https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-wrc/wrc/news/ea-anticheat

\"EA anticheat is a kernel-mode anti-cheat and anti-tamper solution developed in-house at Electronic Arts.\"

In normal person terms, kernel level means giving the game the right to do whatever it wants to do to your computer at any time, without requiring your confirmation or consent.  This was not something that PC players agreed to on the games launch and should not be tolerated as an acceptable solution to some leaderboard issues that don't affect the core gameplay.

EDIT: Original thread title was \"Warning: PC players about to be forced to install a kernel-level program\".  The change has been made to reflect a bug reports thread now being part of this one.

https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-wrc/wrc/news/ea-anticheat

\"EA anticheat is a kernel-mode anti-cheat and anti-tamper solution developed in-house at Electronic Arts.\"

In normal person terms, kernel level means giving the game the right to do whatever it wants to do to your computer at any time, without requiring your confirmation or consent.  This was not something that PC players agreed to on the games launch and should not be tolerated as an acceptable solution to some leaderboard issues that don't affect the core gameplay.

EDIT: Original thread title was \"Warning: PC players about to be forced to install a kernel-level program\".  The change has been made to reflect a bug reports thread now being part of this one.

Product: EA SPORTS™ WRC
Platform:PC
Summarize your bug Stop kernel-level EA anti cheat in the next upcoming patch.
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? https://steamcommunity.com/games/1849250/announcements/detail/4188988499354675175
What happens when the bug occurs? https://steamcommunity.com/games/1849250/announcements/detail/4188988499354675175
What do you expect to see? No kernel level anti cheat software.

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Stop kernel-level EA anti cheat in the next upcoming patch. This is a highly invasive and unnecessary back door that will be installed with the next patch. It will also stop the game from running on Linux and Steam deck. EA anti cheat runs at kernel level and will have access to pretty much everything on your computer. Please make yourself heard and tell EA that this is not what we want.

You can read here what kernel level anti cheat means and why it's bad: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/xf1cwr/the_insanity_of_eas_anticheat_system_by_a_kernel/

Cheaters are only a problem in a small part of the game, namely online events and leaderboards. Someone who mainly plays single player modes doesn't care about leaderboard times that are a second or thirty quicker but will still have to sacrifice their privacy just to play the game. In my mind that's not a reasonable demand from the developers as long as the game is not an Esports-first title. If that's the aim, provide a dedicated version of the game for Esports events.

Ok the next security hole for PC.

Why is EA thinking they could program are secure solution if they are not able to have the launcher secure and stable?
In the EA launcher even the simplest features like language change is missing and has to be solved with registry modification.

Any way to play the game at least offline without the EA Anti Cheat? I could do without the online functions.

Cheaters are not a real problem. This level of Anticheat is a real threat to security and also will make all Linux installs useless. Please don't.

Another thing is, that cheaters that really want to cheat will do so at the hardware level. With the current tools you can put a good marshalling in place for cheat runs that can be croudsourced and based on telemetry.

Otherwise, I'll ask for a refund. I can't play what I legally purchased.

Adding a AC this inclusive to this game doesnt solve anything. This is not Rainbow Six Siege in which the AC is a joke and cheaters are running free. If people are seriously using cheats to get a advantage, they should be able to get reported through the proper methods, club admins, online reports, etc, and get banned. This game is not a FPS shooter  and we did not agree to this when we purchased the game.

Yeah. This is garbage and should have been announced at launch. Guess that's on me for having given EA a second chance and we're headed back to another decade long boycott.

Windows and Linux players alike won't like the anti-cheat at all. Make it optional. There's no need for it for 99% of the playerbase. If you need it for e-sports, make those players use it. The rest of us don't need it at all.

I just want to add my feedback here as well.

I play on Linux, and I love the game, but will not be able to play if Kernel level anti-cheat gets added. I know I am in the minority, but I still want to mention this.

Along with the above, I would not be comfortable installing a black box onto any Operating System and give it Kernel level access. I think adding this requirement to a game after release breaks trust, especially since cheating does not have a much of an impact on the gameplay (as opposed to a shooter where a cheater can ruin the game for everyone).

I urge you to please reconsider implementing EA Anti-Cheat in the game. I understand the commitment to fair play, but I believe that Kernel level anti cheat is not the answer, and will harm the consumer (whether they know it or not).

If that is not an option, please make the anti-cheat optional for single player and club play (make it optional for the club owner to enable or disable it). I know this will require extra dev work, but it will allow more people to continue playing the awesome game you made.

Kind Regards

I seriously don't understand why an anticheat would be needed for this game. I feel like the negative aspects of a kernel level anticheat definitely outweigh the benefits.