Have had my first go at it and I must say I am quite dissappointed.
The handling is absolutely fubar, at least with my G25, set to 360 degrees of rotation (as that was recommended somewhere...). made sure all the deadzones are set to 0, but still, all the cars handle kind of remote and detached, so if I steer, it like: nothing - nothing - nothing - more steer than intended.
It also doesn't help that it appears to have some kind of countersteer mechanic in it which automatically corrects your spin (even on pro, witrh no driving aids engaged whatsoever). So if you do the natural thing and apply a little countersteer by yourself, you immediately go into tankslapping mode.
Also, I never ever had to change below gear 3, as gear number 2 is just "dorifto" mode...
Honestly, if it was developed by the old team, I'd just shrug and say: that's how need for speed is these days. But I had higher hopes in slightly mad studios take on it.