"Sega Rally Championship" was met with almost universally positive reviews, and sold 12,000 arcade units and 1.2 million copies of console versions. In Japan, "Game Machine" listed it on their April 1, 1995 issue as being the second most-successful dedicated arcade game of the year. "Next Generation" reviewed the arcade version of the game, stating that "Rally's downside is the car's indestructibility: no matter how much you slam into either opponents or banks, your racer [...] receives not a scratch, nor can you flip or leave the road [...] And some might say the control is a fault, too; our response? Keep practicing, buddy".