Technically better, sostantially little worse...
First of all, the game is basically same as TrackMania, but with different environments, a more serious look, and less intuitive editors (that was moved to TM too, unluckily). And unluckily, that is not enough for making me play this instead of the prequel...
As for graphics, the game is fine: cool shaders, nice effects and textures, correct shadows, outstanding water. Works fine on slower PCs too, even if you miss a lot without having the water maxed out.
As for the sounds, the game improved: now more professional musics are in, even if everything else is basically the same as TrackMania. Not that is a bad thing at all, really.
As for gameplay, it is like TrackMania: simple, fun, addictive. Though, the editors are not as good as before, and after TM it gets boring fast.
As for value, well, it's absolutely worth the 20$-30$ that it's sold at. If you played lots of TrackMania though, I suggest you to think again about buying: maybe you want to find a new game: and Sunrise isn't it for sure. Otherwise, get this game without even thinking: or else you'd miss a total masterpiece!