So I’ve had the weekend to get the single player experience under my belt… it’s very very good. Not sure what planet IGN were on. I’ve focused on the offline career mode because it’s unusual for me to have so much 360 time these days, certainly won’t as of Monday, and so figured I’d get some cars bought, modded, and tuned, ready to race the lickers – some of whom will have plenty time to quickly amass a garage far bigger than mine.

Offline, some of the races are challenging, others a bit easy. Depends on the race restrictions really. Often, you just cruise off into the distance and chase lap records. But them, I bought this for the long term online prospects. I’ve been playing medium difficulty, all aids off, full sim damage.

A modded car has radically improved braking, better cornering, and more stability than those cars available in the demo. Those of you worried about driving without aids, don’t worry. It’s also easy to setup a car… I usually just shorten the gear ratios, tweak the rear anti-roll bar (especially in a FWD car), and soften the tires. Works for me, most of the time anyway.

It initially takes time to earn money, especially since your “prize cars” are worthless. You can’t even get rid of them in the auction house, as all regions get the same prize cars, so nobody wants them. Thankfully, some of them are worth keeping. Tip: Take care what you buy in the auction house, as I say, it’s full of “prize cars”… I have two Sparco Evo VIII’s after winning one.

Quickly you’ll amass cars… I have at least 6 tuned to perfection, and another dozen in prize cars waiting for mods. Once up at level 10 or so and things start to open up bit… races worth more money come thick and fast.

Graphically, most of the tracks are excellent, with Suzuka being particularly gorgeous. All are excellent to race on, as are their many variations which create numerous Tsukuba length tracks. The only weak track in the game is NYC. All have great draw distances by the way, even Silverstone. Jaggies aren’t as bad as the demo, and certainly nowhere near as intrusive as IGN would have you believe.

My favoured cars thus far are my tuned A class Gallardo, B class Impreza, A class Sparco Evo, and D class Mini Cooper S. Infact the Mini is better than anything I’ve built in C class, so I’ve just made a second Mini specifically for C.

Audio is especially impressive… the noise these cars make when modded can only be described as awesome. Modify your car, and the audio changes with each addition.

All in all, best racer ever. No question.