I've been playing the Beta on Steam for a bit since it dropped. Pretty decent old-school arcade racer based on what's available in the demo. The PC version has a few options to tweak, but I'd like a few more like the option to tone down the FOV fish-eye lens effect when going fast.
Beta is here:
Cars control well, it's the standard lift-drift arcade setup. Essentially if you aren't drifting you aren't going around the corner. Once you get used to it, or if you grew up with arcade racers, it's fluid. Drifting or hitting pads on the track recharges the car's battery, which is essentially the boost. The two beta tracks are pretty neat. There is a Tokyo track and a track based in Lake Louise up here in Canada not too far from me so that was kind of cool to see. There's no real-time weather or daytime changes but each track has a day/night/sunset/foggy selection and each one looked nice as a whole. The AI in single player wasn't bad, they have a tendency to commit suicide from time to time, but overall they were pretty good at not being complete assholes. The music in the Beta is alright, not spectacular but not offensive.
There are some inconsistencies in the visuals, like some of the trackside details. The crowds make the crowds in Forza Motorsport games look good, the motion blur effects are way overdone (you can tone them down on PC) and the texture work is very inconsistent. Some trackside object texture work is low end, but in racing you'll never notice. The Tokyo track re-used a billboard of a woman holding chopsticks too often (multiples on screen at once) which was a little distracting. This is a beta and so I'm not going to hold too much against the visuals. It does have some really well done effects I will bring up though.
The car models are pretty nice, there is a decent amount of detail here, and some of the cars change shape during the race. The cars are all pretty interestingly designed, with ties to real cars here and there, but looking completely original, I think they're the game's high point. The game employs some really well executed screen space reflection, including self-reflection. The only other racing game I've seen that uses SSR for self reflection on the cars is Driveclub. Overall the game looks nice minus the motion Blur and the fisheye lens effect which could both be toned back a bit. If some of the small details can be ironed out before the full release it'll look great.
Edit: I completely forgot to mention the customization. You can edit the car's liveries and paint including the wheels and glass. It's not as robust as Forza's setup, but it's pretty nice. you can also change the car's aero package, wheels, and charging system which all affect the car's performance.
Based on the beta I'm looking forward to the full game
