Video games are supposed to be enjoyable. V-Rally 4 is everything but...
For starters, you get to race. Great! Race a car you didn't choose through a track you don't know the least about and with a ton of obstacles surrounding you. Just what you need to get hooked from the start. Or maybe not!
Given you already have a hint on how to control a car in a racing game on a modern generation console all the specifics will be given to you in this presentation race. And that would be fine if this was a walk in the park. But it isn't.
The car is very hard to handle and you get moose tests on the first mile. On top of that you'll be hearing things like "do well and you may get a contract" or "your copilot will help you navigate through the tracks". As if this wasn't enough you'll get visual cues popping up on the screen as to where's the handbrake or how to change camera angles. And then there will be the obvious crashes and your car will be trashed and slow for the rest (and most) of the "presentation" journey.
Forget about it and jump into the (kind of) Career Mode. Great. Or maybe not...
You'll have an agent helping you navigate through the menus and you will actually get to the game mechanics pretty fast. From there to the first race is also a quick jump. But it's after that that things will complicate a bit. For instance, my first race was Rally Cross type and it was a piece of cake. You'll even lap your track mates!!! Second type was plain and simple Rally and there's when things got sour. It's very very hard to manage top 3 - and remember we're talking about the FIRST rally race. Totally opposite to the Rally Cross style. Or maybe I'm a Rally Cross driver, which I don't think I am, really.
So, after this second, frustrating, outing, back to your hub and, guess what... Someone decided to ruin the experience.
First your agent will start telling you you'll have to hire different agents as they're specialized on different racing types - so, if you want variety in racing, you'll have to get several agents with specific areas of influence. From there it's a bottom down run. After explaining you you'll have to pay her a salary, she'll take you to a kind of employment office where you'll have mechanics and engineers available. Each of them will have specific skills and the better they are the more salary you'll have to pay them - obviously!
So, if you're in for a smooth rally experience - yes, I recall the first few entries in the Colin McRae Rally series - just forget about it. This has nothing to do with it.
The only reason I don't botch down my rating to a 1 is the visuals. The car detail is pretty good. And that's just it, unfortunately.