Infogrames' PlayStation rally game used licensed World Rally Championship cars and eight locations, and its demanding handling divided critics on either side of the Atlantic.
V-Rally is a 1997 PlayStation racing simulation developed by an Infogrames team that later became Eden Studios. It features licensed rally cars, more than 40 stages and realistic handling, and it sold more than two million copies, with its strongest support in Europe.
V-Rally is a 1997 rally simulation from Infogrames Multimedia for the PlayStation. It used officially licensed World Rally Championship cars and stages spread over eight locations, and it became a commercial success in Europe while receiving a more mixed welcome in North America.
What is V-Rally?
In V-Rally, the player pilots rally machines across a string of stages in a simulation-first design. Its physics aim to match real vehicles, so the game asks for more practice than a typical arcade racer. Weather, road surface and drive layout all change how the car behaves on the track.
The cars and their stickers were officially licensed. The tracks are fictitious, but they draw their inspiration from real rally locations, such as the Costa Brava rally in Spain.
A rally simulator with licensed World Rally Championship cars that rewarded patience more than speed.
Which cars and setups were available?
Players choose between Kit Cars, which are two-wheel drive, and World Rally Cars, which are four-wheel drive. Kit Cars include the Peugeot 306 Maxi and the Renault Maxi Megane, while World Rally Cars include the Subaru Impreza WRC and the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC.
Before each race, players can stiffen the suspension, change gear ratios, adjust how sensitive the car is to understeer and oversteer, and choose between manual and automatic transmission. Each change feeds directly into the way the car feels in the corners.
How do the three modes work?
Arcade mode pits players against computer opponents across three series of stages, each with checkpoints that must be reached within a set time. Players start with three credits, and every failed stage or missed checkpoint costs one, so running out of credits ends the game.
Championship mode removes the checkpoints and awards points according to finishing position. Time Trial lets players run any stage and try to set the fastest lap. Each mode accepts one or two players, with two-player races shown on a split screen.
How do weather and surfaces change the handling?
Rain and snow alter grip, and road surfaces range from asphalt to gravel and dirt. Stages can be run after dark as well as in daylight, adding another layer of difficulty. Drive layout matters too, because a four-wheel-drive car does not behave like a two-wheel-drive one on the same surface.
Ari Vatanen, a former rally world champion, advised the developers on how the cars should react to collisions and drifts. He pointed out that the basic control ideas were shared across the cars, yet front-wheel and four-wheel drive machines differ significantly in practice.
Who made V-Rally?
The game was built for the PlayStation by Infogrames staff in Lyon, France. The group had 20 full-time members, and the team would later be known as Eden Studios. It took nearly two years to build the game, and the development budget was $2 million.
The PlayStation development kits did not cover everything the game needed, so the developers wrote their own programming tools, including the engine. Environments and cars were fully rendered in 3D, and Gouraud shading gave the 3D objects a smoother surface.
The V in the title stands for Virtual. The rock soundtrack was laid down at a Madrid venue, the Moby Dick club, and the cars were all officially licensed down to their stickers.
What was planned but never shipped?
The original plan included a level editor. Players would have modified road surfaces, curves and weather to build their own stages, which would be stored on a memory card. Rendering a custom track would have taken the PlayStation between 30 and 60 seconds. The editor eventually arrived in the 1999 sequel instead.
A four-player mode was also considered, using the PlayStation Link Cable. A rear-view mirror on the HUD was discussed as well, but it was dropped because of the console's memory limits.
How did V-Rally sell in Europe?
In Europe the game was a commercial success. It sold 15,000 copies during its first weekend, stayed a UK bestseller for three months, and passed two million copies worldwide by November 1998.
A Gold award from the German games association followed in August 1998, signalling 100,000 units or more across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 1999 the game took a Gold prize at Milia, the Cannes trade event, for revenues above 22 million euros in the European Union during 1998.
Australian buyers picked up close to 100,000 copies during the opening quarter. By 2000 V-Rally ranked third among PlayStation releases in France, with only Gran Turismo and Rayman ahead of it.
Why was North America less enthusiastic?
Reviews in North America were generally less positive, and the controls drew the sharpest criticism. GameSpot condemned them as shoddy, and Electronic Gaming Monthly called the car physics and crash detection wacky and unnatural.
GamePro took a more forgiving line. It found the controls responsive but in need of patience, and concluded that the game suited hardcore rally enthusiasts better than fans of Need for Speed. Its praise went to the customisation options, a useful co-pilot voice and the detailed, smoothly scrolling graphics.
How did other reviewers respond?
Critics in Europe were largely enthusiastic. Official UK PlayStation Magazine called it a huge game and the most comprehensive racer on the console. Edge credited it with a different style from other PlayStation racers, and the French magazine Consoles plus considered it the most effective rally simulation it had played.
Across the board, reviewers praised the number of tracks and the challenging but rewarding gameplay, though several said the sensitive steering could frustrate players. IGN found the game highly rewarding, and it suggested that the best experience came on the higher difficulty settings.
Computer and Video Games saw real depth in the simulation side, but found it less instantly accessible than Sega Rally, and it praised the better graphics and long draw distance. Its replay value was tied to the spread of tracks and weather conditions. HobbyConsolas admired the varied scenery and the unique challenge of each track, and GameRevolution argued that weather really changed the driving, rewarding players who slowed down and concentrated.
Which ports followed the original?
V-Rally spread to several other platforms. The table below sets out the main ports, their release windows and the most important change each brought with it.
| Version | Release | Main change |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo 64, Edition '99 | Europe 11 December 1998; North America 15 September 1999 | Revised physics and vehicles from the 1998 season, with more than 50 tracks |
| Game Boy | Europe 3 July 1998 | Four cars and ten tracks in a pseudo three-dimensional style |
| Game Boy Color | Europe 9 April 1999; North America 4 June 1999 | Colourful graphics and 20 tracks |
| Windows, Multiplayer Championship Edition | Europe June 1999 | Sharper textures and online play |
| Symbian mobile | Developed by Ideaworks | Built for Sony Ericsson handsets |
Nintendo 64 reviews leaned more favourable in Europe than across the Atlantic. Critics criticised its late draw-in and floaty car physics, but several highlighted the number of tracks, while IGN argued the North American release would have fared better had it arrived a year sooner.
The 2002 release bundled the game with Eagle One: Harrier Attack, and the Platinum edition kept the Toyota Corolla WRC that had first appeared in the North American version. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color editions were both developed by Velez and Dubail, while Eden Studios handled the Nintendo 64 version.
Did the series continue?
A sequel, V-Rally 2, arrived in 1999. It brought the level editor that the original had planned but dropped, and it built on the same rally-focused handling and stage design.
