Rally Arcade Classics Review

When it comes to racing games, they generally aren’t my cup of tea, especially if it’s a circuit racer like Forza Motorsport. Give me a rally experience, though, and I’m all over it. Having grown up spending hours with the V Rally and Colin McRae titles, I gradually became obsessed with trying to shave seconds off each run. We still have the Dirt Rally and WRC outings popping up every so often, but I find that sometimes the older games were a bit more solid and fun to play. Rally Arcade Classics from developer NET2KGAMES launched on 4th July 2025 on Xbox Series X|S and is described as a love letter to the legendary era of arcade rally racing. It has scratched that nostalgic itch for me thus far, and with plenty to do, it is worth its reasonable price of £16.74.

Have You Got Your Driving Licence?

Before you’re let loose on the rally circuits, you’ll be expected to plug away at several licences to unlock areas of the game. Think of this as a Gran Turismo approach, as it’s almost identical. Licences are C, B, A and S1 tiers and achieving each one will grant you access to more modes, events and tracks. Completing licences seems like a bit of a needless grind, but I suppose it’s still nice they are in the game, they are a series of short timed runs with bronze, silver and gold timings that can be achieved based on your finish time. I look upon these as more tutorial drives than anything, but it is still fun to try and achieve the gold scoring each time.

A Huge Feast Of Modes

Tour mode, rally mode, arcade mode and chrono make up the core gameplay loop of races to work through, and there are tons of them. There are also weekly and monthly global events alongside online leaderboards. Tour mode brings a mixture of events such as overtakes, time trials, head-to-head and drifts. Ticking these off will allow you to unlock cash and stars, which act as currency to unlock further vehicles and modes. Rally mode brings intense runs across Finland, Greece, Monte Carlo and more with endurance runs. Arcade mode will put you against 14 other AI racers across short circuits for competitive play. Chrono mode will allow you to play around with any circuit and vehicle to practice or beat online leaderboard timings.

To put it into perspective, there are 48 circuits, 44 unlicensed vehicles, but you can figure out what they mimic in real life. Alongside this, you have over 360 races in tour mode, 72 rally championships and 60 license challenges. There is a lot of unlocking to do throughout, and once you open everything up, the work starts for me on trying to climb leaderboards across the plethora of circuits. It is a huge offering for an indie title, and it is still quality instead of quantity.

Visuals & Audio

Visually, Rally Arcade Classics takes the retro aesthetic, which shines exceptionally on Xbox Series X|S. During my 20+ hours with the game, I didn’t experience any hiccups whatsoever. It certainly brings nostalgia to the forefront, making me cast my memories back to the Playstation 1 and Dreamcast era. Environments are detailed and well illustrated with forests, snowy and sandy areas, and with diverse weather effects. Menus are basic but simple to navigate and well designed. The audio soundtrack suits the atmosphere of the game, which ties in well with the excellent sound effects of vehicles and the commentary of the co-driver reading the pacenotes as you drive at speed throughout each course. You wouldn’t think a retro game would still look great, but it does on a big 4k screen.

Final Thoughts

I was pleasantly surprised by Rally Arcade Classics, and I’ve had a ton of fun dipping into the huge feast of content on offer. If you’re a fan of older rally games such as V Rally or Colin McRae, then, like me, you’ll enjoy your time with this. Believe me when I say there is bang for your buck with this game. With 44 vehicles, 48 tracks, tons of modes, licences, online leaderboards and events, the hours of gameplay on offer can potentially push you over 100+ hours easily. It could stretch beyond this if you’re looking to nestle your place amongst the best times in the world. For me personally, I’ve loved this one more than some of the modern AAA rally experiences that have been around recently. So I’d highly recommend this one if you’re into your rally racers or driving games in general, it’s top notch.