#Drive Rally has that real pick-up-and-play quality | Hands-on preview
Admittedly, it can at first be a little off-putting, having a very good Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator shouting “Left Three” or “Tempo Tempo Tempo” at you as you hurtle towards a pine forest at one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, tires barely gripping the soft dirt “road”. But, given enough time and a period of mental adjustment, it’ll grow on you, much in the same way that #DRIVE Rally has grown on me.
A 90’s rally racer that proudly wears its heart on its livery, #DRIVE Rally is an arcade racer offering plenty of thrills and spills in equal measure. This may not offer the nuance of WRC’s handling or the bombastic AAA presentation of the Dirt series but what it does offer is big, bold character, nostalgic feels, and good old-fashioned fun. Fun by the goddamn bucketload.
Cars feel super responsive and snappy, whether you’re flying along through the icy wilderness or the sun-soaked desert, a fantastic feeling of being barely in control as you push each iconic car to its limits, attempting to shave yet another few tenths of a second from your sprint. If you think that you’re about to lose control with each sway of the chassis around a tight hairpin, then
you know that you’re doing it right. It just feels fantastic in the hand.
I say iconic car as the motors on offer are thinly veiled representations of historic rally classics, with each having an even more souped-up version or two made available as you journey through the Championship mode. If you think that it can get frantic throwing around a 219hp Peugeot-alike through the Schwarzwald, just you wait until you try out its 595hp big brother! Reactions need to be lightning-fast and braking pin-point perfect to stand a chance at nailing that top spot on the podium.
If you don’t fancy chasing AI times then jump into the free play mode which will allow you to test your mettle against the best in the world or, in my case, have your ass handed to you on the online leaderboards.
There’s even room for customisation to your individual liking in #DRIVE Rally, with new aftermarket parts being opened up seemingly every moment, spoon-feeding you even more dopamine. Create a wolf in sheep’s clothing with standard bodies and street tires or go all out with huge spoilers and low-slung bumpers, creating something that wouldn’t look out of place in an ASDA car park at 3am on a Saturday morning.
There have been a few odd moments in the preview build, mainly around the lap timings shown on-screen vs the white-outlined ghost I’ve desperately been chasing, with a seemingly split-second lead being shown as over a minute gap but has this really affected my enjoyment?
No. Not one iota.
With the preview played on a base model Steam Deck, it runs like a dream, with nary a frame dropped throughout my time with it, despite looking truly fantastic. The tracks feel like characters themselves, evolving throughout the stages, each showing more and more of the vast wilderness as you hurtle along at genuinely ludicrous speeds. I implore that you take a second to make use of the included photo mode to stop and take a good long look at the beautiful artwork on offer, that perfect moment as the dust clouds hang in the air behind you, tires overhanging the edge of the pine forest below. It genuinely has an astounding art style that looks jaw-droppingly gorgeous in both stills and motion.
It’s a perfect pick-up-and-play rally racer. With a truly unique look that’s sure to turn heads, quirky co-pilots to amuse, a plethora of tracks to master, and the moreish-ness of a bag of Malteasers, you too will learn to love Arnie shouting at you, each and every turn.
