How to access BeamNG’s secret Rally mode

BeamNG.drive’s latest v0.34 update landed on the 10th of December, and as well as introducing the classic Bruckell Nine car, it also added a time-saving Biome tool, further West Coast USA map improvements and a heap of driving missions.

But unbeknownst to many, the team behind the successful crash-em-up also implemented a Rally Mode for BeamNG, which can be accessed via the game’s main menu.

Read on to find out how to access it.

How do I play BeamNG’s Rally mode?

Just like BeamNG’s work-in-progress Career mode, the game’s Rally mode is presented as a greyed-out tile on the main menu. And just like Career mode, you can access it by spam-clicking the tile.

Now, Rally mode is an experimental feature in BeamNG, so expect plenty of bugs, but essentially it replicates rally-style pacenotes and adds three short special stages.

SS Clyde Peak is perhaps the easiest of the three and is very much reminiscent of a Monte Carlo stage, with a narrow ribbon of asphalt winding up a mountain, with the road becoming icier the higher you get. It’s quite short, though, with quicker drivers taking less than two minutes to reach the time control.

Rally mode’s other two maps are trickier propositions. Howlers Pass is the mode’s only off-road stage, while Fastello-Norte drives like an interminable San Remo test. Each rally stage can also be accessed via the Free Roam main menu without pacenotes.

How do pacenotes work in BeamNG’s Rally mode?

So, how does the pacenote system work in practice? Well, it’s very basic. The direction of the next corner and its severity is displayed as a two-dimensional image on-screen, with the pacenote timing manually adjustable. 

By default, the notes appear too slow to make them useful, so you’ll need to tweak this setting from the off. They also appear at the top of your screen by default, which is a huge issue if you use the cockpit cam. 

Richard Burns Rally has a ‘3D pacenotes’ feature that places the notes on the route itself, before disappearing as your car approaches. A similar solution could make a huge difference to BeamNG rally experience.

Unfortunately, there are no audio-based instructions yet, but they’re being worked on for future builds. 

Is BeamNG’s Rally mode better than Richard Burns Rally?

Plans are afoot to create more rally-based content for BeamNG in the future, so players can expect more stages and a more refined pacenote system, which is impressive considering Rally mode is based on a community-made mod.

BeamNG seems like a good fit for rally: it has a comprehensive damage model, varied terrain, decent car handling and a huge modding community. Is it enough to usurp Richard Burns Rally mod rallysimfans as the number one choice for sim rally fans, however?

Not yet: RBR’s vehicle physics are near-perfect for rallying and have been contextually refined over two decades. Does BeamNG have the potential to reach that level? Perhaps, yes.