''WRC 9'', also known as ''WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship'', is the official

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

of the 2020 World Rally Championship. The game is developed by French developer

Kylotonn Kylotonn Société à responsabilité limitée, SARL is a French video game development studio founded in 2006 in Paris. They are best known for their racing games, and are the official developer of the ''World Rally Championship (video game se ...

and published by

Nacon Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive) is a French video game company based in Lesquin. It designs and distributes gaming accessories, and publishes and distributes video games for various platforms. In 2020 Bigben Group was consolidated to form Na ...

. It is available for

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and

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, released on 3 September 2020, with the

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version released on 11 March 2021.

Development and release

In March 2019, ''WRC 9'' was revealed as the official game of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship alongside ''

WRC 10 ''WRC 10'', also known as ''WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship'', is a racing video game developed by French developer Kylotonn and published by Nacon. It is a sequel to ''WRC 9'' and is the official game of the 2021 World Rally Championship. Th ...

''. It features 14 different locations (reflecting the 2020 season as it was originally intended to be run before the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic resulted in many events being rescheduled or cancelled and new rallies added to the calendar), including all three returning rallies,

Safari Rally The Safari Rally is a rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically r ...

Rally New Zealand The Rally New Zealand is an annual rally race in New Zealand. It was first included as a round of the World Rally Championship in 1977. The race is famous for its fast flowing gravel roads which carry the competitors through forests and alongside ...

and

Rally Japan Rally Japan (ラリージャパン) is a rally competition held in Hokkaidō, Japan. The event made its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship during the 2004 season. From 2004 to 2007, the event was held on the twisty and narrow gravel roads ...

, with up to fifty official crews from

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

WRC-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

WRC-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars tha ...

and J-WRC available for the player to choose. The game also features fifteen more landmark vehicles from the WRC history. The game was released on PC,

and

on 3 September 2020 via

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, and later on

, with a further release date on the

ninth generation of video game consoles The ninth generation of video game consoles began in November 2020 with the releases of Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S console family and Sony's PlayStation 5. The consoles represent significant performance upgrades from the prior Xbox ...

and

to be announced.

Reception

Reception for ''WRC 9'' was generally favourable among critics. While troubled by smaller issues, improvements with car handling were noted in many outlets. Among critics, the game was scored at 80% by ''

Push Square Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

''. ''Pixel Bandits'' rated the title at 4/4, noting the fresh challenge provided to long-time fans of the series.

References

External links