The main mode is the Championship, where all the courses in the WRC are raced on over a gruelling season. Other modes of play are also available, from a single stage to a whole rally, abeit in condensed form. In each of these modes four types of rally can be chosen, from the starting Professional difficulty, to Expert, Extreme and a Super 1600 class. All contain an excellent challenge, with the Extreme mode once again offering some of the toughest racing available.

As well as the main race modes, WRC 4 also has an impressive Pro Driver Challenge mode, which contains eleven challenges to complete. Starting with a Newbie challenge to complete two circular courses, drivers compete in ever more challenging tasks to finally unlock 'The Future of Rallying'. While the main modes allowed for a slip-up here and there, the Pro Driver Challenges allow for virtually none, with even the Newbie challenge relatively high in difficulty. Even so, this is a great addition to the game and something we could be seeing more of in the future.

Graphically, WRC 4 is very impressive. The cars look great, and damage well. All of the courses are well constructed, with most of the fencing and siding around the tracks breaking as it should do if run into. The New Zealand courses in particular are instantly recognisable, with their various features marking them as distinct from the rest of the world. The crowd and surrounding folliage do look a little odd though, and are mainly 2D creations, but for drivers careening through the landscape this won't be a problem. At high speed the scenery looks great, and it is only when stopped or moving really slow that imperfections can be seen. Replays are a well-produced highlight and allow players to analyse their run from better angles than the driving views.

Unfortunately for a lot of drivers, they will be seeing the scenery at a slower speed than they should be, at least at first, due to the tough handling and amount of difficulty of WRC 4. Handling is reasonably done, although there is a couple of aspects of concern. The first would be the pivot system used by WRC 4 where the handling and movement of the car is generated from a central point, rather than from the wheels. This does look a little odd in third-person view at times, and doesn't give much of a realistic driving experience. The other concern is the way the cars seem to float on some courses, especially those that are wet, and driving can often feel like driving over a sheet of ice.

Practice does help overcome these problems though, just requiring a bit of adjustment from drivers to get used to. The response of the handling is quite good, often requiring only minor touches to manouvre through many corners. WRC 4 also works very well with the new Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheel, having been fine-tuned to work with the 900 degrees of steering that wheel offers. Rarely has there been a more immersive racing experience than driving with the wheel in a first-person cockpit view.

Even when staying on the road the times posted by competing drivers seem very fast, and it is this mix of tough handling and the need to keep pushing for more speed that gives WRC 4 its difficulty as well as its main point of difference with WRC 3. Racing fans will, of course, love this. Removing the need for racing through weaker introductory races is welcome, and the increase in modes and difficulty settings will keep even seasoned drivers going for a while. For the less experienced the game can be something of a trial by fire, but through practice and perseverance this can be overcome.

Sound is an area that could definitely do with some improvement. Engine noises don't seem to be as accurate as they could be, sounding more like a small motorcycle than a powerful rally car. The co-pilot is generally fairly good though, only erring occasionally with an incorrect or late call. To spice up his voiceover he also reports on car damage, as well as berating the driver for driving badly. Drivers constantly veering off the road will soon become used to his almost sarcastic query of "are you alright?" or "pay attention".