First impression after about 4 hours:
Fun. Not triple A, not perfect. But fun and pretty great.
Controls:
After some minutes getting used to the steering (Dualsense) i find the controls really good for an arcade racer. The last NFS i really liked was Underground 2. I hated the steering of the later ones and the steering of Grid Legends for example. The only more recent arcade racer i liked was Wreckfest. The squishy nature of getting from normal driving into a drift and back is just done so unreal in most arcade racers that i just can't cope with them. Here, up to now, I learned to not drift at all. I just break with maximum 50% break pressure and try to hit the apex to get on the throttle earlier than the AI. Works pretty good. I bought racing+ tires, weight reduction, a big fuel tank and the racing fuel for my first car, the MX-5 and that was enough to win the 15 races of the first club/gang and most of the ongoing races of that club on hard difficulty which gets you a nice credit bonus. I'm driving automatic transmission in such games.
Presentation:
The "Underground" vibes are strong here. As a 42 year old, i find that a bit childish but hundred times better than the stupid, hipster/social media like demeanor of Forza Horizon, Motorfest and the likes. Last week i installed the Motorfest demo and stopped and deleted it even before i got the chance to drive a car. I can't stand the horizon-vibes. Even if it's meant to have the best arcade controls. Plus, CarX Street doesn't seem to push too much "story" onto you every minute.
Graphics:
Well, quality mode looks good to me but has an unstable frame rate and performance mode has an ok frame rate but really doesn't look good. Especially looking far ahead. I just can't believe that the PS5 can't bring performance mode frame rates to the quality mode graphics quality. I'm constantly switching around. Not a graphics guy nowadays so i don't mind too much.
edit: don't know what happened, but since today i don't find performance mode ugly at all, there's a difference but not much to quality mode
Tuning:
A bit to detailed for my liking in a chill arcade game but i guess i won't have to get too much into it to have fun and complete the game.
Bonus:
I believe that game has some slipstream but no real rubber banding, which would be cool. It feels rewarding that way.
Conclusion:
Up to now i guess it's a great fit for the little arcade itch i still have in me. Can't understand why it doesn't get as much media attention as that Tokyo Xtreme Racer game that probably also will find it's way to consoles sometimes after PC release.
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