I've always found the NFS cars quite drivable in NFS7 and 8, provided you DON"T upgrade them. They look very pretty, too, provided you DON'T put body kits on. To summarize, I enjoy them in exactly the opposite way they are designed to be enjoyed...
Most Wanted and Carbon don't drive good no matter what you do, as they seem to have pivot point physics. What a waste of good models (like any CMR :shrug.
When playing some of the NFS games, I never realize how weird steering response is until I go back to a game I haven't played in while. Some of the games take longer to re-acclimate to. Underground 2 is one of these.
If anyone is interested, I have quite a few videos of racing game, from GPL to the NFS series (even the budget racers like Ford Racing 2) at:
Hey I do still have that game but bad news is that, the disc is spoiled with lots of deep scratches!!!
Still remember when 2 years ago I was playing NFS Porsche 2000 like mad. Very nice indeed. After this comes the NFS HP2 which when I was younger and donm't know about physics engine, thinks it's pretty good and plus the UGD and UGD2. Well, after I played LFS, now I understand the physics in NFS is crap! I not gonna touch any of the NFS except for the NFS:Porsche 2000 if it miraculously works again, which I think it won't because it had many deep scratches...