Hard to tell yet, but it almost looks as if they've tightened up the steering response a bit from Hot Pursuit, which would def be a welcome improvement. Graphics look great, I just hope it doesn't effect optimization.
From EA´s marketing point of view I understand the "need" for this kind of NFS [arcade], allot of "young" gamers prefer this to proper racing game [simulation].
Personally I couldn't care less for this kind of NFS, and unless EA brings me back the Shift Series, NFS is dead to me.
Until then Project C.A.R.S is the way to go
It's not just what most prefer, it's that EA is not in the position financially right now to cater to a smaller market niche. Most of the games in the NFS series have leaned toward arcade anyway, so it shouldn't come as a surprise, esp with the "Most Wanted" moniker attached.
Aside from that, your beloved Shift, esp the first one, was hardly a SIM game, "proper" or otherwise. It was very arcade in many ways, including overly aggressive AI. It's hard to make a race game that reaches a wide audience, and some say Shift did, but in reality most arcade players either couldn't get the cars set up right or couldn't deal with the less arcade handling once they did.
The only track I struggled with in Shift was Nords, but I beat both of the Shift games with a mere KB, so SIM, I don't think so. Any game you can beat with just a KB on default AI settings and not even employ all assists is hardly what I'd call a SIM.
Now Project CARS does have really nice eye candy graphics, but a big thumbs down for them not attempting to make it for a broad audience, at least from what I've read anyway. They have a KB option in the controls AFAIK, but talk is, even with assists on, there's no way it will be playable on one.
There's TONS of players that want more SIM-like handling in their race games, but when it comes right down to it, many of them prefer the ones like Shift over full on SIMS, so I really don't get why they complain about the arcade games that come out here and there, because they're hardly purists themselves.
Ideally I want to transition from KB to something like the MS Speed Wheel. It has fast response and requires no setup/takedown. I really only need something that's just a step above the limitations of KB, without losing response time. I'm hoping the Speed Wheel 2, if there is one, has shoulder buttons and supports more games.
