Really Duke? This game took so long because there are over 20 tracks with 70 variations, over 1000 cars (which they shouldve taken out premiums and slow cars that wouldve saved time, no wants wants to drive a Honda civic), track creator (not anything special but...), weather development, time changes, physics, graphics...etc., STOP COMPLAINING
What I'm saying here is that they wasted time on some completely irrelevant things and completely blew off other things that are quite important.
Why bother modeling blades of grass when I'm hurtling by at 100+ mph? Who gives a crap if those 100 spectators that are mostly hidden behind the saftey barrier are in 3D and move as I race by?
Yet I have to watch an animated Keith Haring painting in the shadows on the back of the car I'm chasing? I have my choice of high or low beam headlights, neither of which actually casts any light on the roadway?
I'm a firm believer in the 80/20 rule - you use 20% of any given tool or game 80% of the time,
so they damn well better get that right. It's like after all the complaints, PD decided that they would spend 80% of their time on the 20% of the game no one gives a crap about.
I also don't understand the steps backward. They already had 100s of aftermarket wheels modeled. Why pick the ugliest 10 and limit us to those? Why did we lose the Nordschleife (unless it will be unlocked later)?
Some of my chief complaints from previous games are much improved. The handling physics are great. The AI continues to improve; though they still show a marked tendency to drop anchor mid-corner, at least they don't bulldoze you off line as if you weren't even there.
And I like driving slow cars. I'm not complaining about that, though I would have preferred to see decently-modeled interiors for all cars (that's my favorite view) rather than fetishly-perfect interiors for some. Haven't driven any rally stages yet but hopefully the dirt physics are up to par as well.
But they definitely spent serious time on some things that are utterly irrelevant to
gameplay at the cost of others that are fundamental to it.