I pretty much echo all these feelings. Although it does not have the ultimate subtlety we expect in top sims, after tackling the same corner over and over again in the license test, there is definitely enough depth for someone with my skill. The FF is very good, just a bit light in the middle, but once loaded it is very nice.
This is one of the few game I can comfortably drift a car straight out of a box too, and to me that's a sign of good physics.
Those things I worried about turns out to be a surprise, but vice versa while I didn't expect to be disappointed about the overall quality of the product, many spot of the game feels unfinished and unpolished, the shadow being one problem, the use of repetitive trees and textures another, and lack of many simple features (replay controls, online quali, proper damage) doesn't match my expectation of a product 6 years in the making.
the elise top gear challenge is bull shit.....kept being DQed for invisible track boundries, 12 moving roadblock totally disregard where you are, and the most unstable elise ever