Dakar '97 is a rally game with obvious focus on Paris-Dakar racing. Being developed in co-operation with Mitsubishi Motors, the game lets player drive some of the authentic cars from Dakar race. The game offers both Rally mode where you go through a set of courses with a selected vehicle, and Test Run mode where you train a specific track in a selected racing vehicle.

There are only four available racing cars, which include:
Mitsubishi Pajero Prototype
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi RVR Prototype
Isuzu Bighorn
There are six different courses in total which vary from racing on the mountain roads and savannah to beaches and raw desert with only checkpoints to guide your way. Gameplay customization is pretty basic and only lets you choose between manual and automatic transmission, and actual racing can be done in either back-camera view or first person hood camera.