World Rally Blog

Will you do the WRC+ in 2016?

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Weeks from now, the new season of WRC will begin. What are your WRC resolutions for 2016? Any changes in favourite crews and teams for you? Or will you just continue loving and supporting them all? What’s that? Did I just hear “As long as it’s not Ogier or Volkswagen”? Hope dies last. Also comes last to the finish too, apparently.

What I really wanted to ask here is this; will you continue/start using the WRC+ service in 2016? Were you using it regularly throughout 2015, or did you turn it on and off, depending on the month and the events? Does it provide enough goods for the price? I would say it does, especially if you decide to use it beyond the live streams and maps. Video archives are great and you can easily get lost in them. At the same time you know you’re supporting the concept of promoting the sport vs. watching stolen onboard footage on youtube. I must admit I did not use WRC+ on all events this year – I missed some of the events completely due to work and other stuff – but when I did use it I enjoyed it to the max. For years we’ve been asking for live streams and tracking and now we have both. Sure, both services are far from perfect, especially if we consider some of the special stages picked for live streaming, but on the other hand we must be aware of what is and isn’t possible or feasible. Even one live stage is better than none, but I do hope WRC Promoter and event organizers are working on new and better concepts and ideas for 2017, at least.

Until we see major changes and further improvements to WRC+ services, I hope the existing model remains affordable and most of all reliable and robust. There is no point in having tracking maps if they’re frozen (in time) and there is little point in live TV stages if they’re showing cars tackling a parking lot on a 2 kilometer, 5 corner abomination of a “superspecial”.

Will you stick with the WRC+ in 2016?

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