Exciting new WRC 9 official video game launched!
Exciting new WRC 9 official video game launched • Official FIA World Rally Championship game now on sale • WRC 9 features tough new rallies in Japan, New Zealand and Kenya • Over 50 official teams from WRC and support categories • Iconic bonus cars that have left their mark on history • News assets including video and screenshots available at rb.gy/02t81d Munich, 3 September 2020 – WRC 9, the exciting official video game of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship, is released today (Thursday). The latest version of the hugely popular series features demanding new rallies in Japan, New Zealand and Kenya from this season’s original championship calendar. It includes more than 50 teams from the series’ headline World Rally Car category and the WRC 2, WRC 3 and Junior WRC support classes. All cars carry current season liveries. The jaw-dropping World Rally Cars of the championship’s three manufacturer teams – Toyota Gazoo Racing, M-Sport Ford and Hyundai Motorsport – top the list of available cars for gamers to select from. Players can don the race boots of the WRC’s stars, including world champion Ott Tänak, 2020 WRC leader Sébastien Ogier, current season rally winners Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans, and Esapekka Lappi. A wide selection of competitors from WRC 2 and WRC 3 contains frontrunners such as Mads Østberg, Nikolay Gryazin, Adrien Fourmaux and Jari Huttunen, along with Junior WRC contenders headed by Tom Kristensson and Martins Sesks.WRC 9 is published by Nacon and developed by renowned French studio KT Racing. It offers a total of almost 900km of roads from all originally scheduled rounds of the 2020 season. It incorporates key sections from more than 100 of the WRC’s legendary special stages. They include the fan favourite Colin’s Crest from the Vargåsen test in Sweden, the stunning rocky landscape of El Condor in Argentina and the mighty jumps of Ruuhimäki in Finland. Fans of WRC history will enjoy an array of iconic bonus cars from the championship’s past, most notably 14 drivers’ or manufacturers’ title-winning vehicles. The list contains the evocative Lancia Stratos, the ever-popular Ford Escort RS1800, the Volkswagen Polo World Rally Car, the Audi Quattro A2 and the Porsche 911 GT3 RGT. Nacon and KT Racing have incorporated major updates to the new version including: • Multiple redesigned elements to increase realism at the wheel, particularly suspension and weight transfer. • The opportunity for players to fine-tune their cars before testing them in different conditions on the free-roam zone’s roads. • A new Clubs Mode in which players can create customised championships between friends. • A photo mode allowing gamers to take photographs of their car and share with the WRC 9 community. This will be added over the next few months. • Regular free additional content added over forthcoming months to extend WRC 9’s lifespan. This includes new special stages in Finland and Portugal and a co-driver mode, which allows a fellow player to read pace notes to the driver. WRC 9 is produced under licence from WRC Promoter and managing director Jona Siebel believes it will again prove a big hit with fans. “The industry reference in sim-racing is back! WRC 9 contains many improvements which allows players to capture the fun and adventure created in the real-life FIA World Rally Championship,” he said. “Existing favourite rallies from across the globe are supplemented by Kenya’s exotic landscapes, the twists and turns of New Zealand’s gravel roads and Japan’s narrow ribbons of asphalt to bring new challenges. “Significant upgrades mean WRC 9 is even more true-to-life than its predecessors. But what hasn’t changed is the frantic battle against the clock in which precious tenths of a second make the difference between winning and losing,” added Siebel. WRC 9 is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The release timing for Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch will be announced at a later date.
