Under the Hood: Turning up the Heat

You mentioned what NFS means to us. NFS is one of the reasons that I am a car enthusiast so the franchise as a whole means a lot to me. To me, there are three elements that make an NFS game an NFS game:

A different variety of cars

Customization (some past titles that lacked it were still amazing, such as Hot Pursuit 2 and High Stakes, but that was a different era where that didn't matter as much) 

Pursuits

The first two have been represented well. There's a large variety of cars. good customization that needs a few tweaks to be great, but pursuits just haven't been good for a while. Ever since the first game. pursuits have been associated with NFS. The thrill of rushing through the city at 150 MPH with six cops on your tail, a helicopter overhead, and Rhinos readying to intercept you ahead with your only escape an alleyway; that right there is what I want to experience again. Cops in Payback and '15 are pathetic and Rivals took it way too far. I want to re-live the madness that was in Most Wanted '05, which I think had some of the best chases in the series.

You can't look ahead at the future without looking back at the past and remembering what made those 25 years great and what makes this franchise what it is. I feel that if the three aforementioned elements are well represented in the 2019 title, alongside with Speedcards and Brake-to-Drift completely scrapped, then you got yourselves a game that'll recapture the spirit that made NFS what it was.

I really wanted to like NFS 2015 but the handling model, pursuits, and other aspects turned me away. Payback addressed some of the gripes but took out the best things about 2015 (performance system). You said that NFS is the culmination of many different aspects and that they're being "injected" into the next game. I hope the 2019 game delivers on this.

Just take the time you need to make the best NFS game you can make.

Thanks for reading.