Put 9 hours into it tonight, starting with the AE86 & then moving onto the Silvia K. The steering response out of the box needs a couple tweaks for the controller, but after that, it feels really good to play on. I can surprisingly run it at Ultra, the FPS just dips quite noticeably down. However, if I run it at High & turn a couple options to Ultra, it still runs nice & smooth on my 2070 Super.
The Opponents feel like a nice, mixed bag through my first couple stages/chapters. The AE86 with some mods has decent top end, so you can reel opponents in as long as you're with them, but I ran into a few opponents that I took off the go & then their top ends came back around. Higher level opponents by around 2 levels will require old TXR tricks like catching them in the right areas, but even some like a Lancer Evo wanderer at Lvl 14 doesn't have any problem tackling the C1 Loop. So far, power is pretty much key, so I moved to the Silvia K for the extra oomph over the AE86; it does require you to mess with 4th & 5th gearing, otherwise, it will runs out of steam quickly around 115mph stock. Once I had it fully modded as much as I could, it tackled almost every opponent easily.
It took me a while to finally find & beat the required 4 to access the next batch of Perks, so once I did, I had more than enough BP to get a bunch of the next set of mods & the Silvia became more than dominant over most opponents. However, right now, the Evo wanderer & Rolling Gal #1 have quickly humbled me. But, I'm surprised how generous the BP system is. Yes, it will take a while to fully max it, but it doesn't have any feel of being a grind since the BP are coming naturally alongside your rewards & their requirements so far, aren't growing as you progress. The perks only cost 1-3 at most for me at this point & you can earn a lot more than that in a couple nights.
I will say I really like how accessible & easier this one feels over Zero & 3 whilst still requiring good old TXR-fashion time to beat. Wanderer clues are straight forward whilst still needing a range of requirements from aforementioned time to get the right cars/requirements & being in the right spot & day. And the required opponents needed to access the later Perks/Cars is a solid way of keeping the game balanced imo, so you don't just splurge BP to unlock them fast & then worry about money which also comes rather easily, esp. if you beat bosses/wanderers.
And for a $30 game that's early access, I think it's in a state that can shame full releases. I haven't run into any bugs or crashes, or seen anything I hope Genki fixes. The worst is the AI traffic sometimes gets in its own way hilariously enough, but it's been due to pure random circumstance & it knows how to settle itself out. Hard to believe it's been 20 years since the old games for me, but this game nails the old formula with all the right stuff implemented of today's games.