With early access games, I always try to give the benefit of the doubt. This game makes it difficult.

The fundamentals and the basegame and genre is definatly a nice change in pace for most racing games. I can appriciate a propper "wangan" game. But im just disapointed with alot of game design choices when it comes to cars, gameplay and ai.

Carwise, its okay that its a lack of cars, this can always change and ive heard that they are in the works to get more brands here, my main critique here is the lack of proper "wangan" cars. Alot of cars were skipped out on and replaced with cars that arent fitting for the wangan.
Why is the AE86 there, and not Nissan Fairlady Z (S30)? Why was GT86 there and not Toyota Soarer? Why is the GR86 here and not Toyota Chaser.
The list goes on and on, here are just some examples of cars that this game could have been very nice to have:
Honda Legend, Subaru Legacy RS/GT, Subaru SVX, Nissan Cefiro A31, Nissan Laurel C33, Nissan Leopard F31, Toyota Mark II JZX8, Toyota Celsior UCF10, Mitsubishi Diamante , Honda NSX, Subaru Legacy GT-B.

Now I could go on and on, but there is a better way to make due with what cars there are in the game, and that wouldve been to NOT put an arteficial cap on tuning, and adding Aspiration as a tuning option. Alot of existing cars in the game can simply become viable by swapping into Big turbo, Traditional Twin Turbo, Sequential Turbo, Twincharged, or even Supercharged aspiration. Then cars like AE86 and GT86 would make abit more sence, as you can get alot of power even with low displacements with help from a big turbo (with alot of lag!).

Its a big missed oppertunity to not give players the options to make early cars viable for lategame. and the progression is not gradual at all, going from one stage to the next one, basicly unlocked 1/3 of all perks. I wish it was more gradual or linked to something other than "defeat x person".

I also think gameplay wise there should be some changes, I wish cars with similar level to you or your opponent, would try to join your battle midrace, I wish I could arrange a "team battle" to try to beat multiple at the same time. Maybe even a "Territory" system like NFS Carbon could be a good idea. But mainly I want races to be more interactive.

Some races also becomes very rock paper scissory, as you either are faster or slower, only maybe 1/8 of my races were semi close, and similar speed/power. Which was exciting. But far between.

The ai is also WAY to comfortable ramming you, and its almost like it doesnt care what you do, I wish the ai just gets smarter and tries to interact with your car more instead of just doing its own thing. Normaly id be against a "rubberband" system, but it might be needed in boss battles just to make them last abit longer and make things more tense.

All the things im asking for might as well be a completly diffrent game, but my main point is that this genere is exciting! but this game isnt. I really hope developers reconsider and atleast can consider the aspiration system. As it would allow you to actually justify putting money on early cars, and not just replacing them with a car that you unlock later.

So for now I cant recommend this game unless you REALLY like wangan midnight, or want a similar game to this. I have no clue how much the developers actually plan to do with this game, and im worried that they only want to licence more cars instead of imporving the core of the game. But time will show.

With early access games, I always try to give the benefit of the doubt. This game makes it difficult. The fundamentals and the basegame and genre is definatly a nice change in pace for most racing games. I can appriciate a propper "wangan" game. But im just disapointed with alot of game design choices when it comes to cars, gameplay and ai. Carwise, its okay that its a lack of cars, this can always change and ive heard that they are in the works to get more brands here, my main critique here is the lack of proper "wangan" cars. Alot of cars were skipped out on and replaced with cars that arent fitting for the wangan. Why is the AE86 there, and not Nissan Fairlady Z (S30)? Why was GT86 there and not Toyota Soarer? Why is the GR86 here and not Toyota Chaser. The list goes on and on, here are just some examples of cars that this game could have been very nice to have: Honda Legend, Subaru Legacy RS/GT, Subaru SVX, Nissan Cefiro A31, Nissan Laurel C33, Nissan Leopard F31, Toyota Mark II JZX8, Toyota Celsior UCF10, Mitsubishi Diamante , Honda NSX, Subaru Legacy GT-B. Now I could go on and on, but there is a better way to make due with what cars there are in the game, and that wouldve been to NOT put an arteficial cap on tuning, and adding Aspiration as a tuning option. Alot of existing cars in the game can simply become viable by swapping into Big turbo, Traditional Twin Turbo, Sequential Turbo, Twincharged, or even Supercharged aspiration. Then cars like AE86 and GT86 would make abit more sence, as you can get alot of power even with low displacements with help from a big turbo (with alot of lag!). Its a big missed oppertunity to not give players the options to make early cars viable for lategame. and the progression is not gradual at all, going from one stage to the next one, basicly unlocked 1/3 of all perks. I wish it was more gradual or linked to something other than "defeat x person". I also think gameplay wise there should be some changes, I wish cars with similar level to you or your opponent, would try to join your battle midrace, I wish I could arrange a "team battle" to try to beat multiple at the same time. Maybe even a "Territory" system like NFS Carbon could be a good idea. But mainly I want races to be more interactive. Some races also becomes very rock paper scissory, as you either are faster or slower, only maybe 1/8 of my races were semi close, and similar speed/power. Which was exciting. But far between. The ai is also WAY to comfortable ramming you, and its almost like it doesnt care what you do, I wish the ai just gets smarter and tries to interact with your car more instead of just doing its own thing. Normaly id be against a "rubberband" system, but it might be needed in boss battles just to make them last abit longer and make things more tense. All the things im asking for might as well be a completly diffrent game, but my main point is that this genere is exciting! but this game isnt. I really hope developers reconsider and atleast can consider the aspiration system. As it would allow you to actually justify putting money on early cars, and not just replacing them with a car that you unlock later. So for now I cant recommend this game unless you REALLY like wangan midnight, or want a similar game to this. I have no clue how much the developers actually plan to do with this game, and im worried that they only want to licence more cars instead of imporving the core of the game. But time will show.