Anyone who’s a fan of classic rally cars: listen up. Bigmoon Studios announced that pre-orders of its upcoming Dakar 18 game will get the 1987 Peugeot 205 T16 “Grand Raid”.
When the FIA banned Group B from the World Rally Championship in 1986, Peugeot went on the hunt for other uses of its 205 T16. Fortunately, the ban on these insane rally cars didn’t apply to the Dakar Rally.
There was a bit of a hurdle though. The WRC guise for the 205 T16 wouldn’t remotely stand up to the punishment of the African desert, and extensive modifications were needed.
To help cope with the intense terrain, Peugeot first reworked the chassis. Lengthening the car by a full 12 inches, it could now crest dunes with ease — as well as fit a huge, 400-liter fuel tank for the long distances. Raised and reinforced suspension would also help in the African conditions.
The engine — no longer bound by the Group B rulebook — also got a makeover. The displacement got an increase from 1.8 to 1.9-liters. However, with one eye on reliability and another on inconsistent African fuels, it didn’t have the same crazy 500 horsepower. Instead, it hovered around 360 ponies, with better fuel economy to boot.
Upon setting off on the rally, the 205 T16 Grand Raid hit a few major obstacles. Between costly breakdowns and lengthy repairs, Vatanen’s #205 205 left Europe in 274th place. Once in Africa though, it dominated, winning 10 stages between the three cars.
Of the three cars in the field, two ran into problems in Africa. However, Vatanen’s car number 205 ultimately took the overall victory for the event after his much earlier misfortune.
Now, you’ll get a chance to experience the same 205 T16 in “Grand Raid” trim in Dakar 18.
As an added bonus, the car is exactly the same as it was in 1987. This means it even comes with the Camel tobacco livery in place, which is a bit of a rarity with video games.
Unfortunately, the original Paris-Dakar course isn’t in the game. Instead, it uses the modern course set in South America, meaning you can’t recreate Vatanen’s run, but being able to take a spin in a classic Dakar vehicle is still undoubtedly cool.
If you want to pick up Dakar 18, it’ll hit store shelves and digital download on September 11. It’s available for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
