Honestly, this wasn’t a piece I planned on writing, but--as these things go--I realized I had a lot of thoughts about this game. Let’s talk about Milestone's WRC 4, a game that's middling, underwhelming even, and yet I keep coming back to. Let's unpack why this game fits just right... if you're in the right place to let it.
The Cadence
WRC 4 somehow nails a particular flavor of fun that’s equal parts accessible and diverse. The rhythm of its gameplay, stages making up rallies that make up seasons, with the occasional WRC class upgrade, is regular and comforting, with enough variety to let you cruise through the ample amount of content that this game has to offer.
You can dive in for a couple of stages or take on a whole rally at a time, and the consistency of the game's structured pace makes it easy to block out exactly as much time as you want to dedicate to it and leave right on time... or a few minutes ahead of schedule and eager to fit in just one more set of stages. It's granular and approachable, like a big family-sized bag of potato chips.
The Driving Model
WRC 4's driving model is certainly more arcade-y than simulation, with a few quirks that keep things, let's say lively. It’s not a hardcore experience, and if anything it’s very easy to pick up, which is to the game's credit. That "liveliness" is part arcade physics and part jank, and it makes the driving just unpredictable enough to keep you on your toes. There are those split-second moments where you abruptly lose traction, tilt or spin over a jump, or swerve too hard into a tight turn--all opportunities to test your nerves, keep a cool head, and make some quick rally-racing judgments.
I'd say immediacy is the operative term, which is the game engine's priority in place of obsessive realism. I like to think of myself as an (occasionally) avid simracer myself, but from the very first moments of driving WRC 4 sets the expectation that it's here to serve a more casual and relaxed experience, which is all good by me. That said, there still is plenty of simulation to be found here. Track type (such as tarmac, dirt, gravel), weather, and vehicle class all interact in a way that feels intuitive. There was a moment everything clicked when I moved from a dirt based track filled with straights and flanked by exciting jumps and sharp turns that could catch you unaware, to a more winding tarmac course that I could really feel the extremes of this driving model put to the test. Moving from one course type to another didn't feel jarring, and if anything really drove home that consistency where the driving felt like it should have. Credit where it's due, I think that's particularly challenging for a simcade model to capture with that perfect mixture of playability and nuance, and WRC 4 generally achieves it. After a couple of hours, you’ll have a solid grasp of the driving, enough that the challenges feel rooted in the courses and vehicles rather than frustrating physics inconsistencies. That predictability, lets you focus on improving rather than fighting the game's physics.
The Career
Career mode is where I’ve spent most of my time. It’s simple--maybe too simple--but what's present works well. You start in the WRC Junior class as a no-name challenger, gradually earning renown as you sign on with different teams, defeat rivals, and prove your skill. As you progress, you unlock new teams, higher-tier WRC classes, and the tougher rally seasons and courses that come with it.
Each season consists of a series of rallies spread across global locations, and each rally is made up of six Special Stages. These stages are bite-sized challenges, taking only a few minutes each, which makes it easy to flex to the amount of time you have to spare. Have only a few minutes? You can play one or two Special Stages. If you have more like 40 minutes to an hour, you can complete an entire rally, and maybe get a couple stages into the next one before it's time to call it quits for the day.
The career mode is rudimentary, and the list of features I would want to see in it is probably five times as large as the list of features that the career mode actually has. But barebones nature aside, it feels great to play. Every game session, no matter how short, brings you measurable progress.
The Immersion Factor
Progress isn't just the metagame of clearing out Career Mode content. It's also marked with snippets of news stories, competitor interviews, and emails from your team that all reference your team and you(r driver) by name. These all contextualize the results of the last rally and your current placement in the rally season, and is actually one of my favorite aspects of WRC 4. Every time you finish a rally and return to your career mode hub, you can check the news, read emails from your team manger, and get feedback from your co-driver. The world seems to react to your victories, and it ends up feeling like a thinner, lower-budget version of the underdog racer story seen in games like GRID and GRID 2.The acknowledgements are small but consistent, and reminds you that within the game world what you're doing has significance. There is a small but nagging issue in that the game assumes your driver is male. All the in-game messages say things like "his accomplishments" or "his driving." This wouldn't typically be something I'd really complain about, but because immersion is such a central part of my enjoyment of the game, I feel like I need to bring it up as a small but unfortunate misstep.
The Problems
One not-so-fun part of WRC 4 is its running list of problems.
- Physics and driving model are generally simcade fun but occasionally the game will act up in a way that can't just be chalked up to arcade physics--it's just jank.
- Visuals can be occasionally striking but oftentimes are aged in a particularly bland way that's neither stylish nor evergreen. Environment models are basic, the UI feels sluggish, unresponsive, and dated.
- Audio is weak across the board. Codriver calls are robotic, vehicle sounds including the all-important engine and tire noises are obnoxious, music is painfully generic and sounds like the worst example of royalty-free cinematic scoring, audio can cut off abruptly.
- Optimization on PC, at least with my setup, is frankly poor. The game is a VRAM hog and will consistently stutter for long (> 200 ms) times, which can make you completely mess up corners by no fault of your own. This is running on an RTX 3050 gaming laptop that can, in comparison, run contemporary simracer Assetto Corsa and 2021's Forza Horizon 5 with no problems.
- Wheel support is limited; semi-understandably, my Thrustmaster T150 is not supported (since it's newer than the game by about two years), but it's disappointing that the wheel isn't recognized at all even as a generic input device. The simcade feel of the game make gamepad control feel acceptable, but it's a shame that's my only option to play.
- Online multiplayer elements are dead, and yet the game prompts you to upload your times at the end of every single Special Stage, regardless of whether you opt to connect to the (dead) online servers on launch or not.
The Conclusion
So, would I recommend Milestone's WRC 4 (2013)?
Not really, no. The game's flaws still stand, and the ones related to game performance and gameplay are particularly hard to overlook. The solid but unremarkable simcade style physics engine gets the job done but doesn't have me feeling particularly wowed, especially when it stutters and freezes so severely and so often.
And yet, I think this game just came at the right time for me. Despite its flaws, I still enjoy my time with it. I believe that if the stars align and the good elements underneath the bad are interesting to you, you might just be in the right place to make the most out of what WRC 4 does offer. The simultaneously fun and comforting experience that this game provides can make trying out this 6/10 unspectacular, obsolete, outdated title a worthwhile one that I'm glad to have played myself.
