@amigo5adiosHello amigo, I feel your pain and sorry to hear it.
Here is something to try so you can play with your friend(s)…
1. Start the game and be certain you are logged into Autolog.
2. On the main menu select "Hot Pursuit Online".
3. Then select "Quick Match".
4. Select the game mode you want to play.
5. Select the car series.
6. Next you will see "Finding Players...".
Because this game is getting old, even though it is still really fun, very very few people still play it, let alone online. If you and your friend do the above steps at approximately the same time you should be joined together in a "public" game even if you are not able to accept each other's friend requests. The chances are very high that you will be the only ones in the game so it will be pretty much the same as starting a private match for that reason.
As a matter of fact I just tried it a moment ago and was matched up with a random racer by the name of Olsen_KAT_666. We raced three times and this person won every time, very good racer!
Please let us know if that method works out for you. Good luck!
