art of rally

I love this game! I was looking for a nice-looking, low-effort casual driving game, as I'm the complete opposite of a petrolhead. Long story short: this game got me hooked on rallying. I'm now reading articles on the historical vehicles that inspired the game's cars, I've turned my driving assists down almost to zero, and I'm practicing advanced driving maneuvers like the Scandinavian Flick. I'm even working on improving my lap times by a second or two each run. This has also become my go-to comfort game for when I just want to relax and take my mind off everyday stuff.

I wanted to wait until I got to 100% - game and achievements, before making this review, which will be seen by 7 people. Tops.

I first played this on Xbox, low frames and heavy steering and all, but I enjoyed it a lot. The graphics look basic but the game is somewhat surprisingly beefy, 720p with everything on low-mediums. I'll get to that.

This plays awesomely. By default it's very heavy, which suits earlier gameplay, but later on I recommend dropping the assists to 0, and countersteering ratio to 100% or thereabouts. There's decent variety in the 6 classes (2, 3, 4, B, S, A) and you'll probably recognise some of the cars here. Rallies are super satisfying to blitz through, but present a proper challenge if you're trying to send it. If (when) you do flip there's a reference to the car underneath, which is usually amusing. Each car is cutesy and minimalistic, the "lore" is quite amusing and I think they're designed really well.

The soundtrack is spectacular. I was sold within a few hours of playing it on Steam, as was the soundtrack as I went and bought it. I listen on motorway drives and in town driving, or country roads and in traffic - it's just awesome.

Car sounds are usually about what you'd expect. They're fine, if repetitive when you've been playing for a while.

The environments are pleasant and honestly do look quite varied. There's quirks to each, but Japan was probably my favourite for the cherry trees. All the different weather options are nice (I'm on fire when it's a night rally, somehow I'm faster than daytime), but the game can look beautiful at sunset. Pair the purple sky with the cherry trees and you have a great backdrop. The open-world collectibles are very much appreciated.

The core gameplay loop might be a bit repetitive for some, with repairs every 2 rallies, but knocking out a bunch at a time was fun.

I strongly recommend this, in several departments. It's a blast, and it's a soundtrack with a free game, so you know both are good. With one exception; if you're an achievement perfectionist, that final achievement, grinding 1000 stages, is asinine. Get anything Group B or above, go to germany's Gossenweiler (not R), hold it in 4th above 90mph and crash into the fence. It's way faster.

Otherwise, awesome.
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Technical stuff:
This has a native Linux version which I used. Worked the entire time. Had missing textures for a split second on rare occasions in hours 28-31 of gameplay where mountains in Japan (Mount Haruna's area) would go white. Never happened again and it didn't impact gameplay, but it was odd. Other than that it was plain sailing.

this game is like when cutting wrapping paper and the scissors start to glide

First 3 or 4 hours for me was trying to understand and get the hang of the car physics and controls. I dialled the controller sensitivity to my taste, turned assists off but left ABS at 10%, and kept struggling HARD. But then all of a sudden, I realise I'm chaining turns together, I'm hitting the straights hard, braking last second and flowing through hairpin turns - the bass drops and an insanely delicious beat kicks off and absolutely everything clicks. Absolute zen.
My god, when it clicks, it all comes together in a harmonious symphony of pleasure. This is a music and car lover's orgasmic orchestra. I don't know how else to explain it. I've never played anything that quenches my thrist for rally, cars, video games and music all this hard.

This game is so fun I was begging my parents to get it for me and they finally got it for me and since then (yesterday) I am so happy and. I even got a picture in the game by pressing the menu button and I got it so it will be my background for my computer and also I really like rallying I want to be a rally driver actually so I will rate this game a 11/10 because its so good and if you just like arcade like games this will not really be for you because at first it looks like a arcade game but its not because its really hard to do the controls. oh and there's these people that actually move. but DO NOT I MEAN DO NOT TOUCH THE ANIMALS THEY ARE ALL ROCK SOLID DONT TOUCH THEM, THE FIRST TIME I TOUCHED THEM I LOST THE RACE I REAPEAT DO NOT TOUCH THEM anyway now that's out the way like I said 11/10 its so good.

Art of rally is the most beautiful racing game I've played. It has also served as a great introduction to the world of rally games for me. Highly recommend for everyone to play this game.
One important note: I was experiencing significant lag spikes for the first few hours of playing. This was fixed when I changed the vegetation renderer, so if you are experiencing similar problems, try changing that.
Pretty fun game

Ah yes, my gateway into Rally games.
To be blunt, i've never liked cars. To me they are loud, dangerous instruments that have caused more death than any other vehicle ever invented. As for virtual cars, the extent of my experience with them was on the family Playstation, many years ago, during long afternoons when Tekken 3 and Crash Bandicoot had gotten old and i was desperate for entertainment.
And yet, on the 22nd of november 2020, some glowing reviews and a fantastic soundtrack convinced me to give art of rally a shot. Flash forward to today, i've played myriad rally games, ranging from arcade dopamine dispensers to authenticity-seeking sims, bought an entire steering wheel setup and started to learn about the history and culture of rally.
art of rally, as it is stylized in all lowercase, is a game i have simply fallen in love with; among all of the racers i've played, none feel as accessible yet as merciless as it. The act of moving your car is not difficult, the controls are intuitive, you can play automatic or manual at your discretion... But the moment you pick up speed, the moment you hit 4th gear and in the horizon see a hairpin turn, the moment you decide that you, in fact, need not slow down but merely believe in the motion of your hands on the wheel, the pressure of your feet on the pedal...
That moment, is
the art of rally