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Digital Foundry: EA Sports WRC: PC/PS5/Xbox Series X/S - DF Tech Review - An Engine Change for Better or Worse?

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?


With its move to Unreal Engine 4, developer Codemasters once again diversifies its use of engines across its racing titles. EA Sports WRC is an excellent rally experience backed by the team's own handling model and physics - and yet something is amiss. The move away from its own EGO engine - as still used in the F1 series - has meant a sacrifice to both image quality and frame-rates on PS5 and Series X. And even PC appears to be facing issues on Unreal Engine, with shader compilation stutters.


00:00 Introduction
03:56 Dirt Rally 2.0 Recap and Engine Comparison
06:47 PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S Comparison
09:01 PC vs Xbox Series X Comparison
10:23 Console Frame-Rate Tests
12:56 PC Performance Test
14:31 Verdict
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
- Moved to Unreal Engine 4 instead of the franchise's regular EGO Engine.
- Engine change raises ' big questions', with official response being that UE4 allows 'larger circuits'.
- No push to UE5 tech despite being a new-gen only game. The visual upgrade isn't always evident over previous games.

- No 120 fps option on consoles, only 60 FPS.
- The previous game Dirt Rally 2.0 ran at 4K locked 60 FPS on Series X, neither of which is the case with this latest game.

Visuals:
- New game has screen tearing, camera judder and DRS which can drop as low as 1080p on PS5/SX.
- Uneven camera movement judder even when frame rate shows locked 60 FPS
- Consoles don't have multiple modes, only single 2160p DRS on both PS5/SX.
- Series S targets 1440p with DRS lowest 720p
- All console versions target PC's "high" preset with Series S betweem Medium/Low.
- PS5 has sharper shadows on grounds, otherwise identical to Series X.
- Series S's lower settings are notable in side by side comparison. More image breakup, lower LoD, lower AO and reflections across car body.
- PC Max offers a decent number of upgrades over consoles. True native 4K, higher LoD, shadow resolution, superior AO and reflections with support for true 120hz.

Performance:
- Even with DRS, PS5/SX can drop to 50s with tearing with more consistent drops in town areas with crowds
- Series S holds the best performance of the three, with the least amount of drops (even though it's not locked 60 either)
- Dirt Rally 2.0 (2019) was more smoother and visually sharper by comparison.
- PC performance has been improved since launch with patches but shader comp stutter and drops are still present.
- Can see big drops when hitting a new shader for the first time.
- 4080 can run the game at native 4K/60 most of the time, DLSS can help fix any drops.
- Camera judder issue mentioned above is the most obvious on PC.
- The shader comp. stutters can cause loss in control and the cases are worse than any drops on console.
 
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Darsxx82

Member
My biggest disappointment of the year. I thought the WRC licence held by EA/Codemasters could have been better than it was with Milestone and the disappointment has been huge.
UE4 at its worst. Dirt rally 2.0 looks better and plays better. Only users with VRR TVs will be able to enjoy it in a decent way.
 
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Senua

Gold Member
UE5 at its worst.
Come On Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 

FalconPunch

Gold Member
UE4 is legitimately trash and UE5 is not much better. Imagine changing from the Ego Engine to UE4 to give us a marginal improvement in visuals at the expense of image quality, performance and stability. We went from 4k & 120fps on the Ego engine to 1080p and sub 60fps with stuttering. No big physics improvements, just bigger stages. The Unreal Engine deal keeps getting worse and worse.
 
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Was so hyped for this , probably my biggest disappointment of the year , when I used the EA play trial on Xbox I swear I couldn't believe how shitty the frame rate , tearing and the stuttering was at launch.
I'm shocked they didn't delayed it or atleast fixed the stuttering before it was released
 

Zathalus

Member
When you compare it to the previous engine you get a quarter of the resolution and frame drops for tiny increases in visual fidelity. Changing engines sure was a choice.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The Series X version dips into the high 40s at 11:25 the PS5 versions seems to stay at the mid 50s.

They're not doing a side by side ..

When you compare it to the previous engine you get a quarter of the resolution and frame drops for tiny increases in visual fidelity. Changing engines sure was a choice.

It allows them to make bigger circuits, for what it's worth.
 
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Darsxx82

Member
What do you need to understand?? The game in all its versions (especially on PC) features all the flaws and shortcomings of UE in recent times. Optimization is miserable.

I expected a lot more from EA/Codemasters. When you see that the engine change has only been for the worse

EDIT: LOL I said UE5 instead of UE4... A lapsus:messenger_hushed:
 
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If u see f1 23 which is on ego engine and this on ue4 u would feel they are a generation apart games in graphics fidelity , yes I know they wanted longer stages which was not possible on ego engine but my god did they fucked the franchise up
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I dont follow WRC or game engines, but given what is said it seems UE made bigger courses, but at the cost of performance and visuals.

Well, that's basically the going rate for game studios. Doesnt matter if it's a racer, RPG, or open world, shooter map size or Battlefield MP player count..... Bigger is better!
 
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Camera judder on PC? I don't get it. That or the 100+ fps is masking the judder, which I doubt as WRC Generations had it and 120fps didn't mask it at all.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
- Series S holds the best performance of the three, with the least amount of drops (even though it's not locked 60 either)
This has been a trend for 3 years. Why they keep supporting the PS5/SX when they're clearly keeping the Series S from achieving its full potential is beyond me.
 

drotahorror

Member
Imagine changing from the Ego Engine to UE4 to give us a marginal improvement in visuals

There is no improvement at all in visuals. There is a massive downgrade.

I can't find a good video but look at the comparisons of WRC vs DR2.0 in night time with rain.
The one with rain drops on the windshield and wet looking roads is DR2.0.




WRC barely has any wet looking surfaces, no mud, no puddles, the rain looks like complete shit, the rain on windscreen is complete ass, overall WRC looks like a PS3/360 game. Even worse in some aspects as atleast some racers from that gen had good weather effects.

The difference in visuals is further made in daytime settings. DR2.0 looks amazing during rainy conditions on muddy roads. WRC you can barely tell a difference between wet and dry in terms of visuals. DR2.0 also casted shadows at night with headlights. Trees, bushes, buildings etc cast shadows. Not the case with WRC, everything is flat and nothing will cast a shadow. I was quite shocked with how shit it looked considering it came nearly 5 years after 2.0. Fuck Unreal Engine.

Although it visually looks worse, it's a better game imo. I do get an odd stutter but nothing like some other games that have shader comp struggles. I also play around 100fps with a 3060ti and 6700k with mostly ultra graphics (crowds and reflections on low). It plays great and the stages are better. Shame that RBR from 20 years ago looks better sometimes when modded.
 
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Bojji

Member
UE4 is legitimately trash and UE5 is not much better. Imagine changing from the Ego Engine to UE4 to give us a marginal improvement in visuals at the expense of image quality, performance and stability. We went from 4k & 120fps on the Ego engine to 1080p and sub 60fps with stuttering. No big physics improvements, just bigger stages. The Unreal Engine deal keeps getting worse and worse.

I agree.

Until they add proper multi threading (maybe CDPR will help them) this engine can't be considered as "good" in my opinion.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
UE4 is legitimately trash and UE5 is not much better. Imagine changing from the Ego Engine to UE4 to give us a marginal improvement in visuals at the expense of image quality, performance and stability. We went from 4k & 120fps on the Ego engine to 1080p and sub 60fps with stuttering. No big physics improvements, just bigger stages. The Unreal Engine deal keeps getting worse and worse.
UE4 is incredible in the right hands and UE5 is even better.

UE4
fCWiGOW.gif


1C8buZT.gif


stray-1.gif

FINAL+FANTASY+VII+REMAKE+DEMO_20200302120928.gif

Snow.gif


K0OZ8Ug.gif


UE5
URG9o4x.gif
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
pretty sure it was announced as UE4 title. they might have moved to UE5 since but they arent using any of the UE5 features like nanite or lumen.


It was always a UE5 title before the new-gen consoles even came out


Jun 10 2020
 

Skifi28

Member
I'd rather have a loading screen in the middle of the stage than all the other downgrades. Very bad decision, stick to what you know.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It was always a UE5 title before the new-gen consoles even came out


Jun 10 2020
ok, i missed that but the game was revealed in december 2019 before ue5 was announced.
 

Markio128

Gold Member
The stuttering and screen tear is a killer for me. I’d love to jump in, but until those issues are fixed (if ever), I‘m not going to bother. It’s pretty shocking tbh, and it just comes across as a rush job.

Maybe next year‘s will fair better - and add VR support!
 

Lysandros

Member
What do you mean? If you look at the frame rate for each platform,the X dips lower in the same section as the PS5.
They are trying to avoid side by side FPS comparisons as much as possible, there are exceptions of course like in Robocop city traversal and Alan Wake 2.

Edit: From the written article, we can indeed see XSX FPS line dropping to sub 50's towards the end:
niZjndX.jpg

Hard to talk about a consistent PS5 performance advantage based on the video analysis/or this however. Still, it is running at least as well as XSX while having a higher cost shadow setting.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
They are trying to avoid side by side FPS comparisons as much as possible, there are exceptions of course like in Robocop city traversal and Alan Wake 2.

Those two are examples where there are consistently long stretches of disparity, not momentary drops that are resolved 2 seconds later.

But you know that already.
 
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