WRC 7 (Xbox One) Review

Like many other racing cars, the rally cars drive pretty much as expected here, except for the more rally-specific functions that need to be learnt. Luckily, WRC 7 does a great job of teaching the basics in the first race, which also helps the game decide the right difficulty setting, which can be adjusted at any time between tracks. The main thing of paramount in these types of races is to keep on the track as best as possible, all while listening to the instructions of the spotter in the passenger seat, who points out the angles of the turns, and hazards that are coming up on the track.

Jumping straight into solo mode, three sponsors present their offers for a brand-new seasonal contract for the WRC Juniors division. While at first they present basically the same car that are branded differently, they do contain different set goals, from not wanting to pay exorbitant repair costs, while other sponsors just want wins at any cost, regardless of the repair costs. These depend on the preferred play style, and winning at any cost is generally better to begin with while still learning the nooks of the game, with keeping repair costs down being better for the more experienced rally drivers.

The main issue with the three sponsorship offers is that they each represent one of three different strategy types: prioritising safety by taking 5% less damage, prioritising speed at the expense of 5% extra damage, or the balanced type. To make matters a little worse, they won't all offer contracts to the next level of the WRC. Jumping from the Juniors league to WRC 2 may depend on choosing the only offered contract to that level, whichever strategy it may be. The contracts also contain useless durations that never seem to come into effect. After signing a two-year deal, sponsors will still make further offers at the conclusion of the season, rendering the previous two-year deal useless. Another minor gripe is the mislabelling of the some of the sponsored vehicles. For instance, a Toyota Yaris is mislabelled as a Citroen C3, despite the Toyota badge on the vehicle pictured.

Luckily, this sponsorship stage can quickly be forgotten once the racing actually begins. Featuring the major events from the real league, each event adds a new and exciting challenge that must be overcome in order to achieve the ultimate glory. Racing on gravel or tarmac, or sliding the slippery slopes of the snowy peaks, each track presents plenty of challenges that perfectly capture the thrill of riding every bump and turn, while hanging on the edge of the seat. The visuals look pretty, and the various regions look incredible at high speeds. The roads themselves can get quite narrow at times, and the most minor of obstacles by the road can be enough to send cars flying into the air. However, these can also be quite inconsistent, as a small rock can derail the entire race, while a tree will sometimes go through the car, thus breaking the immersion somewhat.

The events go over three days, with a series of stages split between them. Some days require three stages to be complete, and cars can only be repaired at the end of the day. Of course, this means not doing complete damage to the car on the first race, or else a conservative method will have to be taken. Car configurations can also be utilised at the end of each day, as well as prior to beginning a new event. Though the basic method of car configuration is knowing which tyres to use on what surfaces, there are more advanced options for those keen to really have a play around.

Whether it's adjusting the shock absorbers, or raising or lowering the brake strength and gear ratios, while tinkering with the front and rear suspensions, there is a bit to have control of. For car aficionados, this would be a welcome tool. However, for those who aren't as caught up with what each of these things actually do or how they impact car performance, the lack of any sort of tutorial or help guide means having to play around with these sliders in a trial-and-error basis. Fortunately, using this tool is really not mandatory on the easier options, as most races and events can still be traversed and won with the generic settings, albeit minor differences depending on the track surfaces.

Apart from Career mode is the ability to Create a Championship. Unfortunately, it acts as more of a playlist of different events, as it involves queuing up as many or as little events as possible, and then racing through the custom calendar. Having a track creator might have been a better way to really shake this mode up, as it lacks any sort of replay value beyond the Career mode, especially when the Quick Play option can make the jumps to the preferred tracks. There are Championship Challenges that offer a timed challenge for a specific track, with an online leaderboard keeping track of everyone's scores - or go online and race other players in a bid to earn ranking points to advance avatar levels, while earning accomplishments.