New Sega Rally? Right now 'the answer is no'

But 'there's a bit of a resurgence' in the racing genre, according to SEGA.

This week sees the 800 point SEGA Rally Online show up on Xbox LIVE Arcade. But will SEGA ever embark on a fully-fledged sequel to the once-mighty racer?

"The answer is no", SEGA West CEO Mike Hayes told Eurogamer.

But that doesn't mean SEGA is necessarily keeping their racing series in the pit stop forever - they're just waiting for the right time to restart the engines. "There's a bit of a resurgence in those games," says Hayes. "Codemasters did a brilliant job with F1 2011, it was first-class - and therefore, is it a viable market? We're constantly looking at it."

SEGA closed the studio that produced SEGA Rally in 2007. The team was later snapped up by Codemasters.

SEGA's last genuine attempt at SEGA Rally was way, way back in 2007 - and the game served the basis for SEGA Rally Online. VideoGamer.com was a bit of a fan: "for those that get to grips with the driving dynamics and can tolerate the bare-bones structure, SEGA Rally is a fine re-imagining of a classic racing series," said Tom Orry in his SEGA Rally review.