The Sega Rally 2 Page

Arcade Hardware: Sega Model 3 Step 2
The arcade version of Sega Rally 2 is quite the spiffy racing game, that’s why it’s a shame to see the iffy frame rates in the Dreamcast conversion. Probably due to it using Windows CE, the speed is seriously affected. Model 3 board games though, have made better conversions such as in Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram and Fighting Vipers 2. With no PAL 60Hz mode to boost things along a bit for those of us with newish T.V.s, the only option to crank some more juice out of it, is the 60 f.p.s. cheat! Then that still doesn’t run it smoothly. (By the way, to use the cheat, simply press Up, A, Down, Down, Left, Right, B, B, Down at the title screen.) You will find that it can be run with the VGA Box too, so that will guarantee it’s running at 60 Hz, although it will most likely have the slow-down.
When it comes to PC games, low frame rates are acceptable to me, because you can simply tweak a few things here and there, and possibly upgrade your computer to get things nice and happening, but console games don’t have options like that, generally, so it seems a bit unfair to be chucking out jerk fests that never have a hope of running smoothly. The frame rate looks like it drops down to about 18 or so f.p.s. at times, and it makes predicting where the car’s going to go very un-easy.
Anyway, despite all the yucky problems, there are a decent amount of cars to drive, several which are unlocked as you progress - in the standard mode & the 10 Year Championship. You’ll find the Toyota Celica, Lancia Delta Integrale & the Lancia Stratos from the original game, plus newies, like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Subaru Impreza WRC and the Peugeot 206 or something. There are quite a few extra tracks over the original arcade version, also, such as Isle & Muddy, plus the Desert track of the original Sega Rally makes an appearance. It doesn’t exactly look like it, but it is in there.
The car handling is really dodgy compared to the original Sega Rally. The cars in this newer version don’t seem to powerslide quite as easily, and at times can feel a bit tight and terribly unpredictable. If you play this and then jump to the likes of RalliSport Challenge 2 on the XBOX, you won’t want to go back. Even so, there are other decent Dreamcast racing games than this, such as Le Mans 24 Hours: U.E.C. and Daytona USA 2001.

The 1st course	The last course

Graphics: Just as good as the arcade original. Some of the reflections aren’t as intense on the cars, but other than that, it looks excellent. The new additional tracks, like Muddy & Isle and that are pretty sensational also. 90%
Animation: Erk! What happened here, hey? The frame rate drops off to what looks about 17 f.p.s. at times, and makes it horrid to play. 50%
Sound: Good music, and nice sound effects. What happened to the cool Japanese version “Go, go! Sega Rally!” thing in the intro music? 92%
Playability: Let down completely by the dodgy frame rate for starters. A little bit too hard, especially for beginners. Could’ve benefitted from an easier Easy mode. This version has nothing on the original. 52%
Lastability: Not as great as when I first got it. Initially the cool graphics, and the fact that it was Sega Rally 2 drew me in, but now that I have games that run so much better and play better, it comes out pretty much never. 37%
Overall: What could’ve been an excellent rally game got cut short by frame rate drop offs and a difficultly level a bit too high. You should try this on the hardest setting — ouch! It may be Sega Rally 2, but it pales in comparision to even the Saturn original, despite the lower resolution, only a fraction of the tracks and 3 cars. If you have to play Sega Rally 2, get an arcade version, or the PC game over this. 60%