WRC: World Rally Championship

by Sony

Product Features

• 1-2 Players
• Digital and Analog Control
• Vibration Function
• 81 Tracks, plus 10 Two Player Stages
• Extensively Detailed 3D Cockpit

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000063RRM
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 21, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,520 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

World Rally Championship is an officially licensed product that features all the cars, teams, and drivers from the official 2001 World Rally Championship. You will battle your way through 108 heart-pounding stages in 14 rallies located all over the world. The tracks are set in gigantic picturesque environments populated with fans, cameramen, and wildlife. The game features extensively detailed 3-D cockpits and drivers, animated by fully inverse kinematics for a true-to-life representation. More than 40 elements of each car have been accurately modeled to determine their individual physics. Cars can pick up dust, mud, and snow and receive collision damage--from shattered windows to torn-off bumpers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GT3? What's that?, December 24, 2002

By 

Randy Rathbun "total nerd" (Independence, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: WRC: World Rally Championship (Video Game)

Okay, maybe that is a bit much, but at least the cars can get damaged, unlike in Gran Turismo. Unfortunately, they seem to get damaged very easily. But, hey, that's the WRC for ya! After all, one guy in the WRC smoked an engine this year when he clipped a snow bank with the front of his car thus blocking the air flow to to the radiator with a mess of ice and snow.

But, on to the game. First off, this game is presented exactly as you see it on the WRC TV coverage. Same graphics, same narations, and pretty much the same camera angles. Even the music is the same. So, if you like watch the WRC, you are in for a treat.

The graphics are some of the best out there. The headlights at night when you do some of the night time rallys are a treat. The sun gets in your eyes at times and makes it hard to navigate some of the mountain sides.

The scenery is top notch. Spectators are as dumb in this game as they are in the real world - they stand right at the side of the road all over the place. And they have those can-o-air-horn things as well. The terrain is spectacular, and on some stages you will get to see it as your car flys off the side of a very large mountain. Everything is modeled very well. The cars look like the real things.

An added treat to all this is the navigator. I finally learned what the heck he was saying as I never could figure it out when I would watch WRC on TV. Now I know. Learn how to do his rally notes and you too can drive your friends nuts when you ride with them.

There is one down side to the game though - when you are doing the in car camera and are watching the driver and the navigator, the navigator seems to be throwing his voice and doing a ventriloquist act. Would be much more impressive if the programmers had actually made the navigators mouth move while he is reading the notes.

The game is hard, but is not extremely hard. I managed to get 1st place in the driver's championship as Marcus Gronholm (who won the real WRC DC this year, btw), and managed to get three extra rallys open by finishing in 1st place in them. You have to get points in each rally to move on to the next one, so you really have to push it. I did this with the medium difficulty level. Younger folks may have some troubles doing this.

I sure hope bam! comes out with WRC 2002 soon. If you are a fan of WRC, you are gonna love this. It is a very good representation of what kinds of nuts become WRC drivers. They would have to be after seeing some of these courses.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome rally experience, June 5, 2002

By 

Strobe Lights And Blown Speakers (Louisville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: WRC: World Rally Championship (Video Game)

First off, I want to say that I love watching WRC on the Speed Channel. It's my favorite show on TV, and I try to never miss it. Also, this is the first rally game I've ever played, so I have nothing to compare it to. But this game is fun as hell.

The graphics are very good - very appealling. The environs look exceptional, although they sometimes look too much like a cardboard cutout, but that can only be expected. The replays are absolutely INCREDIBLE. It looks very much like it would on the Speed Channel, with various angles all about the stage. One second you'll see your rally car speed by a stationary camera, the next you'll have an in-cockpit view (complete with co-driver spitting out directions), and the next it will be an awesome view from a following helicopter. Not even Gran Turismo 3's replays beat this.

The gameplay is also very good. The cars handle as you would expect for a rally car, but each one is different. Some tend to whip the rear out on a hairpin, while others are simply slower than others. This adds quite a bit of replay value to the game. The controls are simple and make sense. There are plenty of views to choose from, both in-race and during the replays. The menus look nice, as well. One good point of the game are the videos that play before each new rally - these give you a preview of what's to come, while showing some sweet rally footage. You can also find these in the menu and watch them any time you desire, which is nice.

The sound is phenomenal. You can hear your co-driver very clearly, along with the sound of your car's engine (every car sounds different), and the sound of your car sliding about the stage. The background music is a bit annoying, but you can adjust the volume levels as you see fit. The music during the replays is also very annoying - horrible, actually, which warrants it being muted.

There are a number of modes of play. First and foremost is the "world rally championship" mode, which puts you through a virtual season of the WRC with a car and driver of your choosing. This mode covers quite a number of completely unique rallys (between 14 and 16), each one with 5 stages that offer their own challenges you must overcome to be the fastest. It took me about a week to beat this on "normal" difficulty setting, but I played it almost constantly. Also featured are the "single rally," "time trial," and "2 player" modes, which are exactly as they sound.

Now, here's my only complaint with this game. It's too easy for me. The very first time I played it, I had it on "normal" setting. I also won the first rally of the "world rally championship" mode with ease. I went on to win EVERY single other rally of this mode. I barely ever even placed worse than first on a single stage - let alone an entire rally. Currently I am doing another one on "professional" setting, and I have yet to lose a rally, although I am losing quite a few stages. For added difficulty though, I sugget changing the view to the in-cockpit view. With this view, I found it hard to stay on the course through most of the turns. It adds a great degree of difficulty, I think.

All in all, this is a very well-done game. I would suggest this to any fan of the WRC, or racing in general. If you want a fun racing game that doesn't have hour-long races, ala GT3, then check this it. It's a blast.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arcade-style racing at it's best, May 2, 2002

By 

E. Roppo "science buff" (SF, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: WRC: World Rally Championship (Video Game)

If you're looking for a rally racing simulator (like the Rally tracks in GTA3) - don't buy WRC. But if you're looking for a FUN racing game with just enough realism to keep it interesting, WRC can't be beat.

This game is a blast, you race in 14 countries (5 stages in each), each one is unique and requires learning new skills to conquer. From Italy with paved twisting mountain roads where each curve presents a deadly cliff, to Australia with powdery red dirt that is a power-sliders dream, to great Britain's mud-fest tracks with brutal hairpins...this game keeps throwing new challenges at you.

The graphics are superb, with depth-of-field bluring, debris on the tracks and beautiful cars. The cars accumulate dirt and damage as you race a stage, so it's important to push the limits, but not go too far...if you crash too often or too badly, the car won't drive right (and you won't win).

The sound is excellent, constantly providing useful information about your traction and terrain. The engine sounds are higher pitched than you might expect, but these are generally small cars so it's fits.

The tracks are easy to drive on, but many prove to be a challenge to master. The cars are extremely responsive and make mastering each kind of terrain a lot of fun.

One thing to know about this game is that it conforms to the real WRC rules, so each race is a time trial...meaning you race alone against the *times* set by other computer drivers (although the game keeps a record of your best times on each stage). If you absolutely need to race against other cars, ala Gran Tourismo, then WRC isn't for you. Personally I like the time trial aspect, it's always you vs the track.