Rally Car Mechanic Simulator from Play2Chill S.A, Atomic Jelly and PlayWay S.A is described on their page as “ Take your opportunity as a Rally Mechanic. Overcome all the obstacles that the reckless racers throw at you – including unrepairable parts, time limitations and more. So let’s fire up the Xbox and see how the game plays.

Loading in, you have three difficulty options: Easy – If you want guidance and simplified challenges, Normal – you really need to know what you are doing on your own and Sandbox – explore the game without limits; achievements are disabled. You are then loaded into your garage, and it’s time to get your car ready for the next rally. The garage is nice on the eyes and has some nice props inside, making it feel like a real garage with all the tools and benches scattered around.

If you choose the tutorial, like me, you are given a basic C-Class car to look after; if you choose the harder levels, you can buy three different classes of rally cars: A, B, or C. They all have similarities to real-life cars, but nothing is branded. It feels like a good idea to start with the simpler C-Class cars, as the harder cars have more parts, turbos, etc., which will make your job more complex. You are given information about your next rally, road surface, weather, etc., and this helps you prepare for the race.

You will find yourself switching shock absorbers and tyres, and fixing damaged components, to give your rally team the best possible chance in the race. This is where the mechanic journey begins; you have a clean UI pop-up wheel where you can choose a number of actions, inspect, parts inventory, disassemble, assemble, toolbox and more options depending on your level. Your laptop in the garage also plays a key role in the game, both in your garage and at the rally event, providing you with a lot of information.

Getting your car ready for the rally and setting it up is a nice, lazy experience; this all changes during the rally, as you have a time limit between stages of the race. You don’t actually see your car race, but you see a progress bar on your screen and can listen to the commentary to find out how your car is performing. This commentary can range from how slippery it is and how it’s not set up properly to accidents and impacts on your car.

Once finished, you have a summary from the drivers on what happened and the clock, yes, the stage clock for repairs begins. You only have a limited amount of time before the next event to repair and optimise your car. In the early stages of your journey, you will need to use your eyes and the driver’s reports to pinpoint the problem. Looking for damage on panels and for old, worn parts. As you progress, you will be able to buy tools to assist you, like an OBD2 scanner, which you can hold over the engine to get an instant summary of the defects, giving you more time to fix them.

After the rally is complete, you head back to your laptop, and depending on where you finish, you earn money and reputation, which can be used for upgrades and better tools and equipment. While there are three different classes of cars, they are all essentially a similar setup mechanically, so once you reach the A-Class, it can get quite repetitive.​

After the rally stages are complete, it’s not just the mechanical side you need to fix; you also need to clean the car and fix or even redo the paint job. The option is yours. You also have more tools and benches in your garage, such as a wheel alignment machine and a wheel-changing machine. Most repair interactions have a mini-game attached, so you have to complete the game to get the optimal outcome; falling short may only partially fix the problem.

The removal and fixing of parts isn’t too complex either, just a click, and you will start unscrewing parts and removing cables. It’s a simple process: select the part while it is highlighted, then click your mouse to perform the action. It helps for those who are mechanically inclined, like me. You will be able to expand your garage as well, adding a paint booth and a dyno for testing your configurations, to name a few.

Nothing to fault with the graphics; as mentioned, the garage and all the tables are really well modelled. You have sheets hanging on the side, stickers on the pylons holding up the roof, welder tools, toolboxes, there are so many props, and most of them are actually usable as well. There is a good variety of car classes to choose from, and numerous parts you can tune and swap on your car, each with its own unique look. The parts look exactly like they would on a real car.

The sounds complement the game, drills, spanners when working on the cars, the commentary when the rally is on, it’s all there. There is what could be described as elevator music while you are working as well; it’s nice and relaxing and doesn’t invade your concentration at all as you pull apart your car.

Overall, Rally Car Mechanic Simulator is a semi-in-depth simulator that caters for a wide market. I love how it keeps it simple to work on your cars, not forcing you to have a master’s degree to change a brake pad. The race system and how you perform in the car and what damage the cars take is well thought out and keeps you coming back to ensure you keep progressing into the big leagues in the A-Class cars and become a master mechanic with all the gadgets to fill your garage as badges of honour.

Written by: Mike Bridge