Ari Vatanen was the former rally world champion who advised the developers of V-Rally.
Vatanen gave the team practical insight into how rally cars should behave, especially during collisions and drifting. His experience helped the developers shape the handling model around the differences between two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive cars.
V-Rally was developed by an Infogrames team in Lyon, France, for the original PlayStation. It was based on the 1997 World Rally Championship and was first released in Europe as V-Rally: 97 Championship Edition. Vatanen’s involvement was therefore technical and consultative, not a sign that he developed the game himself.
Electronic Arts later obtained the North American publishing rights and released the game there as Need for Speed: V-Rally. Despite that branding, the game was not connected to EA’s Need for Speed series in its original development. That regional title change is a frequent source of confusion.