I'm 7.5 hours in, at 51% game completion. Here are some impressions:
Graphics/Performance: EDIT: Turns out it's not 900p on PS4. That's probably why I didn't notice it. In my 7.5 hours of gameplay, I noticed one instance of the game stuttering a bit. I'm interested to see a Digital Foundry analysis.
Sound: Not much to say, which is a good thing. Cars sound great, and the soundtrack has a nice variety of energetic tracks. There aren't different stations, but you can skip a you don't like by holding L3.
Story: If you're able to embrace the cheese, it's gold. I was a huge fan of the first Fast & Furious film when it was released. The amount of cheesy one liners in that movie was part of what made it a classic. If you have a sense of humor and/or are even mildly amused by this stuff, you'll like it. I'm actually interested to see where things will go in this story.
Driving: This is what matters most when it comes to racing games. Let's start by addressing the lack of manual transmissions. I'm someone who never chooses automatic in games. I've never even owned an automatic vehicle in real life. That being said, I haven't thought twice about not being able to use manual transmissions in this game. The automatic transmission works well. If you're drifting, for example, it keeps your revs high rather than shifting into a higher gear. It's almost impressive at times, and I haven't felt limited by it. I almost can't believe I just typed that.
Each car I've tried felt very different, and mods/tuning affect performance appropriately. You can adjust various steering/handling options to suit your driving style. Tuning a car for drifting feels drastically different than tuning it for grip. Once you set your car up properly, or even just adjust the master slider towards drift, drifting feels really great in this game. I'd probably go for grip in most games, but I'm finding myself drifting everywhere. Both seem to be viable options for winning, though there are many drift events you'll need to do, so the choice is yours.
I would have really liked to see additional performance tuning. Had manual transmission been in the game, we could have at least adjusted gear ratios. Engine and transmission tuning would have added a lot more depth to the game, as no two setups would be alike. That would have made drag/highway racing a ton of fun. I remember lining up on the side of SSR7 in GT5 and having makeshift drag/highway racing. With all of the tuning options, no two cars performed the same. That would have really made this game special.
There are plenty of visual mods as well. Most are unlocked by leveling, but a lot are available off the bat. One thing I really like is the ability to change your car's stance without affecting performance. If you like to slam your car to the ground, with all the negative camber in the world, go for it! The decal editor also has a ton of options. I'm curious to see what people are able to come up with in this game.
Gameplay: There's a decent amount of things to do between story events, side events, collectibles (72 in total), daily challenges (3 per day, that you'll most likely complete while doing other things), challenging players online, playing with cops, exploring, etc.
One design decision I'm not sure I agree with is the ability to teleport to any event. This leaves little reason to drive around and appreciate the city. On the other hand, it's good if you're trying to earn fast cash or get things done. I would have liked to see teleporting possible only if you've visited the location of the event.
You can still explore for fun, to challenge other players, or grab collectibles. There aren't many collectibles though, only 72 in total, and they seem pretty easy to find so far. Human and AI racers are seen driving around the map and can be challenged by pressing R1, just like Tokyo Xtreme Racer but headlights don't flash here for some reason. Of the 4 or 5 players I challenged, only one accepted. You can only 1v1, there are no traditional multiplayer races. I'm curious to know how many players can be in the same session at once. You can have eight players in a crew, but I'm hoping that's not the limit for the entire session.
Time of night ranges from around 3-6 AM, depending on where you are in the world, rather than over time. It's an odd design decision, and I'm wondering if it has to do with game performance under lighting conditions in certain areas. Perhaps the game just doesn't look good during the day, but I remember seeing an early daytime screen that looked great. The areas that are lighter look really nice, so maybe we'll see daytime patched in.
Speaking of patches, the map is decently sized but there are areas that look like they're missing roads. I'm interested to see if they'll be filled in, though I don't think map updates were a thing in past NFS games. That being said, there's a good variation between city, highway and mountain roads. The mounts are a lot of fun to drift around, and the highways are a blast to speed through. I felt some Tokyo Xtreme Racer vibes at times, which is always a good thing. (Hey Genki, where's our next-gen TXR? You were on the supported developers list when the PS4 was announced).
The cops in this game are easy to get away from, even at maximum heat level. I'm wondering if this will change as your Outlaw level goes up. They seem to be slightly more aggressive now that I'm leveling up, but it could be placebo. Having overly aggressive cops is extremely annoying, especially when you're just cruising or trying to get to a destination, but they're a bit too easy here. At times I appreciate it, because I'm not in the mood for a chase, but it's cheap enough to pull over and pay a fine if you aren't in the mood. I feel like they should be more aggressive, for those times you're looking to cause trouble.
There isn't too much traffic in the game, which sort of makes sense considering the time of night, but it would be nice to see a little more as streets almost feel too empty at times. Oddly enough, I feel like I noticed more traffic in the mountains than in the city.
Overall, I'm really enjoying the game. I can't believe I've already put so much time into it, and I still want to keep playing. I really hope EA supports it via patches and DLC. The lack of robust multiplayer options has me worried, but hopefully we can get a GAF crew together to mess around or something.
EDIT: Yikes, that was long. TL;DR: Game's good.
