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If you played the demo (if you haven't, you can get the PC demo [url=http://www.nfsunlimited.net/prostreet/demo]here[/url]) you probably have an idea what Need for Speed ProStreet drives like. I played the game on default King difficulty settings and several different cars ranging from 200 to 1000 hp. And the power (as well as handling) of the car makes a big difference on game play - the slow cars allow you to make much more mistakes before you end up on your roof totaled. Also the tracks now are much more tight that they were in the previous NFS games, much like in Need for Speed Underground where each track had a few sections where you had to be really careful. Like a turn that if you go in at a too high speed you end up crashing into something. Tracks aren't a piece of cake anymore, you have to pay attention all the time especially if you have a fast car. And that is definitely an improvement!

Grip, as you probably know from the demo, is more or less basic circuit racing with a few spinoffs like sector shootout which is a circuit race, except you have to get the best score on several parts of the track. This could be tricky as some tracks have a few fast straight sectors and a few slow full of turns. It means that you'll have to make some compromises when selecting your car and taking all sectors will be pretty hard. For winning the race you don't need all the sectors however. Circuit racing has changed a lot from the previous NFS games though. The "pedal to the metal I don't even know where brakes are" strategy will take you to the first turn where you will hit a wall and probably total your car. You will have to find out the best driving line, apply the brakes in front of every turn and then carefully accelerate when exiting the turn. That is of course on highest difficulty level. On lowest the old strategy will still work as the assists will break for you. Either way the speed feels good as soon as you start upgrading your car (first few races will feel a bit too slow though) and is overall a very decent race type.

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[i]Wheelies are very common with high power drag cars[/i]

Drag is a game mode which I think will be a huge hit especially on multiplayer. It is pretty easy to learn as in it's core it's only about making perfect shifts. But even if this sounds really easy, it will take a lot of skill to master it. First of all unlike in previous NFS games you need to make a shift from neutral to first when the race starts and sometimes it is a bit hard to determine when the race actually starts. The other tricky thing will be the fact that the cars aren't attached to a lane but drive the same as in other game modes. That means that you have a big problem if a high powered rear wheel dragsters starts turning. You will have to stop accelerating and even brake a bit to correct the course. Not to mention the car won't turn at all when it's doing a wheelie. And wheelies are very common! A typical drag race is a set of three attempts with only the best time being counted.

Speed Challenge is probably the most spectacular race mode in the game due to the high speed crashes either you or the AI opponents make. And you all will crash often. There are two types of speed challenge races, the demo styled point to point and get the highest speed on checkpoints type and the point to point (or even circuit) finish the first type. Both will be very fast races where you have to react quickly, but there is a huge difference between them. In the first the handling will be very unsensitive, cars hardly turn. On the other race the controls are extremely sensitive, tap the control a little bit to the right and you end up off the road possibly in a tree. Here I'm going to have to say that the demo type (get the highest speed) speed challenge race felt much more real as the other one is in my opinion too much arcade like and doesn't really fit in this game.

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[i]Drift is the smoking race mode[/i]

Drift it the mode which will take the most practice to master and is also the game mode that changed the most compared to previous games. This year drift is all point to point and like drag you will have 3 attempts with the best score being counted. Physics in the drift are pretty much like in the rest of the game except with all assists off and a little less traction on the tyres. Also there are no bonus areas and only the length and the speed of the drift will count. If you're an unexperienced drifter it's pretty difficult to get good drift but the games makes it a bit easier because it doesn't break off the drift if you touch a wall. Sometimes it's even possible to gain points when drifting along the wall which I think would be better if it didn't as it feels too unrealistic. On tracks that don't have walls however it will be possible to slide off the track and even total your car (it actually happened to me when I flew out of the turn into a nice little hill when I did a barrel roll). But it will be very satisfying once you manage long continuous high speed drifts.

Overall the racing in ProStreet has improved a lot, even the usually more boring circuit type racing feels great this year, not to mention the exceptional drag and very good drift and speed challenge as well. There are a few issues, but let's leave those for the next article. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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