(Damage/"Health bar") We need to have a talk.

@GK3512

That's a great point! And I was waiting for something like that, but also I'd like to point out that HP2 is obviously part of the Hot Pursuit genre, where later in the series you could defend yourself and fight back (which is a bit farfetched). Of course, you couldn't in the early games, however, the crucial difference is that these are closed track (closed world) point to point races or circuit tracks which I think makes a massive difference.

When you consider the fact that Heat is open-world, you don't have the luxury of being able to make it to the line to survive, and you have forced mechanics like the hideout, although there is cooldown supposedly. Arguably, quite lazy of them to reuse hideouts and multipliers, the sheer number of elements and UI they are literally just taking out from previous games is shocking! The Wrap editor is practically the same, all the vanity items are there so that interface will likely be the same, a car's performance is still measured by a numerical value, as well as re-using the cop car models.

None of that may matter to you, but I want you to consider the difference between "closed-world" survive to get to the line, and "open-world" where are a health bar will always be limiting factor. Also to @CrescenceRose, great point there, this is the problem. The limitations of the meter have a knock-on effect, namely shorter pursuits (especially when you consider repairs are limited) which also means there is less of a requirement for the developers to focus on a pursuit experience and the PCPD A.I. I'd also like to mention that this ties into @Harawana's point about this hurting the difficulty spike, or the natural progress of the game with a rising difficulty level whilst comparing it to Most Wanted 2005.

Although, still think your HP points are great! Could you consider this as well though?