V-Rally 4 (PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One) - Release date September 2018
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cjr3559
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Toyed around with the controls yet again today, and I turned the steering sensitivity down to 375 or somewhere in that range. I think default is 540 and it was way too loose in Rally mode. I can’t even imagine increasing it to maximum. You’d be basically be driving with no direction at all weaving back and forth all over the place. I reset all the other FFB settings to default and that seems to work.
Agree here; the stages are really cuttable and you can really get some speed going. WRC7 is better with the Epic stages and it’s more polished overall, though WRC6 is good. Thought about getting WRC5, but it may not be worth getting even at a steep discount from all the poor reviews it received..
cjr3559
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Not to beat this controls topic to death, but I found this. If all else fails use the internet, right? 
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1524655078
Helpful. Which reminds me I need to adjust the brake sensitivity since the default setting with no ABS seems to be very ‘hot’ and lock up with the slightest input.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1524655078
Helpful. Which reminds me I need to adjust the brake sensitivity since the default setting with no ABS seems to be very ‘hot’ and lock up with the slightest input.
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WRC 7, which was released last year, is going for higher prices (UK version of the physical disk, seen it cheapest at £30 pre owned and £100 highest) than V-Rally 4 which is a newer game. Why is this?
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- jayottsel
All the WRC games in the UK seem to be insanly expensive (Even pre owned) Wrc5 last I saw was still £20 Wrc 6 was £25? And wrc 7 was 30.
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- MrCrynox
- Mr Crynox
Having played for around 6 hours, I thought I’d give my thoughts on V Rally 4.
I really enjoyed WRC7 & hoped this would feel similar in terms of handling, I would say it does feel familiar but at the same time different. It is looser, more tail happy although I have only driven, (in Rally events), the RWD Mk1/2 Escorts so it`s probably quite correct to be so tail happy compared to the modern day machinery in WRC7. At first I struggled with this until I turned the steering sensitivity right down to one from the end, practiced a bit then I soon got dialled in. I am playing with a controller so cannot comment on wheel & pedal use.
Aside from the rallying physics the game definitely leans toward the arcade side of the spectrum, (which is totally fine by me), the rest of the events, Hill climb, Buggies, Extreme-Khana & Rally Cross are all great fun.
The game seems to have a lot of content spread across the different categories with so far, a seemingly endless amount of stages/tracks/variations. I`ve heard there is a stage generator too but I’m yet to experience it.
The graphics are top notch, a step above WRC7 for sure. The car models are quite basic but the stages feel alive and are brimming with detail. Kylotonn`s stage creating skills were no fluke with WRC7, they are pretty awesome here too. I`m pleased to say EPIC stages are present too.
Sound is good, not as good as DR, but definitely decent. Engine/brake/gravel & ambient sounds are good but initially there was some horrible, (for me), rap music playing nonstop on a loop on the world map screen, (where you spend quite a lot of time), which was a shame as I had to turn off all music to mute it, but happily since a recent update its now been changed and is, well, Ok.
Without waffling too much more here’s my summary:
Positives:
- Rally discipline is well done with some amazing locales, (my favs are Malaysia, Africa, Sequoia Park, Canada).
- Great graphics & amazing scenery
- Impulse triggers, (Xbox), are utilised
- Decent content
- All disciplines are fun
- Replays are better than WRC7 showing far more of the car driving through the stage
Negatives:
- Inconsistent AI difficulty, (some stages are easy to win, others are can be very challenging
- Liveries are a missed opportunity, especially on the rally cars, just 2 liveries for each which are mostly meh. Why couldn’t we have proper time
period liveries ?
- The game was far too expensive at launch & the DLC especially so.
- Replays are still showing poor views, ie too much of the side of the RHS/LHS A & B post of the car.
Nit picking:
- Music pretty crap
- No option, (again), to display MPH
- Cars needing to be upgraded before feeling good
- Car headlights, (again), not the source of the lights. If you don’t know what I mean watch a replay.
Overall another great rally game. I feel that I’m going to be playing this for quite a while & hopefully my little review may have convinced others to take the plunge, despite the mixed opinions/reviews.
I really enjoyed WRC7 & hoped this would feel similar in terms of handling, I would say it does feel familiar but at the same time different. It is looser, more tail happy although I have only driven, (in Rally events), the RWD Mk1/2 Escorts so it`s probably quite correct to be so tail happy compared to the modern day machinery in WRC7. At first I struggled with this until I turned the steering sensitivity right down to one from the end, practiced a bit then I soon got dialled in. I am playing with a controller so cannot comment on wheel & pedal use.
Aside from the rallying physics the game definitely leans toward the arcade side of the spectrum, (which is totally fine by me), the rest of the events, Hill climb, Buggies, Extreme-Khana & Rally Cross are all great fun.
The game seems to have a lot of content spread across the different categories with so far, a seemingly endless amount of stages/tracks/variations. I`ve heard there is a stage generator too but I’m yet to experience it.
The graphics are top notch, a step above WRC7 for sure. The car models are quite basic but the stages feel alive and are brimming with detail. Kylotonn`s stage creating skills were no fluke with WRC7, they are pretty awesome here too. I`m pleased to say EPIC stages are present too.
Sound is good, not as good as DR, but definitely decent. Engine/brake/gravel & ambient sounds are good but initially there was some horrible, (for me), rap music playing nonstop on a loop on the world map screen, (where you spend quite a lot of time), which was a shame as I had to turn off all music to mute it, but happily since a recent update its now been changed and is, well, Ok.
Without waffling too much more here’s my summary:
Positives:
- Rally discipline is well done with some amazing locales, (my favs are Malaysia, Africa, Sequoia Park, Canada).
- Great graphics & amazing scenery
- Impulse triggers, (Xbox), are utilised
- Decent content
- All disciplines are fun
- Replays are better than WRC7 showing far more of the car driving through the stage
Negatives:
- Inconsistent AI difficulty, (some stages are easy to win, others are can be very challenging
- Liveries are a missed opportunity, especially on the rally cars, just 2 liveries for each which are mostly meh. Why couldn’t we have proper time
period liveries ?
- The game was far too expensive at launch & the DLC especially so.
- Replays are still showing poor views, ie too much of the side of the RHS/LHS A & B post of the car.
Nit picking:
- Music pretty crap
- No option, (again), to display MPH
- Cars needing to be upgraded before feeling good
- Car headlights, (again), not the source of the lights. If you don’t know what I mean watch a replay.
Overall another great rally game. I feel that I’m going to be playing this for quite a while & hopefully my little review may have convinced others to take the plunge, despite the mixed opinions/reviews.
Last edited:
cjr3559
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I got to messing about with the control settings today after reading the developer settings info on Steam.
I use a T300 and generally prefer somewhat lighter wheel strength so here’s what I did. Most of this testing is with a RWD layout.
Reset the angle of rotation back to default which was 540. Then I decreased the Steering Sensitivity down a couple notches to -2. That seemed to help minimize the absurdly loose handling in Rally mode. Then I increased damping to 75 (from the default 19) to get some weight in the wheel since it was entirely too vague even though the car became more stable with the lowered steering sensitivity. Then decreased the Self-Aligning Torque to 75. I may try increasing it again, but I believe this setting is the most critical in dialing in what I want. Still a work in progress.
As far as FFB effects, the game does a nice job of giving you feedback when running off course and colliding with objects, but I really wish there was more detail when you’re on track. This is where Rally mode really lacks compared to all the other disciplines. Hillclimb, Extreme-Khana, Buggies, and Rallycross are more enjoyable and don’t have this issue. I really thought increasing the suspension FFB setting would give you more feel over uneven terrain, but not really.
The last setting I’m working though is the brake. I decreased the sensitivity to -1, and increased the dead zone by 5%. I have a brake mod, but braking still locks up entirely too easily on tarmac in Rally mode. My next test is to simply adjust the brake setting in the car setup menu.
I’m in agreement with @MrCrynox that the RWD cars are probably more tail happy overall, and that a fully upgraded car is much better than one that’s not.
I use a T300 and generally prefer somewhat lighter wheel strength so here’s what I did. Most of this testing is with a RWD layout.
Reset the angle of rotation back to default which was 540. Then I decreased the Steering Sensitivity down a couple notches to -2. That seemed to help minimize the absurdly loose handling in Rally mode. Then I increased damping to 75 (from the default 19) to get some weight in the wheel since it was entirely too vague even though the car became more stable with the lowered steering sensitivity. Then decreased the Self-Aligning Torque to 75. I may try increasing it again, but I believe this setting is the most critical in dialing in what I want. Still a work in progress.
As far as FFB effects, the game does a nice job of giving you feedback when running off course and colliding with objects, but I really wish there was more detail when you’re on track. This is where Rally mode really lacks compared to all the other disciplines. Hillclimb, Extreme-Khana, Buggies, and Rallycross are more enjoyable and don’t have this issue. I really thought increasing the suspension FFB setting would give you more feel over uneven terrain, but not really.
The last setting I’m working though is the brake. I decreased the sensitivity to -1, and increased the dead zone by 5%. I have a brake mod, but braking still locks up entirely too easily on tarmac in Rally mode. My next test is to simply adjust the brake setting in the car setup menu.
I’m in agreement with @MrCrynox that the RWD cars are probably more tail happy overall, and that a fully upgraded car is much better than one that’s not.
cjr3559
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Ok, finally nailed the settings. People here may think I’m obsessed, but finally got what I wanted.
Surprisingly I actually had to increase ‘Steering sensitivity’. +5 above default keeps the car feeling more direct and not vague and laggy. ‘Self aligning torque’ has been increased above default to 125. I believe increasing this helps bring the car in line with the direction of the wheel more consistently. Damping is still 75 which has some strength but not too much. Finally, I think that increasing ‘tire slip’ to 125 helps give more information on tight turns.
As far as the brake, I ironed out the quick lock-up by reducing the saturation to 85%, keeping deadzone at 0, and the sensitivity to -1. This helps on all surfaces.
Cars tested are in Rally; Mini, Fulvia, Stratos, BMW M3. Much much better. After hours of work I finally discovered the potential in this game.
Surprisingly I actually had to increase ‘Steering sensitivity’. +5 above default keeps the car feeling more direct and not vague and laggy. ‘Self aligning torque’ has been increased above default to 125. I believe increasing this helps bring the car in line with the direction of the wheel more consistently. Damping is still 75 which has some strength but not too much. Finally, I think that increasing ‘tire slip’ to 125 helps give more information on tight turns.
As far as the brake, I ironed out the quick lock-up by reducing the saturation to 85%, keeping deadzone at 0, and the sensitivity to -1. This helps on all surfaces.
Cars tested are in Rally; Mini, Fulvia, Stratos, BMW M3. Much much better. After hours of work I finally discovered the potential in this game.
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- MrCrynox
- Mr Crynox
Definitely obsessed!
Only joking, I'm glad your able to play it now as it would be a shame not to.
One thing you did say about the brake settings confused me though. You reduced saturation but left deadzone at zero ? Isn't this back to front ? If your locking up too soon wouldn't a slight deadzone increase and sensitivity reduction help ? Saturation just reduces the amount of pedal travel before achieving 100% braking force, I think ?
cjr3559
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Seems that way, but maybe the brake mod has some affect here. I brake lightly and rarely ever brake 100%, so perhaps I reach near-max by the time I press into the mod. All I know is before I reduced the saturation the lightest touch would result in lock up and increasing the dead zone made it worse. The brake would go from nothing to full lock instantly. Who knows!
cjr3559
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For those playing the V-Rally career mode, when selecting events there’s stars indicating the difficulty, but what does the white highlight around the box mean? Distance of event? I’m slowly getting the gist of career mode, but there’s some unknown elements.
Also, I can’t find a practical application for the car category classifications in Rally. This has been mentioned before, but it’s basically a crapshoot choosing a car. Anyone that’s been playing this for a while have thoughts?
Also, I can’t find a practical application for the car category classifications in Rally. This has been mentioned before, but it’s basically a crapshoot choosing a car. Anyone that’s been playing this for a while have thoughts?
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Sorry for the double post. It's time to post my impressions before leaving on a five-week trip.
V-Rally 4 is a nice surprise. Definitely worth the $35. It's no sim but the handling model is intuitive and fun which is enough for me given that the game is not supposed to be a sim. It's nice to see on-throttle oversteer after the issues with that in WRC 7. It seems Kylotonn has corrected the downforce and differential issues that existed in WRC 7. Still, it's way too forgiving and simplistic for my tastes but given the fact that it's a casual game I'll take it. It's fun. Tarmac feels much better than the loose surfaces.
FFB on the G29 is improved but needs some dialing in. I only played about three hours with the wheel and it will take some tinkering to get it feeling right. Clutch and H-shifter support is a big plus. I've done about six additional hours on the Dualshock 4.
Graphics in Quad HD on the Pro are impressive concerning the tracks. The cars themselves don't have much detail and some have horrendous Minecraft-style textures on the dashboard (I use cockpit cam) and the sponser decals. 30fps locked on the Pro which makes it absolutely jarring on the rough surfaces. I wish we could tone down the camera shake. Sometimes it's hard to see where you're going on the rally stages between the 30fps and the camera shake. HDR is desperately missed. The artistic wizardy present in the tracks would be a noble representation of a good HDR implementation.
I was surprised to see a GT Sport-style livery editor that allows full customization, minus the SVG uploads (the only decals available are pre-loaded in the game).
Sounds are improved from WRC 7 but nothing impressive. The replays are also greatly improved with many more areas with TV-style cameras.
Once again Kylotonn has shown they are masters of stage design. The three hillclimb tracks are fabulous and 15km each, and can also be run downhill. The rally tracks are great, especially Japan. The stage generator works wonderfully linking all the pre-defined sectors together and in my opinion works better than DiRT 4's Your Stage. Rally stages also go up to 15-ish km. Multiple surfaces in a single stage are a nice touch, and not just for show: the surface changes affect the handling of the car. I don't like rallycross or extreme-khana or the buggies, though. RX and EK are decent diversions but I find the buggies to be horrendously oversimplified with terrible physics that makes buggy replays puke-worthy. To be fair I also avoid these disciplines in other games such as SLRE and DiRT 4.
Overall V-Rally 4 is a title that doesn't excel anywhere but provides a solid, casual off-road experience. Despite me being a "sim snob" I am enjoying it for what it is.
V-Rally 4 is a nice surprise. Definitely worth the $35. It's no sim but the handling model is intuitive and fun which is enough for me given that the game is not supposed to be a sim. It's nice to see on-throttle oversteer after the issues with that in WRC 7. It seems Kylotonn has corrected the downforce and differential issues that existed in WRC 7. Still, it's way too forgiving and simplistic for my tastes but given the fact that it's a casual game I'll take it. It's fun. Tarmac feels much better than the loose surfaces.
FFB on the G29 is improved but needs some dialing in. I only played about three hours with the wheel and it will take some tinkering to get it feeling right. Clutch and H-shifter support is a big plus. I've done about six additional hours on the Dualshock 4.
Graphics in Quad HD on the Pro are impressive concerning the tracks. The cars themselves don't have much detail and some have horrendous Minecraft-style textures on the dashboard (I use cockpit cam) and the sponser decals. 30fps locked on the Pro which makes it absolutely jarring on the rough surfaces. I wish we could tone down the camera shake. Sometimes it's hard to see where you're going on the rally stages between the 30fps and the camera shake. HDR is desperately missed. The artistic wizardy present in the tracks would be a noble representation of a good HDR implementation.
I was surprised to see a GT Sport-style livery editor that allows full customization, minus the SVG uploads (the only decals available are pre-loaded in the game).
Sounds are improved from WRC 7 but nothing impressive. The replays are also greatly improved with many more areas with TV-style cameras.
Once again Kylotonn has shown they are masters of stage design. The three hillclimb tracks are fabulous and 15km each, and can also be run downhill. The rally tracks are great, especially Japan. The stage generator works wonderfully linking all the pre-defined sectors together and in my opinion works better than DiRT 4's Your Stage. Rally stages also go up to 15-ish km. Multiple surfaces in a single stage are a nice touch, and not just for show: the surface changes affect the handling of the car. I don't like rallycross or extreme-khana or the buggies, though. RX and EK are decent diversions but I find the buggies to be horrendously oversimplified with terrible physics that makes buggy replays puke-worthy. To be fair I also avoid these disciplines in other games such as SLRE and DiRT 4.
Overall V-Rally 4 is a title that doesn't excel anywhere but provides a solid, casual off-road experience. Despite me being a "sim snob" I am enjoying it for what it is.
cjr3559
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@Pfei Great to hear your feedback.
On another note, I did notice another irritating controls bug today..
I decided to stream some gameplay on PS4, and it seems the FFB was reset to default after bringing up the ‘share’ menu to enter my information on YT. The FFB was fine before I decided to use the this function, so I restarted the console and my settings returned to normal.
Still think there’s something amiss with the way the wheel and game interacts. The fact that many of the functions like replays don’t work with the wheel leads me to believe the devs didn’t test some of the functions, or there’s some other underlying issues that need solved.
In the meantime I’ll attempt to be smarter than the game and work around these nuisances.
On another note, I did notice another irritating controls bug today..
I decided to stream some gameplay on PS4, and it seems the FFB was reset to default after bringing up the ‘share’ menu to enter my information on YT. The FFB was fine before I decided to use the this function, so I restarted the console and my settings returned to normal.
Still think there’s something amiss with the way the wheel and game interacts. The fact that many of the functions like replays don’t work with the wheel leads me to believe the devs didn’t test some of the functions, or there’s some other underlying issues that need solved.
In the meantime I’ll attempt to be smarter than the game and work around these nuisances.
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I would really like know how they figured out the car classes. Some of the rally cars would no way compete with each other
cjr3559
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Been playing this a bit more regularly so thought I’d share an update.
Getting the hang of the Rally series but it’s been an arduous task. On the PS network @Pfei mentioned the physics and graphics are “jarring” and he’s right on. Cars really bounce all over the place when driving off tarmac. Maybe that’s why I tend to prefer Hillclimb, Rallycross, and Extreme Khana more. Still, the Rally stages are very well done if you can get past the jumpiness.
With a fully upgraded Stratos I can beat the AI on normal difficulty pretty easily on the 1-star Rally events, and usually finish in the top 3 on the 2-star events. So today for the heck of it I tried a full-on Rally championship and got slaughtered. Like I actually lost money attempting it.
So, I’ll keep plugging away, though winning a championship seems extremely difficult on default difficulty. Maybe a fully upgraded top tier car with a top tier staff will help. We’ll see.
Think I may have solved the brake dilemma by decreasing sensitivity to -2 and resetting the dead zone and saturation to default. Now the brakes behave more consistently without many lockups. I can finally brake with some confidence and precision. But alas I’m still pretty slow.
EDIT:
It would be nice if the controls settings showed input so you know exactly how much brake, throttle, steering and clutch you are using. Like what the DiRT series and PC2 have...otherwise it’s guesswork.
Getting the hang of the Rally series but it’s been an arduous task. On the PS network @Pfei mentioned the physics and graphics are “jarring” and he’s right on. Cars really bounce all over the place when driving off tarmac. Maybe that’s why I tend to prefer Hillclimb, Rallycross, and Extreme Khana more. Still, the Rally stages are very well done if you can get past the jumpiness.
With a fully upgraded Stratos I can beat the AI on normal difficulty pretty easily on the 1-star Rally events, and usually finish in the top 3 on the 2-star events. So today for the heck of it I tried a full-on Rally championship and got slaughtered. Like I actually lost money attempting it.
So, I’ll keep plugging away, though winning a championship seems extremely difficult on default difficulty. Maybe a fully upgraded top tier car with a top tier staff will help. We’ll see.
Think I may have solved the brake dilemma by decreasing sensitivity to -2 and resetting the dead zone and saturation to default. Now the brakes behave more consistently without many lockups. I can finally brake with some confidence and precision. But alas I’m still pretty slow.
EDIT:
It would be nice if the controls settings showed input so you know exactly how much brake, throttle, steering and clutch you are using. Like what the DiRT series and PC2 have...otherwise it’s guesswork.
Last edited:
Brend
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So I finally picked this game up for Switch and right away I can see that isn’t really comparable to WRC 7 because the physics in that game seems much better right away. The cars feel incredibly snappy compred to WRC, which loses a bit of the readability associated with rally. I’m finding myself guessing what I need to do with the car as opposed to just ‘knowing’ based on the terrain, road gradient etc.
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