Remembering classic games: V-Rally (1997)

One year before Colin McRae Rally burst onto the scene, all four tyres lit up and leaving a crowd of pebble-dashed, thermos-clutching spectators in its wake, there was V-Rally. Launching on the PlayStation, V-Rally was a brilliant game that seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the concept of rallying. Instead of pitting you against the unyielding stopwatch, you instead battled directly against three other rally cars that occasionally would yield. Especially if you cynically shunted them into a pine tree.

Still, if you were busy quibbling over the definition of rallying, you were missing out on one of the best and fastest racers around. For a start, V-Rally landed during a golden era of rally, when the Subaru Impreza and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV reigned supreme. Secondly, at the risk of sounding blasphemous, we’d argue that V-Rally’s courses were superior to Colin McRae Rally’s stages. The routes tended to be narrower and with more trackside obstacles, making them more challenging, and the detailed scenery changed and evolved as you barrelled through them.

Of course where McRae had V-Rally beaten was in its sublime, buttery smooth handling, whereas this game was twitchier and less eager to slide. Bizarre, given that off-road legend Ari Vatanen, who spent roughly 90 per cent of his career looking out of the side window, consulted on the driving model. Still, if the main thrill of rallying is whistling through a corridor of trees, close enough to get the occasional splinter in your elbow, then V-Rally absolutely delivered.

Curiously, in the US where, as a spectator sport, rallying ranked just below competitive hotdog eating, V-Rally co-opted the Need for Speed name to shift a few more copies. And if you’re wondering, the ‘V’ in V-Rally stands for ‘virtual’ and not, as it might appear when we’re playing, ‘very big crash’. Glad we could clear that up.