art of rally

I bought this game and forgot about it until just today watching a youtube video a guy mentioned it. I was like I have that, installed it and wow. I am hooked. This has to be one of the most fun rally games EVER.

Great game but it's not for me.
You get to drive lots of cool cars around lovely looking maps, nothing to dislike about that.
However, my issue with the game is that your eyes have to constantly jump from looking ahead and looking at the car, which gets straining after a bit.

LOVING THIS GAME!!!!! As a rally sim fan this is a great casual game to play. It looks beautiful, the tracks and cars are great, and the physics are perfect for a game of this style.

Two things I think that need addressed though. 1. Frame rate stutter when the draw distance is large. I am playing on an ultrawide so this might stress it. 2. A voiceless go-driver would be a nice addition.

i love the art style game has a learning curve kinda but its fun

Awsome casual racing game with enough depth to keep me going!

perfect if you want to drive some meditative laps through the countryside but don't feel like using the sim rig

Really great game just to chill and atst learn abt rallying. Lots of ways to drive with customizations for both beginners and experienced racing players

Fantastic little rally game, bringing you through the history of rally racing in an easy-to-learn difficult-to-master package. It tows the line between sim and arcade game in a way that makes it really rewarding to put the time in. All the cars feel very different from one another and there's a ton of variety in car selection and track choice. It's a ton of fun, I've been obsessively playing it every chance I get.

Don't let it's low poly aesthetic fool you. This is the absolute best simcade racer with and a top notch synth soundtrack that money can buy. Bar none.
Each and every car feels different and unique, you can actually feel how the car is behaving. i have no idea how they managed it but boy did they absolutely nail it down to a T. The soundtrack is like crack to me, i've listened to it for nearly 2 years and haven't got sick of it one bit and anything else just doesn't scratch the itch.

I expected a rally game to be about actually testing my skill against complex and difficult tracks.
Turns out, this game is about selecting the less frustrating car and driving thru mediocre tracks, battling the actual physics of the game.
To add insult to injury, the performance is trash, UI/UX is nonexistant and the soundtrack is exactly what you will never want for your racing game - mindnumbing repetitive retrowave slop.
Please, save your money and your time and avoid this game.

I have a great habit of testing the spectators diving abilities.

Its good but not having co driver or a map is unnecessary difficulty

My favorite feature of this game is that I can put it on 'easy' and I can easily get 1st place and progress through the career stages even if I crash multiple times.

Usually games in this arcade/sim category put the game on easy, you crash like twice, forget about placing first.

This game manages to be chill, yet relatively demanding. I suck at this game, but I'm still having fun.

This game runs great on Steam Deck, and really shows off the dynamic color range of the OLED screen. I'm torn playing between silkier 165hz frame rate on my laptop vs the more vibrant colors on the perfection of the Steam Deck OLED screen.

Despite this being an indie game, Funselektor Labs has achieved AAA gameplay, graphics, and menu design. Both accessible for newbs and hardcore rally fans. The perfect balance of sim and arcade. They have truly turned rally into art.

gorgeous game and great racing!
Wish it was multiplayer though... luckily their next game will be though!!

I wanted to wait until I completed the career mode, and after doing so, I would say this game is worth it at full price. Every car feels unique, every map is fun, and the career mode is a ton of fun. Free roam is a fun way to unwind and time attack is good for when I'm feeling competitive. I could have wrote "game good" and I don't know why I didn't.

I have just started the game by completing some rallies and two freeroam maps and I have to say that it is really polished. Like the driving felt super good right as i booted it up, and it is really a joy to play. Would recommend full price, but it tastes even better at a sale. Looks and feels amazing all in all.

Beautiful Art Style, Simple Racing, Takes me back to childhood when games were simple and fun.

Reminds me of playing with die cast cars, I can hop in game for a casual 15 mins which is great nowadays.

The trailer does not lie.
I like it, it's quite a zen rally game.
Only one con.... I lost all my savec after reinstalling my pc...

But it's fun to start again as well :)

Cool physics and overall vibe. Historical rally cars.

its an absolutely AMAZING game. i got into it a few years back from my dad downloading it on the Xbox via gamepass, as he was into just trying out small indie games and all of the sorts. this was one of the few games that deserves to be popular, and its magnificent.

however ive figured out that on PC, if you hook up a racing wheel the game will recognise the axis like its a controller, which with how the joystick linearity works, isnt exactly the best for realism. its still extremely fun though, but itd be cool if we were able to adjust the linearity of that joystick input, as thatd also allow the true input of a steering wheel to be used, making it like one of those 90s top down arcade racers.

Probably my favorite racing game so far. It's really special. It's a simcade, so don't expect an easy arcade racer if you're coming from Forza for example. It's closer to Dirt Rally. But this game really shines in showing the history of rally from goup 2 to group B, and explores what could have happened if group S was never scrapped, and group A had no power limits. It takes some artistic liberties, like ignoring the fact that group S was supposed to have a power limit below that of group B. All in all this is a fantastic experience, and a great introduction to rally history if you are a newcomer. This game got me into rally by making me interested in learning more about group B where I learned about Michele Mouton, the greatest woman rally driver of all time. A truly amazing piece of history. And you can drive her car and even race her in career mode, which is awesome! Highly recommend

very much enjoyed this game, soundtrack goes crazy hard and the graphic are a good difference from other games.

Note: for the best experience (IMO) play with a controller.

Phenomenal little game. 100% takes sometime but I was never bored doing it. The driving is very fun, the cars all feel unique. The Fujin is excellent if you love rolling after hitting any size incline and the rotary vehicles are excellent if you love spinning when tapping the gas! (I love both of these vehicles) My only gripe is some of the track borders can be inconsistent. Some maps you can cut heavily while others (germany/sardinia) if you even slightly go off track your car is reset. But that's only a minor critique. Fantastic work dev team! Excited to see what you do in the future!

Fun to learn the cars and how best to drive. The cars are all really distinct and engaging to learn. The maps and tracks, while simple at first glance, are really well thought out and clearly were crafted with a lot of care.

breddy guud

not realistic obv but probably my favourite arcade racer
its got a sense of humour
got a wide range of cars
got a neat free roam mode with collectables
plus its not so popular that i cant get my track times into the top 1%!

only trouble i find really is that the tracks could do with a bit more variation in terms of width, surface, bumpiness etc like in real life

also all the "misc" vehicles like trucks and the scooter should be put in the same category

good job on this one

The Good:
- Driving physics! There's a big difference between FWD and RWD cars: RWD are more nimble but oversteer whilst the FWD cars understeer but are easier to control. Different surfaces all have their own feel (dirt vs pavement vs wet pavement) etc. and provides a lot of nice variety.
- This game is gorgeous, the soundtrack fits nicely and they're lots of nice touches like the branding, car backstories, fans jumping out of the way, the brake rotors glowing red hot and more. The Jumps are also sweet.

The Bad:
- Overpriced, not enough content to justify buying it off-sale
- Could definitely be better optimised, I found it pretty demanding to run on maximum settings.
- Zones of compression/decompression do not mess around and will make your car stick to the ground like glue or make your car slide like its on ice, way more than what would be expected. Its nice to see this added to the physics of the game but its over exaggerated for sure.


Overall this game is great, especially for fans of old school rally, just wait for a scale and don't expect super arcade-y physics.

Driving distilled, with fantastic handling and physics. Simple visuals hide a deceptively-realistic experience.

Amazing priorities maintained here. Great job, devs!

Lighthearted yet challenging rally game, perfect for achieving that zen state I only seem to find in a racing game.

Decently fun rally driving game.

Gameplay

Both career and free roam modes are available.

Career mode brings you through 6 different eras of rally: group 2, group 3, group 4, group b, group s and group a. Each era (at least up to group b, i haven't played any further) covers 5 seasons, which are made up of one or more rallies, with each rally having one or more stages (the individual driving parts). You are able to restart stages, however not doing so gives special rewards at the end of the season. Note that you need to play the campaign to unlock new cars, however some cars of all classes present in the campaign are available from the start.

The free roam modes consist of large, open maps with 4 types of collectibles scattered around for you to obtain. These are cassetes, image spots, letters and a van. The image spots and the van do not unlock anything, however collecting the 5 casettes unlocks a new song and collecting the 5 letters (R-A-L-L-Y) unlocks the next free-roam map. Cars cannot be unlocked from playing the free-roam maps, however, the default group s and group a cars should have enough power to collect all of the collectibles available.

Driving the cars is reasonably difficult, especially with the faster cars in the game (e.g group b). If you're struggling, i would recommend to practise with the group 2 or group 3 cars in free roam, as these are more controllable than others.

Art and music

The graphics are made in a low poly style which looks very different to other games, but in my opinion looks very nice. I also really like the music.

Performance and bugs

The game performs very well. The only bug I've encountered is a minor visual bug, which has since been fixed. While I have a pretty decent laptop, I have never encountered any issues with lag or slowdowns.

Content

The game has enough cars that you can find a vehicle for every playstyle, at least up to group b. There is a decent amount of tracks and environments, so it doesn't feel repetitive and weather options allow for new challenges on the same tracks.

Summary/important points

Rally driving game with career and free roam modes.
Would recommend it if it's on sale, not sure about it for full price.
I find it fun.

A love letter to the sport. If you have even a passing interest in Group B or rally in general, you'll love this game!

It's a bit tough starting out, but by the end when you git gud, you'll be throwing 800+HP group A monsters comfortably into every corner. The recent performance patch made the game much smoother. I just wish we had pace notes!

Incredibly easy to pick up & have fun with. Difficult to master. Serious bang-for-your-buck of a game. Great car selection with a lot of obscure choices that you'll find yourself going back to. Would absolutely recommend to any racing enthusiast.

It doesn’t matter if you’re new to racing games or a seasoned pro - this game is an absolute blast.

With simple yet stunning visuals, the game strikes the perfect balance between accessibility and depth. Driving is easy to pick up but challenging to master, making every race a thrilling experience.

The car selection is impressive, featuring a wide range of iconic vehicles from different eras. Each car has its own unique handling and sound, both of which are incredibly well-executed and authentic.

Add to that endless replayability, and you’ve got a racing game that’s worth every penny. Whether you're chasing lap times or just enjoying the ride, this is a must-play for any fan of the genre.

7/10

Pros:

* Top down rally experience.
* Beautiful art style.
* Realistic fan behaviour.
* You get to drive a Kamaz rally truck.

Cons:

* Barely playable with automatic transmission. I almost stopped playing after a few hours on automatic. Switching to manual made a huge difference.
* Contrast on some levels is very poor and can make it very difficult to identify the track.
* Lack of pace notes and co-driver.
* Random stuttering, which can sometimes get very bad.

Art Of Rally is very simplistic at the surface. It's just you and your car versus the track and times (allegedly set by "AI" opponents you never see). But all the cars do handle differently, so it's worth figuring out which you like the feel of. The gameplay settings let you tune the driving experience to just the right balance between arcade and "sim" feel, so you can get just the driving challenge you want. And nobody would say this is a real "sim", but it does tap into the same locked-in zen focus state I liked from real sims. It's like a minimalist, controller friendly, much calmer sim-lite *experience*

Not for everyone, but unique and excellent at the thing it's doing.

This is my favorite casual racing game. It's easy enough that you don't need a racing wheel to do well, yet challenging enough that you'll still be learning new ways to improve your times long after beating the career mode.

The career mode progression through various classes of rally racing really helps you gradually acclimate to the faster classes of cars. I also really like that there's more rewards for not burning up your restarts. The rewards for not using resets are only cosmetic, so you're not missing out on vehicles if you do use restarts, but it's a nice incentive to not immediately reach for the restart button every time you make a minor mistake. For me at least, having that extra incentive helped put me in the mindset of adapting to my own mistakes, rather than striving for the perfect run every single time as I went through career mode.

On the topic of striving for perfect runs though: time trials are a fantastic way to try for those perfect runs. I only checked out time trials after beating the career mode, but it's been quite fun challenging myself to beat my own ghosts in time trials mode, and doing so adds a lot of replayability.

One of my favorite racing titles. It distills the rally experience into the leanest form possible and presents from a different perspective with beautiful visuals and a fantastic soundtrack.

I really like the way that the cars handle. It's not "realistic", but I don't think that was the intention. While not a "sim", there is a lot of simulation happening -- the weight of the vehicle, the traction between each tire and the road surface -- and this lets the game capture the feel that makes rally so exciting. Tapping the brakes to shift weight and then flicking the car through a tight corner, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then gunning it and shifting your way back up when the tires bite. When you get it right, it feels as good as RBR, Dirt, or any of the other best rally titles.

Unlike Dirt 2.0 and WRC, you don't have to be online to play the singleplayer. DLC isn't constantly being shoved in your face (even when you already own it, no less!!). Menus are snappy and quick to navigate. From the time I press "start game" on Steam, I can be in a race in less than 30 seconds. Getting into a race in Dirt 2 takes in the order of minutes. In Dirt and WRC, every action (e.g., repairing your car) needs to communicate with EA's servers and this turns something that should be instant into something that takes seconds to complete. As a rally enjoyer, I am not spoiled by choice and it took this game to remind me how fast and fluid a game should feel in all of the parts that aren't driving.

The game has a non-competitive leaderboard that seem to be mostly free of cheated runs. The stylized graphics are beautiful and the atmosphere is perfect.

A few things that I didn't like, no in particular order:
- No wheel support.
- The camera takes a bit of getting used to.
- You don't have a co-driver and there are no pace notes.
- Asphalt feels like slightly more grippy gravel and rain feels like extra slippery gravel instead of being their own surfaces.

Content-wise, there are 7 (+1 DLC) locations, each with 12 stages (including reversed stages). Stages are between 3 and 7 miles, and an average player should be able to drive one stage in around 5 minutes. The career mode is basic but serviceable and should take 15-20 hours to complete.

I love this game. Probably my favorite game ever once I knew it was spearheaded by one guy, Dune Casu. Inspiring as a fellow someone who also likes making games. Very quirky and silly

Impressed that this runs kind of decently on my levono vivobook. Anyway, this is a great rally game. Physics take getting used to, but are super rewarding once you figure them out! Car list is nice, its very rare to see Group S in video games and the logging truck, three wheeler, and dakar truck are all awesome! The maps are all beautiful, and the music is amazing. 10/10 game.

Its just a great way to get that racing/ rally itch and not needing to have your wheel setup. Just zone out and race... its just a great time

The retro vibe, attention to detail on the car, easy to use hard to master mechanics. It is a wonderful game and a great homage to legendary rally stages and cars!

Great chill relaxing game for exploring maps or lock into the races where every second counts

Phenomenal physics and inviting graphics. The perfect racing game!

This game is beautiful and charming and I'd love to love it. But I don't know how to drive a rally car. And as far as I can tell, the game makes no attempt to teach you how to drive a rally car. It just assumes you've played these kinds of games before or maybe drive rally in real life? I think it's the responsibility of a good game to teach you how to get better at it, and I'm not getting that experience at all. All my driving around is just confusing and disheartening.

I'm only 4hrs in but it's great fun! It's challenging but once you start to wrap your head around handling the great variety of vehicles (hint: steer with throttle) you can feel yourself continually improving and making progress. Love the overall aesthetic too.

Really fun racing game. Pretty simple but in like a really fun arcade sort of way. 100% recommend

This game is glorious. I've owned this game for years and I keep coming back to it.

If you like Dirt Rally 2.0 but are too mentally drained for the day to play it, this is a great cozy alternative while still retaining the sim racing experience.

Gameplay: The handling physics are like a mix between forza horizon and dirt rally 2.0 but in the isometric perspective. the different terrains don't really feel all that much different (except for rain and snow. Those are significantly more slippery) But there's enough hairpins, jumps and elevation to really keep things interesting so it isn't really a big deal to me.

Visuals & Audio: The music is synthwave that has the energy of a speakeasy bar. So it's kind of relaxing but not where you'd fall asleep. Visually, everything looks great and colorful in low poly with a lot of attention to detail. If you like what you see in the trailer, you will like what you see in-game. You can tell the devs poured a lot of passion into the game and the vision and vibe they're going for is executed really well.

I yearn for the days of groin B to come back. This game takes place in an alternate universe where it was never cancelled. You learn the history of rally and work your way through different “groups”, cars and tracks in different nations. I love it. Very fu and can get intense. Totally recommend it.

Great gameplay. I loved the free roam mode as well.

Fun, cute rally race game. Tough enough to provide a challenge but arcade-y enough to be approachable and not fall in the Sim category.

I've waited way too long until I got this game. Now I have it on Steam and Xbox and have combined playing time of 100 hours and I'm no way near exhausted. It's the first time literally in 2 decades since I played a racing game where racing itself was the most rewarding part for me. Usually I play my "Forzas" and "Gran Turismos" to be able to purchase that car that I then rarely drive. Art of Rally is about driving and it feels exhilaratingly amazing. Braking for shifting weight to the front, Scandy Flicks, left foot braking or clutch kicking to intensify your drift. I literally feel like Colin McRae when I go flat out. And the game has an amazing learning curve. My leaderboard times are getting better by the day. The different locations with their own challenges (weather, road surface, roadside objects, elevation changes, looks) absolutely rock.
Career mode is good too, the division into years and the ability to play through the history of rally is a clever idea!
The cars feel super different to each other and it is worth trying them all. They also do sound really really cool! A rotary engined Mazda, an Inline-5 Audi, a Flat-4 Subaru. They all sound authentic and really really cool. The music is also really fitting although I have to admit I turned it off because I 100% want to hear the cars only. But that's just me.
I like the simple low-poly graphics, they're perfect for that game. It runs well on my Steam Deck.

One more thing: The game really clicked for me once I played with the car settings:
Stability Management 0% (or 10%), Counter Steer Factor 100%, ABS 0%