V-Rally 4 Ultimate Edition

I'll be straight with you: V-Rally 4 Ultimate Edition is one of those games where your mileage depends almost entirely on what you walked in expecting. If you loaded this up hoping for DiRT Rally-level simulation, the twitchy, arcade-leaning physics will feel like a betrayal. If you grew up lobbing a hatchback sideways through a Kenyan dust trail in the PS1 originals, this is a nostalgia hit with some genuine teeth. The five disciplines are the headline act here. Traditional point-to-point Rally stages are the strongest of the bunch, with fictional routes that wind through dust, mud and gravel across multiple continents. The Extreme-khana (the game's drift gymkhana mode), Hillclimbing, Buggy racing, and V-Rally Cross round out the card, giving the whole package a wider variety than most off-road racers bother with. Around 73 races and a random stage generator add replay value, and the roster of roughly 50 cars covers a good chunk of off-road motorsport history, even if the selection skews toward classic metal over modern machinery. The Ultimate Edition bundles the season pass DLC vehicles and a career progress accelerator, which matters more than it sounds given how slowly the career can drip-feed you funds early on. The career mode, called V-Rally mode, puts you in the role of an aspiring driver. You build up a garage, upgrade vehicles, and hire crew. It sounds robust, but the progression has a habit of funneling you into a grind before you've really found your footing. Casual players who misplace a few races early can find their credits drying up fast, which is a rough onboarding experience. The AI is another consistent sore point across most reviews: in the rallycross and circuit-adjacent modes it behaves erratically, and it rarely feels like a fair fight. Split-screen multiplayer is present and confirmed working, which makes this a legitimate couch option for two players, though it tops out there. Four friends on one screen is not happening. For the hardware crowd: the game runs well on a wide range of PC configs, supports a solid suite of graphics settings including dynamic resolution, and has full controller support. Wheel and pedal setups work, but the arcade-leaning physics mean you won't be squeezing the same precision feedback out of a sim wheel that you would from DiRT Rally 2.0 or WRC Generations. A gamepad feels natural here, maybe even the right tool for the job. Online modes and leaderboards are in, so there's a competitive outlet if the career loses its grip. The honest summary is that V-Rally 4 sits awkwardly between arcade and simulation without fully committing to either lane. The point-to-point rally stages deliver genuine fun, the variety of modes is commendable, and split-screen keeps it viable for couch sessions. But inconsistent AI, a career structure that can frustrate before it rewards, and handling that divides rather than unites mean it earns its Mixed Steam rating fairly. At a discount price, with a friend on the other controller, it punches higher than its review scores suggest. At full price, against the current competition in the rally genre, it has to work a lot harder to justify itself.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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