EA Sports WRC’s debut sparked both excitement and frustration among rally game fans due to performance issues. However, a new patch aims to address these, allowing players to explore the game’s key feature—the F1-inspired career mode.
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Navigating Your First Season in EA Sports WRC Career Mode
In the EA Sports WRC career mode, you step into the shoes of an amateur rally driver establishing a privateer team with the help of a benefactor.
Your goal is to climb the ranks of the WRC and aim for a top-class Rally Championship. But the journey is much more than just reaching the pinnacle.
You’ll participate in historic rallies, chase championships, please your benefactor, and even build a high-flying team by running a second car for a teammate and recruiting engineers and drivers.
This expansive career mode provides a plethora of activities, but without proper guidance, navigating your first season can be a challenge.
Here are five essential tips to ensure success in your inaugural EA Sports WRC career mode season.
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Focus Up on Your Championships
In the world of EA Sports WRC career mode, every week presents numerous rally events, but you can only partake in one event per week.
The multitude of options can be overwhelming. To tackle this, it’s advisable to concentrate on just two championships during your first season.
While it’s possible to maximize your benefactor budgets and run up to three cars depending on their cost, attempting too many championships can lead to missed rounds or losses.
Instead, commit to the pair of series your benefactor recommends for your first season. This decision will allow you to develop a deeper understanding of your opponents, offering a Role Playing Game-style experience.
It will also grant a more profound sense of progression throughout your career, which is the essence of a racing game career mode.
The primary reason for this approach is that it sets the stage for our next tip: team preparation.
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Early Planning for Team Building
At the outset of your EA Sports WRC career, you find yourself as the principal of a newly formed team, consisting of a benefactor, Team Principal (you), and Chief Technician.
However, as you progress through a series of rallies, you’ll realize the importance of building your team.
Over the course of a calendar year, the game offers opportunities to purchase new vehicles, expand your garage, hire engineers, and increase your team’s maximum member count.
Owning more cars allows you to participate in all the events your benefactor expects you to complete. Moreover, having more engineers at an event results in reduced repair costs and times. This is particularly valuable in shorter service areas, where an additional mechanic can make the difference between staying within the allotted time or exceeding it.
In the early stages of your first season, there are few events to compete in, making it the perfect time to hire new team members and prepare your fleet.
For instance, during the early stages of the season, you’ll encounter the first of many Manufacturer Hospitality events.
Instead of attending this event, consider hiring a mechanic before your first WRC event to ensure your team is fully prepared.
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Start Your WRC Career from the Bottom
Before setting up your team, the game prompts you to select the level at which you’d like to begin your career.
In EA Sports WRC, you have three options on the World Rally Championship ladder: Junior WRC, WRC2, and WRC.
While it might be tempting to jump into the top class, with its hybrid-powered cars, it’s not the recommended approach.
Both the WRC and WRC2 seasons are more demanding throughout the calendar, and the cars are costlier for your benefactor.
Therefore, it’s wise to begin your career in the Junior WRC class for your first season. This choice provides more time to build up your team with fewer events to compete in, and the slower cars offer a great first rally experience in EA Sports WRC. This makes your first season akin to a tutorial season.
Completing this first year in the WRC paddock will provide you with valuable experience and knowledge of the career mode, making your journey through the higher echelons more enjoyable and rewarding.
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Keep Your First Season Short
Building on the previous tip, it’s advisable to keep the rallies of your first season short. The game’s Difficulty screen allows you to adjust event length.
While participating in full-length rallies, even in Junior WRC, might be enticing, it’s recommended to keep things short in your debut season.
Part of the game’s allure lies in the high-flying, hybrid boost Rally1 cars, and reaching the top class as quickly as possible can be beneficial.
Sticking around in the underpowered Ford Fiesta for too long can lead to early career burnout.
With the Short Event Length option, the career mode sets all rallies, including historic events, to two stages. Opting for the Medium length will have you participating in five-stage rallies.
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Don’t Hesitate to Adjust Settings
Throughout your first season, it’s crucial to focus on preparation. However, it’s equally important to tailor the game’s settings to your preferences to enhance your enjoyment.
EA Sports WRC is a new game, and finding the perfect settings might take some experimentation.
Feel free to adjust settings such as AI difficulty to make WRC2 and WRC championships both challenging and fun in future seasons.
Don’t be afraid to spend your first season fine-tuning this setting. While we mentioned in a previous article that altering AI settings in the middle of an event could cause issues, the latest update should have resolved this problem.
Additionally, changing event lengths between different series can be an enjoyable way to experience the game.
While the World Rally Championship should be your main focus, your benefactor may request your participation in a select number of Manufacturer Hospitality events and historical series.
Consider running these secondary events as shorter rallies than the WRC rounds to add variety to your career.
By following these five key tips, you’ll be well-prepared and set for a successful first season in EA Sports WRC career mode.
Remember, the world of rally driving is full of challenges, and mastering your career will take time and effort, but with the right approach, you’ll find the journey to the top immensely rewarding.
Enjoy the exhilarating world of WRC and make the most of your career in the driver’s seat!