Parallels
Full Windows 11 ARM inside macOS.
Difficulty: MediumCost: $99/year + Windows licenseGood
CrossOver
How to play Old School Rally on Mac
Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.
Overall rating: Not enough votes yet
Your setup
Detect your Mac to see whether Old School Rally will run.
Plays smoothly through CrossOver on Apple Silicon.
How to run Old School Rally on your Mac in 2026
Best path: Parallels
Runs in a full Windows 11 ARM virtual machine — the universal fallback for Windows games. Demanding 3D titles may need lower settings.
- Heads up on Parallels: Requires a Parallels licence and a Windows 11 ARM install
Old School Rally
A nostalgic racing game that combines the charm of classic retro style visuals with the thrill of international rally competitions.
Old School Rally runs flawlessly on Apple Silicon using CrossOver or Whisky, maintaining high frame rates even on entry-level M1 chips.
What the world thinks
- Install CrossOver: Download and install CrossOver 24 or newer.
- Create a New Bottle: Create a Windows 10 64-bit bottle named 'Old School Rally'.
- Install Steam: Use the CrossOver interface to install Steam into this bottle.
- Enable D3DMetal: In the bottle settings on the right-hand sidebar, ensure D3DMetal (GPTK) is toggled ON. This provides superior frame stability over DXVK for this specific title.
- Enable MS Sync: Toggle 'MS Sync' for better CPU threading.
- Launch & Play: Open Steam within the bottle, download the game, and launch normally.
- Whisky (Free Alternative): You can use the open-source Whisky wrapper. It uses the same Game Porting Toolkit technology as CrossOver. Create a bottle, install Steam, and ensure 'Retina Mode' is disabled for better performance.
- Game Porting Toolkit (Manual): For advanced users, building a prefix through GPTK 2.0 works, but provides no significant advantage over the simplified CrossOver/Whisky methods.
Performance
What each M-series Mac can realistically handle. Tap any chip to report your experience.
M1 chip
Medium
~60 fps
M2 chip
Medium
~60 fps
M3 chip
Ultra
~60 fps
M4 chip
Ultra
~120 fps
M5 chip
Ultra
~120 fps
Best way to play it on Mac
Old School Rally runs flawlessly on Apple Silicon using CrossOver or Whisky, maintaining high frame rates even on entry-level M1 chips.
See if this is the right method for your setup
Ways to play Old School Rally on Mac
Here are all the options available, ranked by what we recommend first.
CrossOver
One-click local install, official support.
Difficulty: MediumCost: $74 one-time / $39/yearGood
Compare methods at a glance
Lower = betterHow each supported method stacks up on setup effort, time and runtime overhead.
Method
Setup Difficulty
Time Investment
Performance Overhead
- ParallelsVMTop pickSetupModerateTime30 minOverheadHigh
- CrossOverTranslationSetupModerateTime15 minOverheadMedium
Where to buy Old School Rally
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Platform-by-platform reliability
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Step-by-step setup guides
Idiot-proof walkthroughs for every method.
How to run Old School Rally on Mac with Parallels
Good· CompatibilityUsing Parallels to play Old School Rally means running a full copy of Windows 11 ARM inside macOS. This is the most "it just works" approach for games that don't behave under CrossOver, and DirectX 11 is hardware-accelerated. You'll need a Windows license and roughly 80 GB of disk space.
Step-by-step
- Buy / start a trial of Parallels Desktop.
- Install Windows 11 ARM via the one-click wizard.
- Inside Windows, install Steam / Xbox app and Old School Rally.
- Enable DirectX 11 in Parallels settings for best 3D performance.
Video proof
Try Parallels Desktop free ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.
How to run Old School Rally on Mac with CrossOver
Good· CompatibilityRunning Old School Rally through CrossOver translates its Windows DirectX calls into Metal on Apple Silicon — no reboot, no Windows license, no virtual machine. Most setup time is spent on first-time bottle configuration and installing the game launcher (Steam, Epic, etc.) inside CrossOver. Once that's done, launching feels close to native. Expect 15–30 minutes of setup on the first run.
Step-by-step
Step 1 — Create a bottle
- Open CrossOver → click New Bottle
- Name it after the game (e.g.
Old School Rally) and choose Windows 10 64-bit - Open the bottle's Settings and set:
- Graphics: D3DMetal (not DXVK)
- Synchronization: ESync
- High Resolution Mode: Off
Step 2 — Install the game launcher
- Inside CrossOver, click Install Application → search for Steam (or Epic Games Launcher if you own it there)
- Install it into the same bottle you just created
- Launch Steam, log in, and let it fully update before proceeding
Step 3 — Install and launch Old School Rally
- Open Steam (or your launcher) inside CrossOver
- Install Old School Rally through the launcher as normal
- Launch the game — use the launcher's Play button, not CrossOver directly
- First launch may take 30–90 seconds to show a window. Don't force-quit unless it hangs for several minutes.
Step 4 — If you hit issues
- Black screen / stuck in small window: go to Settings → Graphics in-game, set Screen Type to Fullscreen, then restart
- Resolution resets on every launch: find the game's config/settings file and set the resolution values manually, then mark the file Read-Only to prevent the game overwriting it
- Crashes on startup: try switching the bottle's Synchronization from ESync to MSync, or vice versa
Video proof
Try CrossOver free for 14 days ↗Affiliate link — supports the site at no extra cost.
Our recommendation
For most Mac players we recommend Parallels as the fastest, smoothest way to play Old School Rally. Full Windows 11 ARM inside macOS.
| Method | Quality | Difficulty | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| ParallelsPick | Excellent | Medium | $99/year + Windows license |
| CrossOver | Good | Medium | $74 one-time / $39/year |
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