V-Rally 3

The Peugeot 206 has been the steed of 3 of the past 4 title winners.

The latest instalment of V-rally has (or will be) released on all three major formats. The PS2 version was released in July last year to much acclaim, and some criticism of the control system. Now that the XBox version is here (Gamecube version is due at the end of June) have the developers taken the criticism to heart? Read on and find out.

In the beginning

You have to start out with the 1.6L Front wheel drive class to gain experience. Still very quick though!

Initial impressions are good; attention to detail seems to be right on the mark. It's always the little things that make a good game become a great one. Initial loading screens look wonderful, although they are renders. Several game modes are available, including a four-player mode, V-Rally mode and challenge mode. Four-player is easy enough to work out, race against your friends and beat their time. Rallies are not known for having several cars on the road at once, so racing against your friends is not really in keeping with a rally game, despite what the CMR series does. The V-Rally mode is the main part of the game, though.

Sign for a team after a beating their goal time in the test and start the rally. Initially you can't jump straight into the big 4WD turbo machines without competing in slower cars in the lower leagues.

Amateurs start here

The Safari Rally is a test of endurance rather than outright speed.

The 1.6L class is your first port of call and only one or two of the lower teams will offer you a test. Beat the time they ask and you will be offered a contract as well as a guide to how well the team is doing, how much everybody rates their morale, car quality and how much money they're investing in the car itself. This is shown to you before you sign, as is their expectations for the coming season, allowing you to hazard a guess about your chances.

Initially their hopes can be something simple like a top 10 finish or to complete every rally to gain experience. However, if you sign for a top team, they will expect nothing less than podium places in every rally and a championship win to go with them!

Moving on up

Stages are absolutely gorgeous with no pop-up or slowdown.

As you progress through the season other teams will keep an eye on your progress. Several podiums or top 5 finishes start to get ears and eyes twitching in the rally fraternity and sometimes a middle ranking team will offer you a test. This will also raise the morale of your own team and that can mean faster repairs during the rally and possibly more investment by a sponsor or your team. You can sign for your new team during the season if you wish, or wait until the end of the season. The 1.6L cars only race in four rallies, the big 2.0L turbo cars race in six.

Rally surfaces vary from asphalt (good, loose and very bad!) through gravel and right on to snow. Each surface feels realistic in how it affects the car. On loose asphalt your slick tyres don't have much grip, but you need the slicks to give you the grip on the solid smooth stuff. Snow is actually not a slippery as it sounds because the cars have special snow tyres with metal studs on them do punch through the snow into the hard ice underneath.

Pop fizz bang

The German rally is all asphalt meaning fast times!

Sounds are suitably car-like with samples taken from the real cars. They bang and pop and fizzle just like the real things and your co-drivers speech sounds are authentic with comments about your driving, good or bad coming through the navigation instructions. This game also avoids the curse of many a rally game as it gives you plenty of fair warning before corners arrive, often with the distance to the corner as well. I certainly remember some games’ "1 left" from the co-driver when you're doing 100Mph and the corner is right in front of you. Thankfully V-Rally 3 does not have this major irritancy.

Looking sharp!

Sweden is the only all snow rally, but it's not as slippery as you'd think thanks to studded tyres.

Graphically this game is fabulous. No pop-up at all, no slowdown either and it looks great to boot! On some stages you can see animals running across the road in the distance, helicopters buzz around and follow you throughout the stage and the stages themselves are beautiful with plenty of side objects and towns throughout the route. Once again - the little things make a good game great, and that's certainly true here.

Control Freak

Control is by the now standard in racing games Xbox analogue triggers and some of the buttons for viewpoint change and handbrake. The car is very responsive and it's very easy to overcompensate and end up fishtailing between corners until you get used to it. Coming from PC sims and my steering wheel it was very hard to stop moving the stick through it's full travel when only a little input was required. Once mastered it becomes very easy, although the pace notes seem a little strange. It's very easy to go through a corner marked as a 3, which is about 90 degrees without slowing down, just throwing the car round the bend. Everyone else must be doing it too though as the times are all very close.

V-Rally 3 arrives in a shower of gravel on to the X-box.

Taking advantage of the Xbox

V-Rally 3 is really rather good. The control is much improved and the graphics take advantage of the Microsoft machine's extra graphical power. It certainly looks better than the PS2 version. The only problem I might have with it is it probably won't last that long once the main V-Rally mode has been completed. This will take awhile as you can't just jump straight into the top class, and there are four classes in total, but once completed it will only really be played for the odd multiplayer thrash with your mates.