#DRIVE RALLY – Retro Style Driving On PlayStation 5
This isn’t a racer that demands perfect braking, perfect racing lines, or lots of time in the garage prepping the car for each race. It’s all about timing your handbrake just enough to slide into a corner, correcting the momentum you lose, and wrestling the car back into control. For this type of arcade rally game, that simplicity works — at least at first.
The art style really reinforces that throwback feeling. It takes you straight back to an era when racers were simple and accessible, where learning through mistakes was part of the charm. You rely entirely on your co‑driver’s calls, reacting to their instructions and hoping you avoid the kind of crash that would end your rally career in real life. Their commentary is clear enough, even if they occasionally remind you that you’re not exactly driving like a champion. That said, some of the voiceovers can get very annoying depending on which team or racer you pick — though a few, like the Arnold imitation, are genuinely fun to listen to… at least for the first half hour, before everything starts to feel random.
Visually, #DRIVE Rally presents itself as a game that doesn’t take things too seriously. Graffiti‑styled menus, minimalist car skins, and oddly detailed textures all contribute to a look that keeps your focus where it belongs: the road and your ability to stay in control. It’s not a bad‑looking game — far from it — but it’s also not going to win any awards for visual fidelity. The graphics serve the gameplay, not the other way around.
The tracks themselves feel designed more to test your reflexes than your driving skill. They’re not particularly challenging, and the game leans heavily in your favour. Generous time bonuses let you dominate leaderboards, breeze through battle stages, and rake in cash without much resistance. The cash stacks up so fast it’s basically a financial landfill. I hit the point where I had nothing left to spend it on — and the funniest part is that this happened way before I’d even finished half the races.
Repetition Kicks In…
After the first few hours, the cracks start to show. Co‑driver calls repeat endlessly — Left one. Right three. Right tuuuuu. — and the pacing becomes predictable. Freeroam and Quick Race modes try to break up the monotony, but they suffer from the same issues. Freeroam has you hunting for objects and letters across a large open area to form a word, while Quick Races are enjoyable but ultimately just more of the same.
Just like in the old days, Party Mode makes a welcome return. Up to 12 players can jump in, pick a track, choose a car, and take turns trying to beat each other’s times. It’s a great way to burn an evening with friends, and it fits perfectly with the game’s laid‑back, arcade‑casual vibe.
Presentation, Technical…
These are just four of the racers available, and each one feels genuinely different in terms of car physics and the locations you race in. Naturally, some are better than others, but the variety is definitely there.
The controls, however, are overly sensitive. You’ll be relying on the handbrake constantly, and missing a single drift can ruin an otherwise perfect lap. It’s frustrating, especially on tighter tracks where one mistake adds several seconds to your time.
Performance on a base PS5 is mostly solid, but the pop‑in is hard to ignore and breaks immersion more often than it should. I also ran into several crashes during my playthrough. To be fair, multiple patches dropped between launch and the week I finished the game, so new players might avoid those issues entirely.
Audio is nothing special, sadly. The cars sound fake, and most of the effects feel equally off. The soundtrack, however, is genuinely good. What wasn’t good were the random audio bugs — entire voice lines or sound effects would vanish while one audio channel kept blasting away like nothing happened.
Should You Buy It?…
With all that said, it should be clear: #DRIVE Rally is not something I can recommend to racing enthusiasts. It simply doesn’t have the depth, precision, or variety to satisfy players looking for a serious rally experience.
But for casual gamers — especially younger players — #DRIVE Rally can be a fun, colourful arcade distraction. It’s easy to pick up, forgiving, and packed with enough content to keep newcomers entertained for a few seasons. Whether the price matches the offering is another question entirely, and picking it up on sale makes far more sense.
Ultimately, #DRIVE Rally is the kind of game you play while waiting for something bigger to download. It’s enjoyable in short bursts, but the repetitive structure and limited gameplay variety make it hard to return to once you’ve seen everything it has to offer. One of the few things that kept me hooked longer than expected was the excellent overhead view mode. It instantly gave the game a Micro Machines vibe rather than a Colin McRae Rally feel — and that’s a viewpoint I absolutely love.
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