MiniRacingOnline (2003) - Every PC Rally Game
0MiniRacingOnline by Kotai, 2003.
This is a free online racing game started by a single developer, but as it's open to everyone it's been extended in many directions. Initially starting out focusing on Formula 1 (and covering pretty much every F1 season in history!) the game is a top-down old-school racing experience. You can get the game here: https://www.miniracingonline.com/
As it's so extendable, there are other series for the game, such as Formula E, LMP, WTCC and even, as shown here, rallying! Obviously the game is still dressed as F1, and, as such, you see F1 style starting lights, podium (not shown here, but has oversized helmet real-life drivers) and warnings. The rallying could do with a handbrake to drift around corners though, I feel. And a co-driver!
It's pretty simple, though quite hard to set up, as it comes in Spanish by default. But there are a few step-by-step guides out there. Also, the game is unfortunately seen by many virus checkers (Windows Defender in particular) as a horrible virus (it isn't), so you have to go through a few hoops to get it to work in the first place!
I'm running the game here at it's original 1024x768 resolution. You can increase it, but it just shows more image, making your car particularly small on the screen!
One final point: the developer is working on "MRO2", which takes this game and changes it to have the scenery rotate, instead of the car. This makes it much more like many classic top-down arcade racing games of the past, like Drift Out. If/when that version is fully released I may re-do this video!
This is part of the Every PC Rally Game playlist, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYDobL0b26ugFuXASCIC9qmFb9_k4_fqU