Considering that Hot Pursuit was and still is, by far, my most favorite recent NFS game, I'm looking forward to this.
From what I read on the EA reveal, Rivals is pretty much Hot Pursuit 2: Cops vs Racers; ability to play as either of them; supercars and gadgets for both sides; an open world environment that will, apparently, take you out to the country roads. All the elements are here.
The game looks like it will have the graphics from The Run, only improved further. The Run, however, was not well optimized and I hope that is improved upon.
The driving physics will hopefully be similar to the 2010 Hot Pursuit. Criterion's Most Wanted had rather bad steering.
The game will take place in Redwood County. If this is a fictional place, the real Redwood County in Minnesota or a fictional Redwood County based on the real one, I don't know. One thing makes me curious though: the EA reveal begins with Redwood City, suggesting that maybe there is a city and not just a small country town. Then again, the real Redwood County only has a small town from what I've been able to research. We'll see what they do.
Last, but not least, welcome back Ferrari. Long time no see. The last time I remember driving Ferraris in a NFS game was Hot Pursuit 2 back on the PS2. It's good to see them return.