I'm starting to think this entire series is just style over substance. Although they are getting better with each release.

Considering all the hype around R4, I was expecting this to be a sort of reinvention of the series that introduces a completely new handling model and physics. But no, it essentially still suffers from the same problems as its predecessors, just to a much smaller degree. I would describe the gameplay here as subpar. It's not rage-inducing like the previous entries, but still pretty frustrating. And the amount of content is still miniscule. I could kinda understand that in the previous games, as they were aimed at the Arcade, but this one was intended as a console game, so I don't know why you can still beat it in like an hour.

There's also now this tacked-on story with extremely forced drama. It's all in text boxes, so at least you can just skip it and pretend it's not there.

The presentation is excellent of course. Flawless even. There's not one element that seems out of place or mediocre. Unfortunately, this is a video game, not a music video.

I really wanted to rate this game higher, but I can't. I gave Colin McRae Rally 3/5, and that game had one of the best handling models I've ever seen in a racer, and phenomenal physics for 1998. And its presentation wasn't too shabby either. So if I called R4 a better game, I'd be a liar.