Beautiful but Soulless
There appears to be a robotic sheen over the entire racing experience (and I point this out because the menu screen is beautiful), and this is down to a number of reasons. The main culprit is the AI. Whilst it is an improvement on previous incarnations of the series, there is still an impression that your competitors are driving on rails. Sure, they make mistakes but they always seem to be in the same place. At least this time round they attempt to defend their lines going into corner, not that it really matters - I'll just hit them and suffer no consequence, and this is really where 'The Real Driving Simulator' falls apart.
Without consequences to such actions, there is no incentive to race 'correctly' especially on some of the more challenging events. The distance you can make up on a competitor by 'forgetting' to brake into that tight hairpin at the end of the straight and using them to 'guide' you round the corner is ridiculous.
The other thing that sligtly grates on me are the graphics. The quality, sharpness and smoothness cannot be called into question - from in-car view it is nothing short of stunning, but there is one thing that bothers me. Everything is too clean. Now, I know this sounds like an odd thing to complain about but for me it winds the realism down a notch. Polyphony wax lyrical about the licenses preventing lack of visible damage on the cars but I'm not talking about enormous dents or smashed windows. What's wrong with a little build-up of grime after you've taken a trip across the gravel, a scratch down the side of the paintwork when you graze the wall (not sure if this consitutes damage) or a build up of dirt/marbles offline - just something tangible that would enhance the illusion or reality?
Perhaps this autonomous feel can be avoided by playing against real opponents rather than AI? Unforuntately my first foray into the online world was also rather disappointing. Is it acceptable that you can be overtaken on at 70mph left-hander by somebody grinding round the outside barrier at 90mph? Not for a driving simulator it isn't, perhaps for Ridge Racer.
Sadly all racers seem to result in demolition derbys. There seems to be little racing etiquette in evidence. For the 'Real' online racing, I'll stick to Forza Motorsport 2. If I were to drive like this on Xbox Live, my car would be trashed and I'd likely get some negative feedback from the folks I'd rammed in the process, and quite rightly so.