Sega Rally Championship

Sega Rally Championship is a 1994 racing game by Sega. It was ported for the Saturn in 1997. It has later also been released for the Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage and Sony PlayStation 2.

Gameplay
Sega Rally is an off-road racing game where players drive rally cars across various tracks as quickly as possible. Much in the same way as previous Sega arcade racers, Sega Rally enforces a strict time limit and a checkpoint system - success is measured by the speed at which the player can navigate the three "standard" tracks before they either cross the final finish line or "retire" due to the timer running out.

Since Sega Rally is a rally game, it doesn't enforce a "lap" system - tracks are treated as continued, linear journeys with a beginning, middle and end. There are computer players which must be avoided or beaten to the finish line of each track, and your placement in one track carries over to the next.

Sega Rally is notable for being the first racing game to allow players to drive on different surfaces, including asphalt, gravel and mud. Each different surface has different properties which adjust the handling and "feel" of the player's car. Such a complex and realistic approach to different surfaces in driving games had never been achieved before, allowing Sega Rally to stand out as a "true" rally game. Adding to the "rally" theme is an unseen co-driver who issues instructions to the player (for example, which direction to turn or the force with which that turn should be made).