With a wire rope comprising at least one plastic core (11) and a number of wire strands (15) twisted around the latter a helical groove (20) is respectively produced by machining around the periphery of the plastic core (11) for each wire strand (15). The cross section of these helical grooves (20) is respectively matched to the outside diameter of the wire strands (15). The plastic core (11) is provided with the helical grooves (20) for receiving the wire strands (15) by this machining directly before the wire strands (15) are wound onto said core. By thus forming the wire rope by means of this machining in order to produce helical grooves of the plastic core, optimal guiding of the wire strands in the twisted state is achieved, and so overall there are improvements to the properties of the wire rope.