[Redpyramidhead]

Driving games were my first love in video games. When I was 9 my brother bought me the original Test Drive (publisher then was Accolade) for the Commodore 64 (C64 now there's a blast from the past.) I was instantly hooked on driving games. I was young then, so real driving was out of the question and probably the fact that i wouldnt drive any of those kinds of cars for real for a long time even if i had my liscense and on top of that doing things with cars like that just plain isnt such a great idea. Just ask my brother who ironically loved that game as well and tried to outrun a cop in real life. He didn't make the first turn in the road and flipped over (he was all right don't worry....if you were worried.)
Anyways, I digress...When i first played Need For Speed for PS1 I was blown away. Then came NFS2 which actually IMO, has been the best in the series so far (even though there were no cops for some reason.) NFS3 Hot Pursuit was a little dissapointing, and NFS High Stakes and Porsche Unleashed were mediocre at best. Meanwhile I really fug Test Drive 4 when it came out n then I moved on to 5...which I think in a way is actually better than 6 and possibly the newest installment for PS2. It's too arcade like and when I crash into a semi head on doing 90 I don't expect the semi to be knocked back 50 feet while my car doesnt even go down to zero. It's missing the suspense of having to avoid crashes (understatement) and that is it's biggest failure. It is a decent Game though and i do enjoy playing it despite its flaws.
I think this move to a more arcade feel in these two classic Driving games is wrong. They weren't GT3 to begin with, but they were real enough that they provide that suspense of driving a car the way you shouldnt (well according to who you talk to I suppose) in real life. Now it feels like the only thing missing is the coinslot. I mean the new TD won't even let you turn off the checkpoint timer.
So then when I discovered Driver way backand I'd have to say that is my favorite driving game series so far, I was blown away. It's missing some elements of the other driving games i love, but it more than makes up for it with it's other features and true to life physics including one of the most important things of all...the rush of avoiding and getting into massive accidents. I've been in a couple scary accidents in real life and let me tell you nothing beats being able to immortalize that sort of thing in a video game.
So yeah, I plan on gettin NHS hot pursuit2 because it probably will kick azz, but I'm trying to not get my hopes up. Actually, I'm probably too picky about it, but for some reason since i"ve enjoyed driving games most of my life I feel like I have the right to describe my ideal one.
OK...sorry I probably bored you guyz...don't think i complain all the time. In fact, i usually don't. Long Live the Driving genre of videogames!!!

Tip: Oh and make sure when you play TD5 you input the name "spurt" after making a record on the dragstrip (turn simulation mode off in the option menu first momentarily...you can change it back after) and the game will become much faster. Otherwise, it's too slow.