damage to cosmetic and using automatic gears. I should use manual gears right? I find driving in Sweden extremely difficult because of the snow on the side of the roads, one tiny mistake and I'm toast... 

[CrichStand]

I switch everything off but I think it comes down to whatever suits the player. I’d advise using manual so you can shift down  the gears  to reduce speed or “dig in”, keep the revs high on bends etc.

 

Sweden is one of the Rallies that pays to drive really carefully, possibly more slowly on some sections with the snow banks. Using the weight of the car through bends really pays off on those stages too. On other sections you can thrash the car and use the snow banks to your advantage though! 😁 It’s a cool game because everyone will have their fav or worst Rally so it can really open the game up when playing multiplayer.

[Sane]

I know what you mean about going slow first, it's such a different attitude compared to most racing games I'm used to where you're just holding down the throttle most of the time with an eye on the mini map.

 

Even so, I don't think I've managed a faultless race yet, I usually mess up at least 3 or 4 times so I still have to be more careful. I'll get there eventually, it's also a matter of learning the tracks. 

 

I tried using manual gears but I think I'll have to stick with auto for now, there's just no way for my braid to keep track of everything . 

 

Edit: what do you mean when you say "using the weight of the car"? 

[CrichStand]

Yeah, it’s always best to just stick to whatever suits you and makes the game most enjoyable! 
 

About the weight of the car........so using momentum and weight transfer. In other words it can be good to turn the car one way before turning the car the other way through the bend. There are parts of tracks where this will happen naturally and it feels a bit like surfing a wave when it does. It’s a technique that can make taking certain corners better/faster. It might be called a Scandinavian Flick. Again, Junker will know if I’m using the right terms. Probably not! 🤣

 

Same applies to jumps. Instead of blasting over them, use the correct speed and weight of the car to get the wheels back on the ground asap and gain traction and speed. It’s stuff like this that can take loads of time off stages. It’s knowing when you can push and when to reign things in.
 

Shit, I’ve forgotten one of the most important things! The pace notes! Try to follow them just as much, as what you’re seeing up ahead. Translation of 5 or 6 = spank the fuck out of it! Hairpin or caution = knew I should have slowed down. How am I going to get out of this tree? 🤣

[Sane]

7 hours ago, CrichStand said:

Yeah, it’s always best to just stick to whatever suits you and makes the game most enjoyable! 
 

About the weight of the car........so using momentum and weight transfer. In other words it can be good to turn the car one way before turning the car the other way through the bend. There are parts of tracks where this will happen naturally and it feels a bit like surfing a wave when it does. It’s a technique that can make taking certain corners better/faster. It might be called a Scandinavian Flick. Again, Junker will know if I’m using the right terms. Probably not! 🤣

 

Same applies to jumps. Instead of blasting over them, use the correct speed and weight of the car to get the wheels back on the ground asap and gain traction and speed. It’s stuff like this that can take loads of time off stages. It’s knowing when you can push and when to reign things in.
 

Shit, I’ve forgotten one of the most important things! The pace notes! Try to follow them just as much, as what you’re seeing up ahead. Translation of 5 or 6 = spank the fuck out of it! Hairpin or caution = knew I should have slowed down. How am I going to get out of this tree? 🤣

Thanks, that helps a lot! I do try to follow the pace notes, slowly getting better at parsing all the information: how the track looks, what they are saying and the arrows on screen. Currently doing a rally in Estonia and that's going much better than Sweden so far.

 

Should I keep using ABS or is it going to bite me in the long run?

[CrichStand]

If you’re ok without the arrows, then it’s a good idea to get rid of them and just use the pace notes. Not sure about the ABS and stuff, I always just turn everything off in driving games. Might be best on, I don’t know! 😂 I think with any decent Rally game, especially WRC, it’s better to get used to the cars and what you can do with them, more than “learn” the tracks. It’s better to drive on instincts and be in the moment, as every run can be fairly different.

 

Just set my times for this week’s Rally. Turns out that was the Fiesta I was talking about being my fav car on the game. Proper quality! Feels absolutely amazing thrashing it through the stages. Best rally game ever made!!!

 

 

[Sane]

Got my first win! It was on a racetrack in Portugal. Proper fist pump moment. 

 

I turned off ABS, seems fine so far. I also did the opposite of what you said and turned off the voice for the pace notes and kept the arrows. I'll try the other way around too so see what works best. 

 

One more question: why does it stop letting me restart races sometimes? Is there a limit? 

[CrichStand]

Whatever works for you! I personally find it easier to listen to directions and then visually, totally focus on the track itself. Way easier that way for me. The voice pace notes will be more detailed and faster......I think???

 

The restarts are dependent on certain difficulty settings you choose, as far as I can remember. I play on Realistic damage so there are no restarts.  Might be a good idea to check all the settings and see if there’s any info regarding that.

 

Nice one on bagging the win! 👍🏻

[Junker]

Hey folks. Sorry, had a bit of irl drama to take care of. 
 last week @CrichStandsmashed it.

 @spatular’s time on Stage 4 “El Chocolate” was good enough for 4th n the world leaderboard. CrichStand’s was good enough for 2nd!!!

[Junker]

This week it’s a weird one. The 5 gravel Super Special stages in the game done at night in the 2007 Focus WRC.

 Only running for 5 days to keep it to a traditional Sunday finish so these little stages will only take a couple of minutes each. 
If you’ve not joined the club there are unlimited spaces and all are welcome. I post them weekly and they are aimed at being do-able in half an hour or so.

@Sane @ryodi @wullie do you fancy a go? No obligation to do it every week, just a little bit of rllmuk competition.

[Sane]

51 minutes ago, Junker said:

This week it’s a weird one. The 5 gravel Super Special stages in the game done at night in the 2007 Focus WRC.

 Only running for 5 days to keep it to a traditional Sunday finish so these little stages will only take a couple of minutes each. 
If you’ve not joined the club there are unlimited spaces and all are welcome. I post them weekly and they are aimed at being do-able in half an hour or so.

@Sane @ryodi @wullie do you fancy a go? No obligation to do it every week, just a little bit of rllmuk competition.

Yeah sounds great! I wanted to join before but I'm not really sure how. It seems like I have to scroll through hundreds pages of clubs to be able to find this one. And each page takes a good few seconds to load. Is there a better way to do it? I'm on Xbox. 

[CrichStand]

@Junker Cheers dude! Hope the week wasn’t too bad.
 

Didn’t realise Spatular and myself were that fast. Nice one! Might have a crack at beating the cyborg ninja robot that appears to have set the 1st place time. 😂

[Sane]

OK, I managed to get there by jamming my controller under a pillow . I sent a request to join the club.