V-Rally: 97 Championship Edition is a title which sounds like a revision to an existing game, but it was the first game in a new series. Though if you bought the Platinum edition later on, it was just V-Rally: Championship Edition on the box. Except that it still says V-Rally: 97 Championship Edition and V-Rally in various title and menu screens, seemingly at random. All of which suggests a bit of identity confusion. That is fitting when it comes to the fundamental question of what this game is as the uncertainty infects the style of play.
V-Rally is not Sega Rally, and it’s definitely not Ridge Racer, but it’s not quite a realistic simulation either. The cars are designed to behave more like real rally cars; the tracks are set in real places that held real rallies in the championship; but the sport is not right at all. The tracks aren’t actually those the real championship takes place on, not least because the game plays out with laps around a loop against direct opponents, as opposed to the solo point-to-point time trials that made up nearly all of the real event.
The realism in the car means handling which is distinctly twitchy. V-Rally’s cars are nervous beasts indeed, feeling ready to turn on their driver even when going in a straight line. The people driving rally cars have a steering wheel and pedals, though, and I have a digital pad which can either be turning or not turning. It doesn’t seem like such a realistic equivalent. This is not my favourite type of handling and I was initially worried I wouldn’t be able to get the hang of it at all. So I swallowed my pride and went from choosing the famous blue Subaru on the cover to a lower powered Skoda, and started to make sense of it.
Even in a slower car and with more practice, V-Rally’s driving never feels stable. However, getting round corners by the means of sudden sideways lunges without slowing is compelling in its own way. There doesn’t seem to be any chance of being fully in control, but you can prod your car into doing enough of what you want to beat the other cars anyway. It is at least relatively forgiving of failure, both in how the other cars match up (or rather down) to your level and in how it treats the occasional spectacular flip as an inconsequential interlude before going on your way.
The options available in V-Rally are also a little more generous again than both arcade games and native PlayStation games which were proofs of concept. There is a lot to do within it beyond just getting hold of its mechanics and hanging on tight. Its different tracks, from Indonesia to Corsica, are more a case of providing a different backdrop than a seriously different challenge, but growing and adapting across a series of them is still an experience I welcomed, even if I didn’t love it.
Once I’d done that and got the hang of it, there was one more step to take. That would be the move up to Subaru, home to Britain’s very own recent world champion. As a Brit playing a rally game with at least some roots in reality, I ultimately wanted to be Colin McRae. And soon I’d get a better chance.
