xbox Series X – Art of Rally’s console launch includes new racing course in Kenya

Art of Rally, the gorgeous, chill, and, most importantly, fun racing game that launched on PC last fall, will join the Xbox Game Pass library on Aug. 12, and launch for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on the same day.

That’s not all; developer Funselektor has a new content update planned for the game the same day, taking racers to Kenya, the game’s sixth locale (joining Finland, Norway, Japan, Germany, and the Italian island of Sardinia). This update will roll out free to those who already own Art of Rally on PC, and be included in the new console versions at their launch on Aug. 12.

Funselektor said back in May that it expects a PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5 release this summer also, but it does not yet have a launch date to share.

The Kenya Update adds four new cars, two new songs, six more stages with locations referencing Mount Kenya and Lake Victoria, a free-roaming map set in the Kenya environment, and even local wildlife. Zebras, giraffes, and elephants will highlight the wide-open savanna.

Art of Rally launched Sept. 23, 2020 on Windows PC and MacOs via Steam. It’s a semi-top down (mostly isometric, though the camera can be changed) approach to rally/road racing, and Funselektor has created an homage to the great FIA competition groups of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including the gloriously reckless Group B of 1982 to 1987. Art of Rally’s cars are all fictitious, but they’re very well done homages to the recognizable chassis of their times. (My favorite is the German-engineered Das Whip.)