Rally Race is a free online rally racing game: one car, one stage, a stopwatch, and a co-driver reading out every corner before you reach it. Stage rally is run against the clock, not side by side, so you are timed from the start line to the flying finish and set against three rival crews on the time sheet. The pace notes use the real rally scale — 6 is nearly flat out, 1 is a crawl, and a hairpin turns you right round — with "long", "tightens", "opens", "into" and "caution" added where the road earns them. Grip is everything: every bend has a top speed, lower on gravel and lower still on snow, and turning harder than the tyres can hold slides the car wide and scrubs speed. Run onto the verge and you slow down; run past it and the marshals push you back on the road while the clock keeps going. Eight stages run from a gentle forest sprint to a snowy mountain col, and a top-three time unlocks the next. The rivals are not scripted: each is a computer driver in a slightly slower car, on the same physics as you, and a ghost of the fastest one drives alongside so you can see where it is quicker.
How to play Rally Race
- After a 3-2-1 countdown the clock starts. Hold ↑ (or the Gas button) to accelerate, ↓ (or Brake) to slow down, and ← → to steer. You can hold the gas during the countdown.
- The road turns up the screen with your car. The cards in the top-right are the next two corners: the arrow shows which way it goes and the number how fast — 6 is nearly flat out, 1 is very slow, H is a hairpin.
- Words under the number add detail: long (the corner goes on), tightens or opens (the next bend is slower or faster), into (no straight before it), caution (a slow corner after a fast straight).
- Brake before a corner, in a straight line. When the next card turns red and says Brake!, you are already too fast to make it unless you brake now.
- Go into a bend faster than it allows and the speedometer turns red: the tyres cannot hold the curve, so the car slides wide and scrubs off speed. Gravel has less grip than tarmac, snow much less.
- The verge beside the road is slow but drivable. Go past it into the ditch and the marshals put you back on the road at a standstill — three seconds on the clock. Swap ends and you lose two.
- Two split banners show your time against the fastest crew. Cross the chequered finish to see the time sheet: 1st is gold, 2nd and 3rd are on the podium, and a podium unlocks the next stage.
Tips
- Use the whole road: come in from the outside edge, clip the inside of the bend at its middle and let the car run out wide again. A wider line is a gentler curve, and a gentler curve can be taken faster.
- Brake in a straight line, then steer. Braking hard while already sliding wide just slides you wider.
- Tap the steering keys rather than holding them at speed. Small corrections keep the tyres gripping; a held key at 120 km/h is a slide.
- Watch for "tightens" and "caution" — those are the corners that catch people out. A "6" you can usually take without lifting.
- On a mixed stage the grip changes where the surface changes colour. Snow after tarmac needs far earlier braking for the same corner.
- Turn on the ghost (G) and follow it through a section you keep losing time on — it shows the line and the braking points of the fastest crew.
- A trip onto the verge costs a little; a trip into the ditch costs three seconds plus the time to get back up to speed. When in doubt, lift.
FAQ
Is Rally Race free to play?
Yes. All eight stages are free to play in your browser, with no download, no account and nothing to buy. Your unlocked stages and best times are kept in your own browser.
Does Rally Race work on a phone?
Yes. On a touch screen the Left and Right buttons sit in the bottom-left corner and Brake and Gas in the bottom-right, so you can drive with both thumbs. The view turns with the car, so it works held upright as well as sideways.
What do the numbers on the pace notes mean?
They are the rally co-driver's scale for how fast a corner is: 6 is nearly flat out, 5 and 4 need a lift or a dab of the brakes, 3 and 2 need real braking, 1 is very slow, and a hairpin (H) turns you almost all the way round. The arrow shows the direction. Here every number stands for a fixed curve, so a 3 on gravel is always the same bend — only the grip under it changes.
How do you win a stage?
Set a faster time than all three rival crews from the start line to the flying finish. 1st on the time sheet is gold, 2nd silver and 3rd bronze, and any top-three time unlocks the next stage. A fourth-place time still counts as finished; it just does not unlock anything.
What happens if I go off the road?
The strip just beyond the road's edge is the verge: slower and more slippery, but you can drive back. Go further and you are in the ditch — the marshals push you back onto the road at a standstill and three seconds go on the clock. Spinning the car round costs two seconds and all your speed.
Are the rival crews scripted?
No. Each crew is a computer driver in a slightly slower car — a little less engine and a little less grip — driving exactly the physics you drive. Their times are whatever those cars really manage on each stage, and the ghost car is the fastest of them, driven live as you race.
Can every stage really be won?
Yes, and we checked. The rival crews drive down the middle of the road. The same computer driver in your car, using the whole width of the road — in wide, clip the inside, out wide — beats all three crews on all eight stages without once going off. The racing line is where the time is.
What are the National, Continental and World classes?
The eight stages are run in three classes. The first three are National, where the crews drive the slowest cars; stages four to six are Continental; the last two are World, where Aino drives a car every bit as good as yours. We measured a driver who just holds the gas and only brakes once the speedometer turns red: it scrapes third place on Forest Sprint and finishes off the podium on all seven other stages, going off the road on every one. Reading the notes and braking early is the game.
How is this different from Drift Racer?
Drift Racer scores you for holding the car sideways on a circuit, and the clock does not matter. Rally Race is the opposite: it is a timed point-to-point stage, and a slide is time thrown away. The skill is braking at the right place, taking the right line and keeping the tyres gripping.