Let me put it this way: if the game doesn't become more than just going around a track over and over and over again, it will be another failure. They have to add more substance because, lets face it, going in circles no longer passes as "fun."
I'll bite on this one.
One of the ways EA makes up for poor products/titles, is by adding in all these 'extra' features(which by now, some have become a main-stay expectancy by consumers), which could be mini games, 'unlockables,' special online modes or competition rankings, etc.etc.
...rather than just providing a solid quality racer.
I'd much rather it be a complete clone of GTR 2 or Grand Prix II, and I have to go round and round a track for five hours, because at least you're getting better at every bit about the track, the car, your opponents, the weather/environment, and the feel of the game in general. It's a process where the you get out of it, what you put into it. It equates to satisfcation, and that IS fun.
EA fell apart when it started making NFS a game to cater to people who's idea of fun, is mashing the accelerator 99% of the time, while bouncing off walls/barriers - whilst still keeping the car from spinning out or flying off the track, and proceed to BLOW the AI competition away, as if they were standing still. So your five minutes of a complete arcade eight year old experience, is supposed to equal 'fun.' Then, and IF you get bored with that, you can go back and do it again, but this time there's special bonuses! OOOOH!
The only rebuttal anyone should be giving this title, is that it steers away from NFS' roots, of exotic and supersport 'domestic' cars just jumping on a highway and running from cops while racing one another.
The NFS series really needn't have gone down the routes it has. Had they'd just increased the physics/realism, visuals, sound, and delved more into open world environments, they'd have had a long standing recipe for success. But, they didn't, and the rest is history.
drm is killing the pc gameing market not pirats
