[This is a sim game not made to be easily picked up and played. Do Not give up after 1 run]

Pros:

+ Amazing driving feel (you can really feel the difference of each type of surface)
[On snow its better to drive in a higher gear because too much torque will send you spinning in a RWD the trade off is the engine might die on you so you have to shift into neutral to get it to start revving again while your still moving at speeds]
+ The cars sound amazing
+ Hill Climb is really fun(Power!) while being very challenging
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptWY-mz9xg4&list=UU6xZFkYMgVk52ljJqIFpAWw&index=29
+ You earn credits outside of the top 3 (So you don't have to die trying to get into the top 3)
[Totally content on getting 5th place]
+ Snow drifts aren't solid objects (you can plow into them)
+ The call outs in Rally are good but are to late on normal (normal is 1 turn a ahead and you want 2 turns ahead so change it to earlier)
+ The maps are nice with a wide verity but tracks in each location feel the same.
+ Steam workshop can provide custom car tuning
+ Can drive cars you don't own but only in custom events(makes you 0 credits)
+ The longer you drive a car you'll unlock upgrades for it
+ Crew can be hired and you can get perks if you keep them around long enough
+ Has very long and very short tracks all of which require different kinds of driving.
+ Brake wear is a thing, and you can feel the brakes loosing effectiveness on tracks that require lots of hard breaking
+ Tuning vehicle setups for each surface is crucial, though your crew will always give you a decent preset. (if you go crazy camber on a snow/ice map your just asking for trouble)

(You could spend hours tuning a car to a track to get it perfect for your driving style)
+ Each car controls differently and has its strengths and weaknesses.
+ Cars all have different damage models and you can feel them getting slower or handling worse
(The Delta S4 is crazy good on uphill and cornering but the radiator is easily damaged which will kill the motor. The Audi S1 is very front heavy likes to understeer and its gearbox is very weak and fails often)



Averages:

= Championships are very basic just drive the stage then on to the next
= The Tutorials while covered well, some aren't explained in enough detail
= Music is meh but not bad
= Decent number of total cars
= Ok weather effects
= Replay camera is decent but sometimes lingers on nothing
= Rallycross while fun is also unfair since your driving head to head with a stock car vs player/Ai upgraded cars till you unlock everything
https://youtu.be/hxpSQi-bGZA

Cons:

- Rallycross has only 3 tracks with a few different layouts of each
- Hill Climb has 1 track split into 3 sections and 1 full map (with Gravel/Tarmac/Mixed road surfaces)
- Rally Tracks are just 1 long track cut up into sections that go forward and reverse or full track. Though each location has completely different tile sets.
- No matter how clean you drive you will have damage to something
- Very small amount of cars in each class (ranging from 1 - 6 at most)
- Your forced to start out with a 1960's car or a rally cross car at the start (Alpine all the way)
- No Car customizing outside of car tuning/livery presets changes
- Cannot fully tune new cars till you unlock it
- No Testing area (For if you want to practice Hairpin turns(and you'll need to))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgONIz3ALIE

DiRT Rally VS DiRT 4

+ Longer tracks(15+km vs 8 miles)
+ Doesn't have random BS (like a heli flying so low to the track its making a dust cloud on a snow track)
+ Doesn't need a pre-made puddle track piece for you to drive into water
+ No constant barriers on the side of the roads that will send you flying
- Weather effects aren't as good
+ The same AI driver isn't always at the top (i hate you Alvarez)
+ Surfaces actually force you to drive radically differently depending on the it and weather.
+ Far Far more realistic driving (cars and the tracks)
+ Crew/Upgrade management is simpler
- Less cars
+ Maps are far better
- Fewer maps (DiRT 4 has potentially an infinite number of maps)
- No testing grounds
- Music isn't on the same level
- Replay cam isn't as good
+ Better call outs in Rally
+ Has Hill Climb (Driving the full course of Pikes Peak is amazing)
- Doesn't have Land Rush
- Missing the Audi Quattro S1 E2 in Rally
- Cannot test drive only drive them in custom events(you don't get credits from it)
+ Get Credits if you place outside the top 3 - VERY IMPORTANT
+ Get credits for not restarting
- No car customizing
+ Steam workshop car tuning
- Rallycross is better in DiRT 4 since you don't start out with a downgraded car
- Seemingly less advanced damage models (In DiRT 4 you can feel when you've damaged the transmission, damper, brakes, tires, etc but in rally you only notice the brakes, tires, transmission, and when clutch slips sometimes)[Have to crash more and not repair to see for sure]
= Tuning is basically the same in both games
= Doesn't have randomly generated maps(could be good or bad how you see it)
= Top placing AI has crazy fast time compared to 2nd place

---Rant---
Since this game and Dirt 4 focus on Rally i would suggest you get this game instead. The driving feel is much better. The roads don't have constant dirt or snow barriers on the sides that will send you flying at 10 mph. The hill climb is far more fun then the motor trucks in dirt 4. The downsides just like dirt 4 u need to get credits. Unlike dirt 4 you cant barrow any cars you have to save up to buy them, or play them in custom. The music in Rally is far more generic and the reply cam isn't as nice as in dirt 4. Also Rear wheel and all wheel drive cars don't drive like rats on cocaine.
--end rant---

Even though I've played more Dirt 4 at this point then Rally my driving style has evolved far faster playing rally then Dirt 4. In Rally I went from holding the brakes and never using the hand brake to just barely using brakes and hand braking for my turns. Though this game is missing a lot compared to Dirt 4, the fact that driving on snow and tarmac feel different in Rally (Where as in 4 it all just feels like cars on ice) which is the heart of both games, DiRT Rally gets my vote over DiRT 4

If you want to play around Get DiRT 4 if you want some really good Rallying Get DiRT Rally

[Rallycross in DiRT Rally is bad because you have to start out with a stock car which has less HP, is heavier, and you cant fine tune anything. while your opponents while also being in fully upped cars are in general very fast and very rarely make mistakes. It will take quite a few races where you fail in the semi finals before your car is fully upgraded]

[Xbox 360 controller]

Tip: Use Manual Sequential because thats the transmission most actual race cars use.