Game has good graphics but also has slighty blurry textures (aa is not implemented well and without aa it looks even worse) , a fine story (similar to fast & furious movies).Upgrading cars takes time and some luck (through the story you won't need exact card sets but getting highest level cards without all proper stats always is perfectly fine).The game has tons of open world activities which is very similar to Forza Games , Ost is not bad , and lastly there are 6 Class stuff which is Racing,Drag,Drift,Runner,Offroad,Speedcross(Racing Runner, Drift are most fun imo). Even though is has aged a bit Payback is underrated and better than most modern era NFS Games.

Two weeks in, finished the achievement and I must say this is overall the best Need For Speed game I've played, having played Heat and Unboad previously and extensively. I recommend anyone that likes Heat and/or Unbound to give this game a go.
I'll address the negatives first.
- Car upgrade system is a gacha gambling slot machine simulator where each of the 6 performance parts are linked to a card that can vary in a few things and have from 0 to 3 varying bonuses. This is where the game gets a controversial bad rep. This s a remnant from the short-lived era gaming companies tried to milk the playerbase and it backfired, luckily. Some are still doing this, but to diminishing returns.
- Said gacha system makes trying out new vehicles a serious investment both in time and ingame resources. I'm talking 3-8 hours of real time in order to get the car just how you like it.
- Police system is laughable. Only happens in scripted events, and it's so heavily puppeteered that it's ridiculously predictable, unrealistic and unimmersive. Cops can stick with you no matter how fast your car gets (except certain end game cars and even then they trail very close, as well as soon as you near the "exit" they magically can't see you anymore and fall back. Genius gameplay. Did I mention you can crash them but your car is indestructible? Only way you lose is if you get stuck or cornered and you stay around them for a short while.
- The casino chip collectibles were a CHORE to collect. 100 of them, super small hitbox, hard to reach places at times. Yuck.
- Map albeit great to experience is super linear compared to Heat/Unbound. You get a lot of "airwalls" and very very rare shortcuts. You must ride the full lengths of the road at about 95% of the time.

Now that that's out my system let me sell you onto this game:
- Storywise they really did a great job, compared to all the other NFS games. There are 3 main characters, each get unique classes of vehicles, each with their own personality and extensive voiceover options and variation that's actually poured attention into. I loved how the driver always has relevant comments about the ongoing race if they're doing good, bad or inbetween. Never seen this in Unbound and Heat, and it was a pleasant surprise. The main plot is grandious and feels thrilling and impactful to the gameworld. The characters themselves are portrayed as capable and skilled, with the sidecharacters being fleshed out as the story goes. Great "villain" and decent character models too.
- Plenty of map to explore, plenty of things to do, races to race, collectibles to collect, points of interest to find, and mini skill-trials to 3 star.
- Graphics are holding up super nice.
- Online play is possible, but hard to spontaneously find a group of 4 which is the minimum to play. There's been times we are 3 people in the lobby waiting around and someone will quit after a few min ofc.. I did manage to complete the online achievements within 2 days and maybe 5-6 attempts to find lobbies. Also, lost a chance to complete the online speedlist due to server sporadically kicking you out once in a while. In other games this doesn't happen as often (or ever) I have had it happen in Heat as well and it's the reason I grinded the rep solo but I digress.
- Loved the roaming drivers mechanic, reminiscent of midnight club 3. I hated the Nova boss, had to beat her with all 3 of my characters as a personal vendetta after I beat her in the last campaign race. Loved the unique dialogue they had. I'll mention here this was the 1st NFS game I've beat on hard difficulty and it was certainly well balanced. The last mission could have been more challenging since I beat it first try, as was the case with most of the stuff. I did however stay on particular races and esp. drift races up to a dozen times.
- The car customization and livery (wrap) editor is actually almost the same from Heat (they did slightly improve it) but I was impressed this game had it first.

Overall like I said this game is underrated. I wish they implemented some of this stuff in upcoming NFS titles, ad I hope to see voiceover and character development on this standard and above. Get this studio back working on that, I believe they were shut down? Bad call. Shut down the bum execs who added the gacha monetization tactic. But yeah that's my impression.

Tried to play with my steering wheel but there is no option for a wheel