Driving ambitions: WRC7

Pretender to the rally game crowns

Colin McRae Rally is still the yardstick for rally games, right? Twenty years ago it had millions transfixed for hours, and reinforced the legend of the great Scot and his blue and day-glo Impreza. Sega Rally, too, with its amusement arcade chairs and death-wish gazelles on the Safari Rally, swallowed 20p after 20p.

But things have come a long way since and the latest new launch is WRC 7, the official game of the World Rally Championship.

It’s a physical affair, which only adds to the entertainment as you hack at the wheel, the car sliding perilously from bend to bend, hand plunging down the side of the gaming chair – a GT Omega, in our case – for a non-existent handbrake. The feel and feedback work brilliantly through our Thrustmaster wheel.

The graphics ensure the cars look spectacular – as does the scenery (just as well, given how often we’ve plunged headlong through the bushes).

WRC 7 is an excellent game that will have you questioning the old mantra of ‘if in doubt, flat out’ every time you disappear towards the undergrowth.

Reviewed on: Sony PS4, Thrustmaster T150 wheel, GT Omega Racing seat