Sega Rally 3 makes a faithful translation to consoles as Sega Rally Online. Letting you destroy and demoralise friends over Live from the comfort of your own couch. Unfortunately you can’t tip a frozen coke over their head to throw them off mid lap, but the advantage of not sitting in someone’s old gum makes up for it.

I have to confess I was never the biggest racing game enthusiast when Daytona (you are now singing the song in your head) and Sega Rally were kings of the arcade racer. Not that they weren’t exciting and technically excellent games for their time, I just couldn’t fit my freakishly lanky legs into the driving cabinet at the local Timezone. On the plus side I got lots of practise in at Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.

Fourth!? Where's a blue shell?

Sega Rally Online is essentially a port of the arcade version of Sega Rally 3 which was in arcades as far back as 2008. A new track has been added for the home version, the original Sega Rally Desert Track. Plus the obvious addition (it’s right there in the title after all) of online options to play against friends over live.

The last thing many a lonely prairie dog has seen (minus the hud)

For an old school racer Sega Rally Online still looks pretty slick and offers some challenging races. The game is geared far more to arcade style fun than the technical realism focus of titles like GT or Forza so don’t expect incredible realistic physics or collision detail. Sega Rally is the type of racer you load up for a quick and enjoyable racing fix with a few mates.

I'm sure most Aussies will be well prepared for cold weather driving after a turn around the track in Sega Rally Online

The online requirement is the games achilles heel, if you don’t have any friends to battle against Sega Rally Online boils down to a cheap port of a three year old racing game. So it’s definitely in your interest to spark some nostalgic Timezone memories in your friends to get them on Live.

When it comes to race games Sega Rally is a classic no enthusiast should miss out on. But it doesn’t quite stack up as a super star against the technical specs of modern games like GT or the balls out arcade insanity of games like Burnout.