Originally Posted by
itix
Oh c'mon. Nothing will ever sound as good as the S1 Quattro ever again so why bother. I am fairly sure that nobody except for enthusiasts watch the sport for the noise and today's turbo rally cars will never sound good unless you build regulations specifically for this end. The restrictor prevents high revs which is widely associated with good noise. The S2000s were the last to actually sound good.
Hybrid technology put to the test in what is arguably the second toughest Motorsport series on the planet after rally raid (and the toughest popular one) is something that could for attract manufacturers for sure. It just requires the regulations to be written in a way that it won't be expensive. The R5 regs modified with the current aero regs should do pretty much that.
Casual fans are interested in "cool" looking cars (and let's be honest the current crop aren't great in that respect even though I personally love the hatchback type), lots of manufacturers so they can follow their manufacturer or their driver, and that's pretty much it.
Post group B, I think most will agree that rallying was the best mid 90s to early 2000s and especially 2001 with 7 manufacturers involved, good looking cars like the Subaru, the 206 etc etc. Sound is secondary.