V-Rally 4 is Special

V-Rally 4

V-Rally 4 is a 2018 mixed-discipline rally and off-roading focused game by French developer Kylotonn, now working on the much anticipated open world racing game, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. In 2024, V-Rally 4 captures the peak of an era of video games before photo-realistic Unreal Engine look-alike games started to dominate. I think V-Rally 4 is a true hidden gem. Make no mistake, it's an arcade rally game, not even a simcade, but it's a real gem.

Fun, Rich, Bright, Vibrant

The game captures a fun atmosphere of richly designed locations with bright, vibrant colours, and deep pallettes, overlaid with a beautifully dynamic lighting system. Locations include expansive tarmac, gravel, dirt, mud, snow, and even water and river track components. Each location has a unique vibe to it. Kenya is evokes a Far Cry 2 vibe. Japan evokes the classic Japanese lakeshide town, narrow streets and alleyways, lush countryside, and twisting mountain roads.

An Open World Racing Game in Disguise

What really began to strike is was the location design. V-Rally 4 doesn't present itself as an open world racing game but, after playing small segments or variations of each location as you progressively level, you begin to get the sense that you're returning to a single locatio and not a "level". You get the sense that all the smaller rally segments, rally cross variations, and buggy, hillclimb, and extreme Khana track variations, all really exist in a real place and the organizers have just blocked off roads differently or rerouted parts of the track to suit.

There's an old video game developer tale about GoldenEye 64's level design: They started out with real places and real buildings and then designed a way to move through those locations in the video game. That's what strikes people about GoldenEye, how believable the levels feel. That's the sense I get from V-Rally 4's locations. And I don't think it's a coincidence Kylotonn has gone on develop Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, an open world racing game. They have demonstrated a knack for creating believable racing locales.

Game Mechanics

V-Rally 4 includes quick races and career modes and the career includes quasi-simulation gaming mechanics like hiring engineers and mechanics that accelerate research and development that allow you to upgrade your car's parts and specs. Upgrade your team and you upgrade how fast your car upgrades complete. It really does help to create a more enjoyable, immersive experience.

Rewarding Difficulty Levels

The AI difficulty level is easy to grasp at first but contains depth with a multi-faceted approach to how it's applied. Events are scored by stars, 1 to 3 stars, and a championships. You might breeze through 1 Star events at max AI (100%) but on 3 Stars or a Championship, it becomes much more difficult, and that's great, that's how it should be. Lower the AI difficulty and try again. It's far more rewarding than winning every event, every time by 30 seconds.

But V-Rally 4 rewards you for taking the risk of raising your AI difficulty level: You get rewarded up to 25% more money from events. That doesn't seem like much for small 1 Star events with a $10,000 payout but it becomes significant when you're talking about a $50,000 bonus on $200,000 events.

Drawbacks

There are some drawbacks. The steering is a little twitchy and will likely be a frusrtation point until you dial in your controller. I have tuned a PS5 DualShock 4 controller to my liking on the V-Rally_4 page which you might find valuable. The graphics are beautiful, immersive, and engaging, but they are a generation behind (the good news is it's a solid 60fps experience). Online multiplayer mode is no longer supported. Don't even worry about the drawbacks, though, I'm really stretching to think of things worth mentioning.

Conclusion

I am deeply impressed with V-Rally 4 and find a lot of joy in finding an older, cheaper game, with all the extras now bundled in an "Ultimate Edition" that is a true hidden gem.

More Resources

For more info, check out the V-Rally 4 Fandom Wiki.

V-Rally 4 is still available on Windows via Steam and Playstation 5. It might be still available on other platforms, too.

People Are Giving V-Rally 4 A Second Look

And, finally, check out some recent reviews. Here's one from 2024: "It's been a blast, I don't know what all the hate's about."