Under the Hood: Turning up the Heat

"Cars naturally top the list. You could say that the cars and customization of NFS are the beating heart of what we do. Without either of these, NFS fails to exist as we know it. "

Despite a lot of people moaning about Payback, I like the game. I take it for what it is - fun arcade that helps me relax after a hard day at work. Nevertheless, there is a few improvements I'd love to see in the next game.

1) More cars & mods. (I'm unsure how licensing works e.g. Toyota pulled out of being in your title etc.) Biggest let down of NFS is probably the car lists, it's getting better each time, but still not as good as competitors' titles such as The Crew & Forza Horizon. Cars that me, and I dare to say a lot of other people would appreciate in the next games are:

Mazda RX-7 FB & FC, RX-8

Nissan Skyline R33, Silvia S14, 370Z

Toyota Corolla (2019), Supra 2020, Supra MK3 & MK4, Chaser, Corolla AE86, GT86, MR-2

Honda Civic EG, Integra DC2

Lexus (for fellow VIP modified lovers) IS350/IS-F, LS400, SC300, RC-F, LFA, IS200

Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2006, Forester SF/SG

BMW E36, Z3M Coupe, M3 F80

Volkswagen Scirocco 2009+

and others I can't think of. 

2) MAP - I think that NFS should compete as hard as they can with Forza / CREW in terms of the world map. The Crew has the best map in my opinion. Something huge with iconic skylines and scenery. I like the fact you can drive into snowy mountains in The Crew and drift there. Payback has a good foresty area for drifting, but it should be bigger/better.

3) Physics - Damage is fine as it is, but handling is not great. By no means I am saying I want sim-like handling, just something a bit more predictable, especially when it comes to drifting. When you're drifting, the handling doesn't make any sense because you slide one side, trying to change direction and it completely throws you as if you were on a bungee. Hard to control drifts. 

Steering wheel support would be good too! The Crew 2 is an arcade as well, but you can tweaks a lot when you plug the steering wheel into it so you are able to make it decent, or at least way better than it is.

I can't think of anything more right now. It seems like I've listed a lot of wrongs with the current game, but I just want NFS to be better or at least as good as competing titles.. Right now it's not great, and the reason I still play NFS is the fun factor in the gameplay. Gameplay in general is good and does what it should, to an extent, but some things like I mentioned above aren't perfect and are quite frustrating.