Initially released as V-Rally 2: Championship Edition in its PlayStation European and Japanese releases, the game would be re-released as V-Rally 2: Expert Edition for The PC and European Dreamcast releases including graphical revision and additional content such as first person driving perspective.
Gameplay
Similar to its predecessor, V-Rally 2 is a racing game in which players drive rally cars through a series of stages, with the game placing emphasis on replicating the behavior physics of real cars.
The game includes various game modes, and can be played as single player, or up to four simultaneous players in its console versions. The game's "Expert Edition" re-release for Dreamcast and PC would include 1st person, cockpit camera.
- Arcade - The main goal in a stage is to reach the next checkpoint before the countdown timer stops.
- V-Rally Trophy - This mode is made up of three different trophies (European, World and Expert), each of which has its own group of special stages. The added-up time of all races gives the overall ranking. Players has to finish first in each group to advance to the next group. Four competitors are in the race for each trophy.
- Championship - The championship mode is designed after the FIA World Rally Championship, in which drivers compete for points, and racers try to win the title of European Champion, World Champion and Expert. Each rally include 2 or 3 open stages, and points are awarded depending on the finish position of each rally, with the total points being accumulated at the end. Players can also repair their car between stages, having a limited time to spend in the service area.
- Time Trial - Players try to achieve the best possible time on all of the stages. There is only one car in the track.
Cars
The game features 1999 World Rally Championship cars, and vehicles are sorted into three categories: World Rally Cars, 2L kit-cars and 1.6L kit-cars. Bonus cars can be unlocked upon completing certain modes, such as winning the European or the World Championship.
V-Rally 2 features visible real-time damage during gameplay, and includes vehicle repair as part of the gameplay.
Car Tuning
Before each race players can alter their vehicle's settings, including tire selection (asphalt, rain, gravel, snow, intermediate), gear box ratios, chassis (suspensions, car height, over/understeer) and brakes (strength, repartition).
Courses
Original tracks are included, representing all of the rallies of the 1999 WRC season, excluding Greece and Safari. Weather conditions include snow, rain, with time of day including daytime, sunset and night.
Track Editor
The game includes a track editor in which players can create their own rally tracks. The track being worke on is represented by a line, and players can edit the curves and elevations each track piece, with the only restriction being that trackpieces cannot overlap. When playing the custom track, scenery is procedurally generated.
Rebranding
Need for Speed: V-Rally 2
Electronic Arts distributed the original V-Rally 2: Championship Edition for the PlayStation console in North America and associated it with the Need for Speed series.
Test Drive V-Rally
Infogrames distributed the original V-Rally 2: Expert Edition for the Dreamcast console in North America and associated it with the Test Drive series.
Reception
The Dreamcast version received "favourable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.
Cover Art
Championship Edition
PlayStation
Expert Edition
Dreamcast
Windows
