Hybrid Boost/Regen LEDs not existing/functioning in cockpit view
Product: EA SPORTS™ WRC
Platform:Steam-PC
Summarize your bug Rally 1 Hybrid Boost/Regen LEDs not modelled/implemented, and overall dashboard inaccuracy.
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Drive a Rally 1 car in cockpit view, with instrument hud elements switched off.
What happens when the bug occurs? Not a bug, but severely hampers driving experience when playing without instrument hud elements, impossible to track hybrid status without the hud on that is already distracting by itself for tracking this information, due to how small the hybrid indicator graphic is.
What do you expect to see? Updated dashboard models, or display graphics as a substitute.
It has been almost a year since the first report of this design fault has been reported upon, and now after an entirely new lineup of Rally 1 cars, which each one of them have gone through some sort of significant interior cockpit change in real life, this design issue still persists.
The most significant aforementioned changes by both Toyota and Ford/M-Sport are following what Hyundai have done since earlier seasons, being a separate row of dashboard shift LEDs repurposed for tracking hybrid battery energy during regeneration and deployment.
These LEDs in function can be seen from hereby examples of onboard footage, all relevant to the 2024 WRC season. The most obvious example is in the first video, where we get the POV of Kalle driving the 2024 GR Yaris Rally 1, where the LEDs are right in the center, directly in our view.
https://youtu.be/5ACttYkNhbQ?si=YnKDdtYBibSifmR9
https://youtu.be/aqc-DyJR4qQ?si=qvxS8pj8MtD6GVgd
https://youtu.be/LFOapoeM9s8?si=YAUGPu2JS3I_npPp
They almost all function identically, with the blue light being shared across all teams to signify that the electric boost is ready to deploy, seen at stage starts or after braking zones and steadily depleting till they're gone. And the green light shared by the Yaris and Puma during regen is to indicate how much energy is currently being added back into the battery, with them turning blue after successfully regening the required amount of energy. Only exception is the i20, which uses orange lights instead of green to indicate it's regen progress.
Before 2024, Toyota and M-Sport both used the driver's display unit to track this info, which evidently must be not enough for the drivers, as now both teams have copied what Hyundai have already done in the previous seasons with a dedicated set of LEDs for displaying hybrid energy status. Even so, it's still infinitely better than having to rely on a hud element for this crucial information, an element that is tiny and ends up hard to keep track of without taking away attention from the road and is often switched off for immersion as no other car classes need this to be drivable. So, this could be an alternative solution if you don't want to spend resources updating models, with this you can just update the graphics within the preexisting displays, though at cost of realism and accuracy.
What is most baffling to me, is that this game models the i20's dedicated hybrid boost status LEDs, yet repurposes them to be a set of shiftlights it doesn't need. The shiftlights on the Puma have also remained unchanged and stayed there from the 2023 model, despite the real version getting rid of them for a custom frame to mount the new boost LEDs.
Pretending one thing is another, because you can't implement a crucial function to enhance the game experience is just embarrassing.
Whilst this problem isn't completely game breaking, it compromises the realism and quality of life of this class of vehicles heavily, something which should be solved once all the more immediate bugs, faults and exploits that make the game unplayable for some is mostly fixed.
