not as good as TXR3, or TXRD2
Not a bad game, but it's kind of disapointing compared to TXR3, and TXRD2.
Gone are the wangan loop, Nagoya, Osaka, and a lot of cars. There's only about 12 cars in this game. There only the C loop, Shinjuku lines, and the new shibuya and shinkanjo lines. The new lines are much shorter, and don't loop around the same way a real highway does. There is also no weather effects from TXR3. To make up for it. You can race in day brake, night or midnight, with different looks and rivals.
The customization decal system is most like TXRD2. There's ways to move them and scale them now but they have way less decals than kaido battle did. You can customize the neon lights, unlike anything from another game, which makes your car look really ricy and is a lot of fun. You can also change your doors, add interior parts, etc. Tuning is great. You can turn on TCS and ABS now(which I always leave at 0). There's the usual suspension tuning, LSD, gear ratio, etc. Unfortunetly, you can't try to put your own paint on like TXR3, but that took forever. I wish I can put decals ontop of the car
Physics realism are somewhat improved over TXR3, and some what not as good in other ways. While it's still way better than Gran Turismo 4(what isn't besides maybe D1GP, and some real arcadish games) ever was, it's still not as good as TXRD2. You can drive without abs now, acceleration is more realistic, and you can jump over ramp like parts. You can also go on 2 wheels, eventhough that parts not that realistic, it's more than what's offered in every GT game so far. There's finally an ebrake. The downside is that they made it so you can dive into corners faster than you usually can in real life. High speed drifting in this game is just amazingly easy. It's not like ridge racer where no counter steering is needed. There is no engine heat to deal with like TXR3, and I never detect tire wear. It might be a good thing since engine heat made you have to stop or find a pit lane in TXR3. Genki's always been best at balancing realistic handling, with lots of fun arcadish feel and customization in my opinion. It may not be the most realistic but it's decent, for the type of game and a lot of fun.
As far as the positives go. There aren't any other games I remember so full of life. I just love the way Tokyo looks at night, day break, and midnight. Parking areas are great since you can converse with rivals and have PA battles which are sometimes time attack(reach an area first). Not like TXR3 where you just go in to reset your engine temperature, and go out. The BBS system from TXRD2 is really missed here. It would have been great if they combined the ITC style with the TXRD2 BBS system. Some of the new rivals are pretty memorable, most noticibly desire; the gothic lolita group with a possible male member. There's also no other game with as much effects on the car I can recall. You'll have to play it to know. AI is somewhat improved but still bad. They basically corner slow, and are too causious at passing other cars. Perhaps the best thing is that it's not so frustrating trying to gain money, because of Crave's stupit translations. Not as buggy to the point that it was unfinishable without codes, because you will be short one credit like TXR3. Cars always pull up besides each other, so no more trying to speed then brake fast to get a head start.
Finally, having online play is great. Played a match with no lag at all, unlike many other xbox live games I've experienced. The problem is hardly anyone ever plays this anymore. I've only had one match againsts someone that played for along time.
On a final negative note I should say that this is the only racing game where the camera angle sucked. It blocks your view in 3rd person mode. There's a cockpit view, which is decent, but no actual steering is done. I guess even the newer, more advanced forza 3 only had 200 degree steering though.
Overall, this is still a great game. Still unique, still a great bridge between arcade and simulation, still a lot of fun. Just not as good as it's predecessors.