WATCH: Can we set an art of rally world record?

You know when you think you’re pretty handy at a game or sim but then you want to find out if you’re really, properly, up to speed?

Well, I had this great idea of trying to set a world record in my current favourite rally game, the aforementioned art of rally.

Recently revealed for both Xbox and Nintendo Switch later this year, and with a Kenya-based update coming soon to Steam too, there’s a lot of hype surrounding the diminutive retro-infused racer at present. So, to get ahead of the deluge of new players later this year, I wanted to try and reach the top of the online leaderboards.

My weapon of choice was the ‘il gorilla e1’, which is reminiscent to the Lancia ECV beast. In the 1980s, the World Rally Championship had the batshit Group B regulations and they were originally set to be superseded by the even more batshit Group S rules, until several unfortunate accidents meant a switch to the slower, tamer, Group A regulations.

So, while this car was created, it never raced in anger. Until today…

The venue for this attempt is Franzenheim-R in Germany. Will I break into the top 100? How about the top 50? Or maybe even the top 10? Or will I simply get too frustrated and throw my controller in the bin? Watch to find out…