There is also a revised graphics and damage engine that enables paint scratches on the car, and a new 'career' mode where the player starts out in the lower club leagues and works their way up to compete with Colin McRae in his 2004 Dakar Rally Nissan Pick-Up.

Colin McRae Rally 2005 is now playable online again on the replacement Xbox Live servers called Insignia.

Feral chose to make this release as independent of the PC franchise as possible to avoid any issues that might date it, calling it "Colin McRae Rally Mac" rather than attaching a year to it.

The PlayStation Portable version was ported to Japan under the name Colin McRae Rally (コリン・マクレー ラリー, Korin Makurē Rarī) and published by Interchannel-Holon on 14 June 2007.

It received a runner-up position in the publication's annual "Best Driving Game" award category across all platforms, losing to Burnout 3: Takedown.