--- title: "#Drive Rally Captures the Style of a Retro Racer, But Lacks Substance for Now" date: "2024-09-25" modified: "2024-09-25" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/drive-rally-video-game-review" categories: - "Culture" - "News" - "Video Games" --- # #Drive Rally Captures the Style of a Retro Racer, But Lacks Substance for Now ![An off-brand BMW E30 drifts on a snow stage in #Drive Rally.]() *\Pixel Perfect Dude\* I love a good, [arcade-style rally game](). On the face of it, they're getting progressively harder to come by these days, but thankfully the indie scene has stepped in to fill the void. The latest entrant is *#Drive Rally* (no relation, we promise) from the small Polish studio Pixel Perfect Dude. Out today in early access on [Steam](), the game consists of 24 stages across four locales and 12 cars that are extensively modifiable. It's not a lot of content, but what's here is worth watching develop as the old-school racer inches toward a full release next year. The first thing that captures your attention in *#Drive Rally* is, of course, the visuals. The game is defined by that texture-light, low-poly aesthetic that's been all the rage among indies for a minute, and it achieves this look well. Personally, I'm getting a little tired of games retreading this well-trodden artistic ground, and I'd much prefer the [grainy, wobbly textures of the 32-bit era]() to make a comeback, or perhaps the super-shine and bold colors of [Sega Model 3 games](). Taste aside, if you dug, say, *Art of Rally* or *Horizon Chase Turbo's* theme, you'll probably dig what Pixel Perfect Dude's gone for, too. ![]() ![]() ![]() The game runs smoothly, particularly with motion blur enabled, and is no sweat for my hardly cutting-edge system comprising an RTX 3070 GPU and Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU. On stage, the action is chill. Even the fastest cars don't move especially quickly, and the handling is very forgiving—arguably *too* forgiving. The fun of whipping a car in a rally title, arcade or sim, is that feeling of off-throttle momentum, punctuated with dabs of power to correct your cornering angle. But *#Drive Rally* doesn't quite achieve that. Oh, yes—you can pull off wild drifts, and the physics are predictable, but no matter how perpendicular the car gets against the path ahead, there's always limitless grip to pull you back. The classics, from *Sega Rally* and *Colin McRae Rally*, had well-earned reputations for being easy to pick up yet hard to master. *#Drive Rally*, though, is just easy, full-stop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyXsRMdI5O0 I'd also like to see stages that have a bit more going on, as all the courses in this game strike me as if they've been draped on a massive plain with gentle hills at best. Thankfully, at least two more locations are to come, as confirmed by the team. So what about *#Drive Rally* works, at this early stage of development? Well, I love what Pixel Perfect Dude's done with the cars themselves. There are 12 of them, all clearly aping real-world legends that indies could never afford the licenses for, with fully modeled interiors and a deep selection of cosmetic parts to turn club racers into alternate-universe Group B monsters. Just look at how the game's stand-in for the [Lancia Delta Integrale]()—the "Alfabetta 1986"—evolves as you escalate its aero: ![]() ![]() ![]() The car design is certainly my favorite thing about *#Drive Rally* at the moment, as it's the aspect where the studio's passion shines the brightest. Unfortunately, moments between stages—like when you're flipping pages in the Championship mode menu, or when you've unlocked a new part—play very choppily, with constant stuttering. Weirdly, gameplay was totally fine in my experience, so this is a strange bug that really should be addressed because it does cause friction whenever you aren't racing. I'll propose some more actionable feedback: The time penalties for breaching stanchions that line stages are annoying and have *got* to be removed. These fences are placed very close to the path, and every time you topple a segment, a tenth of a second is added to your final stage time. Occasionally running these over didn't ruin my performance against the game's AI, but the repeated admonishments of "+0.10" are simply obnoxious, especially considering even far more serious rally games aren't this pedantic about tires cutting corners here and there, and this is supposed to be a *fun* game, not a sweaty one. Besides, the penalties don't even prevent cheating. So long as you drive around the barriers, not into them, the game doesn't care. ![]() *No penalties for cutting this corner, because I didn't hit the fence to the right. *Pixel Perfect Dude** OK, so *#Drive Rally* needs work. Then again, it is advertised as early access. Unfortunately, as it stands I wouldn't pay the $20 entry fee and would recommend checking back in a few months, particularly if you dig the art style. The physics could use more nuance; the interface, more polish; and the Championship mode—which is presently nothing more than a procession of stages, interspersed with rewards—more purpose. I assure you that nobody wants a return to the [heyday of '90s racing games]() more than I do, and hopefully one day, *#Drive Rally* will capture that spirit. For now, at least it's got a solid vibe. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() *Wanna talk racing games? Hit me up at adam.ismail@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()