EA's V-Rally 2 set a new standard for texture, depth and beauty in a PlayStation rally game, and Mobil 1 isn't far behind. The cars look excellent. There is superb light sourcing and reflections from the sun on the cars as they speed down the narrow forest trails of Wales and Scotland. Every rally game has included mud that actually clings to the car as individual stages progress. But HotGen and Actualize took the graphical representation of mud a step further.
Cars appear spotless at the start of each stage in other rally games, which is unrealistic.
Drivers often compete in as many as seven or eight stages in a day in a real rally, so the mud never is cleaned from the car until the end of the day or there is extra time in a service area between stages. The cars in Mobil 1 stay dirty at the start of certain stages, which is a superb touch of realism. Other aspects of the graphics drip with detail, too. Clouds of dust trail the cars on dry gravel stages, and visible smoke wafts from the exhaust when the car is stationary at the start of each stage. There are working red brake lights and white reverse lights, just as in reality.