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Colin McRae Rally for PlayStation 1
Colin McRae Rally for PlayStation 1 is about reading a narrow road and keeping your car under control. You drive timed special stages while your co-driver calls out corners, distances and hazards. Gravel, mud, asphalt and snow each demand a different approach: on loose surfaces you let the rear slide in a controlled way, while a clean line saves time on asphalt. The championship takes you through different countries and weather conditions. A fast opening stage is worth little if you damage the car at the next corner.
Between stages, you divide the available service time between repairs and car setup. A collision therefore has consequences beyond a few lost seconds. You choose rally cars with different handling characteristics and learn when to brake, turn and accelerate again. The Rally School explains these techniques through exercises and guidance from Colin McRae. Individual rallies and time trials let you repeat particular routes, so you can practise difficult corners without immediately committing to a full season.
You play with a standard PlayStation controller; an analogue controller is an additional option. For two players there is split-screen with a ghost car, alternating play and an Arcade race in which the cars can collide. You connect two controllers for these options. A PlayStation memory card stores information including your championship progress. This is the original PS1 game, with its own rally school and competition structure, not a later mobile reissue bearing the same name.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose disc for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With Colin McRae Rally for PlayStation 1, you receive a loose disc. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Colin McRae Rally
Codemasters developed and published Colin McRae Rally in 1998 for PlayStation and Windows. Its name referred to the Scottish rally driver who became world champion in 1995. His collaboration with co-driver Nicky Grist gave the game a recognisable connection with the real sport: McRae guides you through the rally school and Grist provides the English pace notes on the road. The result did more than put familiar cars on screen; it made the relationship between driver, navigator and road surface the heart of the competition.
Within the racing games available at the time, Codemasters deliberately focused on special stages and accumulated times. The original manual explains why rally drivers normally start separately and how each surface requires its own technique. That thinking appears in the service stops, damage and exercises. The console version also offered two-player competitions. The original PS1 manual lists split-screen with a ghost car, alternating play and direct racing with collisions; those options therefore did not first appear in the second game.
Colin McRae Rally began a long-running Codemasters series. Its sequel, Colin McRae Rally 2.0, appeared in 2000 and expanded the formula with features including Arcade circuit races against multiple cars. Later instalments moved to newer consoles, and Dirt eventually became an important name within the same rally tradition. This first PlayStation release shows the original approach: clear competition choices, an emphasis on driving technique and navigation, and a championship in which repairing your car remains part of racing.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
The sequel retains special stages, navigation and repairs between routes. You immediately recognise the balance between speed and damage. Colin McRae Rally 2.0 also adds a more extensive Arcade component in which several cars race simultaneously on circuits. The first game puts more emphasis on individual driving lessons through its Rally School. Both PS1 games already have two-player options, so split-screen alone is not a distinction that characterises only the sequel.
V-Rally 2 also uses rally cars and changing surfaces, but additionally gives you a track editor to create your own routes. That moves part of the challenge from learning fixed stages to designing and trying out courses. Colin McRae Rally focuses more strongly on its existing championship, co-driver and service intervals. Both require control of sliding cars, but only V-Rally 2 offers the opportunity to build your own course here.
This other Codemasters racing game for PS1 also demands careful braking and control of a damaged car. TOCA Touring Car Championship takes place on closed circuits, however, with touring cars fighting for the same corner simultaneously. In Colin McRae Rally you normally build a time along a route from start to finish. TOCA consequently focuses more on positioning among opponents, while here you chiefly listen to instructions and think ahead about unfamiliar corners.
Gran Turismo lets you earn, buy and tune cars for circuit races on PS1. Like Colin McRae Rally, it rewards patient practice and choosing a clean braking and steering line. The structure is clearly different: Gran Turismo develops a garage and racing career, while Colin McRae Rally sends you through successive stages within rallies. The co-driver's instructions and repairs during a rally form a more important part of your decisions here.
In both PS1 racing games, damage affects what your car can still do. Destruction Derby 2, however, makes collisions themselves a source of points in Wreckin' Racing and the arenas. In Colin McRae Rally you usually try to avoid such impacts because they cost time and service resources. One game asks you to find opportunities in a crowded field of wrecks; the other demands concentration on a road, a co-driver and the clock.
