[brandon27]

Against my better judgement, I bought it... with the intent of trying it for the 2 hours MS gives you and still allows you to return.

Here's my thoughts after having a few quick races for a about an hour this morning. Take it with a grain of salt if you wish as I've only spent about 45 minutes with it.

Let me list a few positives:
- Sounds of engines are improved. Sounds good. Much better.

- You can feel the difference in physics. It's smoother, but still jerky though.

- Nice to have some driver difficulty controls. From how easy it is to get the AI loose, their recoverability, to actually having driver assists. It's still not where I'd like it to be, but the fact it's there is nice. It just seems odd how different they do it from every other title, it makes me wonder if Unity is the issue. It is nice though to be able to adjust each assist category in 5% increments. You can really dial in your own feel.

- you can scroll the race/qualifying results, but stats are still pretty weak. Not sure on career mode though.

- I'll compliment the physics system again as mentioned in the review. My race at Atlanta, I had the AI too easy. I started 3rd, blew their doors off and cruised for the first two laps. I was being aggressive to push the game to get a feel for the handling. By the 3rd lap, I couldn't run the same line, the same way. I was struggling, couldn't figure it out until I cycled through the car info and got to tire wear. Yup. Atlanta eats tires, and yup, you'll notice it in game. Nice job there.

The not so nice:
- Visuals. Improved? Yeah, they are. There's way too much motion blur for my liking though. It's still not where it needs to be IMO for a title this generation. Is it better than NH3? Yes, it's better, but not knock your socks off better. If visuals won't bother you, you'll be fine. I may be being a bit harsh here because my eyes are used to the beauty that is F12019, so I just fired up NH4 at Daytona, followed quickly by NH3 there. Yeah, it's a pretty big jump actually, but it's still lagging behind.


- Sticking with visuals... the frame rate does seem more stable, but it's still sluggish and long ways from 60 most of the time. There is an option to adjust the visuals for Quality, or Performance (playing on XB1X anyways). I have it set to Quality now to experience what I've written above. When I change it to performance, it looks smoother with a higher frame rate, but the visuals seem to look more like NH3 again, but still a bit better.

- You're still referred to as your gamertag in the game. Come on... Give me a break.

- Presentation... flat out stinks. It's boring. Just like the last few versions of the game.


- Replay mode is still bare. No race rewind feature either


On the Fence:
- Career. I can't comment. Didn't get into it. However from what I've seen, I dont see anything huge. I thought they'd build it out alot more than it sounds like they have.

- AI - I didn't get enough time with it so far. If the controls and customization options they give you when it comes to the AI actually work, I think that could be a big step forward.

- Visuals. I'll put them here too. They're just ok. It's not close to F1 2019's level, or Forza, etc. etc. It's not bad either though. It's better, but it's still not good.

- Paint booth. Seemed largely the same. No real new schemes to work with. Color options seem more limited than last year unless I haven't figure out how to customize them, but right now it looks like you've got about 25 colors that's it. Some nice new sponsor additions though.

Overall:
I'd say if you're expecting something different, or some huge improvement, you're going to be let down IMO. If you've enjoyed the last few, and these upgrades are worth it to you you'll be fine. That's kind of where I'm at with it. I played alot of NH3 despite it's flaws. Probably close to 400 races. I think I'll enjoy this one the same way, despite it's flaws. It's just so frustrating to me that's it's flaws are the same flaws it's always had.

Overall to me, I need to decide if I keep it now, or request return/refund. Refund is the direction I'm leaning at this point with the intent of picking it up again on sale. It's just not enough for me to warrant it's price point. It needs to be around the 39.99 or 49.99 price point not 63.99 for the standard edition, or 89.99 for the gold edition here in Canada.

If you've enjoyed the previous, you'll enjoy it no doubt. If you didn't, the new stuff, especially the AI might be enough to change your mind, I do believe that right now, but if you're looking for it to blow you away and feel current gen, I think that will be a letdown still.

Do take this with a grain of salt though, as I've only spent about 40 minutes or so playing.