WRC 9 to put next-gen features to good use

As you can tell by our initial impressions, WRC 9 sounds very promising already, with its officially-licensed rally engine roaring towards the September 4 release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. But Nacon will also release KT Racing's latest effort on the Nintendo Switch on a later date, and then PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will follow suit when the new consoles release, with a free upgrade waiting for those who bought the game on their predecessors.

The next-gen version of WRC 9 will, of course, take advantage of the additional horsepower of the modern hardware, meaning "Native 4K, 60 fps minimum, enhanced physics and simulation, and better texture resolution", as Gamereactor learnt during the presentation by game director Alan Jarniou and product manager Sébastien Waxin. Besides graphics and performance, the game will also use other hardware features such as DualSense's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers for better driving feel with the controller.

However, it's the execution-focused improvements that can end up working as game changers, as WRC 9 will implement full asynchronous loading to use the new, über-fast SSD memories and have players behind the wheel sooner than ever.

WRC 9 has social features at its core as the main focus for this season (something we're eager to test online as it wasn't available as of yet), but Gamereactor also learnt that KT Racing are exploring new directions for both WRC 10 and 11, perhaps the first next-gen-native entries. In terms of this "different approach", the rally games will introduce "another focus we're working on but we cannot talk about", according to the devs, while naturally keeping all the officially-licensed assets from the upcoming championships.

What do you expect from next-gen WRC and future racing games in general?