I love circuit based sim racing games probably more than anything else in gaming, but even I yearn to take my wheels off-road every now and then. For every Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, GTR, or F1, there’s a DiRT or Forza Horizon. I love that I have options, and I love that I can go from setting a lap time on the Nurburgring to tearing around a open-world, virtual Colorado as quickly as a disc swap. 

 

But sometimes, neither of those games is appealing to me. Sometimes I just want to engage in some good old fashioned, point to point rally. We don’t get to much rally here in the US, and whatever rally events we do get is usually repackaged as some hybrid, rallycross, X-Games styled Mountain Dew XTREME! event. That’s great, but not really my thing.

 

I like the World Rally Championship that hosts events all across the globe in fantastic locations like Monte Carlo, Greece, and Portugal. I like the fact that the WRC has a worldwide appeal; it’s like F1′s little brother but with more attitude and a bit dirtier and grimier. I love all the different teams and the fact that Mr. Loeb is so dominant.

 



 

Most of all, I like the man VS nature aspect of pure rally.

 

For those who aren’t familiar, rally racing is different from most other motorsports. You’re not swapping paint with a bunch of other cars to see who’s first across the finish line. You’re not concerned about drifting for style or anything like that. Races are not held on closed circuits; instead they are held on roads with a predetermined control points. You’re racing to either be the fastest time, or in certain variants, you’re trying to match an average time (though that’s not what the WRC does).

 

WRC 3 gives you everything you need for 100% point to point. Represented in-game are all the teams and events from the 2012 season. All the cars you can think of are in the game. The nice thing about WRC 3 is that unlike other racing games that have rally in them (GT5, DiRT, etc.), this game doesn’t have to share the spotlight with other forms of racing. Rally isn’t an afterthought here; it’s the star.

 

Behind the wheel (or controller), the game plays very well. For the purpose of this preview, I was given an unfinished PC build; though to be honest, there was so much playable content that it’s hard to imagine there’s MORE to the game. There isn’t as much of a sense of weight as many other “sim” racers, but this certainly isn’t an arcade racer with go-karts either. It’s a got a nice balance of realistic car handing and weight, but enough forgiveness if you were to take a corner too fast, for instance. If anything, you can play around with the assists if you don’t like the way your car is handling.

 

For the purpose of this preview, I also hooked up my Driving Force GT racing wheel to check things out. I’m a firm believer that any racing game that even dips its toes into “sim” needs to be played with a wheel as opposed to a controller or keyboard (*shudder*). The wheel controls work fine for the most part, but I noticed quite a bit of input lag. I don’t know if this was because I was playing an unfinished version of the game, or if it was something up with my end, but it took a little while to get use to the lag. Hopefully this is something that will be fleshed out with the final product.

 

Each of the 13 events (and subsequent stages within each event) are absolutely gorgeous. In fact, the entire game overall is a visual treat. It has some of the better weather and environmental effects that I’ve seen in a racing game. Rain falls, splatters, and collects realistically on the cars and ground, snow and dirt spray up violently as you drive through them, and mud will gradually accumulate on your car as you progress through each stage.

 

 

Multiplayer was locked as I played through the preview, for obvious reasons. I was able to participate in either a Single Rally (which includes all the stages within a given rally event), a Single Stage, or Road to Glory, which is where you create a character and go through a Career Mode. Truth be told, other than the multiplayer mode that’s missing, that’s more than enough content for the purpose of this preview. Most game previews I’ve experienced involve one or two level demos. WRC 3 has nearly the full game.

 

WRC 3 is essentially a sports game that focuses on one particular sport; it’s more Madden and FIFA than it is something like the London Olympics 2012 game, which is what I would categorize something like a GT5 or Forza. It’s meant to target a very specific audience with a very specific interest. If you happen to share this interest, then WRC 3 is the game for you. It’s 100 %, pure point to point rally. It doesn’t fill the game with different driving styles or game modes. It doesn’t have a bunch of mini-games to pass the time.

 

If your passion is your car in a stretch of nature, with nothing more than your time as your opponent, then WRC 3 can give you that experience. WRC 3 Is set to launch on October 12th, 2012 for PS3, PC, Xbox 360, and Vita.