Racing games are my favourite genre by far, and within that the sub-genre of rally is easily my preferred flavour. I'm not really a fan of the real life WRC and I couldn't even name the current world rally champion without Googling first, but there's something massively appealing to me about charging a powerful saloon car through muddy trails as the rain lashes the barren digital landscape. The roar of a virtual engine, the co-driver's pace-notes warning of every up coming hazard, the feeling of total isolation on a desolate moor, dark forest or arid desert stage.
Over the years I've played many, many different recreations of the motorsport on a wide range of consoles. The stand out titles for me are games like Sega Rally on Sega Saturn, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 on PlayStation, Top Gear Rally on Nintendo 64, WRC: Rally Evolved on PlayStation 2, RalliSport Challenge 2 and Colin McRae 3 on Xbox, and DiRT Rally and DiRT 4 on PlayStation 4. There are plenty of other high quality rally titles on a range of consoles, both retro and contemporary that stand out but we're here to discuss the Dreamcast so let's get this show on the road/muddy track.
The Dreamcast only really had two rally titles released during its lifespan - Sega's own flagship title Sega Rally 2, and Infogrames' V-Rally 2: Expert Edition. Later came Rush Rush Rally Racing (and Rush Rush Rally Racing Reloaded) from Senile Team; and there was the legendary unreleased Colin McRae 2.0 from Codemasters, but as far as full-on official retail releases go, Dreamcast owners have but two games to choose from.
With the recent announcement that the V-Rally franchise is being awoken from its eternal slumber to be given a new lease of life in the guise of V-Rally 4 on current gen systems (including the Nintendo Switch - hallelujah!), we thought it was high time we took a look at the Dreamcast's other rally title and examined its many pros, and likewise its main con...