V-Rally 4

If you don't have a steering wheel, or DiRT Rally series is too complex for you but you still want to play a rally game, try this one. I was prepared for disappointment after reading some of the negative reviews before playing but it was much better than I thought it would be. I've never played before any games from V-Rally series so I can't tell how it compares to previous entries in the series. The game has very arcade-like steering, nice sharp graphics, decent map and car variety and enough content for about 20 hours if you are only playing career mode.
During my playthrough it crashed to desktop once while mid-race, other than that I didn't encounter any major bugs or glitches. Multiplayer is non-existent (servers have been shut down years ago) so you better look elsewhere if that's what you're interested in. I also recommend waiting for a sale, I got my copy at -85% discount and the game seems to be going on sale every few months.

I went into V-Rally 4 expecting a 4/10 and got a 6/10. It's like DiRT 3 but slightly worse in almost every way. It's thankfully not live service garbage like later games from this developer & publisher.
Pick it up if you like arcade rally games. If DiRT 2 or 3 were still on Steam, I would recommend you get those instead, but they're not.
The career mode is pain, however.

i almost refunded this game 3 times, first my controller wouldnt work, found had to map them manually in game setting, then my car was sliding around like a lunatic, found i had to buy a better car and switch the car settings for the right ground surface, then the graphics looked awful foggy and washed out, found shader reshade fixed that. 3 hours in i ended up loving it, great career mode, great course selection and tracks, is like a rally version of GRID.

Really fun on controller, unplayable on G923. Not because it doesn't work, but because the car performs far too erratically on wheel and there are no FFB or sensitivity settings of any kind, so what you get is what you get. Luckily, I don't really care, I can play it on controller with no complaints. Just a heads up if you are considering this game for wheel play.

great game, if you're having trouble getting a controller to work go into the game properties select "Controller" then select "Enable Steam Input" on "Override for V-Rally 4." I couldn't find this info anywhere else so I hope this helps a couple people that want to enjoy this game with controller.

V-Rally 4 is better than what i thought it would be because of the reivews score arent that high but its the only Rally game thats still availble that feels like DiRT1/2/3 if you looking for a game like that:
Pros:
+ good and memorable car list: 51 (some cars that you dont see offten in racing games)
+ 5 game modes all are fun: Rally, Rally Rush, Hillclimb, Exrteme Khana and Rallycross
+ good arcade driving physics (a little bit more on the slippy side it also depends on which car you use some are more grippy on the gravel and asphalt than others)
+ graphics are good to look at
+ for a modern racing game it have the best arcade damage model feels simular on DiRT 3 level
+ in free race you have an random track creator simular to DiRT 4, i liked it here more sure some places repeat but its better made in this game only for rally mode
+ track designs and locations are great choice (22 environments)
+ car upgrade system is neat (you have to play the cars for a few races to get better handling, speed and more)
+ game runs really smooth
Cons:
- career mode is fun with its random event system but it also can be a little confusing how to get the world and championships after a while
- some unbalanced bots in rally stages like USA Park is way to easy (also the mountain hillclimb races with a few upgrades), rally Malaysia and Exrteme Khana Kapstadt are a little bit hard the rest is totally fine
- a little short shadow draw distance in places with many trees
How it looks like sadly the game is pretty much unkown and thats a shame because its a soild arcade racing game as a whole.

Pretty cool game.
It's a AA simcade, so set your expectations accordingly and you won't be disappointed.