V-Rally 4, a follow-up to the series with the same name from the late 90s/early 00s was in attendance during Gamescom. Developed by Kylotonn and published by BigBen Interactive the game features lots of similarities to WRC 5/6/7. V-Rally 4 additionally has the same game director as V-Rally 3, the man that also directed WRC 5/6/7.
Straight away the developers could inform us that V-Rally 4 is not a simulator, but rather an arcade-like game. The game features five distinct game modes – rally, rallycross, hillclimb, khana and buggy. Unfortunately, the game does not have any official licenses or locations, but it will feature 51 different cars. Not having any official locations will allow the game to feature more than 100000 (!) possible courses. Although it must be said that there won’t be substantial differences between each possibility. In addition the game features full body damage (which can be turned off), as well as a local split screen mode.
The game features a career mode, where you’ll start out with quite a lousy car. Fortunately you will be able to upgrade the car as you progress through your career. You’ll also have to manage your entire team. What that means remained a bit uncertain though.
After the press briefing I was finally able to try out the game for myself. What struck me instantly was the very arcade-like feel the game has. It’s far from realistic, but it’s nevertheless lots of fun! If you’ve played WRC 5/6/7 you’ll know what to expect. The game looks relatively good too – it’s not top notch, but it’s more than good enough. The game also runs very smoothly. Unfortunately, my time with the game was very limited, so I can’t say that much more about it. All in all though, if you expect something like WRC 5/6/7 you won’t be disappointed, just don’t expect a radically new experience, because V-Rally 4 simply doesn’t offer that.
