The game focuses on the unique career mode, where the player races against bots in various rallies across an endless number of seasons, ultimately trying to become the champion.[1] Alternatively, the game offers a quick race mode, where the player can play time attacks on the stages provided by the game or compete in one of the five different challenges it offers.
V-Rally 3 was developed by Eden Studios for the PlayStation 2 console.[2] For the game, developers built a new physics and 3D engine,[3] which is capable of modeling vehicles in 15,000 polygons.[2] The Game Boy Advance version was developed by VD-dev, the same team who developed the Game Boy and Game Boy Color versions of the original V-Rally game.[4] The GBA version was originally planned to be developed at Infogrames Lyon House.[5]
The game was first released for PlayStation 2 in 2002 in Europe on 21 June,[6] in Australia on 28 June,[7] and on 22 October in North America.[8] The Game Boy Advance version also first released on 21 June 2002 in both Europe and Australia,[6][9] and in North America on 17 October 2002.[10] The game was released for Xbox in 2003 in North America on 26 March,[11] Europe on 28 March,[12] and Australia on 11 April.[13] A port for GameCube was released in Europe and Australia on 27 June 2003.[14][15] A North American release was planned for the console before being cancelled.[16] Finally, a port for Windows was released exclusively in Europe on 14 November 2003.[17]
V-Rally 3 received generally favorable review from video game publications.[18]GameSpot criticized the game's overly sensitive and poor controls, but nevertheless highlighted its "deep" career mode due to its realistic damage-modeling system and ranking system, which is based on staff morale, car reliability, season performance, and budget.[1]
V-Rally 3 was a runner-up for GameSpot's annual "Best Driving Game on Game Boy Advance" award, which went to Driver 2 Advance.[28]
