Yeah, I agree in that regard, I guess it just depends on the weight you give those features. I'm not one who really cares for career mode in driving games (unless it's heavily structured around it, like, say, F1)... sometimes I just feel like doing something very specific (snow around NY, rain in Tokyo etc.), other times I'd rather have the game pick something for me to do (like whatever the "championship" throws at me at any given time).
PGR4 does that in the best possible way. Career/medals etc. definitely could've been handled far better though, so if that's your thing I can understand why you'd put it lower in the ranks. But given my tendency to not finish games ever, something I don't have to progress through gradually with a definitive pass/fail marker that has a definitive end-goal (such as platinums etc.) is a definite winner in my book. Personally, at least.
And the fact that I *have* somewhat finish the game yet still come back to it weekly is a testament to how much fun the game is outside of the career/achievement portion of it. There's nothing more satisfying in any other driving game than hitting a corner at a perfect apex within centimetres of the barrier, then hearing that "perfect corner" kudos chime. So good.
