
To the most part, yes. Gone are the party modes that made FIA WRC 3, look like a Dirt rip-off, we have 4WD Rally cars racing against the clock and not much else. There is a dedicated career mode, working your way up though the ranks, now the norm for the new reboot series of the Officially licensed WRC.
The Demo is limited to 2 Special Stages in Italy and racing as Sebastian Ogier in his VW Polo. Offering all the tweaks and customisation over your car as your would expect, the cars themselves handle very light, they drive the direction you steer and respond very well. But they don't feel floaty like WRC2. The Stages on offer, have ALOT of hairpin corners and I have found there is AI help on these particular tricky corners. The car will seem to automatically turn into the corner and almost position itself correctly without much input.
A nice new feature is while the game is loading, it will show a quote spoken from a Rally driver, usually the one currently in 1st place during the Rally. Speaking how the last stage went. This does change, because I finished first and the quote changed to one congratulating me. Visually the cars look good and the track and closer landscape. After that, the graphic quality fades and the crowd and marshals look like the same person and the spectators clapping in unison, compared to other games being relased now, this looks very dated.
The game will win back dedicated WRC fans looking to re-ignite their interest in the sport. It plays well with all the bells and whittles you would expect. Nothing ground breaking and unfortunately nothing to make it stand out from the crowd and It'll be forgotten about just as quick as a gear change.
Release Date: 25th October 2013 on PS3, PS Vita, Xbox360 and PC
CJSowry