Taylor Quigley

I'm another person that seldom writes reviews but I'll give credit where credit is due. I prefer more realistic racing games to arcade and this one knocked it out of the park. The game is visually stunning with a sky box to match. Weather and time of day add a good challenge to tracks you've previously raced on. Lighting is done extremely well and the cars can look real at times, however mostly in scapes (in depth photo mode). Handling feels good and the dualsense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers add a nice sense of immersion. I play with game play prioritized and run a silky smooth 4k 60fps on PS5. Ray Tracing is automatically added to photos which is a nice touch considering I play with Ray Tracing turned off. Customization is fairly in depth and the livery editor is one of the best I've seen in terms of ability to fine tune the graphics on the car. I do wish for a few more body mod options for bumpers, skirts, etc but they are a nice touch. FYI for others that have said otherwise: front lip and spoiler DO change downforce on your car. This is how it is unlocked in the tuning menu. Some races really push you to tune in your car due to a performance point (pp) cap. These are the races that challenge you to properly tune your car in to get the most out of it. Tuning is very in depth and descriptions explain what you're doing for those that aren't mechanically inclined. As for the negatives I find them to be much less of a nuisance than some of the other reviews. I do agree that the Cafe is an odd way of tying the campaign and "unlocking the full game" in a linear fashion. However, everyone always wants to drive a Lamborghini not the Honda Fit. The Cafe makes you drive through some boring cars to get to the more "end game" vehicles. Personally, if it gave me 3 or more menus books at a time, and you could progress once that "group" of menu books was complete, that would be preferred. Gameplay would be less funneled if done his way. Micro transactions seem small and insignificant to me. It's really not that hard to rack up a few hundred thousand credits in a session. Cars are given to you like candy so race with those and save up for the cars that you really want to buy. Yet again, another game implements loot boxes but they're given often enough that it doesn't hinder your progress. All of these together don't feel like they take away more than a couple of precent with the overall feel of the game. Push come to shove, I find the game's pros to far outweigh the cons. If I could add decimal ratings, I'd give it a solid 4.8 out of 5.