Interesting. Track design (layout not scenery) to me is the weakest point of the game.
@JacoJa thinks they're too easy? I'd hate to know what you'd consider hard! All these tracks are narrow, just two lanes wide or at times less, with zero run off room on either side. The walls have invisible glue that slow you down 30mph with the slightest touch even on the straights. The grass itself will slow you 10-15mph.
I think the tracks in general are far too difficult. Take for example The Kyle point to point race in Scotland. Perhaps the 'easiest' in the game, but it still features treacherous elevation changes at the entry point of high speed corners, and its super narrow most of the way through. The 2nd to last narrow turn turning leading onto the bridge has to be taken at 150mph with glue guardrails ready to slow you down 30-40mph if you happen to touch them in the slightest.
Even the permanent race courses feature difficult low and high speed chicanes that are ready to punish your every mistake with glue walls or short cut penalties. And they have blind corners or bumps ready to unsettle your car and cause a crash.
I've played all the courses and I've yet to really grow attached to any of them. Outside the differences in scenery, they seem like one big blur to me. Its like the same one guy designed every single one of them using the same techniques over and over, chicane here, hairpin here, fast turn here and so on. None of them really separate themselves from the pack.
Its a theme of evolution racing games for me, I've always felt their tracks are too difficult. I cant even begin to count the times in Motorstorm I'll just be cruising along before some random hole in the ground launches me. I've always said if I ever make a racing game (hopefully Media Molecule's PS4 project allows me to do just that) I would make the course super easy...4 lanes wide with gentle bends. The fun would come from battling the other cars and dodging traffic.
If you notice most arcade racers like Rush Extreme Racing or the old 90s NFS games had their courses grouped by difficulty, novice to intermediate to advanced. Thats lacking here and I feel it really hurts the fun level of the game. The novice tracks would be a favorite of the casuals and the more seasoned drivers will hang around the advanced track. I can imagine alot of people getting frustrated with how difficult the game can be.
Difficulty is overrated. A game will get marked down in score for being too difficult way faster then a game would get marked down for being too easy, and for good reason.
Edit: Here is 3 NFS tracks showcasing proper difficulty increase
As I have the full version, I'm guessing that the servers must really be suffering. Still, they want as many people as possible online, to help complete the load test.
) I found that you can come out ahead of the pack like that.
